Equus

The play Equus involves a searching exploration of religion’s evolving role in a secular, post-war Great Britain. Through the characters of Dora and Frank Strang, the play contrasts two stark approaches to religion: Christian piety and atheist rationalism. The tension between these two seemingly opposing systems of belief governs Alan’s childhood, even if both parents deny that their “tiffs about religion” (52) have had an influence. Dora, Alan’s mother, instills in him the Christian narratives of guilt, divine punishment, and the redemptive suffering of Christ. She introduces him to the Bible and encourages his attendance at Sunday School, believing that religious education will instill morality. Her influence is seen in Alan’s desire to buy a picture of the tortured Jesus Christ with his own money and hang it in a place where he will “see it last thing at night” (51). Frank, in contrast, scoffs at religion, calling it “the only real problem” (39) in their house. He tears the religious picture down from Alan’s wall, whereupon it is replaced by a picture of a horse, a picture that Frank (falsely) believes to be secular. Frank’s militant atheism is as ideologically rigid as Dora’s religious instruction; they are, in their respective ways, both fanatics.