THE RELATION BETWEEN IDENTITY (SELF) AND MEMORY: THE MEMORY OF WATER BY SHELAGH STEPHENSON

Individual memory assumes a fundamental part in the improvement of individual identity. Individuals' available points of view about themselves, feelings, and goals affect their recollections and evaluations of past selves. Thus, people's existing points of views about themselves are influenced by what they recall about their own past, and how they evaluate earlier selves and scenes. People's reproduced evaluations of memories, their obvious detachment from past experiences, and the point of view of their recollections have proposals for how the past impacts the present. In this study we will focus on the verification of the reciprocal relation between memory and identity in Shelagh Stephenson’s play The Memory of Water (1996) through three sisters who come together for their mother’s funeral service in the north of England. The sisters’ path toward mourning brings their past into question as memories strive for authenticity and the internal facts of their different lives affecting their current identities will be uncovered.