Psychological suffering in peter Shaffer's Equus : artaudian approach

Abstract EN

Dramatists were affected by the First World War and revolted against the old traditions.

They began to doubt the existing social structures that increased the universal conflict.

Through Theatre of Cruelty, they succeeded to release human subconscious, his psychological suffering and exposed man to himself.

Antonin Artaud (1896–1948) puts a theory for the theatre of cruelty that based on ritual and fantasy.

That form of theatre attacks the audience's subconscious in an attempt to free the deep-rooted fears and worries that are normally repressed.

This theatre concentrates on brief text, screams, cries and symbolic gestures in order to shock the audience and arouse their reaction.

The use of the body and the voice with the violent, frightening and shocking images is to enhance truth.

In Equus (1973) Peter Shaffer (1926) presents violence and horrors in a way that affect the audience greatly through creating a violent atmosphere in the mind with some aspects of Artaud's vision of cruelty.

He insists that the abnormal repression of desires and instincts in a person can cause mental illness which is not biological but psychological abnormal that is determined by society and family values.

This paper explores the psychological suffering in Peter Shaffer's Equus from the perspective of Antonin Artaud theatre of cruelty.

The introduction highlights the development of the theatre of cruelty (1927) by Antonin Artaud an early Surrealist.

Also it shows how the repressed feelings push man to commit an irrational and very violent act in Peter Shaffer's play Equus.

The conclusion shows that the repression of instincts and desires not only cause man's mental sickness and his destruction but turn him into a murder.