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The visit friedrich durrenmatt1483
The visit friedrich durrenmatt fate and destiny
The visit friedrich durrenmatt1483
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Friedrich Durrenmatt’s epic tragicomedy The Visit is a haunting commentary on the nature of mankind and morality. Bringing to the surface many questions about the difference between justice and revenge, the play is constructed in a way that leaves the reader at once perplexed and conflicted. The difference between right and wrong is often overlooked and even contorted in order to conform with convenience as the citizens of the town become more desperate. The Visit is both a philosophical masterpiece and a harrowing tale of conditional morality.
From the very first mention of the millionairess Claire Zachanassian, the reader is barraged with philosophical questions about the difference between right and wrong. Ill shares stories about Claire’s past which immediately foreshadow her perverted sense of morality and justice. For instance, he tells the mayor that:
”Clara loved justice. Most decidedly. Once when they took a beggar away she flung stones at the police. . .She stole potatoes once for an old widow (Durrenmatt 15).”
The town exalts her for her generosity and self-less behavior. Already, you begin to see the citizens of Guellen overlooking her immorality because it is convenient for them to do so, as she has the ability to help them recover from their state of financial distress.
Upon hearing the proposition made by Claire Zachanassian, a million dollars in exchange for the murder of Alfred Ill, the town immediately reacts with disgust. The Mayor argues:
”You forget, we are not savages. In the name of all citizens of Guellen, I reject your offer; and I reject it in the name of humanity. We would rather have poverty than blood on our hands (Durrenmatt 39).”
The Mayor refuses to accept the offer made by Madame ...
... middle of paper ...
...ty, good living, and luxury: we are moved by this matter of justice, and the problem of how to apply it.”
Finally, we see the town conclusively turning their back on Ill, reversing their initial decision for one more suited to settle their problem; though, in order to grapple with what they’ve done, the town convinces themselves that they have done it for reasons of altruism so that their contorted sense of morality is justified. While the town had every intention of remaining humane originally, the escalation of poverty in the town, coupled with people’s willingness to overlook this, resulted in the inevitable murder of Alfred Ill. As the play ends, the viewer is left with a haunting picture of the members of Guellen standing together in a chorus, making one last justification for what they have done, conforming their morals to the mold of their convenience.
...stic things in order to live a better, more sound, and overall healthier life. Juxtaposition makes the audience want to follow through with the purpose. Exemplification causes the audience to realize the extent of their materialistic nature. A definition of the average homeless person’s terms allows him to build his ethos and consequently allow the audience to believe and follow his purpose. A majority of people are a part of the middle class, and this majority tends to judge the poor for their lifestyle whether it be through Dumpster diving or begging on the streets. However, as proven by the essay, these people have no right to do so because the poor do, in reality, have a greater sense of self than these middle-class people, similar to the rich. The middle-class citizens must no longer act the victim; instead, they should be working on becoming more sentimental.
...their lifestyles or values, but merely funnel greater sums of money into bottomless, self-destructing pits” (23). If this is true, then certainly the American Dream wins out for virtue. Indeed, throwing money at a problem absolutely does not make it go away – but when families are legitimately struggling to make ends meet and goods are scarce, when they’ve established these complex chains of organized networks and trades, and when they can empathize with others in their situation and see the big picture beyond their own, one is left to wonder why Stack’s voice hasn’t been heard more widely, and why the residents of The Flats are still left to fight against the current in their own comparatively competent culture of exchange, and networks of all their kin.
Durrenmatt uses many allusions in The Visit in which its connections sheds so much more light on the play and helps to emphasize even the smallest aspects of it. Durrenmatt’s implementation of allusions to describe characters at a deeper lever, compare events in Guellen to its contrasting Westernized culture and show the irony of what Claire does to what others say, helps us understand The Visit at a much deeper level and far more interesting way.
