Dora or Frank, and why ? He says that one particular case has brought doubts about his profession to the surface, and then backs up to where the case began. Shaffer also chose to tell this story in retrospect; instead of following a typical linear path, the story first exposes the audience to Dysart after he has treated Alan, discussing what this experience has done to him. In a place with “a thousand local Gods,” it would be impossible to choose which worshippers were “normal” and which were not—they would all simply be unique. Dysart learns about Alan’s atheist father, Frank Strang, whose strict and stubborn attitude create a strained atmosphere at home, and his devoutly Christian mother, Dora Strang, who told him Bible stories when he was a child. Religion and Worship. GradeSaver, 20 May 2015 Web. Passion. "My students can't get enough of your charts and their results have gone through the roof." The phrase “reined up in old language and old assumptions” is a direct critique of Dysart’s society, which the psychiatrist thinks does not have an adequate vocabulary and value system to fully understand the meaning of existence. The fact that Frank works on Sundays emphasizes Frank’s socialist mentality and strict atheism (which we soon learn about). Psychiatry, Repression, and Madness. The boy’s singing, therefore, appears to be a defense mechanism, a way to distract both him and Dysart from the heart of the matter—why Alan blinded the horses in Dalton’s stable. During conversations with the Strang parents, the psychiatrist also learns that Alan has always been obsessed with images of Christ’s torture, and has always loved horses, though they claim he has also always refused to ride them. The audience is made to feel just like Dysart the psychiatrist throughout this process, unraveling the mystery little by little. A summary of Part X (Section1) in Henrik Ibsen's A Doll’s House. Hesther, for her part, does not seem too concerned about the meaning of “normal.” To her, normality is a vague combination of health and happiness, and she believes this should be the goal of Dysart’s work. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of Equus by Peter Shaffer. Suduiko, Aaron ed. Dora’s argument that Alan should be allowed to watch television because everyone else does exemplifies this force perfectly. Equus: Act 1 Summary & Analysis Next. As an individual within this society, Dysart compares himself to a bridled horse – his thoughts and actions are dictated by the language and assumptions of society. Together, he and Equus ride against those “chains” – the homogenizing and repressive forces of commercial culture represented by the name brands of Hoover, etc. And, perhaps unsurprisingly, this crucial element has to do with a horse. The electronic appliances surround Alan in his workplace contrast starkly with his desire for the virility and nakedness of horses. Study Guide Navigation; About Equus; Equus Summary; Character List; Glossary; Themes; Quotes and Analysis; Summary And Analysis. Her husband is the exact opposite and publicly criticized his wife. She seems to be a voice of reason for Dysart throughout this experience, keeping him rooted in reality and reassuring him that he is doing the right thing. ... Equus » Act One Scene One now; Scan and go. It offers a true vision of Alan in a kind of religious ecstasy, in contrast to the kind of hiding that was implied by the way Alan earlier sang advertising jingles. When his parents get introduced, small pieces of the puzzle are uncovered; perhaps the lack of television in his life had something to do with it, or maybe his mother's devout piety shifted something in his mind. “Would not have made it through AP Literature without the printable PDFs. LitCharts Teacher Editions. Being normal allows you to be part of a society, but you may have to destroy who you truly are in order to do it. The raw sexual energy that Alan displays in the ritual is combined with immense pain that the boy inflicts upon himself, as if Alan can only grant himself pleasure when it is combined with a cleansing force. In it, he was a chief priest in Homeric Greece. Alan, however, cannot consummate the act because his mind is consumed by thoughts of Equus. Hesther knows that other psychiatrists would be “revolted” by Alan’s crime: that is, they would allow their own value judgments about Alan’s behavior to influence their diagnoses and treatments. I believe that Frank and Dora are equally responsible. They're like having in-class notes for every discussion!”, “This is absolutely THE best teacher resource I have ever purchased. Alan’s recorded message reveals the sexual dimension of Alan’s relationship to horses. Alan’s secrecy about horseback riding makes sense, considering Frank’s oppressive attitude toward Alan’s other interests. Dysart’s doubts about the meaning of normality are closely related to his thoughts about Greece. When Alan leads Nugget offstage, Dysart begins to address both the wide audience in the theatre (or readers, for that matter) as well as a small audience seated on a set of tiered seats on the stage. Hesther is established as a firm yet compassionate woman who was empathetic enough to recognize