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"EQUUS"
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(Peter Shaffer). Analyzes repression of young boy by his parents & psychiatrist, his sexuality, spirituality & love for horses.... More...
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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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Because of this,Dysart feels guilty when he must repress Alan's wild, free spirit and thusmake him fit into organized society. Nevertheless, Martin Dysartexpresses the greatest amount of guilt and the greatest sense ofresponsibility of all the characters in the play. However, Alan is repressed and forced to fit intoa rational society which is represented by his father, his mother, and thepsychiatrist Dysart. Thus, she helped the boy make a link between sex,religion, and horses in his mind by teaching him "that sex is not just abiological matter, but spiritual as well" (Shaffer 4 ). Alan's father, mother, and psychiatrist, all have different degreesof responsibility or blame in causing the boy's plight. Ironically, however,it can be seen that the more to blame the character is, the less willingthat character is to acknowledge his or her responsibility. This conflict is broughtabout as a result of the boy being simultaneously repressed by "a religiousmother and an atheistic, literal-minded father" (Weightman 45). Frank Strang isthe most responsible, because he is the most repressive of the three; DoraStrang is somewhat less to blame than her husband because her role issomewhat less intentional; and Martin Dysart is really not responsible atall for Alan's condition, even though he has been given the role of curingthe boy and making him fit back into society again. Later, it can be seen that themother was an important influence when Alan replaced God and Christ withthe symbol of the horse. The face on each of the children is that ofAlan, and Dr. Dysart realizes that he is being haunted by his awarenessthat he is destroying Alan's natural self by "curing" him. Themother, Dora Strang, represents the emotional aspects of organizedreligion. New York: Avon, 1975.Weightman, John. However, Dysart compares himself not to God or father, but ratherto Alan. Inaddition, the father is responsible for setting off Alan's finalpsychological crisis by not dealing gracefully with his son at thepornography theater. Michael Billington in The Guardianhas claimed that Equus is concerned with a clash between instinct andreason which shows that "although organized faith is usually based onneurosis, a life without some form of worship or belief is ultimatelybarren" (Cooke and Page 55). In addition, the horse becomes a sexual symbolin Alan's mind as he grows toward manhood. When he becomes impotent during hisattempt to have sex with Jill in the stable, Alan experiences the finalbreakdown which brings all his confused ideas on sex and religion together. He realizes that he will be able to cure the boy; however, herealizes that the cure will be at the price of cutting Alan off from hisnatural spiritual self. Alan responds to this conflict by rejecting the values of bothparents and identifying himself instead with the symbol of the horse. As such, she inadvertently teaches Alan to identify with thesufferings of Christ. This is because Dysartrealizes that he too, like the father and the mother, is responsible in hisown way for repressing Alan's natural tendencies and forcing him to fitinto society. Dora Strang was responsible for giving Alan his perverse ideasabout religion in the first place. In fact, Alan's decision to blind the horses can be related to his beliefthat the horses represent God and thus have the ability to watch him at alltimes. Dysart feelsfurther guilty because he wishes that he himself could be free like Alanwas when he was riding naked on horseback. Thus, like both the father andthe mother, Dysart is responsible for repressing Alan and forcing him tofit into the "normal" realm of society. Peter Shaffer. Dysart even experiences nightmaresrelating to his feelings in which he sees himself cutting up children in abizarre sacrificial ritual. Alan's first sexual memoryoccurred when he rode with a stranger on the back of a horse at the beach.His father's reaction was to snatch him off the back of the horse and tochastise him. "Christ as Man & Horse." Encounter XLIV (March 1975): 44-46.----------------------- 8 My achievement, however, is morelikely to make a ghost!" (Shaffer 123-124). Equus. Throughhis cold rationality, the father "oppresses Alan more than anyone elsedoes" (Plunka 153). Frank Strang, as the primary source of thisrepression, is the most responsible character in terms of causing Alan'sbreakdown. Frank Strang refuses to allow his son to watchtelevision and also represses the child in a number of other differentways. Later, Alan's father destroys a picture of Christ that Alanloved and replaces it with a picture of a staring horse. Works CitedCooke, Virginia, and Malcolm Page. The father, Frank Strang, is opposed to organizedreligion; nevertheless, he himself is a symbol of the authoritarian aspectsof organized religion in that he demands blind obedience from his son. The views of critics on the meaning of Equus have supported thisthesis. Later still, Alandiscovers sexual ecstacy in his nude nighttime rides on the horses at thestable where he works. Later, in the hospital, it is evident that Dr. Dysart has beengiven the role of becoming a new God and father to replace the failed horsesymbol. "Equus." Plays