Substituting Pain for Passion in Peter Shaffer’s Equus Essay

Both of the authors exploit their characters by using them to slowly leech the identity of their protagonists which ends in the protagonists’ loss of identity. They do this to show how society is always trying to conform others. In both books, society tries to conform the characters into what they believe is best for them. This can be seen in Equus when Dysart promises, “It’s all over now, Alan. It’s all over now. He’ll [Equus] go away now… You are going to be well. I’m going to make you well, I promise you.” (Shaffer 2 35). Shaffer uses his character Dysart to supposedly “cure” Alan into a person who is accepted by society. However, Shaffer creates another purpose for his character Dysart. Shaffer exploits Dysart to reveal how society’s “cure” for Alan is more destructive than it is helpful. Understanding what this will do to Alan, Dysart declares,

Throughout Shakespeare’s many works, mental illnesses have played an undeniable part in many of them, especially his tragedies. From Lady Macbeth hallucination of a bloody spot leading to her suicide, to Hamlet’s faked illness and Ophelia’s very real illness, afflictions of the mind are featured prominently in the Bard of Avalon’s many works. Still, in the Elizabethan era, understanding of mental illness was rudimentary at best, as were the methods of treating it. During the Middle Ages and Elizabethan Era, numerous theories about mental disorders and how to treat them abounded. Three plays of Shakespeare’s that feature mental illness most prominently are King Lear, Hamlet, and Macbeth, while also managing to showcase the conception of

In Arthur Miller's play The Crucible, Reverend Hale states " No principle however glorious is worth dying for ". I strongly disagree with this statement and so do others. First off, there are countless examples throughout history of people putting their lives on the line for what they believe in. Secondly, in the play The Crucible there are many people such as John Proctor, Rebecca Nurse, and Giles Corey who would rather die than to cowardly admit to witchcraft just so they won't be killed.

Why do we suffer? Humans have spent years searching for meaning in the grievous events that happen in life. Some find comfort through religions that give reason to tragedy and teach that suffering is not always eternal. Others just accept that this is the way the world is and then do their best to adapt to that reality. Religions and philosophies, like Buddhism and stoicism, may try to teach its followers how to end their pain, because no one likes hurting. However, suffering is not necessarily a bad thing. It is painful, but suffering can bring new levels of meaning and appreciation to happiness. Pain is inevitable for anyone who cares about the people or things in his/her life. But if we were to eliminate suffering then life would become meaningless, because real joy is not possible without the risk of pain, and those who find contentment after enduring some tribulations appreciate their joy much more.

Though the family did not turn to violence like the Misfit, they still had their own set of issues. The other members of the family seem to be embodiments of society’s most self-interested and materialistic. O’Connor illustrates that with each generation of this family, there were no positive role models. Each generation had no effective parent to exhibit the correct way to function in society. Each generation then was stuck in

Initially, Reyes begins her article with an emotional appeal as she shares with her audience a story about a man named Brent Kroeger, who so happens to be a stay at home father. Consequently as he was viewing vulgar comments concerning stay at home fathers, Brent was troubled “wondering if his friends [thought] those things about him” claiming

The protagonist holds to his immature beliefs that by looking, acting and maintaining a false façade as a “dangerous character” (Boyle,114) it would bestow on him an the badness he desires.

Sexual transgression and sexual exploration is one of the most highly talked about topics in today’s society. The path to sexual liberation within society begins with experimentation and exploration, followed by personal acceptance, and finally, although not always, societal acceptance. Although we have come a long way on the path of acceptance of different sexual transgressions, the stories of Kate Chopin’s The Awakening, Tennessee Williams’ “Vieux Carre,” and Lyle Saxon’s “The Centaur Plays Croquet” show that this type of acceptance has not always been the case. Each story plays an integral role when looking at the steps on the path to societal acceptance. Chopin 's story dives deep into the area of experimentation and exploration, whereas Saxon 's story looks more at the areas of personal acceptance, and Williams ' story lies more along the area of societal acceptance, and whether or not acceptance is always the end result.

