Equus (Religion)

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Inhaltsverzeichnis 1 General Aspects 2 Short summary 3 Alan's "religion" 3.1 Another point of view or: The panic-making side of Alan's God. 3.2 Mrs Dalton's religion 3.3 Mr Dalton's "religion" (or view of the world) 3.4 Further Aspects 3.4.1 Connections between Christianity and Alan's religion

[Bearbeiten] General Aspects

Religion is one of the most important aspects in Peter Shaffer’s „Equus“. The family relations are mainly influenced and disturbed by very different points of view concerning religion and divinity.

Alan’s mother is very religious and read out of the bible every night to him. She can even quote the passage of Job to Dysart.

On the other hand is Alan’s dad, who hates religion. “Religion is the opium of the people” (p.28): this is his main attitude to religion.

[Bearbeiten] Short summary

Alan’s behaviour can be seen as a religious one in many ways. Flooded with Bible stories by his mother he seems to be pious. The boy had a picture of the “Lord in chains” hanging in his bedroom which he prayed to. He insisted on buying it with his pocket money and put it at a place where he could always see it. His father, who didn’t appreciate his boy “always mooning over religious pictures” (p.34) put off Jesus’ picture (threw it away) and exchanged it for the picture of a horse looking over a gate. Alan cried for days (though he’s normally not a crier, his mother ads) but then hung the new picture in exact the same position. Alan now starts praying to this horse picture, for example talking about the horse’s genealogy (in a way it’s normally known from the bible) in the middle of the night. “Behold – I give you Equus, my only begotten son” (p.51) is some of his words while he starts beating himself with a wooden coat hanger. He imitates the horse’s bridle when putting a string in his mouth.

[Bearbeiten] Alan's "religion"

[Bearbeiten] Another point of view or: The panic-making side of Alan's God.

Another point of Alan's strange religious attitude appears in Scene 34: Now "Equus" as Alan calls his God is not anymore a peaceful God which is a kind of adventure-game for Alan but a new God: He is terrifying Alan. This abounds best when Dysart is listening to Alan at the beginning of the scene. Alan is scared as Equus is accusing him for his crime. And later we get to know that Alan's panic is not just the idea of a mad young boy but also very realistic: Horses come and try to kill Alan. The amazing thing about this is that Alan defenses himself just at the beginning, when only three horses ruled by Nugget have arrived. But when the other three horses, described as "dreadful creatures out of a nightmare" join the group, he suddenly stops any kind of defense. It looks as if he'd enjoy the punishment by the horses. But maybe this is a sign for a different kind of religious attitude: The real God Equus is not the domestical horse but the origin horse. This would explain that Alan stops defending when the three wild horses arrive. As another possibility this scene could show that Alan has a hierarchical type of gods. The domestical horses are the lower class of gods which are more a kind of demigods like the Greek heroes in former times. The real gods are the wild creatures. So from Alan's perspective we could say that the defense against the lower-class-gods is legal and possible. But against the wild horses as the "real" gods - or, another solution, the incarnation of "Equus" - any kind of defense is not just impossible but also unjustifiable. This may open a connection between the religious and the psychical aspect of the drama: Maybe this scene opens a new point of view on Alan: Although his parents, especially his dad, are kind of strict he needs a strict God too.

[Bearbeiten] Mrs Dalton's religion

Mrs Dora Strang is a very interesting person. As Alan’s mum she has a big influence at him and therefore her problems can get Alan’s, too.

Peter Shaffer designs very clear the attitude of Mrs Strang concerning religion. She is very religious and every evening she reads passages out of the bible to Alan, although her husband Mr Strang doesn’t want this.

Dora is even able to quote them out of her mind, for example the story of Job. But she is also easily disturbed by difficult question which touch religious aspects, like in the talk with Dysart at home.

In extreme situation her only solution is also a religious: She blames the devil for Alan’s crime, which is very typical for powerlessness of religious people to question their own mistakes.

Religion is maybe the only fix point in her life, which gives her self-confidence. She flees maybe from reality into religion.

[Bearbeiten] Mr Dalton's "religion" (or view of the world)

[Bearbeiten] Further Aspects

[Bearbeiten] Connections between Christianity and Alan's religion

An interesting aspect is the similarity between Christianity and Alan’s religion.

1. First of all it starts with the fact that both pictures – one picture of Jesus and one of a horse – hang or hung above Alan’s bed in the same position.
2. Both are glorified by Alan and they are the Center of his life (p.31)
3. The play is often set in the stables which are in the christian religion the hallowed place of tradition.
4. Alan even uses the extracts of a passage of Job for his religion: he names the field in front of the stable “the place of Ha!-Ha!” (p.70)
5. He links also “Equus, the begotten son” (p.51) to Jesus, who was in chains as well as horses all over the world are today. Mention, that both are in chains (or in the “Chinkle-chankle” (p.69)) for the “sins of the world” (p.66).

These are only a few examples for the connections between Christianity and Alan’s religion, but I think the most important in the drama. It is clear that Peter Shaffer intended this parallels. Alan’s religion is like an imitation of the Christianity, but reduced on a few very important aspects. So we can say, that the most we say or criticize about Alan’s behaviour (the way he pray, belief, speak and do) is likewise transferable to Christianity, and of course to other religion also, like Judaism or Islam.</p>

This way Peter Shaffer criticizes the absolute dogma of religion, which often destroys life of people in the name of solution. People fixate themselves on illusions or on fact that are not provable and get often in rage, because they turn off their minds (p.74). They are often not very sophisticated and search for confirmation: and religion offers this confirmation (“They’re admiring us!” p.73).

All these facts combine in Alan: 1) he only hears stories from the bible, 2) hears of glorified horses (p.31), 3) sees great horses and imagines himself he can talk to them, 4) is the only child on the family (expectations of his mum, expectations of his dad), 5) he is therefore often the reason of family conflicts. Alan flees into his own little world of horses and the religion around the horses, where he can handle thinks like he wants.

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