Homosexuality In Neil Simon's The Odd Couple

Neil Simon spent the majority of his life composing plays and establishing himself as one of America’s greatest authors. With his life long commitment to writing came the establishment of many different themes throughout his works. In The Odd Couple, Simon uses the bonds between the characters and subtext to display the difficulties of sexuality as well as the progression made through change. Felix and Oscar, the main characters of The Odd Couple, have long been thought to be homosexual, yet many are not sure about this idea. Felix is described as “being fussy and having feminine interest” while Oscar is known for being more masculine (Gray, 27) . The main reason for those who have read this play to believe that the two characters are gay

A reason for believing this is because the two men call each other by their ex-wives’ first names at different points in the play. When Felix first moves in with Oscar he says “Goodnight Blanche”, and later in the show the characters part ways by again referring to each other as their ex’s first names. “Goodbye Blanche…. Goodbye Frances” (“The Odd Couple”, PG, PG). This shows how the two characters cared as deeply for each other as they did for their old spouses due to the fact that they carelessly referred to each other as these names. It displays their immense bond and their love-like closeness. At one point in the play, this closeness to proving by Oscar’s proposal to Felix when inviting him to live with them, saying: “I’m proposing to you, what do you want, a ring?” (The Odd Couple 248). This helps to prove the fact that the men have a greater type of relationship and assists in bringing in the laughs due to its comedic nature. It can be speculated however that the reason Oscar says this is truly because he has deeper feeling for Felix.Another reason to believe that the men are gay is the fact that they are portrayed as male as female stereotypes. As said earlier, Felix is a very feminine like man who enjoys things such as cooking and cleaning, while Oscar is more of a “manly

Many believe this because the blatant female attraction, which can be shown through Felix “[staring] at women on the street ‘for ten minutes’ and [taking] the wrong subway home ‘just following a pair of legs’” (Gray, 28). The female attraction makes it seem as if there is no way that the men could have any type of sexual feelings for each other, but Felix only brings up his female attraction while he is with his wife. The attraction all but seems to disappear after she kicks him out. This is evident through his manners with the Pidgeon sisters, as he rejects and opportunity to go up to their room and have SOMETHING with them. Another reason why this is seen as an incorrect theory is that “if [Oscar and Felix’s] relationship had any homoerotic overtones, the play would lose its humor” (Fruit Brigade One). While it is true that many of the uses of humor in the show, such as MURRAY??? being asked if he is a cross dresser, might lose their humor, the fact remains that the humor would still be in the show. Even without slight jokes like that, the obviously spouse-like arguing makes for a funny show, which might even be amplified with the men being gay. Many of the jokes could be made funnier. Humor is highly subjective, and so it’s impact on what the context is is also subjective. The final reason for disbelief in the homosexuality of Felix and Oscar is that idea that