Passion in Peter Shaffers Equus Essay -- Peter Shaffer, Equus

In Peter Shaffers genus Equus, A psychiatrist, M artworkin Dysart, is conductingan probe on Alan Strang. He is learning, through hisinvestigation of Alans horrific crime, ab step up what it really means tomake someone chemical formula and what a psychiatrist really does.It is the job of Dysart to find the motive of Alans actions, nonwithstanding heis not prepared for what he learns. After meeting Alan, Dysart has adream. This dream is of a ritual sacrifice in Greece. Dysarts furorlies in Greece. He has always wanted to believe in something greaterthan himself. He wants to be connected to a greater power and meaning.As he tells Hester on page 82, The finicky, critical husband lookingthrough is art books on mythical Greece. What worship has he everkn stimulate? factual worship Without worship you shrink, its as simple asthat I shrank my own life. He is criticizing himself on not trying toachieve that dream of passion he has always had. In this dream heplays the high chief in the ritual. He is the most important person inthe ritual, signifying a psychiatrist. Slicing open children andripping out their intestines. This signifies taking out what makes aperson unique. This dream personifies what psychiatry is, its fittingeveryone into one mold, taking out their originality and destroyingtheir passion.The next mean solar day he starts his investigation of Alan. Trying to piece unitedly his life to find out how he got to the breaking point. Helearns of the religion that Alan created around Equus. His mother hadbrought him up to be very religious by reading to him from the bibleand Alan drew a connection between horses the Jesus. That was the metrical unit for his religion. The picture of a horse had even replaceda picture of J... ...thersstories. The Chinkle Chankle in the horses mouth was a reaction tothe memory of Trojan on the beach. all these things that Alan couldcomprehend made sense in Equus. Dysart admits this on page 81 I onlyknow that its the core of his life. What else has he got? Many custodyhave less vital with their wives Equus is the core of Alans life,and Dysart knows that. Equus is that ticker of Alans body. If theheart is removed the body cannot continue to live.Dysart was wrong to remove Equus from Alan. He was wrong to kill thepassions that he envied so much. All this for what? Normalcy. Dysartdid not heal Alan he ravaged him. In a world devoid of passion, it isthe most important thing one can have. Every day people go about theirways passionless and now Alan joins them. educate CitedShaffer, Peter. Equus. 1973. New York Penguin Books, 1977.