Swiss author Friedrich Dürrenmatt, wrote the play The Visit, which is centered around the exaggerated and confident character of Claire Zachanassian. Dürrenmatt’s purpose of creating such a strong main character was to show how badly corrupted someone can become and how easily corrupted people can be. In The Visit, Dürrenmatt expresses the themes of power and control through Claire by using the idea that money is power, showing how much influence she has on Ill and the whole town’s lives, and the fact that she herself is never controlled by anyone. “Money is power” is an old saying that very few people would be hard pressed to disagree with, and Claire Zachanassian is explicitly said to be the richest woman in the world. She uses almost all …show more content…
I had my agents buy the whole mess and shut every business down. Your hope was a delusion, your perseverance was pointless, your sacrifices were stupid, and your whole life has been a useless waste.” (71) This first of all shows just how much money Claire has that she can buy a whole town and still have as much left as she does. It is also evidence that Claire has so much control, and so little sympathy, that even from a distance she could ruin these people’s lives and not think twice about it. Claire also very blatantly uses her money for her revenge, saying, “Human kindness, gentlemen, is made for the purses of millionaires. With financial power like mine, you can afford yourself a new world order. The world made a whore of me, now I’ll make a whorehouse of the world. Pay up or get off the dance …show more content…
In the beginning of Claire’s life she was run out of Güllen because of her pregnancy out of wedlock. She and Alfred both knew that it was his baby, but he would not own up to it, and from that point, she is focused on revenge. The start of this desire is seen when she says, “…Freezing, I sat in the train to Hamburg, but as the outlines of Petersen’s barn faded away behind the frosted windowpanes, I decided I would come back one day. Now I am here. Now I set the conditions. I drive the bargain…” (72) This explains the very origins of Claire’s plot, and shows that this plan has been in her mind for quite some time. She was not influenced by anyone in the planning but herself. One can sense Claire’s growing independence in this flashback line, and how much power she had even back then. This was when she decided that no one would control her again. Another show of her control is that Claire would often times nickname the people in her life. She says, “Come, Moby, make a bow. Actually his real name is Pedro, but Moby sounds better. Also, it goes well with Boby, my butler’s name. Butlers are with you for life, so my husbands have to adapt their names to his.” (14) Claire has so much power and influence that she does not even have to call people by their right names. She really did not care because she
Mark Lambeck uses the drama’s setting to relate Intervention to the audience. Specifically, he uses a vague yet understandable modern time. An audience can relate knowing they could experience the same thing on any given day. The location of the play is also a place an audience could easily find themselves. It is vague place that could represent almost anywhere, perhaps in where the audience is. In the current world, one could easily find themselves walking down the street on their cell phone. The characters are constant...
She allows her mother to control her and make decisions for her. During their conversation, she asks her mom if she should marry Mr. Jones even if she does not love him. Her mother does not seem to care until Helen mentions that he is Vice-President of the company. Her mother says that she should marry him whether she loves him or not because he will be able to take care of her and Helen. They continue to discuss how Helen can marry this man that she doesn’t like so she will never have to work again and he can support her mother, or she can say no at the risk of losing her job and not being able to support her mother anymore. Helen ties in how life is making her “feel like I’m stifling!” (591). Again, I feel this is another representation of Helen not being able to handle the pressures of society. Helen can’t talk about important decisions she has to make without feeling claustrophobic and blowing up by saying things like “I’ll kill you!” (592). I think she blows up because her mother is always nagging her and she can’t handle it in that moment anymore, especially since it is a conversation about
even those who do not have a lot of money. Faye obtains her wealth by
Hence, upon analyzing the story, one can conclude the certain themes that parallel through the pages. Firstly, a theme of unity and trust is present at the end of the play. This is supported by the image of the cathedral, which is a place of unity. Most importantly, the notion of equality among people is the main theme within this story. The narrator starts as a biased, idiot, who dislikes all people that are not like himself. He even at times is rude to his wife. Ironically, it takes a blind man to change the man that can literally see, to rule out the prejudices and to teach him that all men are created equal.
Love is undoubtedly a universal theme with numerous characterisations in different genres. David Solway illustrates unrequited love in his poem The Dream as agonising, bewildering and hard to accept by the use of ideas, perspectives and language. In a similar way, Marc Webb’s film 500 Days of Summer and Gavin Degraw’s song Not Over You expresses this representation of unrequited love through their use of ideas, perspectives and language. They effectively translate this representation of unrequited love in their genres in order to create an emotional response from their audiences.
Ivanka Trump claims to be a Feminist and provides an idealistic example of a woman who is able to easily balance work with life. Jill Filipovic writes in The New York Times, how Women Who Work is an example of “fake feminism” as the book hardly applies to American women at all. Filipovic states, “Ms. Trump has written a book called Women Who Work, so must presumably think she has advice to offer other women. But trying to emulate the Ivanka model without her financial means is a precarious path.” It is difficult to apply Trump’s suggested methods without her financial means to do so.