In addition to the extreme limitations of their daily routine, both characters in MacLeod’s and Gilman’s short stories are subject to their significantly overbearing and oppressive spouses. The domineering management of their lives compels these characters to engage in either reading or writing, as an act of defiance towards their authority wielding partners. This minor form of rebellion allows the characters to feel as though they have at least some aspect of control over their lives. The father in MacLeod’s story is aware of his wife’s aversion to and disapproval of reading; however, this antagonism does not deter him from spending all his minimally free-time devouring books in his room. The narrator notes that his mother “despised the room and all it stood for,” yet his father remained inside it every night while “the goose-necked lamp illuminated the pages in his hands,” in an act of passive-aggressive opposition towards his wife’s

In both Equus and Amadeus Shaffer shows insanity in his characters. He does this not only to stress the characters feelings and state of mind of which they are in. Also, he attempts to cast a blanket over the reader; it gives the reader the feeling that Shaffer designed the characters to express and reflect the beauty in insanity and to convey the ugliness on normality.

This paper provides an insightful look into the psychological unraveling of the mind that can take place in certain moments of people’s lives, in particular the lives of a jealous husband and a mentally tormented woman. The three stories, the “Jealous Husband Returns in Form of a Parrot” by Robert Olen Butler, the “Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, and “The Tell-Tale-Heart” by Edgar Allen Poe, contain a variety of symbols that give insight into the human psyche and further show how various elements can relate to or foreshadow mental imbalances. Additionally, the stories’ respective tones and themes also aid in steering the stories in the right direction. Thus, the question

Adolf Hitler envisioned a society in which every man, woman, and child would be willing to sacrifice themselves in order to better their nation and people as a whole. Hitler had a vision of the unification of Germany and its citizens, where each person would struggle and adapt in order to reach their goal of world dominance. Ernst Junger in his essay, “On Pain”, relates the struggle of pain with neutrality by stating that pain is a test that defines a person’s basic values in life. Junger addresses the fact that warfare can change a man and force him to overcome one’s pain with the will to survive. “There are apparently attitudes that enable man to become detached from the realms of life where pain reigns as absolute master. This detachment

Even before the medical field of psychology was recognized, American writer Edgar Allan Poe shone a spotlight on some of the complicated mechanisms of the human brain in his works. Living a troubled life himself, Poe has a keen understanding of the complexities of the human brain and their effects on thoughts, feelings, and behavior. At first glance, Poe’s writing usually tends to creates a dark and gloomy atmosphere, one that immediately foreshadows doom for the protagonist. Poe’s understanding of the human mind and the elements of psychology are clearly marked in stories such as “The Cask of Amontillado.” In Poe’s stories, he presents complex characters who become susceptible to the diverse forces of the mind such as reverse psychology, guilt, superstition, perversity, revenge, and schizophrenia. First published in 1846, “The Cask of Amontillado” is an instance of Poe combining psychological elements of two distinct characters. In “The Cask of Amontillado,” Montresor’s brilliant use of reverse psychology, and his perversity and guilt are what forms him as an unbalanced, psychologically driven character.

In 21st century society mental illness is a “hot topic” as new information comes out regarding the effects and symptoms. Mental illness really began to be acknowledged and treated in the 16th century, with the establishment of hospitals and asylums. Brown began writing Wieland around this same time; when mental illness was making the transition between witchcraft/supernatural to clinical. Brown incorporates this transition period into Wieland by mixing the idea of religious fanaticism and mental illness as the driving force for Theodore’s actions. Theodore Wieland, the main character in the novel, is a very religious man, who spends most of his time secluded and ruminating on knowledge and religion. Theodore is said to have very similar qualities as his father, who early on in the novel suffers a horrible and mysterious accident in the family Temple. Their father’s death is continuously referenced throughout the novel as being either of supernatural occurrence or of self-implication. Brown uses contrasting religious language, visionary statements and imaginary voices during the novel to allude to Theodore’s mental illness. Ultimately this illness is what resulted in his actions to murder is wife and children and in the larger picture influences many people around the world today.

The multidimensional integrative approach to psychopathology indicates Eren’s vulnerability to developing psychological disorders exists in biological, psychological, emotional, and developmental categories (Barlow et al., 2017). The novel hints at Eren’s allegedly dead father, Dr. Grisha Jäger exhibiting elements of schizophrenia as he hallucinated about Titans from working as a doctor during Titan battles (Isayama, 2014). Subsequently, the diathesis