A peaceful transfer of presidential power was achieved in 1990 but considerable tension continued between the military and the government concerning the human rights violations of the Pinochet era. For more than two months, she became one of Latin Americas many disappeared; she was interrogated, tortured, and raped in order to elicit from her the name of a leader of the leftist opposition: Gerardo Escobar, then her lover, later her husband. Thou art more than the day or the morrow, the seasons that laugh or that weep; For these give joy and sorrow; but thou, Proserpina, sleep. 77, 1993. A coup on March 24, 1976, overthrew Peron's widow Isabel, president since his death, and a military junta composed of the three commanders in chief of the armed forces installed itself as the government. date the date you are citing the material. When Gerardo's car breaks down one night, a kindly stranger named Roberto Miranda offers to drive Gerardo back to his beach house. "My students can't get enough of your charts and their results have gone through the roof." Except for the girl's brief frightened outburst, both melody and accompaniment are in an unremitting rhythm of one half and two quarter notes and only barely rise above an aching monotone, suggesting the grimness and inevitability of doom despite death's soothing promise. 325-45. An article that fleshes out the "string of contingencies" between these two writers. Gerardo comes in dozily, astonished by the scene that presents itself. Death and the Maiden is highly realistic in form and structure, with a plot that rapidly unfolds in linear progression, characters that are fully-realized individuals, and a fixed, recognizable setting. PAULINA (very calm, till the end of the scene): We can heat it up. 6, 1991, pp 3-4. He claims, contrary to Paulinas assertions, to have no idea who she is. Contents 1 Characters 2 Synopsis 3 Productions 4 Film adaptation 5 Opera Yet after that time he still retained congressional influence with the title of senator for life. However, Roberto's sub-conscious correction of a few of facts that Paulina deliberately mis-represents in her recording Death and the Maiden study guide contains a biography of Ariel Dorfman, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis. The Circuit: Stories from the Life of a Migrant Child. This essay will explore the nature of hysteria and its place and purpose in the play, and how Just at this moment, both characters freeze. He plays the part of good cop in order to elicit from her the story that will become Robertos confession. Dorfman himself has used the term tragedy to refer to the work, responding to the suggestion that the play functions as political propaganda by saying in Index on Censorship that "tragedies are never propaganda, ever." More books than SparkNotes. eNotes.com will help you with any book or any question. The play takes place fifteen years later, just hours after Gerardo has been appointed head of the new, democratically elected governments Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Around midday, Roberto is still tied up. I remember the sequels getting more and more silly but this first one is a great film. Gerardo explains to Roberto that he thinks the only way for Roberto to free himself is to indulge Paulinahe needs to confess, even if he is innocent. Schubert was a poet of unfulfillable longing, of human vulnerability, of the excruciating sweetness of the yearning to be at peace. Roberto chastises Gerardo for letting his extremely ill, almost prototypically schizoid wife behave this way. Teachers and parents! eNotes.com Roberto, in his confession, subconsciously corrected those errors: for example, she had changed Stud to Bud, an error that Roberto subsequently fixed. Try it today! She instructs Gerardo to go and fetch Robertos car. At the sound of a car, she hurriedly gets up and, spotting an unfamiliar vehicle, grabs a gun from the sidebar. Note: When citing an online source, it is important to include all necessary dates. As long as we've got something to celebrate, that is. Still, the parallels exist; Mimi Kramer noted in the New Yorker that "the play observes classical rules about unity of time and place, and about offstage violence.". date the date you are citing the material. Being "both death and the maiden" is also a nice use of gothic antithesis.If you haven't noticed it already, look at the painting and laugh at how much the 'maiden' looks like Timothy Spall. Death and the Maiden is a 1990 play by Chilean playwright Ariel Dorfman. 2003 eNotes.com Log in here. Nevertheless the harsh past, Paulina is a survivor, a fighter whom seeks even the slightest chance of attaining truth and ultimate revenge. A June massacre in a black township, however, and charges of police involvement in the case, suggest the pressing need for more rapid transformation. What different forms of power are conveyed in Death and the Maiden? A comprehensive, general resource on the interrelated political histories of this vast region. Last Updated on May 5, 2015, by eNotes Editorial. With Gerardo sent to fetch the doctors car, Paulina and Miranda confront each other, he proclaiming his innocence and refusing to yield further (least of all to a woman), and she threatening to kill him while asking why it is that people such as herself always have to compromise and asking What do we lose by killing one of them?, The plays final scene deepens the ambiguity. Death and the Maiden 1994 R 1 h 43 m IMDb RATING 7.3 /10 25K YOUR RATING Rate Play trailer 1:55 1 Video 60 Photos Drama