Character Analysis: Considering The Costs Of Liberation In Dürrenmatt '

When Freedom Isn’t Free: Considering the Costs of Liberation in Dürrenmatt’s The Visit

The life of Claire Zachanassian of Friedrich Dürrenmatt’s The Visit is an endless pursuit of liberation – she offers the people of her depression-stricken hometown one million dollars in return for the death of her high school sweetheart, protagonist Alfred Ill. Claire believes that Ill’s death will justify the wrong she was done so many years ago when Ill testified against her in court and claimed to not be the father of her child, tacitly sentencing her to many a year spent in brothels. No matter how Claire tries to liberate herself from the past, however, the means she uses in order to liberate herself end up hurting her as well as those who initially
The Guellen townspeople are initially appalled at Claire’s offer, the mayor proudly telling Claire that “in the name of all citizens of Guellen, I reject your offer; and I reject it in the name of humanity. We would rather have poverty than blood on our hands”(Dürrenmatt 39). Claire, however, has a different plan in mind. When Guellen’s doctor and schoolmaster try to talk Claire out of demanding the bloody price of Ill’s death in return for her one million dollar offer, Claire politely but firmly assures them that “the world turned me into a whore, I shall turn the world into a brothel” (67). This is exactly what Claire does. Despite how repulsed the town is by the unethical terms of the offer, the town members ultimately cave in to the point that when they gather in order to vote on whether or not to accept Claire’s offer, all but
Ill vote in favor of accepting it. Claire also convinces the town’s gymnast to strangle Ill, the doctor to diagnose this cause of death as a heart attack, and the policeman into “[winking] a blind eye” (22) so that her unethical deed of paying one million dollars for the murder will
Claire explicitly tells Guellen, “I’m buying myself justice” (36) as she pays them off in order to kill Ill and free herself from her past. Bribery, forcing someone to do something in return for money, is by all means imprisoning. The Guelleners become willing to sacrifice their morals and aid in the process of liberating Claire only at the point at which Claire offers them financial compensation. The town, facing abject destitution, has no choice but to go along with Claire’s proposal – and Claire knows this. She intentionally imprisons the Guelleners as well as Alfred Ill –terminating a life perhaps being the most imprisoning condition a human can inflict upon another living organism – in order to obtain the liberation she has so long desired. The means she takes in order to free herself, however, also imprison her own well being. With blood on her hands, Claire’s soul is now anything but a clean slate and she is instead subject to a lifetime of a past coming back to haunt her. Claire is not able to create a scenario in which she liberates herself without