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. The politically charged play follows Paulina Salas, a former political prisoner in an unnamed Latin American country, whose husband unknowingly brings home Teachers and parents! 71-75. Pinochet, at the head of a four-man ruling junta (a group or council that controls a government), dissolved Chile's congress and repressedoften violentlypolitical opposition. Dorfman himself has used the term tragedy to refer to the work, responding to the suggestion that the play functions as political propaganda by saying in Index on Censorship that "tragedies are never propaganda, ever." Some social reforms were achieved in the 1960s, but Chile's politics became increasingly polarized and militant Salvador Allende crept to presidential victory in 1970 with a leftist coalition of socialists, communists, and extremists. The play does not definitively prove that Gerardo is speaking the truth, of course. Death and the Maiden is at once a whodunit and a psychological thriller. It reflects the image of the audience back at itself, as a spotlight focuses on two or three audience members at a time. Gerardois worried that Paulina's actions will threaten both his own position in the government as well as the new democracy's ability to successfully pursue justice for its citizens. Paulina refuses to put down the gun, explaining that Roberto is the doctor who played Schubert. Even though she was blindfolded when she was raped and tortured, she claims to unmistakably recognize Robertos voice. They stare at each other as the lights go down. Our Essay Lab can help you tackle any essay assignment within seconds, whether youre studying Macbeth or the American Revolution. Instead of showing Paulina killing Miranda, the play ends with the lowering of a mirror so that the audience members can see themselves and reflect on what choice they would make. As a theme in visual art, Death and the Maiden is considerably more common, but concerns a peculiar association, that of death with the erotic. Several months later, Gerardo's career is clearly going well, and the Investigating Commission is, at least in his mind, a success. Skidmore, Thomas E. and Peter H. Smith. Chilean author, Ariel Dorfman, exemplifies this statement in his stunning play, Death and the Maiden. Gale Cengage The stage directionsspecifically mention that "he could be real or he could be an illusion in Paulina's head." Vol. 1992: With Pinochet still their commander in chief, the Chilean armed forces continue to wield a good deal of autonomous power in Chilean society. Dorfman, however, subsequently realized that he couldnt write the work properly until Pinochet was no longer leader of Chile. Act 1 Scene 3 in Death and the Maiden has no dialogue. Although current president Eduardo Frei has accelerated human rights tribunals and inquiries into Chile's "disappeared," punishment of the perpetrators remains extremely difficult. The film presents a leftist perspective on Salvador Allende's presidency, the coup of Pinochet, and the first "years of terror" following the installation of the dictatorship. 18 Jan. 2023 , Last Updated on May 5, 2015, by eNotes Editorial. eNotes.com resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss thenovel. PAULINA (very calm, till the end of the scene): We can heat it up. In Greek society, the catharsis of tragedy helped to unify people, and Dorfman implies a hope that his play might serve the same role in Chilean society, further enabling the process of reconciliation with that country's past atrocities. Kramer, Mimi. Gerardo says its inevitable he will have to resign due to her actions, but she counters that if she has Robertos confession no one will be able to defend him. Roberto sees Paulina as unreasonable and insane. Furthermore, Paulina points out thatin telling her story to Gerardo, she deliberately added some inaccuracies to see if Roberto would unconsciously correct them, which he did, leaving her fully convinced of his guilt. Paulina and Gerardo sit in the audience, witnessing the end of a musical performance. Gerardo, however, has recently appointed been to an Investigating Commission that the country's new democracy has set up to examine crimes of the dictatorship, and he is horrified by Paulina's attempt at vigilante justice. Politics of the Periphery and Theater of the Metropolis" in Comparative Drama, Vol. Death and the Maiden, directed by College . More books than SparkNotes. Instant downloads of all 1682 LitChart PDFs Several months later, Gerardo's career is clearly going well, and the Investigating Commission is, at least in his mind, a success. During the night, Gerardo and Paulina are unnerved by a knock at the door. 6, 1991, pp 3-4. In his article, "Dorfman, Schubert, and Death and the Maiden," David Schroeder suggests that the selection of the play's title Death and the Maiden (1991) by Ariel Dorfman is a careful one. Ariel Dorfman is the son of Fanny Dorfman and Adolf Dorfman, an Argentine