Langlit paper 2 DatM and WFB

"Because of your mad wife, who was mad because she stayed silent and is now mad because she can speak?"

direct address in "your" mimics Gerardo's perception of her | enunciation of "mad" is prolonged, placing emphasis on it, works together with its repetition to create a fluctuation in the rhythm of her dialogue, imbueing the sentence with frustration | juxtaposition of "silent" and "speak" underscores the antagonism of victims such a Paulina where they are inevitably marginalised, reducing their voice to the status of being "mad"

"It's not only the voice I recognise, Gerardo. I also recognise his skin. And the smell. Gerardo. I recognise his skin."

vivid sensory imagery of "the voice", "the skin" and "the smell" suggests a sense of familiarity that Paulina shares with her experience of torture, evokes a sense of nudity, associates an illustration of naked, exposed skin | sexual violence is immiscible from her memory, pervading her present | repetition of "I recognise" characterises Paulina's tone of voice with a heightened emotional intensity, suggesting desperation and distress | memory of violence torments her state of mind; as she reeanacts it in her mind, it is kept alive, pervading the present

"Look at you, just when we've got the chance to start all over again and you begin to open all the wounds."

Gerardo, the youngest member of the justice commision, serves as the embodiment of the democratic government | "old wounds" is a metaphor for the memory of the crimes committed by the former military dictatorship, characterises the democratic government's philosophy to 'forgive and forget' as a process of healing to close the "wounds" | society personified as a healing body, healing from this memory | direct adrress of "look at you […] you open all the wounds" antagonises Paulina as a detriment to the healing process, harmful to society | alludes to the victims' paranoia from speaking out out of fear of provoking agents of the old dictatorship into retaliation, hinting at possible conflict, so the peace is maintained at the expense of victims such as Paulina

"I want him to confess. I want him to sit in front of the cassette recorder and tell me what he did and then have him write it out in his handwriting and sign it and I want to keep a copy forever."

psychological and coercive form of verbal violence | the repetition of "I want" connotes a self-centeredness on her own desires, which undermines the notions of blind justice | the polysyndeton of "and" creates a build up of emotional intensity in her tone of voice, conveying a degree of relentlessness in her desire for a confession from Roberto | draws a parallel to the relentless demands and questioning that usually takes place in an interrogation and even torture, drawing an equivalence to the psychological coercion of torture | this causes the cassette recorder to be a symbol of control over the narrative, a tool to record and rennact the violence once inflicted on her | procedural language "tell me", "sign it" and "write it" depicts her pursuit of a confession as methodical and calculated | Paulina wields her personal vendetta in the name of justice, question if she aims to attain justice or rennact violence under the guise of justice | also the obsession over the formality of the confession, as seen through her micro-managing-control over the process highlights the emptiness of her pursuit | pursuit of truth unable to provide resolution

"I'm not going to kill you because you're guilty, but because you haven't repented at all."

rhetorical speech "I'm not going to kill you because you're guilty" highlights an acute awareness in her tone of voice that using "guilt" as a justification for killing is the same justifications used by the former military dictatorship, making her as immoral as them | she attempts to circumnavigate this moral dilemma by srutinizing Roberto's lack of "repent[ance]", as though she is morally obligated to punish him, concerns readers with the perversion of power to justify violence | the lack of "repent[ance]" becomes a moral bargaining chip that Paulina negotiates with herself between vengeance and true justice | on the whole, Paulina's rhetorical speech is imbued with a tone of persuasion as though she is attemping to convince the audience that killing Roberto is morally just, terrifying readers as she becomes unrestrained, not considering the ethical implications of killing; the human experience of the victim

"What do we lose by killing one of them? What do we lose? What do we lose?" [Paulina and Roberto] freeze in their positions as the lights start to go down.

The repeated emphasis on "lose" transforms the idea of killing someone into a tangible concept of gain and "los[s]", showing how the idea of killing has become transactional to Paulina | the generalisation "one of them" attempts to dissipate the audience attention on Roberto as an individual, rather as an extension of all the former military dictatorship's torturers | on the whole, the repeated questioning "what do we lose?" conveys Paulina's desperation for the audience's moral validation for her desire to kill | terrifies readers as we see her become unrestrained | freeze in positions and the darkness leaves Paulina's repeated questioning as a lingering echo in the audience's minds, forcing them to contemplate this moral dilemma and question (how the use of violence corrupts the notions of justice)

