good smile in a child’s eyes—all right. It is also the dead stare in a million adults. It both sustains and kills—like a God" (Shaffer 62). Normality exists in a medical textbook; weight of this number‚ intelligence quotient of this quantity‚ social functioning of this quality. Alan Strang and Victor of Aveyron fail to meet standards of normality. In Peter Shaffer’s Equus‚ Dr. Martin Dysart attempts to normalize his patient Alan. In François Truffaut’s L’Enfant Sauvage (1970)‚ Dr. Jean Itard sought
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the beginning of ‘Equus’ one considers the character of Martin Dysart to be normal as he rarely strays outside of societies boundaries. However‚ as we move through the play one discovers there is much more to Martin Dysart than once thought. In reality the themes dealt with in ‘Equus’ challenges our own sense of what is normal. They are as equally as shocking to Dysart‚ yet made justifiable by Alan Strang’s worship for Equus‚ the god of horses. This is why ‘Peter Shaffer’ uses ‘Equus’ as a sort of device
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Equus is as complex as the human mind. Exploring psychological questions such as what does it mean to be normal‚ and should individuality be sacrificed for the sake of normality? Whilst propelling a mystery‚ crime story‚ and a psychological thriller‚ Peter Shaffer’s Equus examines the minds of a young stable boy who has blinded several horses and the aging psychiatrist asked to "cure" him. But would a "cure" really normalize the teenager? A seventeen year old boy‚ Alan is brought to a psychiatric
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In Equus‚ Shaffer uses Dysart’s monologue to explore whether it is better to rehabilitate or incarcerate children whom commit crimes‚ while in Border Crossing‚ Barker uses dialogue. Shaffer uses Dysart’s opening monologue to show that while rehabilitation seems more effective than incarceration‚ it can leave people with no worship or imagination. Dysart states that ‘[he’s] officiating at some... ritual sacrifice… the sacrifice is a herd of children‚’ indicating that Dysart knows that although he
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it includes flashbacks performed onstage (like a movie). However‚ it is an explanatory one with Shaffer ’s notes while read. It is a play consisting of individuals rather than types. Each character has his/her individuality along with his/her own perspective of life. We learn about the characters from what other characters tell about them; from what they tell about themselves; as well as from Shaffer ’s explanation about them within parentheses. Although it is an open ended play it goes far from
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Equus Peter Shaffer Online Information For the online version of BookRags’ Equus Premium Study Guide‚ including complete copyright information‚ please visit: http://www.bookrags.com/studyguide-equus/ Copyright Information ©2000-2007 BookRags‚ Inc. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. The following sections of this BookRags Premium Study Guide is offprint from Gale’s For Students Series: Presenting Analysis‚ Context‚ and Criticism on Commonly Studied Works: Introduction‚ Author Biography‚ Plot Summary‚ Characters
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1. Describe some of the major themes that are present in Equus by Peter Shaffer. One theme that can be easily seen in Equus by Peter Shaffer is sanity and insanity. We can see examples of this theme in the sessions between Dysart and Alan. The reader can see the behavior changes of Alan and as well as Dysart’s. Another theme that can be seen is freedom‚ when Alan blinds the horses and “frees” himself from them. Also the theme of worship and loyalty can be spotted throughout the play in Alan. 2
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Equus by Peter Shaffer 1973 Royal National Theatre Is Passion a Worthwhile Price to Pay? With its minimalistic set design‚ small cast‚ and a stage with nearly no lighting‚ Peter Shaffer’s play Equus relies heavily on a masterfully written script to spread its message with the audience. The play is “neither great theatre nor bad psychology‚ but it has elements of both” (Witham). With the assistance of the character Martin Dysart‚ a child psychologist‚ the play analyzes the parental‚ religious
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Peter Shaffer’s play Equus is about Alan Strang and his perception on horses. Alan is currently being treated by a Martin Dysart‚ his psychiatrist‚ for blinding six horses. His psychiatrist tries to get Alan to explain what was going on and he eventually begins to open up. When Alan was a child‚ his mother was a Christian who read the bible to him every day. One day‚ his father destroyed a picture of the crucifixion of Jesus and Alan decided to replace it with a picture of a horse. During Alan’s
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The author of Equus‚ Peter Shaffer‚ explores the idea of differing views of Religion by showing contrasting characters and conflicting points of view. Specifically focusing on how showing the contrasting ideas of sanity and insanity in regards to Alan and Dysart. These techniques of contrasting characters and contrasting points of view are used to explore the main idea of what is normal. The issue with points of view in Equus is that the characters all believe they are right and that their view
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