The Limits of Fantasy in Martin McDonagh’s A Behanding in Spokane

This article takes key terms from Lacanian psychoanalysis to read Martin McDonagh’s A Behanding in Spokane (2010). The play represents the aftermath of a possible traumatic event, wherein the characters display their deepest unconscious desires. I will consider the play as a site of unresolved, contradictory meanings in which access to truth becomes an almost impossible task. I will further argue that the text of the play turns into a narrative that works with alternative scenarios to provide potential reasons that could explain the actions of the characters. Ultimately, while the protagonist offers himself as healthy, it turns out that he is an unreliable character who cannot get out of his fantasies.