Death and the Maiden a Critical Overview Essay Example

Death and the Maiden a Critical Overview Essay Death and the Maiden Ariel Dorfman Online Information For the online version of BookRags Death and the Maiden Premium Study Guide, including complete copyright information, please visit: http://www. bookrags. com/studyguide-deathmaiden/ Copyright Information  ©2000-2007 BookRags, Inc. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. The following sections of this BookRags Premium Study Guide is offprint from Gales For Students Series: Presenting Analysis, Context, and Criticism on Commonly Studied Works: Introduction, Author Biography, Plot Summary, Characters, Themes, Style, Historical Context, Critical Overview, Criticism and Critical Essays, Media Adaptations, Topics for Further Study, Compare Contrast, What Do I Read Next? , For Further Study, and Sources.  ©1998-2002;  ©2002 by Gale. Gale is an imprint of The Gale Group, Inc. , a division of Thomson Learning, Inc. Gale and Design ® and Thomson Learning are trademarks used herein under license. The following sections, if they exist, are offprint from Beachams Encyclopedia of Popular Fiction: Social Concerns, Thematic Overview, Techniques, Literary Precedents, Key Questions, Related Titles, Adaptations, Related Web Sites.  © 1994-2005, by Walton Beacham. The following sections, if they exist, are offprint from Beachams Guide to Literature for Young Adults: About the Author, Overview, Setting, Literary Qualities, Social Sensitivity, Topics for Discussion, Ideas for Reports and Papers. 1994-2005, by Walton Beacham. All other sections in this Literature Study Guide are owned and copywritten by BookRags, Inc. No part of this work covered by the copyright hereon may be reproduced or used in any form or by any means graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping, Web distribution or information storage retrieval systems without the written permission of the publisher . Table of Contents Introduction. 1 Author We will write a custom essay sample on Death and the Maiden a Critical Overview specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Death and the Maiden a Critical Overview specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Death and the Maiden a Critical Overview specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer Biography 2 Plot Summary. 4 Act I. 4 Act II 5 Act III .. Act 1, Scene 1.. 9 Act 1, Scene 2 11 Act 1, Scene 3 14 Act 1, Scene 4 15 Act 2, Scene 1 8 Act 2, Scene 2 22 Act 3, Scene 1 24 Act 3, Scene 2 28 Characters .. 29 Gerardo Escobar. 9 Doctor Roberto Miranda. 29 Paulina Solas . 30 i Table of Contents Themes. 32 Atonement and Forgiveness. 32 Death and the Maiden.. 2 Doubt and Ambiguity.. 33 Freedom.. 33 Justice and Injustice.. 34 Memory and Reminiscence.. 34 Morality and Ethics 5 Style 36 Historical Context. 39 Critical Overview.. 42 Criticism .. 45 Critical Essay #1. 6 Critical Essay #2. 50 Critical Essay #3. 52 Media Adaptations 55 Topics for Further Study .. 56 ii Table of Contents Compare Contrast.. 57 What Do I Read Next? 59 Further Reading. 61 Sources. 63 Copyright Information.. 4 iii Introduction Ariel Dorfmans Death and the Maiden is a moral thriller about a woman, Paulina, who believes that a stranger who comes to her home is the doctor who, under a military dictatorship, tortured and raped her many years before. (The plays title is taken from a piece of music by Franz Schubert; Paulina loved the piece but grew to revile it when it was played repeatedly during her torture sessions. ) Dorfman began writing the play in the mid-1980s, when he was in exile from Chile, a country under the rule of the military dictator General Augusto Pinochet. It was not until Chiles return to democracy in 1990 that Dorfman returned to the play and understood how the story had to be told. A workshop production of Death and the Maiden was staged in Santiago, Chile, opening in March, 1991, and in July of that year the play had its world premiere at Londons Royal Court Upstairs. In November the production, which received the London Time Out Award for best play of 1991, moved to the Royal Court Mainstage. Reception of the play was positive, critics finding it both dramatically engaging as well as historically timely (given the number of societies around the world acing painful legacies of repressive regimes). The play had its Broadway premiere on March 17, 1992, directed by Mike Nichols and starring Glenn Close as Paulina (a performance for which she received an Antionette Tony Perry Award), Richard Dreyfuss as Gerardo, and Gene Hackman as Miranda. The casting of three Anglo actors in a play with a Latin American context was protested by Lat ino organizations and the Actors Equity Association (the union for American actors). Dorfmans play, ultimately, did not receive as high praise in the United States as it had in England but did create enough interest to inspire a film adaptation in 1994. Death and the Maiden is valued as a dramatic work that examines the psychological repercussions of human rights abuses. Introduction 1 Author Biography Playwright, essayist, novelist, poet, and short story writer Ariel Dorfman was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on May 6,1942, the son of an economist and a literature teacher. His life illustrates the fragmented experience of the modern Latin American exile. At the age of two, his family was forced to flee to the United States because of his fathers opposition to the Argentine government of Juan