Death and the Maiden Themes
The main themes in Death and the Maiden are justice, forgiveness, and trauma.
- Justice: Paulina and her husband present two different visions of justice: Gerardo is idealistic and trusts in the system, whereas Paulina is jaded and takes matters into her own hands.
- Forgiveness: Paulina initially states that she could forgive Miranda if he confessed and apologized. However, she changes her mind after hearing Miranda's statement, suggesting that some things cannot be forgiven.
- Trauma: The central trauma of the play is Paulina's kidnapping. However, the crimes committed by the recently overthrown dictatorship represent a national trauma, from which the country is still healing.
Atonement and Forgiveness
Although there is no valid justification for the violence perpetrated by the military regime, Paulina suggests she might be able to pardon personal human failings. She promises to release Miranda if he confesses to torturing and raping her. However, Miranda's plea for forgiveness appears disingenuous because it comes solely within the framework of a possibly untruthful confession. While Paulina ultimately opts not to kill Miranda, she does not extend forgiveness to him either. The play communicates that no concrete act can genuinely compensate for the lasting suffering inflicted by political oppression.
Death and the Maiden
The title of Dorfman's play comes from Schubert's quartet, which Paulina links to her own experience of abduction and torture. She finds a cassette of this music in Miranda's car. The piece, String Quartet No. 14 in D minor (D. 810), is called "Death and the Maiden," named after a Schubert song that it incorporates. This theme is common in folk music, such as the English song "Death and the Lady," where a wealthy woman sings about Death's betrayal after failing to bribe him for more time. The song's theme (and thus the dramatic context for Schubert's quartet) reflects the characters, with the mysterious doctor who raped and tortured Paulina acting as a Death-like figure in her memories. However, Dorfman's play turns this theme on its head—if the audience believes Paulina has correctly identified the doctor—because, in this case, it is the Maiden (Paulina) who wields power over Death (Miranda).
Doubt and Ambiguity
Paulina is convinced that Roberto Miranda is the doctor responsible for torturing and raping her years ago, and she believes he should be tried and punished for these crimes. She also feels that she is the only one capable of administering a punishment fitting the crime. A connected theme in Death and the Maiden is the enduring uncertainty faced by a society trying to address the injustices of a turbulent past. Ongoing questions emerge: how can one be certain the correct individuals are being held accountable, and what constitutes a just punishment? The play explores the consequences of such justice, prompting questions about its effects on both the accused and the accuser.
Freedom
The play contrasts the present day with the recently ended oppressive military regime. It emphasizes the complex reality that, during this delicate political transition, the shadows of the past still linger, hindering individuals from attaining true freedom. Paulina sarcastically questions the value of freedom in a society that has only tentatively embraced democracy: "Isn't that what this transition is all about? The Commission can investigate crimes but nobody is punished for them? ... There's freedom to say anything you want as long as you don't say everything you want?" While political freedom is a key focus of the play, emotional freedom is also an important theme. "You're still a prisoner," Gerardo tells Paulina, "you stayed behind with them, locked in that basement." He urges her to "free yourself from them" to achieve peace of mind. However, Paulina feels insulted by the implication that her only choice is to forget her suffering. Her stance is equally uncompromising; she believes she can only find peace by seeking retribution against her tormentors. Ultimately, she refrains from exacting the ultimate punishment of death. It is suggested that while this decision does not free her from the pain of her torture and rape, it does release her from the brutality that tormented her abusers.
Justice and Injustice
Death and the Maiden delves into the tension between idealistic and pragmatic views of justice. Both Paulina and Gerardo acknowledge the grave injustices committed by the previous military regime, yet they hold different opinions on how justice should be...
(This entire section contains 148 words.)
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pursued in the present situation. Gerardo places his trust in the commission he is part of, believing that justice will be achieved by thoroughly examining human rights abuses and presenting the findings to the nation's courts. In contrast, Paulina is doubtful about the credibility of the "same judges who never intervened to save one life in seventeen years of dictatorship." She contends that justice cannot be obtained through the current legal system, prompting her to take action on her own. Her strong stance is clearly rooted in her traumatic experiences; when Gerardo urges her to be "reasonable," she sharply replies: "You be reasonable. They never did anything to you."
Memory and Reminiscence
During an interview with Carlos Reyes featured on the Amnesty International website, Dorfman expressed, "Memory is a constant obsession for me." He explained that recalling the past serves as a defense against individuals, such as military leaders, "who would obliterate others, who would forget them, ignore them, neglect them, erase them from the earth." This "obsession" is reflected in his depiction of Paulina, whose haunting memories of being raped and tortured continue to confront historical revisionists who deny these events ever happened. Documenting the history of the victims is essential for national reconciliation, but the play poses the challenging question of how fulfilling this process can be for Paulina and others who have shared similar experiences.