and Players 23 (June 1976): 29.Klein, Dennis A. Her real fault, ofcourse, was not in teaching Alan about the spiritual nature of sex, butrather in being too repressed herself to really teach Alan what that means. Boston: Twayne, 1979.Plunka, Gene A. Although Frank Strang is the most repressive figure in Alan's life,it cannot be denied that his mother also plays a vital role in his eventualbreakdown. Thus, when he sees his father at thetheater, "he realized that his mother was the cause of his father's havingto go to such a place" (Klein 122). Thus, FrankStrang, although he is most directly responsible for Alan's problem, isalso the one character who is least willing to accept the blame. When Alan rejects the values of both hismother and father, he transfers his ideals about both God and father tohorses. Rutherford: Fairleigh Dickinson UP, 1988.Shaffer, Peter. As a result, Alan is driven tothe irrational act of blinding the horses, "thus striking out at his ownsexual insecurities" (Plunka 16 ). In this regard, Alan mimics his mother at one point in the play byrepeating her words: "God sees you, Alan. File on Shaffer. At the same time, Alan's father does all that he canto repress this fascination and to keep the mother from "dosing it(religion] down the boy's throat" (Shaffer 39). Nevertheless, throughout the course of the play, Alan's fathercontinually refuses to accept this responsibility. In particular, she gave Alan his earlyfascination with the sufferings of Christ. Infact, he really had nothing at all to do with causing Alan's confusedfeelings on sexuality and spirituality. In this way,Alan identifies with the horse because he too feels that he is beingrepressed and subjugated. Peter Shaffer: Roles, Rites, and Rituals in the Theater. The character Alan Strang is ayoung boy who yearns for the sexual and spiritual ecstacy that heassociates with horses. The character of the psychiatrist, Martin Dysart,reflects the conflict between ecstacy and rationality by being the personwho "cures" Alan, thereby destroying the boy's natural feelings for thesake of making him fit into the society at large. In terms of the plot of Equus, Frank Strang's most damagingrepressions are those relating to Alan's idealized image of horses. Although she is clearly less to blame thanher husband, at the same time, Dora Strang exhibits more guilt than Frank.In addition, she seems to be somewhat more willing to accept responsibilitythan her husband despite the scene in which she complains to Dr. Dysart formaking her feel guilty when it is really the "Devil" who is to blame forAlan's plight (Shaffer 91). Thus, "Alan's vision of horses stems partly fromhis mother's reading of the horse imagery in the Book of Job" (Plunka 156). Because he sees the horses as representatives of apowerful God, Alan feels that they are watching him in the stable duringhis sexual impotence with the girl Jill. The play Equus by Peter Shaffer deals with what Grant has called "theforces of reason against ecstacy" (29). However, whereas Alan's fatherrepresses him through rationalized authority, his mother represses him withher idealized religious beliefs, and Dr. Dysart represses him by hisefforts to "cure" him of his wild, untamed nature, thus forcing Alan to fitinto a world where such elements of spirituality are denied. These experiences work together to create a link inAlan's mind "between his nascent sexuality, his religious feeling andhorses" (Weightman 45). In the course of the play, it is made clear that Dysart hasa strong appreciation for the ecstatic elements in ancient Greek religionin which the gods and goddesses are alive in nature. Each of these charactersthus maintain tendencies which serve to repress Alan's natural growth inone way or another. God's got eyes everywhere"(Shaffer 56). In Dr. Dysart's final soliloquy, he claims: "Mydesire might be to make this boy an ardent husband a caring citizen--aworshipper of abstract and unifying God. Of all the principal characters in the play Equus, Dr. Martin Dysartis obviously the one least responsible for causing Alan's problem. Thus, it is evident that Alan's mother, like his father, is responsible inpart for causing his condition. London: Methuen, 1987.Grant, Steve. Alan's mother was also responsible for giving Alan his earlyideas about sexuality. Thus, in his nightmares, Dysartfeels that Alan's staring face is "accusing him: Alan lives his passions;Dysart does not" (Klein 119). When Alan begins to replace the symbols of God andfather with the symbol of the horse, he realizes that the sharp chain inthe horse's mouth is symbolic of the sufferings of Christ. For example, Grant has noted that the theme of the play iscentered around the question, "how does a society, based on normality,decency and psychic order, reconcile itself to the sense of worship which,though sometimes perverse and destructive, is our only safeguard against awell-regulated robot existence?" (29). The conflict between reason and ecstacy areclearly delineated in the character of Alan. Later, when Alan sees his father at the pornography theater, he makes thelink between his mother's own sexual repression and the sexual repressionsof both his father and himself. ForAlan, the horse serves as a replacement for both his father and for the Godof his mother's religion. As a result, "both parentspush Alan in opposite directions as they demand that he become what theywant him to be" (Plunka 153). Alan'smother is responsible for instilling in him a fascination with thesufferings of Christ.
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