Vanda as Kushemski

As Venus in Fur begins, it is tempting to look for parallels between Vanda the actress and Vanda the character. Vanda the actress gains power as the character she is playing gains power and, after all, their names are both Vanda.

After reading through the play, the surface parallels I initially tried to generate  broke down. Vanda Dunayev was given power (temporarily) and Vanda the actress took power. Vanda the actress is a puppeteer, while Vanda Dunayev is more of a puppet.  As she gradually forces Thomas into a performance of subservience, ultimately leading him to inhabit the role of Vanda Dunayev, Vanda's power play of an audition more closely parallels the performance of Kushemski.

Kushemski's status as a powerful character is suggested by Vanda the actress several times, most notably in the lines, "He keeps saying she's got all this power over him. But he's the one with the power, not her. The more he submits, the more control he has over her. It's weird"(57). This reflection leads one to contemplate the true power dynamics in the play. Though Kushemski is asking Dunayev to take him on as a slave, he is coercing her into fufilling the role of master, an immersion which appears to be against her will.  He is not taking on a domineering role physically, but he is still calling the shots and ensuring his desires are fufilled.  Though it is paradoxical to consider enslavement as a posistion of power, the play certianly forces the question of whether the prevailing understanding of power dynamics making this conception paradoxical is overly simplistic.  

The impulse to regard Kushemski as a very powerful character is furthered during the improvised Venus scene. During this exchange, Venus degrades him, telling him his desire is disgusting, and invites him to bend to her. As Kushemski rejects her, stating, "You want to have me, and then put your foot on my neck like every petty tyrant who's ever lived. Well, I have a civilized duty to resist you" it is clear his masochistic desire cannot be collapsed with powerlessness. His lack of attraction for this "natural despot," which contrasts his complete attraction to a woman who is assertive but not apparently seeking to possess someone, shows he wants to be possessed on his own terms, a reality reiterated as he grabs hold of the knife. Vanda's role reversal as the play ends marks her extended coercing of Thomas into a posistion of subservience, a saga mirroring the power dynamics which unfold as the script is read. The fact that both Vanda and Kushemski exert power by insidiously  forcing thier counterparts into certain performances only strengthens the parallel between these characters.