Death and the Maiden by Ariel Dorfman - Essay Example

La Muerte y la Doncella (Death and the Maiden) La Muerte y la Doncella (Death and the Maiden) is a play written by Chilean playwright Ariel Dorfman in 1990. The world premiere of the movie, however, happened in 1991 at the London Royal Court Theatre and was directed by Lindsay Posner. The play has three characters; Paulina Salas, who is 38years old, Gerardo Escobar a 45-year-old lawyer who is Paulina’s husband and Roberto Miranda a fifty-year-old doctor. The essay is going to talk about how these three characters show the past to impact the future by their roles in the play. Discussion Authority’s arrogance in the 1970s-1990s The play by Dorfman calls to mind the arrogance of authority in both the past and present in Chile and around the world. The authorities in the story do not get to hear the story of Paulina Salas, who was kidnaped and raped by Dr. Miranda when she was young. There was Salas kidnapping because of her different political views (Dorfman 71). Thousands of Chilean citizens are believed to have disappeared during the reign of General Augusto Pinochet during the years 1973-1990. The people who had a different opinion from the government were killed. Chile, however, has a new form of government, and the citizens have to learn to live with the aftermath of General Augusto’s era. The survivors have suffered post-traumatic stress disorder, and this happens in the play by Salas’ character. The people of Chile were bleeding inside during the reign of Pinochet, who is believed to be a dictator. The country is now healing from the entire trauma and justice to the people is being served. We eventually hear Salas’ voice as she speaks out about her troubles while still in the university. Opinionated citizens The play is about the characters getting and having a voice on different matters that affect their lives. The play is not necessarily about the Chilean government as it is in an unknown South American country. Salas is sad and looks troubled at the beginning of the play. Salas is unhappy with the man the husband has befriended. She believes that is the same man that tortured her when she was trying to give her voice about her political opinions fifteen years ago (Ainsworth 3). The scene shows us how many countries in the world, mainly those in South America have grown in democracy. The citizens were not able to have a voice or else their lives would end because of it. The present governments recognize freedom of speech and people are free to talk about their troubles with the government. Salas had to suffer fifteen years ago because of her political opinions so that the rest of the people will have a voice in future. It was important for the political activists to suffer and demand a voice that brought democracy in South America countries. The story is mainly about the Chilean government in 1970-1990 although it is not specific to the play. Paulina Salas memories and ways they affected her present state Dorfman in an interview says that the play was about a tragedy. It was a tragedy for the Chilean people before they got democracy. It is a story of pity and terror. Salas underwent terror at the hands of a man she believes to be Dr. Miranda. The viewers are drawn to understand why the doctor who is now the husband’s friend terrifies Salas. Salas holds the doctor captive and demands the truth from the man. The actions of Paulina Salas show how a tortured young woman reacts after the terrifying experience. Dr. Miranda brings out the demons of Salas, which she had never forgotten (McClennen 180). The woman believes the doctor was one of the masterminds of the old fascist regime that got her kidnaped and raped while blindfolded. She did not see the mans face because of the blindfolds, but she still believes the person is guilty of the crime. Paulina Salas is however torn between her somber memories of the event and her psychological repressions. She wants the truth about her kidnapping but also has to control her anger towards Dr. Miranda. Salas husband, Gerardo Escobar is concerned about holding Dr. Miranda against his will as it is against the law. Revenge The current government in the play is a gentler government than before. The government has taken it upon themselves to investigate the atrocities of the previous regime that left many people dead and the survivors traumatized. Dorfman’s story was typically the story of the Chilean government and how it was trying to help its citizens heal from the past regime that was a torture to them. The past of the country left the people with a bitter taste in their mouth and lost faith in the government. The government was therefore trying their best to investigate the atrocities, suffering of the victims of the previous government, and trying to give better solutions from what most of the citizens thought as a solution. We see the play how Salas wanted revenge to the man who organized her kidnapping and rape. Most of the Chilean citizens in the early 1990s wanted revenge for the trauma (Munro 10). People believe justice can only be done by punishing