Existentialists believed that life had no intrinsic meaning. At the end of Equus, Dyasrt finally places a symbolic chain in his mouth, demonstrating his conformity is to a society of no meaning. The Theatre of the Absurd was a dramatic movement that emerged from Existentialism it intended to mock, rather than mourn, life's pointlessness. The scene in which Frank uncomfortably tries to explain his presence at a pornographic cinema is ultimately disturbing, but it is surrounded by humour, a practice characteristic of the Theatre of the Absurd. .
When Dysart said, "My achievement, however, is to make a ghost," he quintessentially demonstrates the values expressed by the composer in this text. Alan becomes a "ghost" in the sense that he being stripped of passion because of Dysart's attempts to make him "normal". The quote also reflects more subtlety of society as a whole's absolute conformity, which renders it essentially meaningless.
Whilst the composer of this text intended to use predominantly Alan and Dysart as the tools in projecting his values, a feminist would instead value the females of this text solely, only considering the males in relation to the women. A feminist, being one who believes in the need for absolute equality between men and women, would oppose the fact that the females in this text are merely secondary characters. They would interpret this as a demonstration of male chauvinism, which fuels the oppression of women. A feminist would also take issue with the fact that all the females of this text are, at some point, assigned the role of the comforter. Boxed in as being the sturdy rock on which more important males lean, at times. An example of the females in this text being portrayed commonly as the comforter is when Jill attempts to make Alan feel better regarding his impotence, "Its alright its alright. It doesn't matter I don't mind, you know." Hesther takes on this similar role, also, evident when she tells Dysart, "You"re going through a bad patch at the moment I"m sorry.
