THE DIONYSIAC RUPTURE IN EQUUS: A NIETZSCHEAN PERSPECTIVE ON PETER SHAFFER’S MODERN TRAGEDY

Year 2024, Volume: 64 Issue: 1, 704 - 732, 25.06.2024

Gökhan Albayrak

https://doi.org/10.33171/dtcfjournal.2024.64.1.28

Abstract

This paper aims to explore Peter Shaffer’s ritualistic play Equus (1973) by means of utilising Nietzsche’s interpretation of ancient Greek tragedy which is based on the collision between the Apollonian impulse and the Dionysian impulse. Equus tells the story of Martin Dysart, a psychiatrist, who struggles to treat a young man, Alan Strang, who has a mystical fascination with horses and blinds six horses. This study argues that Alan represents the Dionsyian principle while Martin embodies the Apollonian principle, and that the clash between the two forces leads to tragedy. The Dionysian impulse is an urge towards obliteration of boundaries, dissolution of individual selves, excess, intoxication, and ecstatic experience of oneness whereas the Apollonian impulse gestures toward drawing and maintaining boundaries, individuality, distinction and discreteness. Alan is a Dionysian character who ecstatically experiences a sense of oneness with horses through bacchic frenzy. By contrast, Martin is an Apollonian character who attemtps to give a form to this chaotic force and whose sense of purpose as a psychiatrist is disrupted by his patient’s mystical experience of primordial unity with horses. As an antagonistic force that shatters Martin’s sense of meaning in life, Alan and his Dionysiac state compel Martin to rethink about his life and his profession. This paper contends that Martin is the protagonist of this play who, as the embodimentof the modern subject, experiences the battle between the Dionsyian impulse and the Apollonian impulse and thus undergoes a tragic moment in his life.

Keywords

Peter Shaffer, Equus, Nietzsche, Apollo, Dionysus, Tragedy, Conflict, Modern Subject

KÜHEYLAN ADLI OYUNDA DİONİZYAK YARILMA: PETER SHAFFER’IN MODERN TRAJEDİSİNE NİETZSCHE ÜZERİNDEN BİR BAKIŞ

Abstract

Bu makale, Peter Shaffer’ın Küheylan (1973) adlı rituelistik oyununu, Nietzsche’nin Apolloncu dürtü ve Dionysosçu dürtü arasındaki çatışmaya dayanan antik Yunan tragedyasına dair yorumunu kullanarak incelemeyi amaçlamaktadır. Küheylan atlara karşı mistik bir hayranlığı olan ve altı atı kör eden Alan Strang’i tedavi etmeye çalışan psikiyatrist Martin Dysart’ın hikâyesini anlatmaktadır. Bu çalışma, Alan’ın Dionysos ilkesini, Martin’in ise Apollon ilkesini temsil ettiğini ve iki güç arasındaki çatışmanın trajediyi doğurduğunu öne sürmektedir. Dionysosçu dürtü, sınırların silinmesine, silikleşmesine, bireysel benliklerin çözülmesine, aşırılığa, sarhoşluğa ve bütünlük hissinin esrikleştirici deneyimine yönelik bir dürtü iken, Apolloncu dürtü sınırları çizmeye, belirlemeye ve sürdürmeye, bireyselliğe, farklılığa ve münferitliğe yönelen bir dürtüdür. Alan, Baküs şenliklerine özgü coşkunluk aracılığıyla, atlarla bir olma duygusunu vecd halinde yaşayan Dionysosçu bir karakterdir. Buna karşılık, Martin bu kaotik kudrete bir biçim vermeye çalışan ve bir psikiyatrist olarak hayatındaki amaç duygusu, hastasının atlarla yaşadığı mistik, ezeli, kadim bir hemhal olma deneyimi tarafından alt üst edilen Apolloncu bir karakterdir. Martin’in hayattaki anlam duygusunu paramparça eden karşıt bir güç olarak Alan ve onun Dionysosçu durumu, Martin’i yaşamı ve mesleği hakkında yeniden düşünmeye zorlamaktadır. Bu makale, Dionysosçu dürtü ve Apolloncu dürtü arasındaki savaşı, modern özneyi tecessüm eden birisi olarak deneyimleyen ve böylece hayatında trajik bir an yaşayan Martin’in bu oyunun ana karakteri olduğunu iddia etmektedir.

