The Effect of Dehumanisation on Society in The Visit by Friedrich

Drrenmatt and Death and the Maiden by Ariel Dorfman

Adil Khan
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English A1 Standard Level
World Literature Assignment I
May 2011
Word Count: 1,475

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Dehumanisation has always been a dire threat to society and its effects have the
potential to reverse all moral and ethical progress. Dehumanisation is the disintegration of the
core beliefs and ideals that make us human, causing atrocities throughout history and in every
culture. In the two plays, The Visit by Friedrich Drrenmatt and Death and the Maiden by
Ariel Dorfman, the audience witnesses the innards of a dehumanised society in which power,
revenge, the treatment of the human body, desire and morals all succumb to the instinctive
beast within us all.
In The Visit, a powerful influential millionairess visits Guellen, her hometown. Claire
Zachanassian offers a million for Guellen if someone kills Alfred Ill. (Drrenmatt 38) After
their initial reticence, the Guelleners resort to killing him, showing how a person of wealth,
and thus power, is able to corrupt society so utterly as to persuade them to commit murder,
arguably the worst of all sins.
Although not explicitly stated, Death and the Maiden is about the aftermath of the
Augustus Pinochet led dictatorship in Chile. Roberto Miranda represents the violence and
oppression of that era and how severely corrupted society and the government became in that
time. Miranda was soon depraved by the new regime and partook in the rape and torture of
innocent people. However, he would have continued being a Doctor had the tyrannical
Pinochet not assumed power. The two plays have the commonality of a powerful figure
having adulterated society and the people within it to the extent that they are capable of
committing the most heinous of acts.
After Alfred Ill impregnated Claire when they were young lovers, he bribed Jacob
Chicken and Louis Perch to take responsibility for it in court. Claire was consequently
banished from Guellen in shame for this and has returned, after many years during which she
acquired limitless wealth and power, to exact her revenge upon Ill by bribing the townspeople

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to kill him. Because of corruption prevalent within the legal system, Claire was forced to
take justice into her own hands, leading to societys dehumanisation.
A similar scenario occurs in Death and the Maiden, only to a greater extent. Society
faces the dilemma that, after years of iniquity, it was asked to forget their suffering and
forgive the perpetrators of it. Society allows Paulina to be kidnapped by a group of military
men and tortured for months, but after the fall of the military junta, there was no retribution
whatsoever delivered to these men. Paulina therefore takes the opportunity for revenge when
Miranda appears on her doorstep. Certain he was the Doctor who raped her repeatedly, she
does to him what she feels he deserves. Each play has the theme of women taking their
justice because society has failed to deliver it and they share situational irony where the
oppressor and victims roles are reversed.
Claire actually becomes physically dehumanised in the course of her life. As a result
of a plane and car crash she has now acquired several prosthetic limbs. Ill asks, Clara, are
you all artificial? to which she replies, Practically, my plane crashed in Afghanistan. I was
the only one who crawled out of the wreckage. Even the crew died. Im unkillable.
(Drrenmatt 31) She also renames her entourage with names such as Roby, Toby, Loby and
Boby and treats them with the same respect that could be expected for dogs. They are made
to shadow her as if they were her pets, obedient to her wishes. The most dehumanising act
she performed was to castrate Koby and Loby for having testified in court that they had
impregnated her. This act shows her relentless thirst for inflicting her perverted justice on
others. Admittedly, they were wrong to lie, but this does not justify her actions and as such
demonstrates her capacity for inhumane behaviour.
The people, who tortured Paulina and her fellow victims, also commit unforgivable
crimes on the human body. Miranda, who represents the dark side of society, repeatedly raped

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Paulina and treated her not unlike a rag doll. He refers to her as free meat and mentions that
they conducted experiments to find out each womans limits and the effect of electrical
currents on the body. It is their total lack of conscience that is the most concerning. Miranda
says: At first I told myself that it as a way of saving peoples lives... but afterwards I began
to bit by bit, the virtue I was feeling turned into excitement the mask of virtue fell of it
and it, the excitement, it hid, it hid, it hid from me what I was doing. (Dorfman 39)
The Guelleners have disposed of their humanity and all that remains of them is desire,
greed and instinct as they become more and more inclined to murder Ill for money. Due to
Ills strong favour with the town and its mayor, he was touted to succeed the present mayor
of Guellen. However, the Guelleners value the money that comes with his death more than
the leadership he may have offered while alive so they decide that his death is more
beneficial to them. The Guelleners have resorted to treachery and murder only to fulfil their
basic human desires. It is inconsequential to them whether or not they must do something that
is both morally and legally wrong.
Miranda too puts his carnal desires before the consideration of his fellow man. To
him, his sexual needs have a higher priority than the habeas corpus of Paulina. This is
dehumanising because it is mutual respect of rights that stop us from turning wild like beasts.
What is worse is that the government actually tolerates the Doctors vile acts and let him get
away with it. The total lack of retribution for Miranda satisfying his own desire at the severe
expense of others, gives the impression of a wild and unjust society.
The most terrible, dehumanising aspect of The Visit is the fact that the Guelleners
completely lose all standards for decent society and their morals because they are what keep
us human and keeps society functioning. When Claire makes her proposition, the Mayor says
to her You forget, we are not savages. In the name of all citizens of Guellen, I reject your

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offer; and I reject it in the name of humanity. (Drrenmatt 39) Unfortunately for Ill, the
Guelleners do take up her offer to the detriment of humanitys integrity. The first stage of the
dehumanisation begins when they first resolve to carry out Ills murder. They are all
expecting at least one of them to do the deed and, in this expectation, they all take out loans.
They make extravagant purchases on credit, of which some were ironically bought from Ills
convenience store. They all buy yellow shoes too, symbolising their shameful cowardice. Ills
son also betrays him by buying a new car and this shows how terrible society has become that
a son is willing to trade his fathers life for wealth. They have somehow persuaded
themselves that they are justified in taking the Ills life, demonstrating dire corruption of
morals and values. Ill tries to leave town by train, but the Guelleners make this impossible for
him by blocking his way while urging him to get on the train. They have shown their
ability to be openly treacherous and shown that, despite telling him they would never kill him
for the million, they cannot let him walk away.
Everyones morals and values have been adulterated in Death and the Maiden.
Miranda has shown that he has next to no conscience as he rapes and tortures numerous
victims. He has lost the ability to care for others in his selfish exploits and he has certainly
lost his humanity along with it. Paulina, although she may be doing what she feels is right, is
really not justified in assuming the right to hold Mirandas life in her hands because it is
ultimately for the law to determine. In her perversion of the course of justice, she has denied
Miranda the right to a democratic court. Ironically, she has become as dehumanised as
Miranda in her search for vengeance.
The Visit and Death and the Maiden demonstrate the true capacity of humanity for
malevolence. Dorfmans play realises the controversial notion of clemency in Chile for
terrible wrongdoings and Drrenmatts reveals to the audience the stuggles post World War
One Switzerland had in balancing a morally stable society and a voracious greed resulting
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from the recent growth of capitalism. The Guelleners in murdering Ill, and Miranda in raping
Paulina, make the audience realise that regardless of race or nationality, humans have the
potential to commit terrible atrocities. The mere prospect of wealth or momentary pleasure is
enough to force humanity to step over the thin line of rectitude to the place where humanity is
non-existent.

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Works Cited
Dorfman, Ariel. Death and the Maiden. London: Nick Hern, 1994. Print
Drrenmatt, Friedrich. The Visit. London: Cape, 1973. Print.