the people that mistreated them in the previous regime. Gerardo Escobar is in charge of the investigations regarding the criminals of the past regime and identifying the bodies of the victim. The problem is the government through Escobar is giving amnesty to the worst criminal offenders. Salas is one of the victims and does not see it fit to give amnesty to the offenders. The situation between Salas and her husband becomes complicated because of this situation. There are questions that require answers in order for Salas to move forward. They do not know whether the doctor was her captor or he is just an innocent man that is mistakenly confused with the real captor. Salas is stuck on having revenge on the man that tortured her over fifteen years ago that she may be confused about the real captor. Salas had never seen the face of the man that tortured her; this fact makes it difficult to know the truth about Dr. Miranda. Although the crime happened more than ten years ago, Salas feels and still remembers the ordeal like it was yesterday. She has held it in her heart for more than fifteen years. The urge for revenge for her captors shows how little the victims of the previous regime have forgotten. The victims believe justice can only be if the criminals face the law and get punished for their actions. The past helped shape and built up a person and their character for the present. Effects of Revolution Dr. Miranda declares his innocence from the offense he is being accused of committing. Although he is tied up, he manages to crack some jokes and comes out as funny. Paulina Salas does not believe the doctor is innocent, and she is determined to get the truth out of the man. Paulina Salas and her husband Gerardo Escobar were both members of the revolution that was opposing the regime that was a dictatorship. The problem between Salas and Escobar is that only she was a captive of the previous government regarding her opinions and her husband was not caught. Escobar has been trying their whole marriage to make up for the fact that he did not get caught and tortured but has been failing. The torture that Salas went through in the hands of the criminals were chilling and disturbing hence her right to feel bad she went through it alone. Salas talks about the painful experience she had to go through to the womans prison. Salas past clearly has affected her reasoning and her choices in the present. Salas has become violent as we see her torture Dr. Miranda to admit his misdeeds of the past. Torture changes people and their attitudes towards life. Many people become violent after experiencing a torturous event as we see with Salas from the play. Relationships also undergo a bad turn due to torture as Salas relationship with her husband was going through a rocky period because of her experiences. The harm of society giving individuals’ power over helpless people The society becomes destroyed when a few individuals have authority over innocent and helpless people. The power of the previous regime corrupted the whole society as innocent lives of the people. The remaining people were left to suffer and have traumatized memories of their experience. Salas went through the hands of a few individuals who made her suffer tremendously because of her harmless opinions about the governments leadership. The experiences she went through made her a different person from whom she was before. The same applies to when in a different situation now, Salas ties up Dr. Miranda rendering him helpless. The experiences she had corrupted her mind and she does the same exact thing the kidnappers did to her. Salas tortures Dr. Miranda mercilessly without being sure that he is the man that brought her suffering fifteen years ago. The concept that we see is that of a global concept. There is corruption in the society in such a way that helpless people undergo torture every time without a room to help themselves. The evils in our society allow such a thing to happen without putting much concern into it. The concept is still the same from the past and also the present day society. The past haunting the future The electric shocks of the past were a horror to Salas, and the director was able to bring it out in the play. All the characters in the play were suffering in one way or the other. Salas past was haunting her and affecting the decisions she was making. She was still very hurt from her experience and could not forget the pains. Dr. Miranda was experiencing the pain of the torture from Salas for a crime he probably did not commit. He tries to convince Salas of his innocence, but she cannot get to bring herself to think he is innocent. Salas husband is also suffering and going through much pain, as his marriage is not working out due to Salas anger issues. He has tried desperately to make up for not suffering from Salas although he was also a member of the revolution. It does not help that he is investigating the bodies of the victims and offering amnesty to the criminals. The different opinions between him and his wife is causing the man great pain (Dawkins 4). Gerardo is unconvinced that