The Arrival by Shaun Tan is a graphic novel published in 2006 by publishers Hooders Children Books. This graphic novel or picture book is used to illustrate multiple different themes including family, war, and perseverance. Shaun Tan, born in 1974 in Perth, is an award-winning author, filmmaker, and illustrator to his and many other authors works. The illustrator had used visual techniques such as colour and camera angles to bring to light important themes. In this essay, I will talk about three themes, child labour, war and immigration/refugees.
A point in the play where this aspect is presented is when Claire and the mayor are discussing at the beginning of play justice when the mayor talks about how justice cannot be bought and she replies with, “Everything can be bought” (31). This quote presents the idea that the effect of money is inevitable because Claire expresses that even though the people around her do not intend on murdering Alfred Ill the greed for money will soon consume them therefore allowing everything to be bought no matter the circumstances. Another instance that illustrates that the power of money on a society is inevitable is when Alfred goes to the pastor to seek for help and the pastor replies, “Flee! We are weak, Christians and heathens alike. Flee, the bell is resounding in Güllen, the bell of treachery. Flee, and lead us not into temptation by staying” (59). This quote demonstrates that the power is inevitable because the pastor is telling him that he must leave in order for him to remain alive because the longer he stays the longer the temptation stays and sooner or later the townspeople will not be able to hold back the greed that is building inside them every day. The offer of one billion dollars for the killing of Alfred is constantly floating in the back of their mind and every day the murder of Alfred slowly slips from their conscious and soon all they begin to see
From the very entrance Claire Zachanassian makes she is presented as a very powerful character, for whom “[pulling] the Emergency Brake” to stop an express train, even though “no one ever pulls the Emergency Brake”, is nothing out of ordinary. “Clara loved justice” and moreover, is depicted as a vindictive&menacing individual. Dürrenmatt intends to present Claire Zachanassian as a demonic, evil creature, arbuably causing the audience to have a negative disposition towards her. However, despite that he also tries to explain to the audience why exactly Claire has become herself and intending her also to be perceived
Brian had nothing to eat and he was strugiling to find food all he wanted was the survival pack that has many things in it.He had no way to get into the sunkin plane for example he says”a candy bar even that just a candy bar it would be worth it.”
She is constantly worried about what others may think of her. That is exactly why she behaves the way she does. Claire admits that she has a constant pressure to live up to the way other perceive her. She faces so much pressure to act a certain way based on her surroundings. She feels as though if she acts a certain way, her reputation may be torn to shreds.
Overall the story’s main theme that stood out to be was to never give up even when things seem bad. The book shows how Redman even through different adversities that those were all learning opportunities to be better and become a leader. Jason Redman starts off being an arrogant and conceited junior officer in the Navy SEALs. Who got himself sent to the Army Rangers after ignoring orders and going to help his fellow comrade SEALs who were under fire in Afghanistan to mistakenly putting everyone’s lives at risk by his disobedience. That event led to Redman being sent to the Army Rangers for additional training and to help him find some humility. Another event that happened later that help shape Redman was in 07’ while during a mission Redman
She takes advantage of that power to get around the law. Claire does a lot of things that if an ordinary person made them would be punished under the law. For example, The Gum chewers Toby and Roby were two gangsters who were sentenced to death by electric chair but Claire was able to release them and have them work for her which is not allowed to anybody. Claire also did something very extreme to get her justice which is blind and castrate Koby and Loby for lying to the judge and they could testify the truth ,Claire should have been arrested for doing that but wasn't. Claire's money gets her out of a lot of trouble and is able to create her own form of law. The town also goes against the law especially the authoritarian figures. When Ill goes to the police to demand the arrest of Claire for incitement to murder because it’s exactly what it is but the police defend Claire saying it was just a suggestion and she did nothing wrong because he wants her money. The town also has a public meeting for the ruling of Ills death but they are supposed to take that type of decision to a higher court but they didn't because they know they wouldn't get the money if they didn't do what Claire wants them to do, so they are now a part of Ills
The Visit is a play by Friedrich Durrenmatt that is following events that partake in the town of Guellen. The protagonist Claire pursues to seek revenge on her past lover Ill who essentially robbed Claire of her life. When the relationship had ended Ill left her with nothing and her hometown Guellen turned her away. She lost her freedom, child, and was forced to rebuild her life. After leaving Guellen out of shame, she returned to punish Ill. In The Visit Durrenmatt uses the symbol of money to elucidate the gradual change in morals the town of Guellen undergoes with Claire’s return.
In our current society women have become a double edged sword. Beyond marrying and having children women have begun making huge advancements in their careers. The female society has grown strongly independent and competitive with men, and in many cases money lies at the center of this conflict. Women simply care just as much, if not more, about money when compared to men. Women are required to shop and spend more money on products in our society. Women have begun earning college degrees and entering high paying and competitive job fields while acting as the sole breadwinners of their families. Many women have now adopted a feminist attitude in which many young women now feel required to earn their own income. Due to the increasing changes in our society, women have grown to value money at a higher rate than men. Of course there are still some women in existence that would rather be housewives and stay-at-home moms, but this isn’t because they are “gold-diggers” or “moochers”, it’s because they would much rather stay home and focus on maintaining a level of comfort for her family.