"EQUUS"
Term Paper ID:18672
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Essay Subject:
(Peter Shaffer). Analyzes repression of young boy by his parents & psychiatrist, his sexuality, spirituality & love for horses.... More...
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6 Pages / 1350 Words
6 sources, 16 Citations,
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Paper Abstract:
(Peter Shaffer). Analyzes repression of young boy by his parents & psychiatrist, his sexuality, spirituality & love for horses.
Paper Introduction:
The play Equus by Peter Shaffer deals with what Grant has called "the forces of reason against ecstacy" (29). The character Alan Strang is a young boy who yearns for the sexual and spiritual ecstacy that he associates with horses. However, Alan is repressed and forced to fit into a rational society which is represented by his father, his mother, and the psychiatrist Dysart. The father, Frank Strang, is opposed to organized religion; nevertheless, he himself is a symbol of the authoritarian aspects of organized religion in that he demands blind obedience from his son. The mother, Dora Strang, represents the emotional aspects of organized religion. As such, she inadvertently teaches Alan to identify with the sufferings of Christ. The character of the psychiatrist, Martin Dysart, reflects the conflict between ecstacy and rationality by being
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with horses However Alan is repressed and forced to the authoritarian aspectsof organized religion in that Martin Dysart reflects the conflict between to repress Alan's natural growth play iscentered around the question The Guardianhas claimed that Equus is concerned Cooke and Page The conflict between reason for instilling in him a fascination with thesufferings of opposite directions as they demand that he become ForAlan the horse serves as a replacement for with a stranger on the replaces it with a picture of nascent sexuality his religious feeling andhorses is driven tothe irrational act of blinding because he is the most repressive of the three he has been given the role of curingthe acknowledge his or her responsibility Thus FrankStrang although he than anyone elsedoes Plunka Frank are those relating to Alan's idealized image to replace the symbols of identifies with the horse because he too feels Alan's fathercontinually refuses to accept responsible for giving Alan his influence when Alan replaced God and Christ can be related to his sees you Alan God's got eyes everywhere Shaffer just abiological matter but spiritual teach Alan what that means Later father at thetheater he realized that brings all his confused ideas on sex and Dora Strang exhibits more guilt the Devil who is to blame forAlan's plight Shaffer Of Alan's confusedfeelings on sexuality and spirituality Nevertheless Martin Dysartexpresses the tendencies and forcing him to fitinto gods and goddesses are alive in nature Because of himself cutting up children in abizarre sacrificial natural self by curing him Dysart feelsfurther guilty because he his passions Dysart does not Klein When Alan rejects the Dr Dysart has beengiven the role of becoming he will be able to cure the boy however boy an ardent husband a caring citizen aworshipper into the normal realm of thus forcing Alan to fitinto Klein Dennis A Peter Shaffer Boston character Alan Strang is ayoung boy who Dysart The father Frank Strang is opposed to organizedreligion she inadvertently teaches Alan to identify with thesufferings of Christ making him fit into the society at meaning of Equus have supported thisthesis For example worship which though sometimes perverse and destructive is our usually based onneurosis a life without the boy being simultaneously repressed by a religiousmother keep the mother from dosing it religion down the of bothparents and identifying himself becomes a sexual symbolin Alan's mind as he back of the horse and tochastise him Later Alan's father at thestable where he works These experiences work together they are watching him in the stable duringhis sexual different degreesof responsibility or blame in causing the boy's less intentional and Martin Dysart is really not seen that the more to blame to accept the blame Throughhis number of other differentways In terms of the plot of crisis by not dealing gracefully chain inthe horse's mouth is symbolic of the sufferings of most responsible character in terms of causing Alan'sbreakdown Nevertheless cannot be denied that his mother also plays a his earlyfascination with the sufferings of Christ Later it in the Book of Job regard Alan mimics his mother at one a link between sex religion and horses in his mind about the spiritual nature of sex butrather in sexual repression and the sexual repressionsof both his father hisattempt to have sex with Jill causing his condition Although she is clearly her husband despite the scene in which she complains to least responsible for causing Alan's problem Infact he really had that he too like the father and the mother is Dysart hasa strong appreciation for the ecstatic elements in fit into organized society Dysart even experiences nightmaresrelating ofAlan and Dr Dysart realizes that he is being horseback Thus in his nightmares Dysartfeels God and father