The Visit: Cultural Context And Morality

Cultural And Contextual Considerations Of The Work Developed Through The Interactive Oral

Through the IO my understanding of the visit was greatly enhanced. The first major topic we covered was an exploration of Medea and the many similarities between her story and that of Claire Zachanassian. As by looking at Medea’s story, it showed many links that existed between ancient Greek Tragedies and the more modern Swiss play. It also delved into the idea of betrayal and how in both cases they were betrayed by their lovers (Jason or Ill). After having been left broken hearted they(Medea and Claire) retaliated by taking everything from their former lovers as revenge. Furthermore, it also looked into this idea of how in both cases these women werebranded as the villains being made into horrible witches despite having done little to deserve it.

Then another thing that helped in enhancing my knowledge was how we explored the idea of poisoned gifts and how these women use the idea of giving a gift to fulfil their desire for revenge such as Medea and the poisoned dress and Claire with her money. Since at first glance this seems innocent and kind of them it is only later shown to have a second darker intention.

Another thing that enhanced my understanding was when we looked at Humanism and Humanitarianism which both showed how people could only see the primary purpose of the gifts as unless they were directly involved in any of the plots they wouldn’t see any of the darker intentions behind the gifts. This was linked to our book as when looking at the gift Claire gave to the town people this ignorance was revealed through the character of the commentator who represented the outside people who didn’t know about Ill’s role in this matter.

The third thing that greatly helped my understanding was when we explored Friedrich Durrenmatt and his life as it explained many things behind Claire’s character. For instance, one thing that helped explain Claire’s dismissal to religion and the importance of the pope can be backed up by Durrenmatt’s atheist background. Then also Claire’s very cynical perspective can also be attributed to Durrenmatt’s view of the world due to him being known as a very blunt writer. This bluntness is also shown in Claire’s personality as numerous times she tells the absolute truth such as about her limb unlike most of that time.

A Study Of The Motif Money And How It Reveals The Changes In Morality In “the Visit”

“The Visit” by Friedrich Dürrenmatt is a play that centres on the life of an incredibly wealthy 63-year-old woman named Claire Zachnassian who returns to her former hometown of Guellen with a dreadful agreement: She wants the townspeople to kill Ill the man who got her pregnant, then abandoned her and condemned her to prostitution. In exchange for his demise, she will grant the town with enough money to revitalize the declining old town. Due to this dreadful poverty the people of Guellen, the townspeople are coerced into killing Ill as a way out of their predicament. Throughout “The Visit” money is often applied as a method to control people and manipulate the situation. It is later exposed that Claire used her wealth to create this situation, plunging Guillen into poverty and therefore allowing her to control the people of Gullen by offering a way out of this crisis.

Claire’s control is evidenced through the way she buys people and therefore objectifies them. When Claire first steps off the train, she introduces the town’s people to her seventh husband as: “Come on, Moby, come and make your bow. As a matter of fact, his name’s Pedro, but Moby’s much nicer. In any case, it goes better with Boby; that’s the butler’s name. And you get your butlers for life, so husbands have to be christened accordingly” (Durrenmatt, 21). By renaming her husband, it shows just how little she thinks for her husband as she changes his name from Pedro to Moby. This indicates that denying her is improbable as regardless of her requests they are constantly carried out due to her status. This status is created her monetary power. As this implies that much like many inanimate objects or animals, she is able to easily rename him without any consideration on his opinion. This proves just how powerful Claire truly is as even though it is clearly quite derogatory, the husband obeys her with no question. It is also important to look in regards of the husband as he at the time is also quite a wealthy man however when it comes to Claire he has no problem with submitting to her authority and obeying her commands. Furthermore, this scene is placed in the very beginning of the play showing how Claire is made powerful through money and that money gives Claire the ability to dehumanise people and control them. This along with the train conductor’s reverent reaction to the Claire shows the great power she holds through having money: “Madam is Madam Claire Zachanassian? O do excuse me. Of course, it’s different in that case”(19).