Roberto enters, under a light which has a faint phantasmagoric moonlight quality […] Paulina turns slowly and looks at Roberto, their eyes interlocking […] the lights go down as the music plays and plays and plays

the visual imagery of his appearance illustrates him as emanating an ethereal glow, visually contrasting the realistic setting of the concert hall | Roberto's ambiguous appearance forces the readers to question if he is still alive and truly present, if Paulina had actually killed him | nonetheless, Paulina deliberately "turns around slowly", her eyes "inerlocking" with his, reinstating the tesnion that had permeated all of the play's previous acts | the audience becomes reminded of the ever-present sense of dread associated with Paulina's existential anxiety, disrupting the play's conclusive atmosphere | the journey to liberation from existential anxiety is undermined by an uncertainty that fails to ease her internal struggles with trauma | as the stage lights go down and the music "plays and plays and plays", serves as a lingering echo, evoking a resigned disllusionment to the futility of the pursuit

"First I get lies, then pressure, then more lies, then more pressure, then the break, then more pressure, then the truth."

cyclical pattern of "pressure, lies, pressure break" depicts the use of torture as a relentless force | anaphora of "then" characterises this forces as overwhelming | thus, the pursuit of truth becomes distorted into a means of enforcing submission | in the subvocalisation of the words, the enunciation of "pressure" produces an elongated silence before the plosive "break", depicting a fracture in the vody, one that is visceral and brutal | the body becomes a site of human pain where Joll searches for the truth | (add with "Pain is truth" to say how to the Empire human pain is the only reliable form of evidence)

"Pain is truth; all else is subject to doubt"

epitomises the Empire's philosophy that physical suffering is the only reliable form of evidence, the absolute assertion by discriminating against "all else" eliminates any nuance in the humane experience of torture, a blatant disregard for human life, equating violence to the pursuit of truth, "subject[ing] all else to doubt" imbues the statement with an aphoristic sense, advocates for violence as is violent to all other forces of interpretation

"I behave in some ways like a lover – I undress her, I bathe her, I stroke her, I sleep beside her – but I might equally well tie her to a chair and beat her, it would be no less intimate."

Anaphora of “I” places emphasis on his own actions, thus cyclical nature of “I undress her, I bathe her, I stroker her, I sleep beside her” fixates himself as the subject and the barbarian girl as the object in the sentence, Reveals the deeply-rooted emphasis on his own agency, and consequently, the neglect of the girl’s agency, This reflection is immediately followed by the Magistrate’s revelation that he “might equally well tie her to a chair and beat her, it will be no less intimate”, High modality of “equally well" draws a parallel between his treatment of the barbarian girl and Colonel Joll’s torture of the barbarians, Thus, the contradiction between “intimate” and “beat[ing]” the barbarian girl reveals how his desire to care for the barbarian girl had restricted her agency, ironically turning his acts of empathy into another form of control over her

But my torturers were not interested in degrees of pain. They were only interested in demonstrating to me what it meant to live in a body, as a body, a body which can only entertain the notions of justice as long as it is whole and well, which very soon forgets them when its head is gripped and a pipe is pushed down its gullet and pints of salt water are poured into it till it coughs and retches and flail and voids itself. They did not come to force the story out of me of what I had said to the barbarians and what they said to me. […] They came to my cell to show me the meaning of humanity, and in the space of an hour they showed me a great deal.”

“notions of justice” is a metaphor for the Magistrate’s original idealistic impression of himself as morally upright and capable of opposing the brutal Empire, However, the polysyndeton of “and” used in describing the experience of torture characterises torture as a relentless force that overwhelms, to the extent where his body loses control as it “coughs”, “retches” and “flails”, The visceral depiction of the physical experience of torture is revolting, serving as the true consequences for the Magistrates’ opposition to the Empire, The bookending of “what it meant to live in a body” and “the meaning of humanity”, on the whole, conveys the Magistrate’s fatalistic epiphany that to be human is to be physically vulnerable to suffering, The resulting incongruence between the idealistic desire to oppose the Empire and the physical experience in doing so is the Magistrate’s painful realisation that his vulnerability rendered him powerless at opposing the Empire.

“I wanted to live outside history. I wanted to live outside the history that Empire imposes on its subjects, even its lost subjects.”

This paradoxical statement encapsulates the Magistrate’s existential anxiety, On one hand, he wants to escape “history” and its attendant moral complexities, On the other hand, he acknowledges that the truth is that this “history”; a falsification of the Empire’s creation, Thus, the repetition of “I want” suggests an unfulfillment, that the Magistrate remains discontented with this situation, However, the very nature of living outside history is physically impossible, leaving the Magistrate to confront the impossibility of extricating himself from the structures of oppression and guilt that he he bound in

“Like much else nowadays I leave it feeling stupid, like a man who lost his way long ago but presses on along a road that may lead nowhere”

The anaphora of “like” used in the reflective language “like much else” and “like a man” instils a dejected tone in the narration, conveying a sense of fatigue and exhaustion, His pursuit of truth did not resolve the tension within his being, on the contrary, it had further strained him, The words “leave”, “lead and “lost” evoke a sense of perpetual drift, suggesting that his fatigue is an endless one, This propagates a fatalistic impression that the Magistrate’s pursuit of truth has only stranded him on an inconclusive, irresolute shore of uncertainties; he has become hopeless in his pursuit