Peron. Dorfmans father was one of the architects of the United Nations, and the family lived in New York for ten years before leaving in 1954, during the McCarthy era, to settle in Chile. Completing a University education, Dorfman became a naturalized Chilean citizen in 1967. Working for the next several years as a journalist and activist, he published several works, including a study of the plays of Harold Pinter (The Homecoming). A supporter of Chilean President Salvador Allende, Dorfman was forced into exile after a military coup led by General Augusto Pinochet seized control of the country in 1973. He intermittently lived in Argentina, France, the Netherlands, and eventually settled in the United States (in 1980), holding a variety of academic posts in each of the countries. In 1984 he became a professor at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, where he maintains a part-time residence. Remaining active in Chiles political and social affairs while in exile, Dorfman first tried to return home to Chile in 1983 yet felt uncomfortable in the environment there. He tried a part-time return in 1986, but the following year, he was stopped at Santiago airport, detained, and then deported. Dorfman returned to Chile again in 1989. Following Pinochets abdication to apopu-larly-elected president in 1990, the playwright attempted to re-establish a semi-permanent residence in his adopted homeland. Dorfmans writings have been translated into over twenty languages. Like many other Latin American authors, he is also a social critic who investigates the relationship between politics and culture. He is the author of important essays and works of cultural criticismHow to Read Donald Duck: Imperialist Ideology in the Disney Comic (1975), Culture and Resistance in Chile (1978) and The Empires Old Clothes Author Biography 2 1980)which argue that popular literatures promote capitalist and neo-im-perial ideology and encourage passivity. Dorfman has additionally written literary works in a variety of forms. His collections of short stories include The Medicine Goes Down (1985) and My House Is on Fire (1979) which examines how people retain a sense of hope living under an oppressive mil itary regime. Dorfmans novels have been praised for their highly original narrative techniques. The Last Song of Manuel Sendero (1987) combines several different perspectives, including those of cartoon characters and the unborn. Mascara (1988) explores human identity and the paranoia created by authoritarian regimes. Dorfmans many collections of poetry include Missing (1982) and Last Waltz m Santiago and Other Poems of Exile and Disappearance (1986). In the theaterbesides his success with Death and the Maiden (1991)Dorfman has created stage adaptations of his novel Widows (1981) and his short story Reader (1979). Author Biography 3 Plot Summary Act I When the play opens,The time is the present and the place, a country that is probably Chile but could be any country that has given itself a democratic government just after a long period of dictatorship. At the Escobars secluded beach house it is late at night and an uneaten dinner is laid out on the table. Paulina sits on the terrace, startled by the sound of an unfamiliar car motor. She takes a gun from the sideboard, and stands listening as her husband, Gerardo, speaks to the driver of the car and then enters the house. Paulina is disturbed by the unusual oc currence, and Gerardo explains that he had a flat tire on the way home and accepted a ride from a passing motorist. He blames Paulina for the spare tire being flat and for the jack being gone (Paulina lent it to her mother). The couple argue about these details and then discuss Gerardos meeting with the countrys president, from which he has just returned. Gerardo has been named to a commission examining human rights abuses under the countrys previous government, a military dictatorship. (It is revealed through dialogue that Paulina was arrested and tortured while attending medical school during this dictatorship. ) Paulina has mixed feelings; she is suspicious of the commission, which is only to investigate cases of abuse that ended in death. A case like Paulinas own abduction, therefore, would not fall within the commissions jurisdiction. Paulina is still traumatized by the memory of being raped and tortured, but she has never discussed details of her experience with her mother or other people close to her. Gerardo agrees with Paulina that the power of the commission is limited, but he believes nevertheless that there is so much we can do .Gerardo makes a point of appearing to ask for Paulinas permission to sit on the commission, but the first scene ends with his admission that he has already accepted the presidents appointment. An hour later, a knock at the door rouses the Escobars. Gerardo is ill at ease until he opens the door to admit Doctor Roberto Miranda, the man who earlier drove him home. Plot Summary 4 Miranda apologizes for the intrusion, and as the two men speak, Paulina edges closer, listening in on their conversation. As she listens, the sound of Mirandas voice appears to greatly upset her. Miranda explains that he heard a news story about the commission on the radio, only then realizing who Gerardo was, and felt he had to return to congratulate him on the ppointment. Miranda appears very enthusiastic about the commission, although he also realizes that the investigations are unlikely to conclude with punishment. Miranda prepares to leave, promising