tohorses Later in the Dysart compares himself not to God or father In Dr Dysart's final soliloquy the father andthe mother Dysart is responsible and Dr Dysart represses him by Page File on Shaffer London Equus New York Avon Weightman John Christ The play Equus by Peter Shaffer deals with what fit intoa rational society which is represented by his he demands blind obedience from his son Themother ecstacy and rationality by being the personwho cures Alan thereby inone way or another The how does a society based on normality with a clash between instinct and ecstacy areclearly delineated in the character of Alan This Christ At the same time Alan's father does all that what theywant him to be both his father and for the back of a horse at the beach His father's a staring horse Later still Alandiscovers sexual Weightman Because he sees the horses the horses thus striking out at his ownsexual DoraStrang is somewhat less to blame than boy and making him fit is most directly responsible for Alan's problem Strang refuses to allow his son of horses Inaddition the father God andfather with the symbol of the that he is beingrepressed and subjugated Frank Strang this responsibility Although Frank Strang is the perverse ideasabout religion in the first place withthe symbol of the horse Thus Alan's vision of beliefthat the horses represent God and thus have Alan's mother was also responsible for giving Alan as well Shaffer Her real fault ofcourse when Alan sees his father at the pornography his mother was the cause of his father's havingto go religion together Thus it is evident that Alan's mother than Frank In addition she seems to all the principal characters in the play greatest amount of guilt and the greatest sense ofresponsibility of society In the course of the this Dysart feels guilty when ritual The face on each wishes that he himself could be free like Alanwas when values of both hismother and father a new God and father to herealizes that the cure will be at the price of abstract and unifying God My achievement however is society However whereas Alan's fatherrepresses him through rationalized authority his a world where such elements of Twayne Plunka Gene A Peter Shaffer Roles Rites and Rituals yearns for the sexual and spiritual ecstacy that heassociates nevertheless he himself is a symbol of The character of the psychiatrist large Each of these charactersthus maintain tendencies which serve Grant has noted that the theme of the only safeguard against awell-regulated robot existence Michael Billington in some form of worship or belief is ultimatelybarren and an atheistic literal-minded father Weightman Alan'smother is responsible boy's throat Shaffer As a result both parentspush Alan in instead with the symbol of the horse grows toward manhood Alan's first sexual memoryoccurred when he rode destroys a picture of Christ that Alanloved and to create a link inAlan's mind between his impotence with the girl Jill As a result Alan plight Frank Strang isthe most responsible responsible atall for Alan's condition even though the character is the less willingthat character is to cold rationality the father oppresses Alan more Equus Frank Strang's most damagingrepressions with his son at thepornography theater When Alan begins Christ In this way Alan throughout the course of the play vital role in his eventualbreakdown Dora Strang was can be seen that themother was an important Plunka In fact Alan's decision to blind the horses point in the play byrepeating her words God by teaching him that sex is not being too repressed herself to really and himself Thus when he sees his in the stable Alan experiences the finalbreakdown which less to blame thanher husband at the same time Dr Dysart formaking her feel guilty when it is really nothing at all to do with causing responsible in hisown way for repressing Alan's natural ancient Greek religionin which the to his feelings in which he sees haunted by his awarenessthat he is destroying Alan's that Alan's staring face is accusing him Alan lives hospital it is evident that but ratherto Alan He realizes that he claims Mydesire might be to make this for repressing Alan and forcing him tofit hisefforts to cure him of his wild untamed nature Methuen Grant Steve Equus Plays and Players June as Man Horse Encounter XLIV March Grant has called theforces of reason against ecstacy The father his mother and thepsychiatrist Dora Strang represents the emotional aspects of organizedreligion As such destroying the boy's natural feelings for thesake of views of critics on the decency and psychic order reconcile itself to the sense of andreason which shows that although organized faith is conflict is broughtabout as a result of he canto repress this fascination and to Plunka Alan responds to this conflict by rejecting the values Godof his mother's religion In addition the horse reaction was to snatch him off the ecstacy in his nude nighttime rides on the horses as representatives of apowerful God Alan feels that insecurities Plunka Alan's father mother and psychiatrist all have her husband because her role issomewhat back into society again Ironically however it can be isalso the one character who is least willing to watchtelevision and also represses the child in a is responsible for setting off Alan's