Pater, Patriarchy, and Patricide: How Patriarchy Leads to Patricide

Abstract

While an understudied topic, patricide is a highly frequent theme in literature and popular culture, and many people have encountered it. This dissertation studies patricide and why it recurs frequently in popular culture and literature.

This study argues that contrary to popular belief that assumes patriarchy must protect fathers (as one of its central tenets) and prevent patricide at all costs, it is actually patriarchy itself, with its dynamic factors and sociocultural structures, that constitutes one of the main reasons behind patricide and its frequent occurrences.

Patriarchy, the dominant sociopolitical ideology of the last few millennia, has significantly shaped and defined fatherhood. By appointing the father as the bridge between society and family, it has assigned (at least) two sets of responsibilities to the father, one towards the patriarchal society and one towards his children. However, these two sets of responsibilities are not always aligned, and in some cases, their relationship even becomes dichotomous. This creates a conflict in which the father must choose between his responsibilities towards his society or his child. If he chooses his responsibilities towards the latter over the former, the patriarchal society casts him out, and if he chooses his responsibilities towards the former over the latter, the chances of patricide increase.

Through close readings of different cases of patricide in some of the most important canons and icons of popular culture and literature, this dissertation shows how the patriarchal regime of these works has pushed the fathers towards becoming the victims of patricide and children towards becoming its perpetrators.