to pick Gerardo up the next morning and help him retrieve his car, but Gerardo insists that Miranda stay the night. The third scene is a brief interlude a short time later, in which Paulina is seen dragging Mirandas unconscious body into the room an d tying him to a chair. She gags him with her own underwear, then takes his car keys and leaves. When dawn rises on the fourth scene, Paulina has returned and sits with her gun, watching Miranda. When he awakens, she speaks to him for a long while, playing a cassette of Schuberts quartet Death and the Maiden which she found in Mirandas car. This music has painful associations for Paulina; it was played while she was in captivity, and Paulina takes Mirandas cassettealong with the familiarity of his voiceas proof that he is the doctor who tortured her. Gerardo enters, aghast at the scene he linds. Paulina explains her discovery, and Gerardos first conclusion is: Youre sick. Gerardo makes a move to untie Miranda, and Paulina fires the gun wildly. She explains that she has already called a mechanic, and when the latter arrives, she ushers Gerardo out of the house to retrieve their car. The act ends with Paulinas cool statement, Were going to put him on trial, Gerardo, this doctor. Right here, today. Act II The time is midday; Miranda is still tied and Paulina speaks to him intimate ly about her captivity and the night of her release. Gerardo enters after retrieving the car, with a new resolve to talk his wife into releasing Miranda. Gerardo appeals to an ideal of law, implying Paulina is no better than the military regime if she will not allow Act I 5 Miranda to defend himself. Paulina says she has every intention of allowing the doctor to argue his case. She was only waiting for Gerardos return, having decided that her husband will act as a lawyer for the accused. When Paulina removes his gag, Miranda claims never to have seen Paulina before, calling her extremely ill, almost prototypically schizoid. Gerardo continues to plead with his wife, and as they argue it becomes vident that Gerardo has difficulty speaking about Paulinas experience. If she can prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that Miranda is the same doctor, Paulina asks, would Gerardo still want her to set him free. Gerardo replies, If hes guilty, more reason to set him free. Imagine what would happen if everyone acted like you did. Gerardo argues that if Miranda is guilty of the crimes, they should turn him over to the proper authorities. His wife, h owever, believes that while the new government calls itself a democracy, many of the same men who were part of the dictatorship are still active in the government. Not only does she contend that the authorities would immediately release Miranda, she states her belief that the doctor is part of the current government and that his encounter with Gerardo was no coincidence. Paulina explains that at one point she wanted retribution from Miranda but says that now she merely wants him to confess and she will let him go. What can he confess if hes innocent? wonders Gerardo. The scene ends on Paulinas reply, If hes innocent? Then hes really screwed. The second scene is at lunch. Paulina watches from the terrace as Gerardo feeds Miranda and the two men talk. Gerardo stresses that a confession, even a false one, is Mirandas only hope of escaping unharmed, while Miranda emphasizes that he is only in his current situation because he stopped to pick up Gerardo and how depends on the lawyer to get him out of mis mess. After another threatening appearance by Paulina, Miranda accuses Gerardo of not being as impartial as he has claimed to be:She plays the bad guy and you play the good guy to see if you can get me to confess that way. The two men argue but eventually admit they are both scared, and the act ends with Miranda asking Gerardos help in fabricating a convincing confession for Paulina. Act II 6 Act III The final act opens just before evening. Miranda is still bound, and Gerardo, with a tape recorder on his lap, pleads with Paulina to tell him the details of her abduction before he has to hear them from Miranda. Paulina reminds him that she had attempted to tell him these details before, just after she was released, when they were interrupted by the woman with whom Gerardo was involved during Paulinas absence. This memory is a severe blow to Gerardo, and he eventually persuades Paulina to speak instead of her abduction. When she gets to the point in her story of first meeting the doctor and hearing Schubert in the darkness, the lights fade and her voice overlaps with that of Miranda. The lights come up to reveal Miranda making his confession into the tape recorder. He claims that the music was an attempt to alleviate the suffering of the prisoners. He describes how a brutalization took over my life, and he began to enjoy the torture with a detached curiosity partly morbid, partly scientific. The confession over, Paulina sends Gerardo to retrieve Mirandas car. After his departure, however, she changes her tone, saying she was entirely convinced by the doctors confession and now could not live in peace with myself and let you live. She informs him that she inserted small errors in her own taped account, which Miranda apparently corrected of his own accord; now Paulina says she will kill him because you havent repented at all. On Paulinas unanswered question, What do we lose by killing one of them? the action freezes and the lights go down on the scene. A giant mirror descends