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Equus

 

            Equus, a play by Peter Shaffer, is a twisted tale of a boy's affixation with horses as his god and the complications he deals with about sex, religion and life. After committing a heinous act against several horses the boy, Alan, is brought to a hospital where he meets Dysart. Dysart, a doctor, a friend, the confused and jealous main character. Within this book there are plentiful amounts of sexual innuendo and enough self-doubt and misunderstanding to lead to several questions. In the end thought this story is really about Dysart.
             Normal! That's a funny word. What exactly is normal anyway? Normal is what Martin Dysart is and what Alan Strang was definitely not. Although living two completely different lives they are both searching, searching for meaning. While Alan finds meaning though some weird irrational actions, Dysart is left with absolutely nothing. .
             "Dysart[crying out]: All right! I"ll take it away! He"ll be delivered from madness. What then? He"ll feel himself acceptable! What then? I"ll give him the good Normal world I"ll take away his field of Ha-ha and give him Normal places for his ecstasy."(p.107) .
             You can tell by how passionate he talks of what Alan posses that he doesn't want to take away what he has to replace it for Normal, when Dysart has spent his whole life looking for what he just might take. Normal is boring, without worship, zest, it is basically lack of everything worth living for. Fine so he will make him Normal, but who gets to say what degree of Normal is Normal?!.
             While twirling with the thought Normal in his brain it's his choice as weather to change Alan or to keep him as he is. Dysart is not contemplating out of selfishness but out of a kind of jealousy. Why would he take away something that some people may never find in an entire lifetime. "Dysart[quietly]:Can you think of anything worse one can do to anybody than take away their worship?"(p.


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