Mystery Thriller A political activist is convinced that her guest is a man who once tortured her for the government. The politically charged play follows Paulina Salas, a former political prisoner in an unnamed Latin American country, whose husband unknowingly brings home Drawing on the familiar Latin American genre of the testimonial (one rooted in the regions turbulent political realities), in which the victim of political or sexual torture tells a story that those in power wish to suppress (or have the victim repress), Death and the Maiden seems decidedly, painfully realistic, but this is realism that blends into ritual, as its documentary approach takes on a haunting, incantatory power. Politics of the Periphery and Theater of the Metropolis" in Comparative Drama, Vol. Page to stage. The Life and Times of Death and the Maiden. Texas Studies in Literature and Language 42 (Summer, 2000): 135-153. Gerardo moves to untie Roberto, causing Paulina to fire a warning shot, evidently scaring her as much as the other two. A documentary, produced in the years 1973-1976, which is still banned in Chile to this day. Polanski has produced, in this film, an exceptional piece of direction, in which his own personal, emotional input is evident. Now left alone with Roberto, Paulina looks outside and says, its going to be a beautiful day. The only thing needed that would make it perfect, she says, is to kill Roberto. She does not speak in this final scene. The device of the mirror at the conclusion of the play contributes most strongly to the process of catharsis. He explains that one of his tires had gone out on the way home and a kind passing motorist had stopped to help. Death and the Maiden By Ariel Dorfman Stage Managed by: Sara Baines-Miller . Her experiences of rape and torture attribute to her distrust of those around her. Gale Cengage Contents 1 Plot 2 Cast 3 Production 4 Music 5 Reception 5.1 Critical reception Doctor Miranda, she says, didnt get involved with her until three days later. Gerardo has the cassette recorder on his lap and is asking Paulina to tell him everything about the terrible events she suffered. Roberto is writing down the words of his confession as Gerardo plays them back to him from the cassette recorder. As the lights go down, she turns her head and faces the mirror while the music plays on. Gerardo grows increasingly exasperated as Paulina forces him to tell her how many times he slept with his other lover. Home Uncategorized death and the maiden ending analysis. How might Dorfman's message apply to other contexts (times and places)? Today: While many political, social, and economic difficulties remain for South Africa, the peaceful transfer of power to President Nelson Mandela makes the country an excellent example of how a society can make the difficult transition to democracy. He encounters a local parson who tells him of his family history: The Durbeyfields are descended from the once famous d'Urbervilles, a . However, the sound of Robertos voice, a particular line of Nietzsche he quotes, the tape of Austrian composer Franz Schuberts Death and the Maiden quartet she finds in his car, and later, the smell of his body convince a distraught Paulina that he is the man who presided over her torture fifteen years before. Hardy has brought the story full circle. Gale Cengage As in Chile, following a tenuous return to democracy Argentine society at large continues to struggle with the issue of how to rectify the violence of the past. Paulina's exceptionally dark and troubling past haunts her throughout the play. Allende's sweeping economic reforms included the state takeover of many private enterprises; the United States was angered by the confiscation of U.S.-controlled copper mines and Chile's openly friendly relationship with Cuba, a country with whom America had ceased diplomatic and economic ties. Composed in 1824, some four years before his death, Franz Schubert's Fourteenth String Quartet, also known as Death and the Maiden, remains one of the pillars in Western chamber music. The United States suspends aid to Peru. Paulina agrees. "Death and the Maiden - Media Adaptations" Drama for Students As she counts past up to nine, she asks what there is to lose from killing one of them?. She knocks the sleeping doctor unconscious, ties him up, and puts him on trial. The second is the date of After midnight. resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss thenovel. Roberto outlines how he came to be involved with the military regime. Peron was resurrected in 1973 as the economic situation in Argentina continued to worsen, and the public, looking for some positive way out of the military regimes, enthusiastically welcomed his return; he died a mere eight months into his new term as president. Gerardo acts as the voice of reason to emphasize Paulina's irrational and crazed tendencies in the play. Simon, John. Death and the Maiden essays are academic essays for citation. Christian H. Moe. Meanwhile, as Paulina finishes buying her candy, a spotlight descends and catches Roberto. The play does not definitively prove that Gerardo is speaking the truth, of course. 