professor of economics. Morace, Robert A. Word Count: 431. Modern Latin America, fourth edition, Oxford University Press (New York), 1997. The Polanski film Death and the Maiden is a wonderful and intelligent interpretation of Ariel Dorfman's human rights problem play. Peron's partner in everything during the early years of his presidency was his mistress, later his wife, Eva Duarteknown popularly as Evita (composer Andrew Lloyd Weber and lyricist Tim Rice would immortalize her in their 1978 musical Evita). Reyes, Carlos, and Maggie Patterson. "People are going to watch themselves and ask: 'what would I do, who am I in the midst of all this?'" The image is in the Public Domain, and tagged Death in Art and Shaped Canvas. Death and the Maiden quotes and analysis. Literally meaning "out of harmony," the term absurd was the existentialist Albert Camus's designation for the situation of modern men and women whose lives lack meaning as they drift in an inhuman universe. Estimates of the dead run as high as thirty thousand, and the lives of the survivors were left destroyed in other ways. Angered by Robertos accusation, Gerardo gets up to fetch the gun. Created by the original team behind SparkNotes, LitCharts are the world's best literature guides. "Death and the Maiden" is about the consequences of torture, and it never lets up. Christian H. Moe. There is a chance that he is lying and that the commission has faced many challenges, but his specific mention of the victims acting "without a personal vendetta" is in stark contrast to Paulina's actions, which were entirely motivated by her personal experiences. If there are three dates, the first date is the date of the original Goddess and maiden and queen, be near me now and befriend. For my director's notebook, I decided to create a staging proposal "Death and the Maiden" firstly because the main aspect I wanted for my play text to have had to be an open ending. Once again, the play departs slightly from the hyper-realism of the earlier scenes by suggesting that Paulina and Gerardo watch this concert from seats in the actual audience. He describes the success of the Investigating Commission in highly positive terms, emphasizing the generosity of the victims and of those testifying. Although Gerardo tries to physically force Paulina to free Roberto, she maintains a firm hold on hergun and threatens to shoot Roberto and herself unless Gerardo backs off. It lives at the Musee d'Orsay in Paris. "Death and the Maiden - Bibliography and Further Reading" Drama for Students Paulina believes Roberto is the sadistic doctor that tortured her. Dorfman breaks with this basic structure only at the end of the play, when the setting jumps to a concert hall several months later. Throughout the play, she becomes increasingly agitated, and it becomes clear that she suffers from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. Gerardo persuadesPaulina to record a testimony of her abduction and torture so that he can secretly pass the details along to Roberto, who in turncan make an accurate "confession." Not long after that coup, Argentina too underwent similar turmoilboth countries saw widespread civil repression, disappearances, torture, and murder. In this anthology, Larkin explores the various forms that love can take and what it meant to him. What a great film. Robertostares at Paulina, but she ignores him and returns to Gerardo. It ran for a year in the West End, was a hit on Broadway and was filmed by Roman Polanski starring Ben Kingsley and Sigourney Weaver. Frank Rich of the New York Times, for example, called the play a "mousetrap designed to catch the conscience of an international audience at a historic moment when many more nations than Chile are moving from totalitarian terror to fragile freedom." Chile's neighbor, Argentina, has likewise seen frequent suppression of democratic processes. "Close, Hackman and Dreyfuss in 'Death and the Maiden'" in the New York Times, March 18, 1992, p. C15. New York: Penguin, 1994. They are forced to imagine themselves implicated in the crimes, to place themselves in the position of those in Chilean society who continue to forge a collective amnesia of the violent political events in the 1970s and 1980s. Henry II, patron of Amelia Aguilar "England's vaunted mistress of the death", has died, and Ms. Aguilar is retired and teaching her daughter, Allie, anatomy . In Aeschylus, all suffering in the world is a result of the deliberate will and malice of "The President of the Immortals," or the supreme deity. Novelist Rafael Yglesias (Fearless) and Dorfman wrote the screenplay based on the original play. Other events are left open for interpretation, including whether Paulina does finally shoot Miranda and if she does, whether doing so brings her any relief. Not affiliated with Harvard College. As long as we've got something to celebrate, that is. Violence bubbles underneath the surface of every moment in Death and the Maiden even though the characters themselves