Cruelty and Tragedy: Cathartic Journey in Peter Shaffer's Equus

Öz

The concept of catharsis has evolved much since Aristotle defined it in Poetics as the purgation of feelings such as pity and fear caused by an imitation of a tragic action. As Antonin Artaud argued in Theatre and Its Double, the theatre of cruelty aims to arouse a therapeutic effect in order to discharge the negative feelings of the audience. Although Peter Shaffer's Equus (1973) is widely acknowledged as an example of epic theatre, it also evokes the characteristics of theatre of cruelty with its portrayal of overt violence and its affective/emotional reflections on the main characters. This includes both the purification of feelings and psychological clarification of these characters as represented in the play. The relationship between the psychiatrist Martin Dysart and his patient Alan Strang can be regarded as a mutual play within the play, which makes them each other's audience as well. Relying on Freudian and Artaudian frameworks, this paper aims to illustrate how the play reveals the modern facet of the concept of catharsis by claiming that both Dysart and Alan discharge their negative feelings in a therapeutic relationship.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Peter Shaffer
• Equus
• catharsis
• cruelty
• tragedy

Kaynakça

1. Aristotle. Poetics. Translated by Gerald F. Else, Ann Arbor, 1970.
2. Artaud, Antonin. The Theater and Its Double. Translated by Mary Caroline Richards, Grove, 1958.
3. Chaudhuri, Una. “Spectator in Drama / Drama in Spectator: Peter Shaffer’s Equus.” Contemporary British Drama: 1970–90, edited by Hersh Zeifman and Cynthia Zimmerman, Palgrave Macmillan, 1993, pp. 41–61.
4. Culbertson, Diana. “Sacred Victims: Catharsis in the Modern Theatre.” CrossCurrents, vol. 41, no. 2, 1991, pp. 179–194. Ebner, I. Dean. “The Double Crisis of Sexuality and Worship in Shaffer's Equus.” Christianity and Literature, vol. 31, no. 2, 1982, pp. 29–47.
5. Freud, Sigmund. Interpretation of Dreams. Translated by James Strachey, Avon Books, 1998.
6. ---. “Psychopathic Characters on the Stage.” The Tulane Drama Review, translated by Henry Alden Bunker, vol. 4, no. 3, 1960, pp. 144–148. doi: 10.2307/1124840.
7. Freud, Sigmund, and Josef Breuer. Studies in Hysteria. Translated by Nicola Luckhurst, e-book ed., Penguin Books, 2004.
8. Halliwell, Stephen. The Aesthetics of Mimesis: Ancient Texts and Modern Problems. Princeton University Press, 2002.

9. Lacan, Jacques. The Ego in Freud’s Theory and the Techniques of Psychoanalysis 1954– 1955. Edited by Jacques-Alain Miller, W. W. Norton, 1978.
10. ---. The Four Fundamental Concepts of Psychoanalysis. Edited by Jacques-Alain Miller, W. W. Norton, 1978. MacMurraugh-Kavanagh, M. K. Peter Shaffer: Theatre and Drama. Macmillan, 1998.
11. Shaffer, Peter. Equus. Penguin Books, 1977.
12. Stacy, James R. “The Sun and the Horse: Peter Shaffer’s Search for Worship.” Educational Theatre Journal, vol. 28, no. 3, 1976, pp. 325–337. doi:10.2307/3206422.
13. Turri, Maria Grazia. "Transference and Katharsis, Freud to Aristotle." Int. J. Psychoanal, vol.96, no. 2, 2017, pp. 369–387. doi:10.1111/1745-8315.12243.
14. Vives, Jean-Michel. “Catharsis: Psychoanalysis and the Theatre." Int. J. Psychoanal, vol. 92, no. 4, 2017, pp. 1009–1027. doi:10.1111/j.1745-8315.2011.00409.x.