Morality and Ethics
The immorality of the previous military regime is undeniably depicted in Death and the Maiden. Paulina's experiences of suffering, along with mentions of other cases of illegal abduction, torture, and murder, clearly establish the context. The play's primary ethical question revolves around whether Paulina, by deciding to judge and punish Miranda on her own, is simply replicating the same injustices perpetrated by the military regime. "We can't use their methods," Gerardo comments. Although Paulina agrees with this notion in theory, she argues that the situation is different in her case. She also asserts that she is giving Miranda an opportunity to defend himself, a privilege she was deprived of.
Response to Dictatorship and Historical Amnesia
Death and the Maiden by Ariel Dorfman serves as a poignant response to the oppressive regime of General Augusto Pinochet, which cast a long shadow over Chile for fifteen years. Pinochet's rise to power in 1973 through a coup dismantled the democratic government led by Salvador Allende, forcing many, including Dorfman, who was entrenched in the cultural fabric of Allende's administration, into exile. The subsequent plebiscite in 1988 paved the way for democratic elections in 1990, allowing Dorfman to return to his homeland. However, his homecoming was bittersweet, marred by the unsettling reluctance of many Chileans to face the traumas of their recent past.
This collective amnesia, Dorfman suggests, is akin to an untreated "sickness," threatening to infect and corrode the nation’s future. It is a metaphorical toxin that, if ignored, could erode the very foundations of Chilean society. Dorfman perceives the country's situation as multifaceted; akin to Gerardo's worn-out tire representing relationships in need of rejuvenation, and simultaneously like a violated woman, embodying the deep scars and unresolved wounds left by tyranny.
Gender and Machismo
Ariel Dorfman skillfully challenges conventional, often misogynistic metaphors by turning them on their heads to spotlight the plight of women living in hyperpatriarchal societies like Chile. In such environments, where abortion and divorce remain illegal, women face a double burden: insidious paternalism intertwined with the strong influence of machismo. This concept of exaggerated masculinity, characterized by the need to appear dominant and in control, is pervasive in Dorfman’s play.
The character of Gerardo serves as a prime example of this machismo. Though well-meaning, his actions reflect an underlying sexism, driven by his fear of appearing weak or "soft." His protective instincts towards the ostensibly hysterical Paulina serve to perpetuate an entrenched sexual hierarchy. Despite this, Paulina's character is a testament to strength and resilience, as her history of heroic resistance from fifteen years prior subtly challenges the oppressive norms Gerardo embodies. Dorfman’s narrative deftly critiques these societal dynamics, offering a nuanced exploration of gender and power.
Voicelessness and the Quest for Truth
In Death and the Maiden, the struggle for expression and truth is poignantly embodied in Paulina, who, during her torture, was stripped of her voice. Now, craving the freedom to articulate her experience, she finds herself silenced once more. This time, it's due to a commission whose mandate curtails her narrative. Her husband, Gerardo, meanwhile, speaks eloquently about the nation's need to articulate its history, yet paradoxically denies that very need to his own wife—and others like her. The play, mirroring a nation's struggles, frequently invokes the concept of "the real truth," yet seldom reveals it, shrouding its narrative in uncertainty and identity conflicts.
The masks donned by the characters have melded into their identities, blurring lines between reality and facade. This dynamic raises critical questions rather than offering reassuring answers. It confronts the challenge of addressing a nation's collective amnesia regarding its recent history without compromising freedom and democracy, and without transforming victims into aggressors. Victims, entangled in their personal traumas, find it difficult to envisage a future that is shared by all, risking the transformation of their desire for justice into an insatiable hunger for revenge.
The dramatic tension among the play's three characters highlights broader conflicts between past and future, and between idealism and pragmatism in politics. Paulina's personal struggle becomes a microcosm of national issues, illustrating how unresolved personal anguish can hinder collective progress. Meanwhile, Gerardo's idealistic rhetoric contrasts sharply with the pragmatic constraints imposed by the commission, illustrating the tension between public discourse and personal healing.
Ultimately, Death and the Maiden questions the possibility of true reconciliation in a society still grappling with the ghosts of its past. It poses the dilemma of how a country can acknowledge its history without allowing it to dictate its future, and how individuals can find their voices in the midst of societal silence. This exploration reveals a complex interplay between the search for truth, the desire for justice, and the need for healing.