87-88. In Death and the Maiden, Gerardo constantly opposes Paulina's ideas and plans, providing a more rational and less emotionally-charged solution. In the early 1970s, Dorfman worked as a cultural adviser to Salvador Allende, Chiles first socialist president. Our Essay Lab can help you tackle any essay assignment within seconds, whether youre studying Macbeth or the American Revolution. His main character has the choice to kill her worst enemy or to set him free. A few months later, Paulina and Gerardo are at a concert. Reprintable only with permission from the author. Death and the Maiden is a popular motif throughout art history. Death and the Maiden Study Guide Widely considered to be Ariel Dorfman 's most influential play, Death and the Maiden explores the challenges of restoring democracy and stability to a country recovering from an oppressive military dictatorship. After a brief commotion, Paulina drags the unconscious Roberto into the living room and ties him up to a chair. The two of them sit down to watch the rest of the concert. John Butt similarly found the play "timely," saying that it catches the audience "in a neat moral trap'' by making them "confront choices that most would presumably leave to the inhabitants of remote and less favoured countries.". In fact, he was with the other woman on the night she got released and went to find him. A fully realistic play would present some kind of resolution to the dramatic conflict but this is hardly possible in Death and the Maiden. A system of clandestine concentration camps, numbering over three hundred at their peak, provided the center of an all-out policy of abduction, torture, murder, and disposal. Rich, Frank. Hearing a car pull up, Paulina retrieves a gun from the sideboard and listens as Gerardo thanks an unknown individual before coming in. She agrees and then encourages Gerardo to gofetch Roberto's car (which Paulina hid earlier). Instead, Paulina, Gerardo, and Roberto make reference to, imply, or threaten each other with how can you prove that paulina is not forgiving Roberto. Indeed, the play suggests precisely the difficulty of resolving the social issue which is at its heart: how can a society reconcile itself with its violent past and, somehow, move forward? Retrieving the Disappeared Text: Women, Chaos, and Change in Argentina and Chile After the Dirty Wars. Hispanic Journal 18 (Spring, 1997): 89-108. eNotes.com In form, of course, the play differs from tragedy on many levels: it lacks, for example, the downfall and death of a hero or heroine and the "anagnorisis'' or self-recognition on the part of that character about the mistake that led to his or her demise. Henry II, patron of Amelia Aguilar "England's vaunted mistress of the death", has died, and Ms. Aguilar is retired and teaching her daughter, Allie, anatomy . Of all of her torturers, this doctor was the cruelest because of his occasional intimations of kindness and his propensity for playing Schubert'sDeath and the Maidenwhile subjecting Paulina tosexual and physical torture. It reflects the image of the audience back at itself, as a spotlight focuses on two or three audience members at a time. As the lights come up, it becomes clear that the words the audience hears are part of Mirandas tape-recorded confession, which he is now writing down. Dorfman is also covered in Hispanic Writers, Hispanic Literary Criticism, and Volume 130 of Contemporary Authors. eNotes.com, Inc. Vol. eNotes.com resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss thenovel. It is clear that, in her relationship with Gerardo, Gerardo is the dominant one of the couple at . The play does not definitively prove that Gerardo is speaking the truth, of course. Comprised of two stanzas, the first half gives us . Late that night, Gerardo and Paulina are awakened by a knock at their doorjust the kind of knock they feared during the earlier regimes reign of terror, and continue to fear. How did Pinochet's regime impact Chileans and the country itself? Thus the audience is singled out, just as Paulina was fifteen years before, and Miranda was just a few months earlier. The confession ends with a plea for forgiveness and a promise of repentance. Paulina insists that he also write that his confession was made of his own free will. Just as, in life, looking death in the eye, with acceptance, with loss of fear, changes everything. Paulina and Gerardo are attending a concert. eNotes.com My students love how organized the handouts are and enjoy tracking the themes as a class.. Roberto says he was only joking and agrees with Gerardos earlier to plan. Support your answer with two examples from Death and the Maiden. His government maintained power for the next decade and a half, frequently resorting to terror (including the abduction/tortures to which Paulina was subjected) in order to suppress dissent. Guzman's more recent work also includes the film Chile: The Persistent Memory. Both Chile, following Augusto Pinochet's military coup, and Argentina, in the years of the military's "Dirty War," were characterized by civil repression, extra-judicial abductions and "disappearances," torture, and murder. Instant downloads of all 1682 LitChart PDFs 71-75. Barsky, Robert F. Outsider Law in Literature: Construction and Representation in Death and the Maiden. SubStance 26 (1997): 66-89. There is even a certain grace, a nobility, in the closing phrases of the second movement, that seems so . The two men talk rather freely about that work and engage in a bit of sexist banter before Gerardo invites Roberto to stay the night. 3 At this point Robertos voice takes over from Paulinas, carrying on her train of thought. Death and the Maiden was actually begun in the early 1980s, originally intended to be a novel. England, 1191. Throughout Latin America, the continued existence of guerrilla activity combined with hard-line government policies suggest the continued fragility of many of the region's democracies. 18 Jan. 2023