Equus

“What use is grief to a horse?”

Dysart begins the play with a comment on the unknowability of an animal’s psyche. As a psychiatrist, he has spent his life trying to comprehend human emotions such as grief, yet he finds himself lost and disillusioned. He may be asking what use grief might be to a horse, but his experience with horses and humans will lead him to the difficult realization that he cannot adequately explain what use such emotions might be to humans. The unknowability of animals only reminds him of the unknowability of humans.

“One more dented little face. One more adolescent freak. The usual unusual.”

Hesther brings Alan to Dysart because she believes that he is the only psychiatrist with the empathy and compassion needed to treat the youngster. Yet, at the point when he is reflecting on the case, Alan has become cynical and jaded. His patients, in his recollection are just dented little faces. The cynicism shown in the narration alludes to the ways in which Alan’s case will leave a lasting impression on Dysart and his relationship to psychiatry. Dysart’s jaded outlook reflects The Conflict Between Societal Norms and Individual Desires, as the clinical impulse to categorize obscures deeper emotional truths.