Customer Reviews

Death and the Maiden

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Thousands of Chilean citizens are said to have "disappeared" during the regime of General Augusto Pinochet, who reigned from 1973-1990. Though not specifically set in Chile, DEATH AND THE MAIDEN is about learning to live again in the aftermath of such an era.

Gerardo Escobar has just been named to a commission that will investigate human rights cases against the old government that ended in death (or the presumption of death). His wife, Paulina, was victimized herself fifteen years earlier, and still has not recovered from the trauma. Now she believes Roberto Miranda, the good Samaritan who came to Gerardo's aid on the road when he had a flat tire, is the same doctor who oversaw her torture years ago, and since there is no hope of gaining justice from the courts, she decides to put Dr. Miranda "on trial" herself.

Playwright Ariel Dorfman pits his characters' heads against their hearts, and the result is a play that is as exciting intellectually as it is emotionally. They are forced to try to answer the kinds of questions with which human beings prefer never to be faced.

How can we be sure of our own ideals? How can we escape our demons when they surround us every day? How can there be justice if the criminal is never punished?

How can we ever learn to forgive, and NEVER learn to forget?

I recently re-read this play after watching the DVD (which, though very good, does not do the book justice IMO). Upon my second reading, I re-discovered what had made this book so appealing to me in the first place: Dorfman does not let the Reader have any easy answers. Throughout the course of the play, the Reader grapples with questions of power, of justice, of redemption, of truth. Each individual Reader must determine for him/herself the answers to the questions which Dorfman's characters posit. It's precisely this ambiguity and involvement of the Reader that make this little book a masterpiece, a work of literature which one won't soon forget.

Ariel Dorfman was a Chilean exile who feared that he might "disappear" if he attempted to live and work under the Pinochet dictatorship. "Death and the Maiden" is a sort of autobiography for Dorfman. The play centers around the character of Paulina, a woman who ultimately kidnaps the man she suspects of holding her prisoner and presiding over her torture and rape many years ago. It's a suspenseful play that tackles the issues of justice and retribution, but it also has elements of suspense and mystery: is Dr. Miranda really the person that Paulina thinks he is? This is an excellent play that's fairly well-known, yet it's hardly ever staged for some reason, which is a shame. (Note: Never, EVER subject yourself to the Sigourney Weaver/Ben Kingsley movie version. It is so awful.)

I was so fortunate to see this play when it was on Broadway in the 90's. Though I wish the script was available for Kindle, I am appreciative that it is available in this format. A truly haunting and thought provoking play that delves deep into the human psyche.

In the play Death and the Maiden there is a question of guilty or not guilty? Should we have excessive truth and knowledge, or should we be shielded from knowing too much??? The play doesn't ever answer these questions, but it does make us think about them. It's a wonderful book that places you in the supposed position of judge and jury. You only know what the characters tell you, so you have no real answer to is he guilty of the crime or is Paulina over the edge???

Death and the Maiden is a biographical work by Ariel Dorfman. At the time it was written Chile was in the middle of a dictatorship and the people suffered from constant fear. Was the person lurking outside their house someone coming to capture them? The people of Chile were constantly kidnapped and tortured, which is portrayed through Pauline. She represents the Chilean people who were victimized and the rights which were 'raped'. Pauline finally meets up with the doctor she believes did this to her, and whether or not he did, she creates her retribution around him. Until the people could attack Chile and gain a confession from the ones who were supposed to protect them (the police) they could never live in comfort or be satisfied. As is Pauline who demands a confession from the doctor in order to have a face to blame. In the end it is a mystery to whether or not she killed the doctor, but when she sees his face in the end, while listening to the song he played while raping her, she can merely stare and look away. No longer is their hatred because she has finally been able to accept the past and move on, which was the message Dorfman was trying to portray. The fear of living was in the past and the people, though they would always remember the past injustices, should allow themselves to forgive and move on.

although i have only read this novel once so far,i found it to be extremely compelling. questions of: deceit,betrayal,revenge,desire and power tirade throughout the play. for who is really honest?- certainly not gerardo(a recarnation of robespierre); nor paulina (your frustated, dillusional, prototypical housewife);nor ricardo (the sly,oil slicked stranger accused). these characters undeniable flaws (it could be argued that dorfman has potrayed every piitful and pathetic trait ever known to man)seem to cause their downfalls,but also growth within themselves and their relations with others. surely the final setting will influence the reader to think so.