When looking at the quote the first thing that is apparent is that there is a shift in tone when the conductor realises just who he is talking too. This shift in attitude with the mere mention of her name reveals just how much authority is granted to her by her vast wealth as it allows her to ignore public rules set for everybody and is made an exception. The train conductor’s reaction to her name moreover also explicates that few are able to stop her from doing whatever she fancies. This then foreshadows the conclusion where the townspeople kill Ill as it makes us aware of the final result being that the people of Gullen would be unable to go against Claire and would have to follow the terms of their deal.

Claire’s ability to put a price on the life of others is one of the key aspects of how she controls others. This is proven by when she speaks to the people of Güllen about how she managed to purchase the two chair carriers: “Two gangsters from Manhattan, sentenced to die in the electric chair at Sing Sing. Released at my request to carry my sedan chair. One million dollars per petition is what it cost me”(24).

This plays a crucial role in the play, as it introduces the concept of lives being worth a certain amount. This concept in the story also relates to how many things like justice can be corrupted by money as in the final sentence of the quote it shows how justice is essentially bought here as it is given a price tag of a million. The lives of these two gangsters were all but bought by Claire furthermore this also shows the power of money since it shows us how justice was manipulated. This is linked to the main idea as it shows just how much power Clare has in this play with justice being as corrupt as it is. This corruption can also be seen in the play and in relation to the townspeople since while they talk about justice in truth it is more connected to self-interest and greed then truly doing the right thing as it is made much more selfish as in this case doing the right things is more meant to benefit themselves than everybody. For instance, in Ill’s case at the end of act 1, Claire makes her offer of a million dollars for Ill’s life the mayor then talks about Güllen being a town of Justice and how it was unacceptable. This notion, however, changes very quickly as in the end the town’s poverty is too great and the people of the village of Güllen agree to kill for justice. However, as we see in the novel this justice is simply a way for the people of Guellen to justify the murder of Ill. It can also be linked to Claire herself as her numerous marriages indicate that she herself is quite greedy as she marries people for their money and then divorces them once she has taken their money. It also shows how to her people all have a set value being their amount of money which she can use for her revenge meaning that once Claire takes their money they have no use to her. One example of this is Claire’s 7th Husband Moby, going back to the idea of people having a set value once Claire has made use of their monetary value she gets rid of them. This is shown by how she gets remarried soon after leaving her 7th husband.

In Act 3 Claire’s ability to manipulate both people and their situation through money is evidenced when the Priest speaks to Ill about how tempting Claire’s offer is and how due to her causing Güllen’s poverty they have little choice but to accept this leading to her final purpose of Ill’s death. As revealed by: “The temptation is too great and our poverty is too wretched. But I know something else. I too will take part in it. I can feel myself slowly turning into a murderer “(77). This quote highlights this battle between money and the people of Güllen’s morals as it tempts people to do horrible things such as murder in this case. It also reveals Claire’s deviousness as through her manipulations she has placed the people of Guellen in such a difficult spot. The first line however also looks at the darker side of things as the school master’s speech doesn’t only look at the Guelleners issues but also at the flaws of human nature as a whole. As it exposes topics like greed and how it ntempts us to do things that we would not normally desire to do. One example for this is the former Chief justice of Gullen as he held a prestigious position however his greed would later drive him to serve Claire as a butler due to the fact that she offered him a better salary. Since normally one would think that being a butler is degrading job due to itsmeaning that you would have to serve one person and it wouldn’t normally compare to something like being chief justice which was seen as an extremely prestigious job. However here we can see the power of money as he states, “A peculiar career for a man of learning, perhaps, but the salary was so fantastic”. This shows that he is clearly aware of his greed, however, has no issues with it being willing to accept it.

In conclusion throughout the play, Claire’s control is evident and is linked to her great wealth as she uses her money to make her web where she can control Guellen. As by manipulating the situation she ensures that her demands are met and can no longer be refused. Her control over the situation is demonstrated by her actions with the Wagener factory and other factories in Guellen as by taking jobs from them she increases their need for her. Through the action with the situation, Claire then can then get people to accept her proposition. As by manipulating the situation she makes it so they need her and nolonger has the choice to reject her as she essentially starves them out.

Work Cited List:

1. Durrenmatt, Fredrich. The Visit. New York: Groove Press, 1994.Print.