J.M. Coetzee

Coetzee - a white south African - explores human oppression and tells how even oppressors are fundamentally worsened morally and spiritually by the extreme violence they perpetuate

Does not fully explore and flesh out "the barbarians"
o Flaw?
o Benefit? - He cannot speak on the behalf of the oppressed only on behalf of the oppressors

Explores the oppression of the oppressors
They need an enemy to justify the empire

His feelings about his privileged position as a white Afrikaner along with his sense of alienation from his own society started his writing
o Writes in English --> does not accept his own culture
o Anti-imperialist writing reflects the ambiguity and complicity of his privilege
o Has shown ambivalence about being classified as a South African writer

In his novels Coetzee examines the effects of racism, oppression and fear - from an apolitical viewpoint - universal significance
o Uses allegory
o Unreliable narrators
o Enigmatic and symbolic settings

Spent 10 years in US, involved in Anti-Vietnam war protests --> could not take a US citizenship

Reclusive - Did not go to London to receive in person the booker prize for another of his novels

2003 - Nobel prize for literature

Title

Inspired by poem of same name by Greek-Egyptian poet C.P Cavafy

Barbarian - (Greek Barbaros) suggests an unidentified enemy
o Has other connotations such as one who lack culture

Poem's conclusion ends with us wondering who are the real barbarians?

Historical Context

1652 - Cape Coast of South Africa was settled by the Dutch East India Company expanded to the Cape Coast Colony at the expense of indigenous people
o Involved raids and land grabs
1. conflicts between Voortrekkers (whites from SA) and Xhosa people
o Whites pushed further northeast and came into conflict with other SA peoples such as the Zulu in 1800s

1806 - British seize Cape Colony from the Dutch
o 1835 - 1840 - Afrikaners leave Cape Colony and found Orange Free State
o Formed Boer Republics to escape British rule and continued with slavery
o Stole land and resources to set up farming settlements resembling empire in WFTB
1. They are oppressing the "barbarians" who have been pushed further and further into inhospitable land

Aparheid

1940 - Coetzee born in Cape Town

1948 - Policy of apartheid is adopted when National Party takes power

1950 - South African population is classified by race
o The Group Areas Act is passed to segregate blacks and whites
o Communist party is banned
1. African National Congress responds with a campaign of civil disobedience led by Nelson Mandela

1960 - 70 black demonstrators are killed at Sharpeville protesting against the Pass Laws
o Many were shot in the back as they turned to flee
o ANC is banned

1964 - ANC leader Nelson Mandela is sentenced to life imprisonment

1970s - More than 3 million people are forcibly resettled in black 'homelands'

1976 - More than 600 people were killed in clashes between black protestors and security forces during an uprising starting in Soweto
o Protested about enforcement of Afrikaans and English as languages of instructing In schools while suppressing indigenous languages
1. 176 children were killed

1980 - Waiting for the Barbarians is first published

At the time of writing - Apartheid state was increasingly turning to military power to combat resistance
o Imprisonment
o Torture

1984 - 1989 - state of emergency where it was more oppressed than ever

1990s - apartheid was officially ended but has left deep scars in society

Context of reception

Waiting For The Barbarians had to be written in an allegorical form to avoid the novel from being censored in South Africa
o Allegory: makes it relevant in other contexts where groups are dominated by bigger group

Still relevant today as we continue othering various social groups

Setting

Close to early colonization of South Africa in 1800s

Third Bureau resembles the actions of security forces 1960s -1990s
o Steve Biko - an activist was arrested without trial and died in prison in 1973

Civilization and Barbarism

THEME
Barbarians appear to be nomadic pastoralists who "want to be free to move their flocks from pasture to pasture as they used to"
o Magistrate does not believe they are a threat to the empire
o His view is supported throughout the text as no barbarian army comes

Barbarian threat
o Magistrate does not believe in the barbarian threat promoted by Joll and third bureau
o Angry about the "recent raids carried out on them without justification"
o Does not believe "the security of the empire was at stake"
o Joll - "You are ignorant of the facts... we are dealing with an organized enemy"
o Magistrate - "you are the enemy, you have made the war, and you have given them all the martyrs they need - starting not now but a year ago when you committed your first filthy barbarities here!"

