Engelsk Essay, sammenhæng

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Equus


I have chosen to write assignment number one, which is the assignment where you must discuss the term normal. It must be centred on the book Equus written by Peter Shaffer, but it should also include my own observations. Besides that, I think that one of the main themes in the play is that you sometimes judge people too soon.

In Equus we read about a boy named Alan Strang, who blinded six horses. Doctors and other experts want to send the boy to prison; obviously he is a threat against society. Nevertheless he is placed in a mental hospital. He has a tough childhood with two completely different parents. His father is an atheist and his mother is very religious. In other words you can call them contrasts.
When I read this play, I was kind of chocked. What person would blind six horses? That is not normal. Or is it? How do you define normal?

According to one of the most famous psychologists ever, Sigmund Freud, all human beings are controlled by the unknown. Furthermore he meant that the human beings libido and manifestation through the three stages oral, anal and phallic has a meaning for the development of our personality. Sigmund Freud divided the personality in three instances:


The super ego

The ego

The id


Alan’s superego is formed by his mother and father. As I have stated earlier the mother is very religious. She has told him stories about God and religion since he was a little boy. In consequence the mother’s religion has influenced his life. The superego has a big influence on him because he looks for pleasure in the form of Equus as a God, for instance when he rides the horses naked and masturbates.
Another psychological point of view on Alan’s behaviour could be related to the Oedipus complex. In short, the Oedipus complex is when the child becomes sexually attracted to the parent of the opposite sex, and sees the other parent as a rival. As a little boy Alan attaches to his mother and expels his father. After a while he stops seeing his father as a rival, he tries to build up his identity, watching his mother and father. The thing is, they do not have a harmonic relationship, and maybe that is why Alan has an unsteady personality.
Nevertheless, Alan is perfectly normal according to the famous psychologist Sigmund Freud. At least Sigmund Freud has developed an analysis that says so.

If Alan is normal or not, I am not the one to decide, however his actions fit into both the Oedipus complex and the psychoanalysis made by Sigmund Freud.
To conclude, everybody is different and I think that it depends on the eyes looking, to decide if somebody is normal or not.
To me Alan is a confused teenage boy, who had a miserable childhood with two disturbed parents. But that does not make him a better or worse human than my self for instance.
I do not think that you can distinguish the term normal that black and white. Actually I do not think that anyone is normal.
What kind of boring world would we be living in then?