Father-daughter relationships are of the most central issues examined in many plays. Two of these include Proof, by David Auburn, and Trail of Her Inner Thigh, by Erin Cressida Wilson. In comparing these two plays, many differences are evident. One of the most prevalent of these disparities is how the playwright chooses to develop the father-daughter relationship. Despite the incongruities, both Wilson and Auburn choose to juxtapose opposite emotions throughout their works in order to make these familial bonds more pronounced.
In Proof, two different emotional dichotomies are presented. The first and most significant of these is the idea of insanity versus genius. In the first act of the play, Catherine chooses to admit that it was she who wrote the proof. Yet Hal and her sister Claire do not want to believe this. In the second scene of act two, Catherine real
izes that in admitting that she wrote the proof, she is accepting her father’s heritage. It is because of this fact that neither Claire nor Hal trust her admission. If Catherine is in fact a genius as her father was, not only will her intelligence be recognized but also her mental instability. Another set of emotions that exist between Catherine and her father, Robert, are those of love and resentment. Catherine’s love for her father is displayed through the little prime number games they play but mostly in that she dropped out of school in order to care for the man. However, this tight familial bond becomes loosened throughout her ye!
ars of care giving, eventually leading Catherine to feel resentment towards her father. This emotion emerges because while Claire got to have her "life" while Catherine was forced to be there "liv(ing) with him alone."
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