Magistrate challenges the idea that colonialism brings civilization to those it colonizes
o Magistrate considers how Mandel has earned his position by "five years of kicking and beating people*

Perversion and corruption of civilization
o Seen best in Joll's arrival with the barbarian prisoners
o Magistrate protests to prove that "in this farthest outpost of the Empire of light (ironic) there existed one many who in his heart was not barbarian

Empire turns on itself
o The brush near the river leading into the lake is set on fire by the garrison soldiers
No cover for a potential invading barbarian to force to hide in it
Fire spreads out of control magistrate notes that the effect of this will be soil erosion and advancing desert
Causes drift of refugees to the town from the fisherfolk who live in tiny settlements along the river eventually build shelters against walls of the town
o When Joll's campaign does not return, the garrison in the town led by Mandel becomes undisciplined
"More drunkenness than I have ever known before, m

Imprisonment, Torture, Power and Knowledge

THEME
The torture of the boy and his uncle - torture and the truth
o Innocent boy and his uncle were picked up following a barbarian raid and are tortured by Joll

Torture and Truth
o Magistrate asks Joll how he knows a prisoner tells the truth. Joll says he has to "exert pressure" until a "certain tone enters the voice" of the victim - "that is how you get the truth"
o Magistrates cynically thinks that "pain is truth; all else is subject to doubt"
o Boy has been tortured with small knife that has been inserted and turned "delicately... like a key"
1. Metaphor of key unlocking truth is ironic
o Magistrate is frustrated that the boy made up a lie to temporarily stop the torture by making a false confession. "it means soldiers are going to ride against your people. There is going to be killing"

The Magistrate's Imprisonment - dehumanization
o Magistrate's imprisonment dehumanizes and degrades him - and turns him into a beast
o Magistrate has become a spectacle for town's people like a caged animal
1. "There are always faces pressed against the bars of the gate gaping at the spectacle of the fall of the once mighty"
o Has become reduced to most basic bodily functions
1. "I guzzle my food like a dog. A bestial life is turning me into a beast." "I am now no more than a pile of blood, bone and meat that is unhappy"
o Has lost interest in outside world and the justice of his cause
1. "Under the pressure of appetite and physical function and... boredom"
o Feels the confinement of his cell and understands how "small" he has "allowed them to make [his] world"
1. Begins to understand "how rudimentary (basic) freedom is"
o Misses human contact and looks forward to the cook's boy's visits so he can "rest his hand on his shoulder, filling the space between us with human words"

The Magistrate's imprisonment - Escape
o Mag

Empires and Their Place in History

THEME At the end of the novel, the Magistrate reflects on Empires and their place in history

o "Empire has located its existence, not in the smooth... cycle of the seasons, but in the jagged rise and fall, of beginning and end, of catastrophe"

1. Empires are not sustainable and are destined to fall o "Empire dooms itself to live in history and plot against history"

2. By increasing security, empires doom themselves as they are destined to fall o "One thought preoccupies the submerged mind of the Empire: how not to end, how not to die, how to prolong its era" 1. How the existence of the empire is justified by conquering land and then to survive o "By day it pursues its enemies. It is cunning and ruthless, it sends its bloodhounds everywhere" 1. Violence committed by empire o "By nights it feeds on images of disaster: the sack of cities, the rape of populations, pyramids of bones, acres of desolation" 1. Violence committed by empire Magistrate reflects upon himself o "I am no less infected with it than the faithful Colonel Joll" 1. Realizes that he is a product of the empire and is just as threatening to the barbarians as colonel Joll is Ending o Magistrate feels he should write "a record" or history of the settlement and recent events. Tries but fails to write it o Realizes "I wanted to live outside the history the Empire imposes on its subjects, even its lost subjects" o "I never wished it for the barbarians that they should have the History of the Empire laid upon them" o Realizes "I am the one least fitted to write a memorial" 1. Unable as he is part of the empire's oppressive system. Cannot write about the experiences of the barbarians as he is not one himself and cannot fully understand them (like the ruins). Moreover, he also realizes that to write objective observations, he cannot be part of the subjec

Irony

Perversion and corruption of civilization
o Seen best in Joll's arrival with the barbarian prisoners
o Magistrate protests to prove that "in this farthest outpost of the Empire of light there existed one many who in his heart was not barbarian
1. Ironic as he does not understand barbarians either, is not more enlightened than Joll

Irony between truth and torture
o Boy has been tortured with small knife that has been inserted and turned "delicately... like a key"
1. Metaphor of key unlocking truth is ironic as key to truth is not torutre

Torture reduces Magistrate to a nothing but a body feeling pain
o shows him "what it meant to live in a body as as body"
o Ironically says it "showed him the true meaning of humanity" humanity reduced to its most basic physical state

Irony of Magistrate wanting to understand barbarian girl and how it is to be colonized
o Impossible for him to do that as he is part of the system - dominates her
o Seems to use her for his own needs even though he pretends to just want to take care of her
1. Ironically, the Magistrate feels enslaved by his ritual

Wishes a prostitute in frustration for not being able to get closer to the girl
o Sees "a stranger, a visitor from strange parts now on her way home after a less than happy visit"
1. Ironic understatement and reflects the paternalistic attitude of the colonizers as well as minimizing the effect of colonization on those who are colonized
1. Joll is "tireless" in "his quest for the truth"
o irony as novel suggests there is no relationship between torture and truth