“ … mistress was as I have said, a kind and tenderhearted woman…to treat me as she supposed one human being ought to troat another…there was no sorrow or suffering for which she had not a tear. She had bread for the hungry, clothes for the naked, and comfort for every mourner that came within her reach…She finally became even more violent in here opposition than her husband himself”
The theme of suffering is emphasized when the motif of loyalty is analyzed throughout the play. The loyalties of all the characters involved seem to work against them and
154, 956). This indicates two main points. Firstly, it speaks to the dangers of a conventional wisdom that is unwise in so far as it lacks the ability to sort out its own contradictions and to truly consider how the relationship between conventional laws and justice is a very complex relationship that needs to be articulated and sorted out for all its contradictions. Secondly, it points to the emergence of a discourse of hazardous individualism that emerges largely as a direct consequence of a collectivized political virtue that emphasizes the importance of restrain and justice, yet is unable to show the benefits the individual may incur from such virtues. Perhaps, this second point is made better evident towards the latter end of the interchange between the speeches. Consider, for example, how the unjust speech is able to promise those who follow its teachings positive and immediate pleasures, namely “boys, women, wine, relishes…” (p. 156, line 1001). Now consider how the just speech, speaking two lines before, simply celebrates the “ancient education” for the ways in which it “pitches [the singing of the sons] to the harmony of the fathers” and for “beating and trashing” those who seek to make any “modulations” (p. 154, lines 967-970). Finally, all the just speech is able to promise those
Society today is split in many different ways: the smart and the dumb, the pretty and the ugly, the popular and the awkward, and of course the rich and the poor. This key difference has led to many areas of conflict among the population. The rich and the poor often have different views on issues, and have different problems within their lives. Moral decay and materialism are two issues prevalent among the wealthy, while things such as socio-economic class conflict and the American dream may be more important to those without money. Ethics and responsibilities are an area of thought for both classes, with noblesse oblige leaning more towards the wealthy.
A book or a theatrical play can become the means through which writers can express their thoughts and convey their messages to society. In ancient times, Greek tragedies were a clever way for writers to judge the political world of the time, and make society reflect back on its own behavior and way of acting. Throughout the years, the form of a theatrical play underwent many changes that allowed the writers to express themselves more freely, without being limited to the strict rules of form and structure of a Greek tragedy. Friedrich Dürrenmatt’s play The Visit is a story that is set in the modern era of post-war Europe. A woman, whose life, through an ugly series of events, is ruined, returns to her hometown to get revenge for the misery
Through out the story Claire acts very irrational, especially towards men. These irrational acts are caused by the fact that she believes that men are the reason for this girl's death and the murder of women in general, and she shows this by the way she reacts to what Stuart says and towards the men in the story.
This paper will present a rhetorical context for the use of violence in the short story, “A Good Man Is Hard to Find,” as she presented in her essay “The Element of Suspense.” The form of classical tragedy in this story will also be analyzed from the critical theories of Aristotle and Longinus. Tolstoy will be used to examine the use Christian symbolism. Nietzsche will provide a more well-rounded universal conclusion to the uses of tragedy and spiritual elements in this classic story.
The author shows that money can change a characters behavior. You see this behavioral change in Claire by the way she dresses and acts as she is above everyone. In the beginning
In which, he responds “I do, Madam. How else could I get by in Güllen? (15) and that’s exactly what he did when Ill went to visit him and when the Gymnast decided to kill Ill. Ill is strangled to death by the Gymnast with a checkered tablecloth, following the vote of the townspeople to have justice done. The Mayor announces, “The Claire Zachanassian endowment has been accepted… Not for the sake of the money. But for the sake of justice…” (104) and early in the play Dürrenmatt has Claire ask the Gymnast “Have you ever used your strength to strangle someone? Once Ill is killed the journalist asks what’s going on, and the Doctor responds with “heart attack” (109) a reference to the beginning of the play, when Claire advises the Doctor, to write heart attack as the cause of death next time. They were all motivated from the beginning to satisfy their part in Claire's proposal. Claires money and power gave her the ability to get ever she
This represents how it is human nature to value our own comfort over the lives of others as presented in this play. Though the towns people refuse to kill Ill at first, they begin to question him and asking him where and begin to buy expensive items, eventually giving into the temptation of Claire’s offer. This not only pulls on the concept that it is human nature is inherently greedy, but that it is easy to disguise revenge as justice by providing an impersonal reward to the
All of us want to make money to gain some status, some comfort and some luxurious. This money has brought; is bringing; and will bring so many differences between some of you and me. These differences will be later named as differences between the rich and the poor. If I ask you ‘Do you know what is happiness? You would thrillingly and pleasingly answer me YES, OF Course Then lets share some examples of the happiest man. One would experience happiness when a leads a luxurious life. One may also experience happiness when he had expanded his business almost across the globe. One may also experience happiness when he had his meal in the most famous and expensive hotel. One may also experience happiness when he attends honorable parties.
It took ten years for Mathilde and her husband to pay off the debt of buying a new necklace. Those ten years were not spent with the luxuries she experienced so many years ago at the party, nor were they filled with the simple things she once owned and despised. She came to know “the horrible existence of the needy. She bore her part, however, with sudden heroism.” When passing her rich friend again in the street, she was barely recognizable. Who she was the day she ran into her friend was not who she was the night she wore that necklace.