the person who helped him out in time of need was a criminal that tortured his wife. Gerardo thus offers to be Dr. Miranda’s lawyer and attempt to save his life. Salas comes out as an outrageous angry woman who is sure the doctor is her torturer. Her experience is the reason for her anger and can affect her future with the husband. Free from the past Gerardo is desperate to set her wife free from her past after hearing her horrific experience. Gerardo, therefore, sets up a confession by Dr. Miranda to ease Salas from her madness of believing he is guilty of the crime. Salas is satisfied by Dr. Miranda’s confession, and she gets him to write and sign it out. The actions of Salas show how much suffering she had undergone all through these years after her horrible experience. Many people in the Chilean government went through the same torture in General Pinochet’s regime (Vargas-Salgado 39). People did not have a voice, and anyone that tried to speak out about the citizen’s rights got the same torture as Salas. The victims of the torture and horrible cruelty should be able to let go of the past. The play shows us that the only way the people can let go of the horrible past and being free is by seeing the people that put them through hell brought to book. The new government regime in the country did not bring the criminals to book as most of them had amnesty. The victims have not let go of the past, and most of them are still experiencing pain from all the suffering. The play does not however tell us if Dr. Roberto Miranda is guilty of the crimes, or it is just Paulina Salas’ paranoia guiding her. After the written confession, Salas lets Miranda go as she is fulfilled and convinced she got her tortured to confess. Salas has no doubt at all that the man is guilty of the charges. The action by Paulina Salas got her to be relieved of what she has been holding on to for over fifteen years. The play shows how important it is for closure to be able to move forward with a traumatic experience in the past. Finding the man that made her go through hell was Salas’ closure. Many people that go through post-traumatic stress disorder need closure of the torture they went through for a fruitful future. Prior to Dr. Mirandas visit, Paulina Salas enjoyed a quiet and solitude life. She was not a social person and did not talk to any of her neighbors. The solitude and desire to be alone are some of the signs of the effects of torture. Salas was in captivity and could not get out of the state she was at fifteen years ago (Weaver and Jeanne 37). The visit by the doctor was a blessing in disguise for Salas as she was able to vent her anger and relief herself from the past that was making her a different person. Gerardo Escobar comes out as a man of integrity and fairness, but has to make a decision between the truth from the doctor and Paulina. Escobar is a man who knows the difference between right from wrong, and he listens to Salas story about how Dr. Miranda tortured her in the past. Escobar’s career is at stake if Salas ends up killing her suspect but also he must be on his wife’s side that has experienced enough torture already (Davis 1). The man deliberates between the right kind of punishment and the just kind of punishment. He makes the right choice and decides Dr. Miranda will have to defend his innocence in a court of law. Escobar comes out as a wise man who helps both his wife put a closure to her past and save Miranda’s life. The past almost ruined his life and his present career, but he was able to put that under control, and the play had a just ending. Conclusion Death and the Maiden is a play that showed us the importance of a just and democratic society. The past society in the play puts Paulina Salas in an awful amount of pain, thus making her a different person. The woman ended up being hurtful and vengeful and almost killed Dr. Miranda. It is important for someone to undergo the necessary kind of counseling and give justice to victims of crime for a prosperous and satisfying present. Works Cited Ainsworth, Charles. “WORLD STAGES: La Muerte y La Doncella (Death and the Maiden) Review." The buff and blue journal, 12887 (2014): 1-5. Davis, Deryl. La Muerte y La Doncella – Death and the Maiden – at World Stages. 2014 Online Dawkins, Sydney-Chanele. World Stages: International Theatre Festival – ‘La Muerte y La Doncella’ at The Kennedy Center. 2014 Online Dorfman, Ariel. Death and the Maiden (First Ed.). London: Nick Hern Books. 1991. McClennen, Sophia A. “Beyond Death and the Maiden.” Latin American Research Review. 45.1 (2010): 173–188. Print. Munro, Andrew. Recalling Voice: La Muerte y la Doncella. Australia: Griffith University Press. 2001. Vargas-Salgado, Carlos. “Dorfman and Vidal: Some Insights on Political Theater and Human Rights.” Exile, Intellectuals, and the Memory Wars. Hispanic Issues On Line Debates 5 (2012): 33–41. Web. Weaver, James and Jeanne Colleran. “Whose Memory? Whose Justice?: Personal and Political Trauma in Ariel Dorfman’s Death and the Maiden.” Performance Research: A Journal of the Performing Arts. 16.1 (2011): 31–42. Print. Read More