Magistrate uses euphemisms ironically
o Refers to torturers as "devotees of truth", "doctors of interrogation"
o Reflects on the "doctors of pain [and] their ministrations" (ministration means provision of assistance or care

Magistrate thinks Mandel has "been told he can re

Narration in the first person

Perspective is deliberately limited to that of the Magistrate
o Limits, but also intensifies the reader's experience

Coetzee gives the Magistrate the ability to shape the reader's understanding of his actions
o Self-doubt, shame and how he seeks to understand the most painful aspects of physical existence

Adds to meditative tone of the novel
o As the Magistrate searches for meaning in life, the reader experiences this directly and intimately as it happens

Use of present tense

Instead of recounting the events of the novel, the Magistrate sees them as they occur
o Reader is forced to share the limited perspective of the Magistrate as events unfold in real time

Evokes the reader's interest and attention

Adds immediacy and intensifies our identification with the Magistrate
o Particularly bodily identification during his torture

Allows author to convey the character's change as it happens, not after

The story is told as an allegory

SYMBOL
• An extended metaphor
--> symbolizes the oppression on non-whites in South Africa

Joll and Mandel are archetypes of sadistic torturers in totalitarian regimes

SYMBOL
Enhance their power by creating scapegoats and torturing and oppressing the "other"
o Could symbolize the security forces in South Africa or any other totalitarian regime (Nazi in Germany etc...)

Unnamed Magistrate represents all men and women

SYMBOL
Who passively accepts and then faces up to the forces of repression and totalitarianism
o Him being an individual is an allegorical idea

Joll's Sunglasses

SYMBOL
Magistrate not knowing about them distances him from the new empire
o "At home, everyone wears them"

Make communication unequal and give psychological advantage to the wearer power imbalance

Like a mask and allow the wearer to do things they normally would not

Their darkness may indicate a moral blindness to the atrocities of the third bureau

Mandel's handsome face

SYMBOL
Behind his beautiful mask, there is a sadistic tyrant symbolizes the face of the empire (outwardly beautiful but inwardly corrupt)

Emphasizes the physical perfection reminding the reader of the Nazi regime where Aryan beauty was the superiority

"He will look from behind that handsome immobile face and those clear eyes as an actors looks from behind a mask"

Euphemisms for torture

SYMBOL
Torturers of the third bureau see themselves as "devotees of truth" and "doctors of interrogation"

Magistrate feels they would need to go through a symbolic act of cleansing after such inhumane and brutal acts
o "I find myself wondering whether he has a private ritual of purification, carried out behind closed doors, to enable him to return and break bread"

Barbarians

SYMBOL
"Barbarian is a word of Greek origin --> suggests an unidentified enemy - anyone who does not speak language or share cultural ideal

Connotations are broader

"the other" and performs the role of "othering"

Magistrate's Dream

SYMBOL
1. Foreshadows his encounter with the barbarian girl --> unable to see her as it is in the future

2. Mirror's the strange relationship between the barbarian girl and the Magistrate --> Fails to see her face as he cannot understand her, they cannot meet on equal terms

3. Dream symbolizes his growing self-awareness and understanding of the Empire's treatment and "othering" of the "barbarians"

Ruins

SYMBOL
Unable to interpret ruins and connect with their past because he is part of the colonial structure himself

As the colonizer, he does not have the necessary cultural connections to read with their writing or interpret their ruins

Mirrors relationship with barbarian girl - cannot understand her

Symbolism of the ending

SYMBOL
Magistrate feels "like a man who lost his way long ago but presses on along a road that may lead nowhere"

How white south Africans looking for a better future feel?

Barbarian Girl

Symbolizes the colonized and the effects of colonialization on those who are colonized Barbarian girl symbolizing the oppressed through her vulnerability o Way she is described as dependent, submissive, wearing clothes that don't fit, crippled and unable to meet the gaze of her superiors o She had been prostituting herself to survive o Physically: Shows the effects of the atrocities committed by the Third bureau of the empire Is partially blinded by torture "Her eyes move from his face and settle somewhere behind [him] to [his] right" Symbolizes the effects of colonisation on those who are colonised o On her own territory she has agency, authority, intelligence and wit - and the Magistrate sees her as a person appreciating her humanity Magistrate takes her in and colonizes her further - relationship symbolizes the colonizer and the colonized o Magistrate feels regret on behalf of the torturers and wants to make amends by caring for the barbarian girl and massaging her where the torturers harmed her o As the Magistrate is part of the system that oppressed her, any good intentions are compromised o "The distance between myself and her torturers, I realize, is negligible; I shudder His good intentions are compromised by his motives where he takes her for his own benefit o "It has been growing more and more clear to me that until the marks on this girls body are deciphered and understood, I cannot let her go" Similarly to the Third Bureau he wants to extract information from her by keeping her hostage o Feels the need to tell her that this is not what she thinks this is (about sex) o Simultaneously feels "sick at himself" (29), suggesting an erotic motive o Regardless of his motives, the is like her oppressors as there is a disbalance of power o Washes her feet, although that is a symbol of submission, it is erotic

