Eqqus:Strang vs. Dysert
... having been isolated form the opposite sex for so long, Alan has not determined what titillates him, and what exactly it is that he feels passion for. The first aspect I want to zoom in on is Strang’s blurry line between normal and strange. This is a very Freudian aspect of Strang’s illness, in that over time, all of which he is told what to do by two completely different people he slowly evolves from id to superego. At first, Strang is a little boy who is completely satisfied by his life and does not take much notice to his surroundings, at least not enough for them to make a huge impact on them. Then as his parents begin to drill different things into his head, Strang begins to get confused. He is told to believe in some sort of religion by his mother, and his father tells him not to believe in any religion. His father places a picture of a horse where Christ’s picture used to rest. This horse then becomes the substitute for Christ. Throughout all of this confusion we see Alan turn form the id, into the ego. I see the biggest impact on this change when he is at the beach. Alan is enjoying himself playing in the sand building a castle, when the horseman comes up to him. Alan is taken by the horse, and horseman together for the horse and its rider are one. This is where I believe Strang’s sexual confusion developed. He did not realize who he was attracted to, or was it both together? Now he starts to worship the horse more and more and become higher maintenance with more kept inside of him, and he is far less easily pleased. Then he gets his job at the stable and he changes into the superego. At this point he is constantly in the presence of his lord “Equus” and he feels he cannot do anything wrong because “Equus” will get mad at him. He begins to never be pleased and finds himself doing everything for “Equus”. The perfect example of this transformation is when Alan is about to have sex with Jill and he ends up finding he is not able for he feels “Equus” is furious with him and he does not want to upset his god anymore than he has. This is a strait shot towards god meaning people must sacrifice to him, and God may not be always good. Can’t everyone get jealous? The second and last aspect I want to touch on in this profile is Alan’s confusion of reality. He is not exactly sure how the world actually works. He has been isolated form television and the ways children learn about the world. Who wants to talk to their parents about sex and drugs and things they are “too old” to understand with maturity. Due to this, he has chosen a God to become obsessed with, thus subjecting him to criticism form both of his parents and all his peers around him. Perhaps Strang did not have a friend in his life until Jill came...