Equus Summary

10 questions on the plot and the characters. Each answer comes with a short explanation.

Take it one question at a time

1. Question 1

   What is the initial crime committed by Alan Strang that brings him to Dr. Martin Dysart's attention?

   1. He set fire to a church.
   2. He blinded six horses with a spike.
   3. He assaulted a stable hand.
   4. He stole money from his parents.
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   B. He blinded six horses with a spike. The play centers around the horrific act of Alan Strang blinding six horses, which is the catalyst for his psychiatric evaluation by Dr. Dysart.

2. Question 2

   Dr. Martin Dysart, the psychiatrist treating Alan, primarily struggles with what personal crisis throughout the play?

   1. His failing marriage and lack of passion in his own life.
   2. His professional reputation being questioned.
   3. His inability to connect with his own children.
   4. A fear of being replaced by a younger colleague.
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   A. His failing marriage and lack of passion in his own life. Dysart frequently laments his 'smothered' life, his unfulfilling marriage, and his longing for the intense passion he observes in Alan, even in his madness.

3. Question 3

   What is the name Alan gives to his personal god, a figure he worships with intense devotion?

   1. Apollo
   2. Zeus
   3. Equus
   4. Pegasus
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   C. Equus Alan creates a highly personal, quasi-religious worship of horses, personifying them as 'Equus,' a deity with whom he seeks communion and spiritual ecstasy.

4. Question 4

   How does Alan's father, Frank Strang, inadvertently contribute to Alan's troubled development and his relationship with horses?

   1. He forced Alan to work in the stables against his will.
   2. He secretly replaced a picture of Christ with a picture of a horse in Alan's room.
   3. He openly mocked Alan's interest in horses, leading to resentment.
   4. He encouraged Alan to engage in violent acts towards animals.
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   B. He secretly replaced a picture of Christ with a picture of a horse in Alan's room. Frank, a staunch atheist, replaced a picture of Christ with a picture of a horse in Alan's room as a subtle act of rebellion against his wife's religiosity, unknowingly fueling Alan's nascent equine worship.

5. Question 5

   What is the central thematic argument Peter Shaffer explores through the contrast between Alan's 'madness' and Dysart's 'sanity'?

   1. The superiority of scientific reason over religious belief.
   2. The idea that modern society has sacrificed passion and worship for materialism and convenience, leading to spiritual decay.
   3. The inherent danger of unchecked religious fanaticism.
   4. The importance of strict parental discipline in child development.
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   B. The idea that modern society has sacrificed passion and worship for materialism and convenience, leading to spiritual decay. The play's core argument, as stated in the prompt, is that modern life's emphasis on materialism and convenience has eroded our capacity for intense passion and worship, leaving individuals like Dysart spiritually barren, while Alan, despite his madness, possesses a profound, albeit destructive, form of worship.

6. Question 6

   What specific object does Alan use to blind the horses?

   1. A broken glass bottle
   2. A sharp stone
   3. A metal spike
   4. A piece of jagged wood
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   C. A metal spike The prompt explicitly states that Alan 'blinds six horses with a spike,' a crucial detail of the central crime.

7. Question 7

   What is the significance of the character of Jill Mason in Alan's story?

   1. She is Alan's sister who tries to help him.
   2. She is a stable girl with whom Alan attempts intimacy, leading to the climax of his breakdown.
   3. She is a childhood friend who witnessed his early fascination with horses.
   4. She is a journalist trying to expose Alan's story.
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   B. She is a stable girl with whom Alan attempts intimacy, leading to the climax of his breakdown. Jill is the stable girl with whom Alan attempts a sexual encounter. His inability to perform, coupled with the perceived 'gaze' of Equus, triggers his ultimate act of violence against the horses.

8. Question 8

   Dysart expresses a fear that by 'curing' Alan, he might be doing what to him?

   1. Making him susceptible to further manipulation.
   2. Turning him into a 'normal' but passionless individual, like himself.
   3. Making him forget his past, thus preventing true healing.
   4. Exposing him to public ridicule and judgment.
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   B. Turning him into a 'normal' but passionless individual, like himself. Dysart's profound dilemma is his fear that by removing Alan's 'pain' and 'madness,' he will also strip him of his intense capacity for worship and passion, leaving him with a mundane, uninspired existence, much like Dysart's own.

9. Question 9

   Which of the following best describes the theatrical style of 'Equus'?

   1. A purely naturalistic domestic drama.
   2. A highly stylized and ritualistic drama with direct address to the audience.
   3. A farce relying on slapstick comedy.
   4. A traditional drawing-room mystery.
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   B. A highly stylized and ritualistic drama with direct address to the audience. Shaffer employs a non-naturalistic style, with actors playing horses, Dysart directly addressing the audience, and a focus on ritualistic elements, especially during Alan's worship scenes.

10. Question 10

    Ultimately, what does Dysart conclude about the nature of Alan's 'worship' and his own role as a psychiatrist?

    1. He believes Alan's worship is entirely a product of mental illness and must be eradicated.
    2. He recognizes the profound, albeit destructive, spiritual depth in Alan's worship, contrasting it with his own spiritual emptiness, leading to a crisis of purpose in his profession.
    3. He decides to abandon psychiatry to pursue a more spiritual path.
    4. He concludes that Alan's actions are simply evil and beyond psychological help.
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    B. He recognizes the profound, albeit destructive, spiritual depth in Alan's worship, contrasting it with his own spiritual emptiness, leading to a crisis of purpose in his profession. Dysart's monologues reveal his deep ambivalence. He envies Alan's capacity for intense feeling and worship, even while recognizing its destructive manifestation, leading him to question the very purpose and efficacy of his 'healing' profession in a world devoid of such passion.