Climax

It's situation is debatable

Where the Magistrate stands up to Joll's dehumanization and public humiliation of the barbarian prisoners
o "Men - these are men!"
o "You are depraving these people (citizens of the town)
o Sense of irony as it achieves nothing, only the Magistrate's own torture, humiliation and mock hanging

Dénouement

The situation of the dénouement is debatable

When Joll returns to the town beaten and a shadow of himself "his face naked... the dark lenses gone"
o His raison d'être and the concept of the barbarian threat has proved to be a false illusion

Joll then locks himself in his carriage while his escort asks for horses and supplies to get back to the capital

Magistrate confronts him through the glass window
o The crime that is latent in us we must inflict on ourselves. Not on others"
o (we must not blame, scapegoat and demonize others for the wrongs within our own society to turn attention from our own faults. Instead, we must face up to our own moral failings.)

*Sounds of sea. After midnight*

- indirect exposure - a setting that alludes to mistery, things being washed up onto shores and discovered

*Drinking in the light of the moon*

- concealments, foreshadowing the multiple parts of paulina's character there is something to be revealed

Paulina in the opening scene - ///

- frightened, jumpy, apprehensive (carrying a gun and hidden behind the curtains) - Shy, scares week woman - the opening scene in general creates a fragile calm, which also conveys the idea of the countries move into a new democracy, there are things like beneath the surface

*Switches on a light* - //

/the first action of gerado in the play - an attempt to illuminate the truth and bring clarity to the darkness of the past. This aligns with Gerardo's role in the play, as he is part of a commission tasked with investigating human rights abuses from the previous regime. The metaphor of "shining a light" on past horrors is a recurring theme, suggesting the need for transparency and justice.

"my wife makes a margarita that will make your hairs stand on end" - /

//- reinforces paulina as a traditional subservient wife - attaches her to domestic service

"poor little love" - ///

- patronising epithets Gerardo calls paulina - in response to her slight agitation

"if you were to have a relapse, it could leave me..." - ///

- indirect exposure - hinting to some kind of trauma etc - Paulina's character shrouded in mystery, which is echoed through the setting of the opening scene

the comission - ///

It represents the complex and often unsatisfying process of transitional justice in post-dictatorial societies. Its purpose is to investigate past crimes without necessarily punishing the perpetrators, which raises questions about the nature of justice and reconciliation. - Public Record vs. Justice: The commission's work is more about creating a historical record than delivering justice, which can be frustrating for those who want accountability and closure. - "we'll public our conclusions"

"this commision you're named to. Doesn't it only investigate cases that ended in death" - ///

- calling into question the nature of justice and refers to a overarching theme in the play of trauma and psycological scars

"the judges? the same judges who never intervened to save one life in seventeen years of dictatorship" - ///

- Paulina is confrontational and not weak and submissive as presented in the opening - Her defiance, strong sense of justice coupled with the imagery of the gun reveals a latent strenght within her character

"Silly. Silly girl, my baby" - ///

- belittled by gerardo -evokes the wider societal treatment of women, in reference to the time period

"that someone knocks on your door at midnight and it's a friend and not..." -

///- moving out of dictarship, adjusting

Roberto - ///

The question of Roberto's true identity is the crux of the play: Paulina is convinced that he is the doctor who raped and tortured her, but he insists throughout that he is an innocent man. - He enters for the first time speaking to gerardo, paulina listens from the terrace

"this man is doing something really essential for the honor of our nation" - ///-

Roberto comes over to congradulate Gerardo on his role in the comission - A sense of Gerardo being important and a source of justice and the unveiling of truth

"unpredictable female soul" - ///-

Roberto speaking to gerardo about Paulina giving the jack to her mother - female "hysteria" and misoginistic language

- Roberto: "I'm for killing the whole bunch of them" - Gerardo: "The death penalty has never solved any of the..." - ///-

Showing conflicting views on the nature of justice

"You'll see the breakfast she'll make for us" - ///-

Gerardo speaking for paulina, reinforcing her as traditional, domestic duty, wife

*Only the sound of the sea in the semi darkness* - ///

- last stage direction before scene 3 in which paulina kidnaps Roberto

- Unstable calmness

- signalling to a big reveal that is about to happening - creates a tense and foreboding atmosphere

Symbol: sea - ///-

it represents unknowability -Paulina frequently looks out to sea, especially when she is recounting her past. In this light, then, the sea also represents her memory, both in the way her memories function in the depths of her unconscious and in the ultimate irretrievability of the past. The sea as a constant background also gestures towards greater expanses of time, suggesting that though the country's wounds—and Paulina's—may never be healed, they will, over time, come to be forgotten.

