Symbolism in Plays: Comparison of Dorfman and DÏ‹rrenmatt

Symbolism in Plays comparison of Dorfman and DrrenmattThe usage of representative references and symbolism is essential when de conkring the landwrights int quited messages to the audience. The indite of Death and the Maiden, Ariel Dorfman, and the author of The Visit, Friedrich Drrenmatt, twain convey messages which regard military man society through the accustom of symbols. By creating characters that represent social issues such as anti-religion, patriarchal values, and release of ethics, both writers utilize the outcomes of characters to deliver their opinions. Furthermore, both renovates emphasize social issues, elicit causes, and imply solutions to the issues addressed by utilizing allegorical references. In Death and the Maiden, Dorfman addresses the situation of his home country, Chile, while in The Visit, Drrenmatt uses biblical allusions.both plays, The Visit and Death and the Maiden make use of allegories to convey a message. Drrenmatt uses symbols to construct a biblical allusion in The Visit and deliver his message that greed h experienceds the ability to decay good values and that money has the magnate to assume personalities. The allusion is made up of Ill, the the Nazarene figure, who must sacrifice himself for the betterment of Guellen, which is rotting to expiration (Drrenmatt 12). The desperate disposition of the townsfolk is obvious through the excitement caused by the arrival of Claire Zachanassian. Since her wealthiness is well-known, it immediately sheds hope upon Guellen that she will come to save the town from its poverty. Ironically, she does the pack opposite. Claire, the satanic figure, introduces temptation, which slowly diminishes the moral values the town is so practically known to uphold. By offering the million dollars in return for Ills death, the power of greed is executed through the transformation of Guellens citizens. At first, the mayor states that he rejects Claires offer in the name of manity and tha t he would rather live through poverty than have blood on his hands (39). The mayors footfall is extremely certain, emphasizing to what extent his transformation really is. By the end of the play, the mayor has already fooled himself into thinking that by killing Ill it would be better for humanity. For the sacrifice of one, it would save the town. Temptation has led Guellen to believe that their conclusiveness to kill Ill was not derived through the money, but through the question of justice (91). This moral decline portrays through the use of the biblical allusion, which Drrenmatt creates for one specific purpose to deliver a caveat towards greed. The conundrum of greed, in this case, derives from Claire. In one aspect, she saves Guellen from poverty, hunger, and imminent destruction. Yet, she introduces greed and murder, which subsequently leads to the loss of ethics and gain of antireligious values. Indeed, she saves the town in one delegacy, but destroys the town in anothe r.In the play Death and the Maiden, Ariel Dorfman creates an allegory portraying the reprehensible government of Chile and the skins to transition away from it into a new leadership. The characters of the play are symbols to portray these struggles to heal. Additionally, the personalities of these characters portray the necessities of people after such an aftermath such as justice, revenge, and acceptance. Although the old regime is out of order, the effects of the crimes against human rights are not so easily forgotten. After being viciously tortured and raped, Paulina Salas struggles in her life. She finds it easy to suppress her memories, but never finds a way to accept the past. Hence, Paulina is a symbol of revenge, which Dorfman creates to emphasize the struggle to heal. When recompense Miranda, her alleged rapist, arrives to her house, she recognizes his voice, which during all these historic period not an hour has passed that she hasnt heard it (Dorfman 22), proving her unfitness to accept the past, and describing her personality as vengeful. Her ability to recall the resorts voice from years in the past portrays the extent to which the memories of her past still affect her present. When the Doctor wakes up after spending the night, he sees Paulina, who is holding a artillery and pointing it playfully in his direction (20). Knowing her thoughts, her intentions are made clear. She wants him to timbre sorry and repent, yet claims it is not vengeance (34) which drives her. Through Paulina, Dorfman uses her inability to immobilize as an example of social issues which pertain to Chile. By portraying her as a woman who has been affected by events instanter linked to a cruel government, he represents all women in Chiles reality, who have suffered through the old regime. Moreover, by qualification her personality vengeful, he directly implies that many women in Chile are also seek closure through revenge. When Dorfman ends his play with mirrors dro pping down, he implies that the plot directs towards the audience, and is suppose to catalyze self exploration amongst them.Dorfman also creates Gerardo Escobar as a lawyer who has been appointed to a guidance that will examine human rights abuses during the past dictatorship. This career is ironic because of his married woman who has had her rights abused, but seeks justice not through her husband, but through revenge. Both of Escobars occupations, as a lawyer and a member of the commission, serve as support for the idea that he is a symbol of justice. Dorfman creates this dichotomy of roles to figure the different way people deal with the struggle. The way Paulina does through revenge, which is seeking justice with an evil intention, or the way Escobar does through justice and acceptance. Escobar everlastingly states that these crimes were held fifteen years ago (36), and to put him on trial (34) or else of seek revenge the way Paulina does, proving that Escobar has accepted w hat has happened and holds no grudge. Although Paulina retorts that crimes had not been directly done towards him, indeed, they had. Escobar is directly affected because though he had not been abused, his wife had, giving him a link. Dorfman uses Escobar as a symbol to portray the way people should handle violations of human rights, with acceptance. To prove this method correct, Dorfman then uses Paulina as a symbol for revenge to show that if people ceasenot come to damage with the past, they will constantly seek revenge, never find peace, and consequently struggle to heal.Both authors, Drrenmatt and Dorfman, utilize symbolism and allegories to deliver their own messages astir(predicate) their views on society. Drrenmatt believes that if humanity succumbs to temptation, moral decline is unavoidable. He demonstrates the practiced nature of this warning by implementing the idea into a biblical allusion. This allusion portrays that death and anti-religion follows greed. Dorfman si milarly conveys a message through an allusion of his home country Chile. By portraying a womens struggle to overcome her cruel past and making her symbolize revenge, Dorfman demonstrates the flaws of such an approach. He shows that if revenge is what you seek, a person can never find closure, and that the only way one can see peace is through acceptance and mercy.Work CitedDorfman, Ariel. Death and the Maiden. novel York Penguin Books, 1991. Durrenmatt, Friedrich. The Visit. Tans. Patrick Bowles. New York Grove Press, 1956.