Justice In The Visit, Durrenmatt

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What would you do if your millionaire ex promised to save your town if she was allowed to kill you for hurting her? Would you run? Would you give in? This is the exact situation with which Alfred Ill is faced with when Claire Zachanassian comes back into town. She insists that she is seeking justice for her ex-lover, Ill’s actions on the town, but it appears as if she is merely seeking revenge, something far more personal. By disguising it as revenge she practically gets away with murder. Throughout the play, The Visit, Durrenmatt explores the question of how justice is used in order to present revenge as impersonal. Justice is an impersonal consequence that will benefit the greater good in response to an action that was detrimental to a community …show more content…

The fact that it is revenge disguised as justice is revealed by the actuality that the town would not be in this situation if it wasn't for her personal grievances. Ill did not commit a wrong doing against the town, he did only against Claire. In fact, within the town, Ill was a figure of authority and next in line for the mayor’s title. He did not mistreat any other civilians thus terrorizing the public. Claire was the one who messed with the towns economy in order to get them to feel such desperation and give into greed. 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

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