that Alan needed help that time in prison was not going to give him. The equine sport that Alan hates, bound by rules and traditions of high society, is the opposite of the freewheeling, rebellious life of the cowboy, who lives outside of society’s laws. In this scene, Shaffer briefly illustrates the society he criticizes in the play. "Equus Act I, Scenes 1-6 Summary and Analysis". In this scene, Frank draws the first explicit connection between religion and Alan Strang’s violent crime when he mentions Dora’s religiosity and what Frank sees as the “kinky” images of Christ that obsessed his son. Dysart comforts the hysterical and convulsing Alan, assuring the patient that he will be eventually cured of his mental illness. They're like having in-class notes for every discussion!”, “This is absolutely THE best teacher resource I have ever purchased. Act 2. Themes and Colors Key LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Equus, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work. Alan’s love of Westerns—a genre that celebrates man’s freedom and the special bond between a man and his horse—is yet another important influence. Buy Study Guide. The doctor’s invasion of his privacy prompts Alan to probe into the Dysart’s own life, which makes the psychiatrist grow defensive as well. The fictitious genealogy that he comes up with is a combination of the children’s tales and Biblical stories Dora told him when he was little; it highlights the extent to which his mother and Christianity have influenced him. But the fact that he sings advertising jingles introduces television and consumer culture as powerful forces that pervade society and hide deeper feeling, from both others and ourselves. From the creators of SparkNotes, something better. Learn exactly what happened in this chapter, scene, or section of A Doll’s House and what it means. Firstly, though Alan is the subject of the play, Shaffer chose to have Dysart be the narrator, rather than the boy himself. Not affiliated with Harvard College. Most of the action takes place in this hospital—specifically in psychiatrist Martin Dysart’s office. At this point, we are led to believe that Alan’s experience with the horse on the beach was so painful that he was afraid to ride a horse again. Modern Society and Normality. Dysart tries and fails to engage with Alan's singing, so he calls for the nurse to take Alan to the private bedroom where he will be staying. Dysart tells Hesther that after a few days, Alan finally stopped singing and began to talk. Though Alan clearly has a complex relationship to horses and women, his infantile name-calling at the end of the scene also demonstrates that he his incapable of dealing maturely with these emotions. Caught between the dullness of modern society and the horror of human passion, Dysart stares out into the darkness, utterly ambivalent. Hesther swears that there is something “special” about Alan, which Dysart does not believe until he meets Alan for the first time and is amazed by his stare. Act One Scene One Synopsis of Scene 1. GradeSaver, 20 May 2015 Web. Find a summary of this and each chapter of Equus! He says that he himself feels like this horse: reined up, his head held at the wrong angle so he cannot see anything but the path in front of him. Ashamed and embarrassed, he chases Jill out of the stable and then blinds the horses with a hoof-pick in an attempt to silence the mocking and judgmental voice of Equus. Frank’s violent action, which forces Alan off of the horse, is traumatic to the six-year-old boy and powerfully shapes his relationship with horses from that moment on. The patient and his doctor are revealed as opposites: the intensity and physicality of Alan’s love for horses is juxtaposed with Dysart’s loveless and sexless relationship with his wife. Yet, ironically, Frank’s stubborn rejection of his son’s desire to engage with this modern medium alienates Alan from his society and establishes a deeply resentful relationship between father and son. Dora is a devout Christian, who shared her beliefs with her son. Meanwhile, Dora’s stories about Prince and the pagans’ first encounter with horses in the New World give us the first clues as to how Alan came to invent his horse-based religion. This fear persists throughout the play. Struggling with distance learning? Equus study guide contains a biography of Peter Shaffer, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis. He wore a mask and held a sharp knife in front of a round stone, officiating at the sacrifice of a herd of 500 children. Sex and Sexuality. Everyone has private lives they wish to keep to themselves. In this light, television and consumer culture can be seen as religions to which modern society subscribes. In the Bible, “Ha Ha” is a triumphant call. The substitution of the image of Christ’s torture for the photograph of the horse is perhaps the most powerful instance of foreshadowing in the play. The original text plus a side-by-side modern translation of. The fact that he had to hide this love from his father and watch Westerns in secret parallels the private rituals he develops in his own room.
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