in front of the characters, forcing, as the stage directions state, the members of the audience to look at themselves. The lights come up on the final scene of the play, in a concert hall several months later. Gerardo and Paulina enter, elegantly dressed, and sit down facing the mirror. When the music ends they rise as if at intermission, and Gerardo speaks to a number of well-wishers who have gathered around him. Paulina observes Miranda entering (or he could be an illusion, the directions read. ) The three characters are seated as the performance recommences, Act III 7 nd Schuberts Death and the Maiden is heard. Paulina and Miranda lock eyes for a moment, then she looks ahead into the mirror as the music plays. Act III 8 Act 1, Scene 1 Act 1, Scene 1 Summary The play opens quietly, possibly in Chile, but in any country who has survived a long dictatorship and replaced it recently with a democratic government. Moonlight bathes the first person on stage, Paul ina Salas, who is sitting out on the terrace. The tension immediately picks up when Paulina hears a car, looks out the window and grabs for a gun. When she goes back to the window, she hears her husband, Gerardo, get out and speak to someone in the car, inviting them in for a drink and then, when declined, invites him back on Sunday. She does not hear the other half of the conversation. She puts the gun away again and hides in the curtains before her husband enters the house and turns on the lights after seeing her. Gerardo is apologetic. We learn that he is quite late for dinner. Paulina tries to hide her tension and asks who it was in the car who brought him home. He doesnt answer her directly but explains that a nail punctured his tire, and because she hadnt fixed the spare, he couldnt replace the tire. She bridles, asking why she has to take care of everything. She takes care of the house, and he is supposed to take care of the car. The argument is mild and Gerardo stops it, calling it an absurd discussion. He then mentions that the jack was also missing. Paulina confesses to lending it to her mother, who was traveling south. Another small argument ensues, during which Gerardo mentions the name of the man who gave him a ride home, Roberto Miranda. The conversation then turns to matter of Gerardo being named as an official to a government commission. The name of the position is not mentioned, nor is the name of the commission until the next scene. He initially claims that he told the president he would need time to discuss the appointment with his wife, but that he needs to go back to the city on Monday. Paulina tells him she heard about the invitation for a drink on Act 1, Scene 1 9 Sunday. Through the remainder of the scene, we learn that the commissions purpose is to seek out those who are now considered criminals from the previous dictators regime. The oppressors are to be given trials, and judges, who were also presiding over courts during the dictatorship, will decide how they shall be punished. Paulina works herself into an excited fervor over the prospect of these individuals being punished or executed. She also coaxes the truth out of Gerardo. He has already accepted the presidents offer, but had wanted to let Paulina feel that she had some say in the matter. Act 1, Scene 1 Analysis The conversation between Gerardo and Paulina begins to give the audience some insight into Paulinas nightmarish past and Gerardos support and love for her. The beats of the conversation are very natural sometimes stilted, as when Gerardo is apologetically explaining why he is late, and sometimes stepping on each others words and repeating phrases, as when Gerardo is sputtering as Paulina tries to explain why she lent the car jack to her mother for her travels. The changes in mood from calm to tense and back again are always broadcast visually in this scene, not first by tone of words. The stage direction calls for a particular movement before the first line is delivered, whether it is standing and crossing the stage, or Gerardo taking Paulina into his arms to calm her and comfort near the end. Act 1, Scene 1 10 Act 1, Scene 2 Act 1, Scene 2 Summary It is an hour later. The stage is dark again. Gerardo and Paulina have had dinner (or, at least, put the dinner things away) and have gone to bed. A car pulls up to the house (offstage), and someone gets out and knocks insistently on the door. Gerardo assures Paulina that everything is all right as he turns on a light (also offstage) and cross the room to open the front door. Roberto Miranda, Gerardos good Samaritan from earlier, is the unexpected visitor. Gerardo admits to Roberto that he had scared them. It hasnt been long since being awoken in the middle of the night only meant being taken away by police for questioning. In the meantime, Paulina slips out into the room and onto the terrace, unseen by the two men. Roberto apologizes and says that he stopped by for a visit on the way back to his own beach house. Gerardo offers him a cognac before he continues to say that he heard about Gerardos appointment to the Investigating Commission. It took him a moment to remember Gerardos name, but he also remembered he had their spare tire in his trunk, so he wanted to offer his help the next day in patching the tire and retrieving their car. He also seems very respectful of the role Gerardo will play, in that he will have many duties and worries on his hands shortly, and wants to help remove the trouble with the car. Roberto also asks after the