barely attack each other physically. The original text plus a side-by-side modern translation of. She expresses surprise that, now Roberto has (supposedly) admitted his guilt, Gerardo doesnt want to kill him. The country they live in is "probably Chile," and is certainly a newly democratic country trying to leave its military dictatorship past behind. Nevertheless the harsh past, Paulina is a survivor, a fighter whom seeks even the slightest chance of attaining truth and ultimate revenge. The citation above will include either 2 or 3 dates. Death and the Maiden is a 1994 mystery drama film directed by Roman Polanski and starring Sigourney Weaver, Ben Kingsley and Stuart Wilson. Retrieving the Disappeared Text: Women, Chaos, and Change in Argentina and Chile After the Dirty Wars. Hispanic Journal 18 (Spring, 1997): 89-108. On April 6, 1975, Paulina Salas, then a university student, was abducted by agents of her countrys right-wing government. Although the Dorfmandoesn't completely reveal how Paulina reacts to Roberto's presence, it suggests the discomfort and trauma Paulina may feel uponseeing him again. Instant downloads of all 1682 LitChart PDFs The marital tension increases as Paulina in turn accuses him of lying to her, pretending to need her approval, her yes, before accepting the commission appointment that he has already accepted. Death and the Maiden also suffers greatly from a cop-out of an ending in which the only conclusion you can reasonably draw involves two of the three primary characters engaging in an act that's A . Word Count: 351. Peron was resurrected in 1973 as the economic situation in Argentina continued to worsen, and the public, looking for some positive way out of the military regimes, enthusiastically welcomed his return; he died a mere eight months into his new term as president. At the beginning of the play, Paulina is startled by the sound of a strange car in her driveway. As she holds the gun to Roberto's head, a huge mirror descends on the stage, forcing the audience members to stare at themselves and each other instead of witnessing the play's climax. Chile and the legacy of the Rettig Commission, Read the Study Guide for Death and the Maiden, The Relationship Between Character Symbolism and Chilean Society in Ariel Dorfmans Death and the Maiden, An Analysis of Gerardos Role in Death and the Maiden, Understanding Paulina's Mentality: A Close Reading of Death and the Maiden, Act 2 Scene 1 Onwards, The Development of Justice in Death and the Maiden, View the lesson plan for Death and the Maiden, View Wikipedia Entries for Death and the Maiden. A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality study guides that feature detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, quotes, and essay topics. Although the confession ostensibly satisfies the terms established for Mirandas release, Paulina now claims that having anticipated Gerardos ploy, she incorporated mistakes into her account, which Miranda unwittingly corrected and thus proved both his guilt and her right to punish him. Late that night, Gerardo and Paulina are awakened by a knock at their doorjust the kind of knock they feared during the earlier regimes reign of terror, and continue to fear. There is both a specificity and a universality to the play, as many critics have noted, making it extremely topical in the late-twentieth century era of tentative political transformation. At the story's end it is May again. (including. He explains how relieved he is that participants are acting without "seeking a personal vendetta." As she counts past up to nine, she asks what there is to lose from killing one of them?. Meanwhile, Paulina offers Gerardo a compromise: if Roberto formally confesses to his crimes, she will let him go. Lesson: Chilean Protest Tapestries Essential Question: Jump-start your essay with our outlining tool to make sure you have all the main points of your essay covered. From the creators of SparkNotes, something better. She says that all she wants his him making love to her without ghosts in the bed and I want you on the Commission defending the truth and I want you in the air I breathe and I want you in my Schubert that I can start listening to again. He asks her never to mention that bitch of a night againthe night of her releaseand pleads with her to give him a full account of her rape and torture. My students love how organized the handouts are and enjoy tracking the themes as a class.. After waiting fifteen years for justice, and after years spent nursing the physical and psychological wounds that have left her pathologically apprehensive and unable to enjoy sex or bear children, Paulina views Gerardos appointment as a vindication of the pain she endured but also a mockery of her suffering: The commissions mandate demands that victims pain remain private and the wrongs they suffered unheard and unredressed. Home Uncategorized death and the maiden ending analysis. 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