Keywords

Peter Shaffer, Küheylan, Nietzsche, Apollo, Dionysos, Trajedi, Çatışma, Modern Özne

References

• Bal, M. (2022). Peter Shaffer’s Equus and equine-assisted psychotherapy (EAP). Litera: Journal of Language, Literature and Culture Studies, 32 (2) , 601-620. DOI: 10.26650/LITERA2021-1028065.
• Benjamin, W. (1969). Illuminations: essays and reflections. (H. Zohn, Trans.). New York: Schocken Books. Berger, J. (1991). About looking. New York: Vintage.
• Bowlby, R. (2007). Freudian mythologies: Greek tragedy and modern identities. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Burnham, D. and Martin J. (2010). Nietzsche’s the birth of tragedy: A reader’s guide. London and New York: Continuum.
• Bushnell, R. (2005). Introduction. In R. Bushnell (Ed.), A companion to tragedy (pp. 1-4). Oxford: Blackwell. Cartledge, P. (1997). ‘Deep plays’: theatre as process in Greek civic life. In P. E. Easterling (Ed.). The Cambridge companion to Greek tragedy (pp. 3-35). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Chaudhuri, U. (1984). The spectator in drama/drama in the spectator, Modern Drama, 27, 281-323.
• Corello, A. V. (1986). Equus: The ritual sacrifice of the male child. Psychoanalytic Review, 73 (2), 191-211. PMID: 3092264.
• Deleuze, G. and Félix G. (1987). A thousand plateaus: Capitalism and schizophrenia. (B. Massumi, trans.). Minneapolis and London: University of Minnesota Press.
• Daniels, P. R. (2013). Nietzsche and the birth of tragedy. New York: Routledge.
• Eagleton, T. (2003). Sweet violence: The idea of the tragic. Malden, MA: Blackwell.
• Easterling, P. E. (1997). A show for Dionysus. In P. E. Easterling (Ed.), The Cambridge companion to Greek tragedy (pp. 36-53). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Freud, A. (1966). The ego and the mechanisms of defense. Madison: International University Press.
• George, G. D. (1999). The disruption of health: Shaffer, Foucault, and ‘the normal’. Journal of Medical Humanities, 20(4), 231-45.
• Gianakaris, C. J. (1992). Peter Shaffer. London: Macmillan.
• Glen, J. (1976). Alan Strang as an adolescent: A discussion of Peter Shaffer’s Equus. International Journal of Psychoanalytic Psychoterapy, 5, 473-87. PMID: 955799.
• Goldhill, S. (1997). Modern critical approaches to Greek tragedy. In P. E. Easterling (Ed.), The Cambridge companion to Greek tragedy (pp. 324-47). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Geuss, R. (1999). Introduction. In R. Geuss and R. Speirs (Eds.), The birth of tragedy and other writings. (R. Speirs, Trans.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Karadas, F. (2020). Weaving and the tarot as Apollonian repressive mechanisms in Tennyson’s “The Lady of Shalott” and Carter’s “The Lady of the House of Love”. Söylem Filoloji Dergisi, 5 (1), 160-75.
• Klein, D. A. (1993). Peter Shaffer. New York: Twayne Publishers.
• Lenson, D. (1987). The birth of tragedy: A commentary. Boston, MA: Twayne Publishers.
• MacMurraugh-Kavanagh, M. K. (1998). Peter Shaffer: Theatre and drama. Basingstoke: Macmillan.
• Murray, A. S. (1995). Who's who in mythology: Classic guide to the ancient world. London: Bracken Books.
• Nietzsche, F. (1999). The birth of tragedy and other writings. (R. Speirs, Trans.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Otto, W. F. (1965). Dionysus: myth and cult. (R. B. Palmer, Trans.). Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
• Oxford English Dictionary. (n. d.). Le petit mort. In oed.com dictionary. Retrieved August 20, 2023, from https://www.oed.com/search/dictionary/?scope=Entries&q=petit+mort
• Plunka, G. A. (1988). Peter Shaffer: Roles, rites, and rituals in the theatre. Ontario: Associated University Press.
• Porter, J. I. (2005). Nietzsche and tragedy. In R. Bushnell (Ed.), A companion to tragedy (pp. 68-87). Oxford: Blackwell.
• Poole, A. (2005). Tragedy: A very short introduction. New York: Oxford University Press.
• Roche, M. W. (2005). The greatness and limits of Hegel’s theory of tragedy. In R. Bushnell (Ed.), A companion to tragedy. (pp. 51-67). Oxford: Blackwell.
• Sallis, J. (1991). Crossings: Nietzsche and the space of tragedy. Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press.
• Seaford, R. (2005). Tragedy and Dionysus. In R. Bushnell (Ed.), A companion to tragedy (pp. 25-38). Oxford: Blackwell.
• Shaffer, P. (1977). Equus. New York: Penguin.
• Sourvinou-Inwood, C. (2005). Greek tragedy and ritual. In R. Bushnell (Ed.), A companion to tragedy (pp. 7-24). Oxford: Blackwell.
• Stacy, J. R. (1976). The sun and the horse: Peter Shaffer’s search for worship. Educational Theatre Journal, 28(3), 325-37. doi:10.2307/3206422.
• Taylor, J. R. (1974). Peter Shaffer. London: Longman.
• Weber, M. (2004). The vocation lectures. (R. Livingstone, Trans.). Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company.
• Woodward, A. (2015). Becoming-animal in Shaffer’s Equus. Deleuze Studies 9 (2), 231-56. doi: 10.3366/ dls.2015.0184.
• Yeats, W. B. (1961). Essays and introductions. London and Basingstoke: Macmillan.