Equus Through the character of Dysart, the play questions the ultimate use of psychiatry.

steadily in this dreary place. It’s only the extremity of this case that’s made them active’[4]. Dysart has a dream that symbolizes the emotions he has towards his profession. The description of his dream is in no way plain, it is full of details and explanations as to the feelings and doubts he has in real life. ‘In fact, I’m officiating at some immensely important ritual sacrifice, on which depends the fate of the crops or of a military expedition’[5]. The sacrifice in his dream symbolizes the passion Dysart feels he ‘destroys’ in the children he treats. And the ‘crops or military expedition’ stand for the society in which the play is set. He criticizes this society for trying to make everyone fit in this ideal image of being ‘normal’. The two priests mentioned in the dream are the ‘two highly competent psychiatrists’[6], who work in the same hospital as Dysart. This truly emphasizes that Dysart’s dream is about his profession, psychiatry. The feelings that he has in this dream are the same he has in reality. ‘I redouble my efforts to look professional/ if ever those two assistants so much as glimpse my distress – and the implied doubt that this repetitive and smelly work is doing any social good at all – I will be the next across the stone’[7]. This shows that Dysart has emotional doubts. The children who he dissects in his dream can be related to Dysart’s real life situation; he takes out what it is that makes them unique. He takes away their passion.Alan Strang, Dysart’s patient who blinded six horses in one night, can be seen as both emotionally and mentally disturbed. He worshiped horses as if they were gods, more specifically he saw all horses as if they were one and the same horse; Equus. ‘Does he live in all horses or just some?/ All’[8]. He believed that Equus could see all, just like God. Alan felt that having sex with Jill was seen as a sin to his god, he was embarrassed to realize that Equus had seen this. As he asks for forgiveness he realizes that Equus would see everything, everywhere, what-ever he is doing, forever. ‘God seest!/ No more, Equus’[9]. However as we can read what Alan has been through and the difficulties he had to face, we do not read his thoughts but we do see him changing throughout the play. In the beginning of the play, Alan would always sing songs, but at some point he stops doing so and opens up to Dysart. And although he still fights Dysart, and his emotions, he talks more about himself. The things that Alan tells cause Dysart to believe that Alan just like many other patients have an incredible passion and Dysart’s profession does not truly help solving problems; instead it changes people into the acceptable image. And so Alan serves as the main subject of the thoughts of Dysart. As a result Alan’s case has triggered doubts in Dysart, he figures out what he has been missing; passion. In a conversation with Hesther, Dysart realizes that he envies Alan’s experience of life. ‘That’s what his stare has been saying to me all this time. “At least I galloped! When did you?” I’m jealous Hesther’[10]. It’s clear to Dysart that he will never truly understand how the human brain works. And that he, as a psychiatrist, can only see the obvious and nothing behind that. ‘I stand in the dark with a pick in my hand, striking at heads!’[11], this shows that as he cannot see everything, he therefore won’t understand everything, and thus cannot really help his patients. He feels that his work will make the children that he treats, into mindless model citizens. He also, with all his frustrations, strongly disagrees that everyone has to fit in with society; being ‘normal’. ‘The normal is the good smile in a child’s eyes/ It is also the dead stare in a million adults’[12]. Dysart believes if you take away someone’s individuality and thus passion, you could destroy that person. His job as a psychiatrist, however, helps society turn them into the human beings fitted to society’s morals. The assumption goes that everything outside of our understanding is not good and thus not normal. Dysart questions the meaning of this; he does not believe that something, just because a large group of people have agreed upon it, is normal. Thus, Peter Shaffer uses Dysart to question the ultimate uses of psychiatry. Firstly the image of ‘normal’ created by the society in the play is questioned by Dysart’s dream. In the play individuality has no place in society, as this cannot be comprehended. Alan Strang is used to portray the image of people who do not fit in with society’s morals. To change patients as Alan, Dysart takes away their passion, something he envies them for as he has none. Finally, Shaffer uses the ignorance in which mental problems are solved to criticize psychiatry. As Dysart does not fully understand what is going through his patients’ heads and feels like he is standing in the dark, fixing what he can see. Through all these aspects, Shaffer has succeeded to show the imperfections of psychiatry.          [1]        Peter Shaffer, Equus, Longman Group UK Limited 1993, 2009 [2]        P. v, Equus, Peter Shaffer, Longman Group UK Limited 1993, 2009 [3]        P. vi, Equus, Shaffer [4]     P. 2, Equus, Shaffer [5]     P. 8, Equus, Shaffer [6]     P. 3, Equus, Shaffer [7]     P. 8, Equus, Shaffer [8]     P. 51, Equus, Shaffer [9]     P. 90, Equus, Shaffer [10]    P. 67, Equus, Shaffer [11]    P. 93, Equus, Shaffer [12]    P. 49, Equus, Shaffer