Equus by Peter Shaffer The quote I found troubling was “Behold I give you Equus, my only begotten son! ”(42). It made me stop to think that he’s mistaking Jesus Christ for these horses. This is the reason why he feels that he needs to worship them and confuses his adoration with sexual attraction. When he’s feeling guilty or he feels like he’s done a mistake, He thinks the spirit of the horse is going to condemn him instead of God. That’s why he went psychotic when he tried to get with the girl he liked, all he could see in his mind was the horses and he felt like they were coming for him.
The Quote I found interesting was “He goes off by himself at night, and does his own secret thing which no one’ll know about, just like me! There’s no difference he’s just the same as me – just the same! ” (88). I felt it was interesting because it makes me feel that he did not know his father at all. His father never once taught to himself that what he did that night at the movies and how he acts motivates what he does and what his son thinks of him. He makes himself look superior than his wife by blaming that its only her that corrupts him when he has partake in corrupting.
When he gets caught at the movies with his son, it shows Alan that his father was lying and he is not who he taught he was. The Quote I found that was stimulating is “The thing is to fell comfortable, and relax absolutely… are you looking at the stain” (56). Dysart is trying to make him feel at ease by playing a game. He makes him look at the stain so he can feel comfortable enough to explain to him what he is thinking and being completely hones about it sort of like a mind trick. This brings Alan to a lot of pressure because he needs to focus and tell Mr. Dysart everything.
The reason is because Mr. Dysart is trying to cure him of his nightmares and understand why he spiked horses. Another quote I found was, “But he recovered when he was given the photograph of the horse in its place? ” (36). I feel that this is interesting because I feel that this is where his thoughts of horses must have begun. The picture of Jesus that was taped to his bed ended up being replaced by horses. His father got rid of the photo of Christ and gave it to him. This could have altered his mind to think that the horses are what he should be worshiping and thinking about instead of God.
