The Mental Violence And Traumas In Peter Shaffer’s Plays

Peter Shaffer,the outstanding playwright of Britain after the Second World War,shows a high sensitivity to language and often combines verbal articulateness with exceptional theatrical inventiveness in his plays.He builds dramas on profound human issues,intending to arouse people to think about the nature of human beings.The Royal Hunt of the Sun,Equus,and Amadeus are Shaffer’s most well-known plays,in which the violence images often occur,especially the metal violence images.However,Shaffer seldom directly expresses his views in his plays.Hence the academic researches on Shaffer’s works are not comprehensive enough.And studies on the mental violence and traumas of his works are rarely found.Based on Michael D.Langone,Andrew Vachss and other scholars’ statements about mental violence including its definition,forms and Judith Herman’s trauma theory,this thesis chooses The Royal Hunt of the Sun,Equus and Amadeus as research objects,interprets the mental violence that the characters suffer,digs into the traumas caused by mental violence,and explores the author’s treatment on trauma through close reading.This thesis totally consists of six parts.The Introduction sums up researches on Shaffer’s plays at home and abroad,and then introduces the development of mental violence and trauma theory used in this paper.Chapter Two analyzes mental violence and trauma of race in The Royal Hunt of the Sun,implying the Jewish author Shaffer’s meditation onthe violence and traumas suffered by the Jewish people who have the similar experience to Peruvians.Chapter Three discusses mental violence and trauma of family in Equus,reflecting the familial violence and traumas in the British society after the Second World War.Chapter Four studies mental violence and trauma of politics in Amadeus,suggesting the psychological trauma and powerlessness of the young talents under the oppression of authority in the 1970 s of western society.Chapter Five explores Shaffer’s mental violence writing and trauma treatment.These traumas not only belong to the characters in Shaffer’s works,but also the wound of Jewish people,the young talents in the western society,and even the citizens worldwide.Chapter six is the Conclusion.It is pointed out in this thesis that Shaffer implicitly puts his concern about people,society and the entire world into his plays The Royal Hunt of the Sun,Equus,and Amadeus.The mental violence in these plays is a dangerous product nurtured by race,family and power which manifests the traumas that the characters suffer in the complicated situation.It also reflects Shaffer’s treatment on the wound of society and traumas of his own.In these three plays,the describing of mental violence reflects the dramatist’s fustigation of racial discrimination,criticism on authoritarianism of family,and condemnation on the complicity of the authority as well as regret for the loss of talents.Meanwhile,it is also the playwright’s attempt to be against violence.The purpose of presenting violence is to make people better understand what violence is,so as to reduce and avoid the occurrence of mental violence,which has great significance for the equal and harmonious coexistence of different races,classes as well as individuals.