*going into the drawer and taking out the gun* - ///-

gun symbol of masculine dominance and strength

*Takes off her panties and stuffs them into Roberto's mouth* - /

//-extreme imagery, horror - sexual humiliation

Paulina clever and cunning - //

/- Roberto ties up, she is talking to him casually, which asserts her power, making her seem collected and cunning. The casual speech is almost like taunting Roberto talking about "I didn't get too far with my studies" etc

"But here I am chatting away when I'm supposed to be making breakfast" - ///

- almost humurous, she mocks her role as homemaking, domestic servant women - She is subverting the traditional role for women

"I hope you don't mind this must remain, for the moment, a monologue" - ///

- Paulina use of humor further establishes her power within the situation and shows her cleverness

Symbol: Schubert - ///

-In general terms, classical music is supposed to be evidence of mankind's refinement and elevation above the cruelty of the animal kingdom. It conjures thoughts of education, skill and sensitivity -Paulina's rapist would play this string quartet during the attacks represents a gruesome depravity, in which something that is supposed to bring sensory enjoyment becomes a marker of extreme terror -Schubert's music has made Paulina physically ill -Paulina plays Schubert once she has Roberto tied up, in an attempt to reclaim his music—and, accordingly, a part of herself—from her attacker.

Death and the maiden - ///

"Death and the Maiden" is recurring motif in Renaissance art, usually depicting a young woman being seized by a personification of death These images have a subtext of eroticism, and the presence of Schubert's quartet thus gestures to the macabre intimacy of Paulina's rape. Her doctor, then, represents a kind of death figure—though he has not killed her, he has certainly killed a part of her character. (which once again links back to the commission and the difference between death and emotional scarring in the pursuit of justice)

"My body decided for me, I felt extremely ill right then and there" - ///-

Paulina talking about hearing the Schubert songs out at an important social gathering - the visceral effect of trauma and how the music represents that trauma - this also links to an overarching theme of the senses linked with trauma

The symbol: the gun - ///

Paulina becomes the most powerful figure in the play with the simple fact that she is holding a gun and the other two men are not. The gun allows her to take control of a situation in which she could otherwise be physically overpowered. A phallic symbol of male power, male capacity for violence and desire for sexual dominance. Paulina's use of the gun, then, is a further expression of her desire to assert a sense of control over the life and narrative.

*threatens him with the gun* - ///

- asserting, dominant

"this bitch can take a bit more, give it to her" - ///

- Paulina imitation her rapist - coarse language, sense of her rage and anger - shocking

"On the contrary, as soon as I stop pointing it at you, all dialogue will automatically terminate" - ///

- diplomatic, formal language - her control, and also relates to the persecuting and legal language of Medea

"please paulina could we start being reasonable" - ///

voice of reason and civilisation vs brutality and hysteria in the pursuit of justice

"I'll put a bullet straight through this man's head" - ///

aggressive, dominance

"We're going to put him on trial" "Or is your famous Investigation Commission going to do it" - ///-

Paulina admist her strong sense of revenge wants legal action to be taken - Also mockingly highlights the flaw in the commission in that it only deal with deaths - Calls into question morality and whether it is morally justfiable to diminsh the suffering of people that didn't end in death

"With that twat, little lady, don't tell me you haven't got someone to fuck you, huh?" - ///

-imitating her rapist -horror - referring back to her torturers Paulina creates a mental, imagines images of the horrors she faces (much like in Medea we don't see her kill her kids) - there is a psychological terror that is created through these imagined images

"I was wild and fearless" - ///r

referring to herself saving lives during the regime - past tense, shows the lasting damage of her torture, as if they have taken a part of her

"Even if this man committed genocide on a daily basis, he has the right to defend himself" - //

/- Gerardo emphasises principles of civilisation and legality - Dorfman raises the question of the effectiveness of legal and traditional justice in a world where, the most educated and "civilized" doctors are capable of such moral depravity

"Nothing like good fresh water, eh doctor? Beats drinking your own piss" "piss or shit" - ///

coarse language - subversion of the traditional submissive female

"you are extremely ill, almost prototypically schizoid" - //

/-female hysteria, doctor technical language signally to his education, "civilisation" and credibility
Legitimate diagnosis since Roberto is in fact a licensed doctor

"Your a lawyer, a defender of human rights, a man who has been persecuted by the former military government" - ///

- Roberto pleading to Gerardo, as if he were the voice of justice and reason in the house - Also male solidarity, through appealing to Gerardo logic and rationality

