The play Equus is about a young boy who viciously blinds six horses with a metal spike in a stable and the psychiatrist, Martin Dysart, who investigates the boy's mental state. It is a very complex, multileveled story, with many relationships effecting Allen's (the stabber) behavior.
The relationship between Alan and Equus is a very complex one. His worship for the horse comes from his mother's beliefs in God. She is very religious and pushes religion on Alan. His father was the opposite. He would not let Allen keep a picture of God in his room and forced him to replace it with a picture of a horse. Slowly, the horse became God in Alan's eyes. Alan's father seems to fear religion and in some instances he fears horses. He becomes belligerent on the beach when the man lets Alan ride the hors
When Alan blinds the horses it is in desperation. He believes the horses are watching him, forever taunting him. It is his only escape. He feels as if he betrayed the horses by having a sexual relationship with a woman. In Alan's mind he has committed a grave sin and the horses were the witnesses. Blinding them was his attempt to cover up his actions. His 'sin' makes him a failure in the horse's eyes, unfortunately he is a failure in his own eyes as well. This is why Alan's last words in the play were 'Find me... Find me... Kill me...Kill me' (pg. 106). He really was tormented by guilt and wanted to die himself.
e with him. He also becomes belligerent when Alan's mother tries to include religion in Alan's life. It seems his father has strong emotional reactions to anything he can't control or u
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