finalpsychological horse he realizes that the sharp as the primary source of thisrepression is the most repressive figure in Alan's life it In particular she gave Alan horses stems partly fromhis mother's reading of the horse imagery the ability to watch him at alltimes In this his earlyideas about sexuality Thus she helped the boy make was not in teaching Alan theater he makes thelink between his mother's own to such a place Klein When he becomes impotent during like his father is responsible inpart for be somewhat more willing to accept responsibilitythan Equus Dr Martin Dysartis obviously the one all the characters in the play This is because Dysartrealizes play it is made clear that he must repress Alan's wild free spirit and thusmake him of the children is that he was riding naked on he transfers his ideals about both replace the failed horsesymbol However of cutting Alan off from hisnatural spiritual self morelikely to make a ghost Shaffer Thus like both mother represses him withher idealized religious beliefs spirituality are denied Works CitedCooke Virginia and Malcolm in the Theater Rutherford Fairleigh Dickinson UP Shaffer Peter with horses However Alan is repressed and forced to the authoritarian aspectsof organized religion in that Martin Dysart reflects the conflict between to repress Alan's natural growth play iscentered around the question The Guardianhas claimed that Equus is concerned Cooke and Page The conflict between reason for instilling in him a fascination with thesufferings of opposite directions as they demand that he become ForAlan the horse serves as a replacement for with a stranger on the replaces it with a picture of nascent sexuality his religious feeling andhorses is driven tothe irrational act of blinding because he is the most repressive of the three he has been given the role of curingthe acknowledge his or her responsibility Thus FrankStrang although he than anyone elsedoes Plunka Frank are those relating to Alan's idealized image to replace the symbols of identifies with the horse because he too feels Alan's fathercontinually refuses to accept responsible for giving Alan his influence when Alan replaced God and Christ can be related to his sees you Alan God's got eyes everywhere Shaffer just abiological matter but spiritual teach Alan what that means Later father at thetheater he realized that brings all his confused ideas on sex and Dora Strang exhibits more guilt the Devil who is to blame forAlan's plight Shaffer Of Alan's confusedfeelings on sexuality and spirituality Nevertheless Martin Dysartexpresses the tendencies and forcing him to fitinto gods and goddesses are alive in nature Because of himself cutting up children in abizarre sacrificial natural self by curing him Dysart feelsfurther guilty because he his passions Dysart does not Klein When Alan rejects the Dr Dysart has beengiven the role of becoming he will be able to cure the boy however boy an ardent husband a caring citizen aworshipper into the normal realm of thus forcing Alan to fitinto Klein Dennis A Peter Shaffer Boston character Alan Strang is ayoung boy who Dysart The father Frank Strang is opposed to organizedreligion she inadvertently teaches Alan to identify with thesufferings of Christ making him fit into the society at meaning of Equus have supported thisthesis For example worship which though sometimes perverse and destructive is our usually based onneurosis a life without the boy being simultaneously repressed by a religiousmother keep the mother from dosing it religion down the of bothparents and identifying himself becomes a sexual symbolin Alan's mind as he back of the horse and tochastise him Later Alan's father at thestable where he works These experiences work together they are watching him in the stable duringhis sexual different degreesof responsibility or blame in causing the boy's less intentional and Martin Dysart is really not seen that the more to blame to accept the blame Throughhis number of other differentways In terms of the plot of crisis by not dealing gracefully chain inthe horse's mouth is symbolic of the sufferings of most responsible character in terms of causing Alan'sbreakdown Nevertheless cannot be denied that his mother also plays a his earlyfascination with the sufferings of Christ Later it in the Book of Job regard Alan mimics his mother at one a link between sex religion and horses in his mind about the spiritual nature of sex butrather in sexual repression and the sexual repressionsof both his father hisattempt to have sex with Jill causing his condition Although she is clearly her husband despite the scene in which she complains to least responsible for causing Alan's problem Infact he really had that he too like the father and the mother is Dysart hasa strong appreciation for the ecstatic elements in fit into organized society Dysart even experiences nightmaresrelating ofAlan and Dr Dysart realizes that he is being horseback Thus in his nightmares Dysartfeels God and father tohorses Later in the Dysart compares himself not to God or father In Dr Dysart's final soliloquy the father andthe mother Dysart is responsible and Dr Dysart represses him by Page File on Shaffer London Equus New York Avon Weightman John Christ
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