Theme: collective responsiblity - ///

the idea of collective responsibility, asking how wrongdoing must be held to account and by whom

"This is not vengeance" - ///

- paulina emphasizes that she isn't going to kill them as they killed didn't kill her

"Who is supposed to listen to my accusation against this doctor"

- ///shows the difficulties of justice in the wake of the new democracy

"Oh my little man, you fall for every trick in the book, don't you?" - ///

the reversal of the roles, use of diminishing epithets

*Slowly pass her hands up and down roberto's body as if she were caressing it* - ///

sexual torture and humilitation - assertion of dominance and power through sexuality

"Doing to them systematically, minute by minute, instrument by instrument, what they did to me" - ///

desire for retribution This desire is rooted in the biblical notion of justice, "an eye for an eye," suggesting that by replicating her suffering, she can achieve a sense of balance or justice. -Paulina risks becoming as morally compromised as her torturers. This cycle of violence and revenge highlights the complex nature of justice and the difficulty of reconciling past traumas. "minute by minute etc..." emphasis her desire for intense brutality to make up for her torture

"the only thing I want is to have him rapes" - //

/eye for an eye and the cycle of violence - whether through seeking justice we perpetuate violence - paulina wanted to rape him with a broomstick, this is extreme and shocking imagery

"I want him to confess" - ///

- she settles on a confession as a form of justice, she doesn't go as far as medea

male solidarity - ///

- we see this respect between roberto and gerardo, with Gerardo referring to him as doctor Miranda it is implied that Roberto's guilt is the "fantasies of the disease mind" "We have to - indulge her"

Roberto's argument for him being incapable of violence, "I watch the waves, I hunt for pebbles, I listen to music" - ///

- relying on his civilisation - the perversion of music (an art form which is supposedly a testament to the greatness of human kind) in torture and trauma

"why do they always say son of a bitch, why bitch instead of the father who taught them in the first place" - ///

gender roles (need to expand)

"it's what any man would do, any real man, if they'd raped his wife" - ///

gender roles Gerardo responds, "Real macho men blow people's brains out and f*** women when they're tied up on cots"

"She isn't the voice of civilisation you are" - ///

male solidarity

*Outside on the terrace facing the sea* - ///-

looking out the sea creates a contemplative mood - Just after Roberto talked to gerardo about his confession

"While I defended your life, while your name stayed inside me and never left my mouth" - ///

- unreciprocated loyalty - betrayal

"He spart the words into my ear- he had garlic on his breath" - ///

- visceral disgusting sensory experience - how the senses are heightened in trauma - her vivid recounting shows deep psychological scars

"the mask of virtue fell off" "revealing the excitement it hid "A kind of brutalisation took over my life" "I would put on music because it helped me in my role" - ///

- very believable descent into brutality - the civilised person capacity for moral depravity - also relates to the theme of collective responsibility in time such a violent gov't regime

"to think I would spent hours here like this, at dawn, trying to make out the thing left behind by the tide, staring at those shapes, wondering what they were, if they would be dragged out to sea again. And now..." - ///

The sea represents the vast, unknowable depths of memory and trauma. Paulina's reflection on the shapes left by the tide suggests her struggle to understand and process the remnants of her past experiences. - sea leaves behind mysterious shapes, her memories of trauma are elusive and difficult to fully grasp or resolve. paulina's contemplation of whether these shapes will be "dragged out to sea again" symbolizes her uncertainty about whether she can ever truly leave her past behind. The sea, as a constant and expansive presence, suggests that while the wounds of the past may never fully heal,

*giant mirror which descends* - ///

- this metatheatrical device (aspects of a play or other performance that draw attention to its nature as a staged event, often by making the audience aware they are watching a play or that the characters are performing) implicates the audience in the moral conflicts, and that they are theatre goes "civilisation", yet as demonstrates in by Dorfam throughout the play, everyone is capable of moral depravity and heinous acts -the play for the most part sticks to strict realist principles, with believable dialogue and a unity of time and place, Dorfmann completely disrupts this stability at the play's conclusion. This expressionistic device thus asks them to question how they relate to what they have just seen, provoking them to consider how they would react in the characters' situations. More widely, the mirror gestures towards an idea of collective responsibility—that everyone in society has a part to play in how society takes shape.

*a light with a phantasmagoric moonlight quality.” He could be real or he could be an illusion in paulina's head* - ///

ambiguity leaves the question of morality to the audience - also if it is in Paulina head it shows that justice cannot heal trauma, Paulina could still be haunted by her past

the significance of the ending - ///

The use of Schubert's "Death and the Maiden" in the final scene further underscores the tension between civilization and violence. The concert setting juxtaposes the beauty of art with the brutality of past actions, prompting the audience to question the role of culture in a society marked by violence. Ultimately, the ending leaves the responsibility of interpretation and reflection with the audience