Controversial Theatre: Equus - Research Paper Example

– I was somewhat late getting this order turned in to you because of power outages. If the delay has not been detrimental to you, I would appreciate if you could place an extension on the original deadline so that I am not penalized. Student name Instructor name Course name Date Controversial Theatre: Equus Peter Shaffer’s play Equus in its most basic description is the story of a young man severely troubled by his religious inclinations and, as a result, commits a brutal crime against the animals he loves. The entire play takes place in Dr. Dysart’s office, the psychiatrist who has been charged by the court to discover the boy’s motivations in stabbing out the eyes of six horses that had been under his care. As the two men discuss what happened, the characters of Alan’s memory appear around the outside edges of the stage. Although the play has been called bizarre and meaningless, Shaffer is able to bring about a deeply introspective examination into the modern world’s dehumanization effect and the continuing need for spiritual passion through his reliance on deeply-rooted human theology. Before the play begins, most audiences are made aware of the fact that the play to follow is based upon a single piece of information regarding an allegedly true-life crime that Shaffer once heard about. He freely admits that he doesn’t know any of the details of the story beyond the one concluding fact that a boy stabbed out the eyes of a stable-full of horses. As he describes it, the friend who told him the story died before he could find out more information about the story and that he has been unable to find evidence of the story in the years since publishing the play (Pugh, 2009). Therefore, instead of attempting to relate the story as it happened in traditional narrative form, Shaffer wrote the play as an attempt to make sense of this act, to explain what might make a boy commit such a crime. The play is heavily informed by the Christian religious tradition. The play illustrates how Alan discovered that his Christian God, as taught to him by his mother, was completely inaccessible, which was physically symbolized by his father’s removing the image of Jesus from the foot of his bed. He substituted the horse, and the power he remembered feeling from his childhood ride on the beach, for the figure of Jesus as a means of keeping his religious zeal strong in a more physical realm. “Eventually, Alan’s father can no longer tolerate his wife’s overbearing religious teachings and he takes away a loved but violent picture above Alan’s bed of Jesus being stabbed as he struggles in chains. Distraught, Alan replaces Jesus, literally and symbolically, with a horse” (Gale, 2005). His empathy for the horse he remembers, with the cream coming out of his mouth, is equated with the suffering of Jesus in Alan’s mind. This identification with the suffering of Christ is a significant element of the Christian tradition and has led, in some factions, to the types of practices observed by Alan in his worship of Equus: a recitation of names, flagellation and humiliation as a form of practice (Adams, 1998: 126). Yet, by placing his god in the figure of a horse and then going to work at the stables, Alan is able to come into physical contact with the power and the beauty that he associated with the spiritual figure his mother had always talked about but that he had never experienced. This is the idea behind his passionate midnight rides and illustrates the continued problem experienced by many in the modern society of a lack of experience in their spiritual observances and daily lives. Another Biblical story alluded to within the play is that of the fall of man. The Bible indicates that the first man and woman on earth were Adam and Eve, who were placed in the Garden of Eden where all of their needs were provided (Genesis 3). They had been instructed, however, not to eat of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. The moment they did, they suddenly realized that they were naked in the presence of their God and were ashamed. This is the same sequence of events we see occurring in the sex scene with Jill in the stables. Alan is coaxed into his Holy Temple with a girl and makes the attempt to participate in an act that he perceives as being somehow sinful and crass, especially ‘knowing’ that the horses can see and hear everything that is happening. This is an allusion to the idea that Adam and Eve know that there is nowhere they can hide their nakedness from their angry and vengeful God (Anderson, 2003). When Alan can’t perform, it is not due to the shame of the act itself, but rather to the idea that he has somehow angered his god, making himself a laughingstock in the eyes of his lord and proving himself weak and imperfect, unworthy of his god’s affection and attention. His shame is the shame of original sin and it is a shame that he can never be free of. However, because his god is within physical reach, he is able to reach out and remove the eyes that promised to always be watching, always be judging and always be constraining upon his actions and thoughts. There is also reference to ancient mythology in the play as in Alan’s resurrection of a Latin name to identify his new local god, available to him personally wherever he goes. This alludes to the ancient traditions that recognized numerous regional and personal gods, who would oversee various elements of nature and be closely available to those who believed in them (Todd, 2002). Dr. Dysart reminds us of the Druidic practices that saw intimate connections between the accidental shape of a creature’s insides to the shape of events yet to come while his reminder to the audience of primitive people’s first experience with people riding horses from which the concept of centaurs emerged. Alan’s desire to be one with his horse refers to the Jungian concept of the collective unconscious, in which we all wish to have the experience of connection to something outside of ourselves on a greater plane than the one we daily experience (Storr, 1991: 33). This is the experience people have sought from religion from the beginning of time – some sort of communion between the individual and the greater being, whether that greater being is a natural god, an abstract concept, a metaphysical awareness or a horse named Nugget. Without this communion, passion cannot be attained, belief is only surface deep and experience is less than thrilling or inspiring. Dysart’s fascination with Alan is that this boy has attained this connection that so many have sought. It is true that this connection has brought him insufferable anguish, but he has experienced it. It was real for him in a way that has not been real for people since the dawn of the Industrial Age. Thus, Shaffer alludes to the issues of modernity and ultimately asks the questions: what has science really gained for us, what have we lost in the process and is it right and moral for us to refuse that connection to others simply because we can’t understand it ourselves? His means of expressing these ideas remains controversial because of the subject matter, the unorthodox stage direction and the dependence of the story upon blatant nudity and sexuality. However, his insistence on challenging the comfort levels of his audience helps to drive home his points and introduce deep questioning of common ideals or beliefs. Works Cited Adams, Robert. The Abuses of Punishment. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 1998. Anderson, Gary A. The Genesis of Perfection. Westminster: John Knox Press, 2003. Gale, Zachary. “Horses Torment Boy in ‘Equus’.” New University. Vol. 30, I. 8, (November 7, 2005). Pugh, David. “In Conversation with Peter Shaffer.” Equus by Peter Shaffer. (2009). September 11, 2009 < http://www.equustheplay.com/about/peter_shaffer.php> Storr, Anthony. Jung. London: Routledge, 1991 Todd, Sarah. “Were all ancient Greek gods pagans?” Helium. (2002). September 11, 2009 < http://www.helium.com/items/1221672-greek-mythology> Read More