Unhealthy Relationships in Peter Shaffer’s Equus and Albert Camus’s The Stranger

In Equus, by Peter Shaffer, and The Stranger, by Albert Camus, both protagonists’ personal family relations produced from overprotection and abandonment result in the disconnection of the primary care givers. In Equus Alan’s parents shelter him from the wrongs of the outside world, which creates an unavoidable obstacle between Alan and his parents. In The Stranger, Meursault’s unloving attitude towards his mother develops the sense of resentment from his childhood. In comparing both novels the author constructs these feelings to imply the effects of the actions when disunion is present between the primary care givers and the protagonists.

In Equus, the lack of communication causes the disconnection between not only Alan and his parents but also between Alan’s parents themselves. Alan’s parents, Frank and Dora, do not agree on how to raise Alan, which is where the tension with the in family appears. Alan’s parents shelter him from the outside world because they disagree on how to approach the confrontational issues that appear in reality. Frank arrives at Dysart’s, the psychiatrist’s office, and approaches Dysart by saying, “My wife does not know I’m here. I’d be grateful to you if you didn’t enlighten her, if you receive my meaning”(Shaffer 1.14.). With this statement the audience can sense the secrets and the lack of communication between the Frank and Dora. The audience notices this because within a working relationship there should be no secrets and Frank should be able to tell Dora that he went to talk to the psychiatrist. The disconnection in the family emerges at this point because everything starts with the parents. The lack of communication with the parents overflows to the Alan because the parents do not have a ste...

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...n both novels, dysfunction tears apart each family. Lack of communication emerges as the main motif in both novels. In Equus the disconnection between the parents and also between Alan’s parents and himself adds to Alan’s social awkwardness. In The Stranger detachment results in an unloving relationship between a mother and her son. In contrasting the two novels, in Equus Alan’s parents attempt to have a relationship and communicate with one another while in The Stranger the relationship between Meursault and his mother is non-existent. The controversial matters in both novels mirrors the societal issues of the time period that in return contributes to the crimes committed by both Alan and Meursault.

Works Cited

Camus, Albert. The Stranger. Trans. Matthew Ward. New York: Vintage International,

1988.

Shaffer, Peter. Equus. New York, Scribner, 1973.