whereabouts of the jack, to which Gerardo replies that Paulina gave it to her mother. They joke briefly about never understanding women before returning to the subject of fixing the car in the morning and then toward what Gerardo will be doing as part of this Investigating Commission. Roberto confesses that his real purpose for coming was to congratulate Gerardo on his appointment. He goes on and on about how these people the commission will be Act 1, Scene 2 11 seeking out will be punished, despite the established amnesty, how he would like to see them all dead. Gerardo is only able to get a few words in now and then. They suddenly realize how late it is, and Gerardo invites Roberto to stay the night instead of driving all the way to his own house and back again. Roberto attempts to decline, mentioning patients and saying that his wife and kids are away at her mothers and that he enjoys being alone. However, he is persuaded at Gerardos mention breakfast from Paulina. At this point, Paulina slips back to the bedroom. After jesting about not sharing toothbrushes, each man walks to their respective bedrooms, and stage is returned to the remaining moonlight. Paulina pretends that Gerardo has awakened her when he tells her that Roberto is staying the night, comforts her fear and asks her to make them breakfast in the morning. Act 1, Scene 2 Analysis The character of Roberto seems an earnest and almost jovial one in this scene. He seems to be very honest, helpful and full of respect for someone who will soon help the country to shut the door on the divisions and hatreds of the past. He spends a considerable amount of time making it known that he is all for punishing the criminals Gerardos commission will be seeking out. There is very little involvement from our heroine, Paulina, but by the very act of slipping into the room to hear and see the conversation after only a few words from Roberto, and then by slipping back to the bedroom and pretending to b e half-asleep, we get a strong hint that she may recognize Roberto. Because she slips in and out so secretively, she obviously fears or distrusts him. Otherwise, she may have strolled in to say Hello. Gerardo is a complete innocent in this matter. The character is written so that he clearly doesnt have the presence to be a force of punishment. In this way, we know that the Investigating Commission will probably be very good at the investigating, but Act 1, Scene 2 12 will have no power to make any real change toward the punishment of evil deeds of the past. Perhaps Roberto thinks he is exempt or safe in some way, and his assertions mock the commissions future efforts. Act 1, Scene 2 13 Act 1, Scene 3 Act 1, Scene 3 Summary This is an extremely brief scene without dialog, written all in stage directions. The stage is darker still, when a cloud has passed over the moon. Paulina slips onto stage again. She cross to the drawer where the gun is hidden, takes out the gun and some articles of clothing which appear to be stockings. She then crosses to the door to Robertos room, pauses as if listening, then enters. We hear a muffled struggle, a cry of some kind, then nothing. Paulina reemerges and crosses the stage again, this time with a purpose. She locks her bedroom door, with her husband still inside. She then returns to the spare bedroom and drags a body into the living room. She moves a chair closer, lifts the body onto it and ties it to the chair. When she goes back to the spare bedroom again, she comes back with Robertos jacket and takes out a set of keys. Before leaving the house, she stops, takes off her panties and stuffs them in Robertos mouth. She leaves the house, and we see headlights panning across the stage and hear the sound of a car leaving. The headlights show that the body is indeed an unconscious Roberto tied to the chair and gagged with a pair of panties. The car leaves, and the stage returns to darkness. Act 1, Scene 3 Analysis Actions can speak more loudly than words. By the end of this scene, assuming we dont already know the story, we know that Paulina is either crazy or desperate. Perhaps it is a combination of both. Some audience members may also be shocked by Paulinas act of taking off her panties and stuffing them in Robertos mouth. It is a moment that defines the disgust she feels for him. It is also a kind of smug revenge, as we shall see in later scenes, or a display of her new-found feminine power, now that she has the upper hand. Act 1, Scene 3 14 Act 1, Scene 4 Act 1, Scene 4 Summary Dawn light is beginning to show, and Roberto awakes, only to discover he is tied to a chair. Paulina is seated in front of him, calmly holding the gun. She addresses him as Doctor Miranda. He says nothing, since he is still gagged. She says she had a friend at university by the name of Ana Maria Miranda, who went on to get her diploma and become a doctor. She then says that she didnt have the opportunity to finish her own studies (also in medicine) and get her diploma, implying that Dr. Miranda was responsible for that. She explains that Gerardo was waiting for her outside the university. This was fortunate, as she had an aversion to the field of medicine. She is considering reapplying and finishing her studies, as it seems that students who were kicked out while the military was in control are being asked to applying for readmittance. Paulina then slyly mentions breakfast. Would he like a ham sandwich instead? She remembers that he liked them with mayonnaise. They dont have any mayonnaise,