Peter Shaffer’s Equus is a psychological drama in which a young boy named Alan is in the care of psychiatrist Dr. Dysart. The boy has an “abnormal” obsession with horses and has been sent to the psychiatrist after stabbing six horses in the eyes. Through a long series of interviews, Shaffer demonstrates the thin line between sanity and insanity. The boy appears at first to be crazy, uncooperative, and refuses to respond the magistrate other than through the repetition of popular commercial advertisements “Double your pleasure, double your fun, With double good, double good, double mint gum” (Shaffer 7).
However, Dr. Dysart is a master of getting people to reveal their deepest secrets as much as Alan is a master of concealing his own. Yet, through their interviews, they both have an impact on each other. Dr. Dysart wonders why he should try to cure someone in the name of sanity when the world all about him is filled with examples of insanity. While Dysart understands the inappropriate behavior of the adolescent, he also recognizes that “insane” as he may be to others Alan has known more real passion than he himself ever experience “That boy has known a passion more ferocious than I ever felt in any second of my life. And let me tell you something, I envy it” (Shaffer 67).
Dr. Dysart comes to realize the secret to the boy’s pain lies in his connection with horses. Through his mythical Equus, the boy is able to recapture a joy lost to him in reality. The boy may appear insane to those in the “normal” world, but unlike many people in the “normal” world Alan is able to feel genuine pain and passion in his. Yet, Alan’s process of being able to feel this passion and pain has manifested behaviors which are not socially acceptable. Therefore, Martin Dysart has no choice but to help Alan rid himself of this part of his life and the mythical Equus. Yet, while Dr. Dysart is able to
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