Chapter 2 Anxiety, Signs and Consequence
2.2 Man of Anxiety I: The Ignorant Man
2.2.1 Anxiety of the Public
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identity crisis. May compares an individual’s life to a baseball game and explains that, avoid to deal with anxiety will make an individual become the bystander in his/her own life: one is unable to hit the ball and hopelessly watches the ball flying by (qtd. in Indick 209). This analogy is a metaphor of someone losing grip of life, signifying an individual’s identity crisis. Nevertheless, May suggests that “[a]nxiety is the possibility of value transformation” (Psychology and the Human Dilemma 82). In other words, life can change if an individual decides to cope with anxiety, learns to see it clear and does something—this will be my argument in this thesis. I will argue, in Equus, the therapy Alan Strang and Martin Dysart go through offers them an opportunity to see their own identity crisis. In order to highlight the two protagonists as people who choose to cope with anxiety and thus fulfill the notion of spiritual “beoming,” I will classify the characters in the play into two groups as comparison in the following discussion: the ignorant man and the waking man.
2.2 Man of Anxiety I: The Ignorant Man
Equus depicts a world where people are under the influence of internalized social values but avoid to recognize or remain unware of this reality. Antonia Pancotan believes that Equus illustrates “the conflict between the main characters and the mediocrity of social life” (2). The characters such as members of elite and households remain passive in the face of the discrepancy between their actions and the beliefs their social roles
represent.
2.2.1 Anxiety of the Public
In Equus, members of the elite, such as legislators and doctors, all see Alan Strang as a thorough lunatic but act calm and provide no help. When asking for Martin Dysart’s help in the beginning of the play, the magistrate Hesther Salomon emphasizes that her
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colleagues have no sympathy for Alan. In Act I, scene 2:
DYSART: Now look, Hesther. Before you say anything else, I can take no more patients at the moment. I can't even cope with the ones I have.
HESTHER: You must.
DYSART: Why?
HESTHER: Because most people are going to be disguised by the whole thing. Including doctors.
DYSART: May I remind you I share this room with two highly competent psychiatrists?
HESTHER: Bennett and Thoroughgood. They'll be as shocked as the public.
DYSART: That's an absolutely unwarrantable statement.
HESTHER: Oh, they'll be cool and exact. And underneath they'll be revolted, and immovably English. Just like my bench. (Equus 19; emphasis mine) These members of elite are educated in institutions and are trained to follow certain codes of conducts. Legislators should carry out justice and doctors are expected by general people to help patients. However, Hesther’s account implies that they are narrow-minded and demoralized. Instead of providing help, they choose to stand aside and just want to get Alan out of their sight. They act calm before other people to make themselves look professional and show the least degree of humanity because the public would expect them to react so. These characters can be understood as people who use “false standards of measurement” to judge just as Sigmund Freud has suggested, because they apply a public standard to judge others but not weigh their own attitude and deeds in the same way. The phenomena that they follow a general moral standard to see Alan as insane and to avoid showing any sign of distaste, according to Rollo May, displays “conformity.” In addition, the portrayal of these social elite being “immovably English” reflects the playwright’s
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observation on his contemporary society as a “tragic world” (A Casebook 33) as people refuse to recognize the individuality of others. As to these elite, a distinct disparity exists between their actions and the ideals their professions should serve to achieve.
Subsequently, the doctor whose name is “Thoroughgood” becomes an ironic existence.
Besides members of elite, customers visiting the shop selling “electrical and
kitchenware” (Equus 33) where Alan Strang works behave unsympathetically in a similar way. In Act I, scene 17, Alan is working:
CUSTOMER [1]: I want to buy a hot-plate. I'm told the Philco is a good make.
ALAN: I think it is, madam.
CUSTOMER [2]: Remington ladies' shavers?
ALAN: I'm not sure, madam.
CUSTOMER [3]: Robex tableware?
CUSTOMER [4]: Croydes?
CUSTOMER [5]: Volex?
CUSTOMER [6]: Pifco automatic toothbrushes?
[…]
ALAN: Sorry!21 (Equus 54)
Customers rush in and make request to purchase all at the same time that Alan could not handle it and almost gets enraged. These impatient buyers are unwilling to wait until Alan finishes serving previous customers. Their desire must be fulfilled immediately. Their anxiety is displayed in that they have no patience toward other customers, because as customers, anyone of them would wish to be served first if he/she arrives at the shop earlier than others; in this sense, they should respect and be patient with each other, but
21 The customers are numbered by me in order to show the quantity of them and illustrate the annoying atmosphere in Alan’s working place.
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the reality is the opposite. Moreover, purchasing household goods by brands rather than having an actual conversation with Alan displays what Rollo May describes as
“conformity” as they all act in the same way, aligning themselves to the values the majority follows.
In short, member of elite and the customers are under the negative influence of anxiety, which can be observed in their unsympathetic attitude toward Alan. They are unaware of the discrepancy existing between their actions and beliefs. Through concealing their own feelings and showing no patience toward each other, these two groups of people can be said to display a broken totality of existence, because other than remaining passive in the face of the gap between their own actions and beliefs, they judge Alan by a collective moral standard and do not recognize Alan’s individuality. If we apply Rollo May’s concept of anxiety, these characters can be said to have lost genuine
connection with others and themselves, demonstrating a broken totality of their own existence.