Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Death and The Maiden Guide
Death and The Maiden Guide
Topic 5: Themes
Jameson MacPhie, Tammy Hong, Crystal Justason, George Sawamura,
Halin Cho, Emily Tai & Justin Tan
Topic 6: Characters
James Fan, Nidhi Bhasin, Stephanie Park, Vikas Sharma, Martin Chou &
Tien Tien
Students: Kristin Ali, Jeremy Lam, Jung Min Cho, David Won, Ivan Lo, Sabrina Pu &
Momoi Suda
Author’s Biography:
Ariel Dofrman was born on May 6, 1942 as Vladimir Ariel Dorfman. His family
moved to the United States shortly after his birth then eventually returned to Chile,
settling in 1954. Dorfman is an alumni as well as a professor of the University of
Chile. The country exiled him in 1973 after the Chilean military coup. He splits his
time between Santiago and the States since 1985, and has been teaching at Duke
University since 1990.
He is known as one of the greatest living Latin America novelists and has been
dubbed "The Literary Grand Master". He has had his books translated in over 40
languages as well as received many international prizes. Death and the Maiden was
his most famous play and was performed worldwide. A handful of Dorfman's work
has been written about the horrors of tyranny as well as the experiences of exile,
stemming from his background with Chile.
Ariel Dorfman is known for his works relating to Chile. Because he was
exiled from Chile in 1973, when Augusto Pinochet took control of the country, he
has had a great deal of inspiration from this event. In Death and the Maiden,
Dorfman tells the story in an extremely realistic way, which is different from his
usual allegorical approach. He portrays the harsh truths of the various struggle
people had to deal with as the country was transitioning into a democracy. Ariel
Dorfman is also known to give a voice to the people who have no say in society in
real life. In Death and the Maiden he does this with Paulina. She is given a voice to
stand up for herself and take revenge on a man whom she believes tortured her 15
years in the past. In reality, something like this would not have happened but
because Dorfman gives that voice to a woman it gives off a very powerful message
and reveals the true pain that women had to go through.
Authorial intent
Authorial intent refers to an author's intent as it is encoded in his or her
work.
Dorfman tried to portray Chile’s military dictatorship through his work
To let the audience reflect on the society
To inform more people about what happened and acknowledge events that
happened
Literary Influence
Harold Pinter
Dorfman claimed that it was Pinter who unlocked a world he had never seen
His works denounce politics directly, which was provocative at the time
Revealed the many gradations and degradations of power with a starkness
Tennessee had not noticed before in other authors who were supposedly
dedicated to examining or denouncing contingent politics
"it is in language where the other parallel violence, the cruelty exercised on
the body, originates"
Pinter was able to tell the stories of the neglected narratives, respecting the
uncertainty of those existences on the rim of extinction, mercilessly stripping
the masks forged out of the lives we made for ourselves and yet also be
gentle, oh so tender, with these victims of their own delusion
Students: Darren Tirto, Christie Zheng, Jackline Raggi, Alex Zhou, Ashley Kim &
James Guo
The stage direction of the Death and the Maiden states that it is "a country that
is probably Chile but could be any country that has given itself a democratic
government just after a long period of dictatorship." (Cast of Characters)
Chilean militant Salvador Allende became the president in 1970. However, on
September 11th, 1973, General Augusto Pinochet planned a coup d’état. President
Salvador Allende committed suicide, and his supporters were killed. Then, General
Augusto Pinochet led the junta, and became the dictator of Chile. When the play was
written, Augusto Pinochet was still in command of the armed forces, still able to
threaten another coup if people became unruly or, more specifically, if attempts
were made to punish the human rights violations of the outgoing regime.
In 1990, the first president of Chile was elected after Chile was restored to a
democracy. Patricio Aylwin was the elected president, and he created a commission
called the Rettig Commission, that would investigate the crimes of the dictatorship
that had ended in death or its presumption. But it would "neither name the
perpetrators nor judge them." (pg 72-Afterword) Through the context of living
through Pinochet's regime, Ariel Dorfman heavily relies on historical biographical
context in his play, Death and the Maiden. Dorfman, who returned to Chile after the
end of Pinochet's dictatorship, encountered many Chileans wondering about the
things that happened during the dictatorship but were afraid to speak up. He
pondered over how a country that was in a new, democratic era, trying to let go of
it's oppressive past, had a fear to speak freely. All this observation culminated into
his play Death and the Maiden, of which he had been devising for a long time. This
historical context had led him to the creation of 3 characters, of which he had used
to represent different populations; furthermore, he had taken the idea of the
struggle between revealing the truth and democratic stability towards resolving the
issues of the country, heavily into his play.
During that time, the commission only investigated the crimes that ended in
death. There were many instances in which people were secretly abducted by the
government, and they couldn't do anything about it, which made it very hard for
people to seek justice. Supporters of Augusto Pinochet were able to occupy powerful
seats, such as the senate and the town councils. This meant that although Chile
transited to democracy, it was uneasy and Augusto Pinochet was able to control
armed forces, and threaten other coups.
Chilean culture is mixture of Spanish and groups of indigenous people.
(National language is Spanish).
Roman Catholic is the common religion.
Modernization allowed development.
Although Death and the Maiden primarily focuses on justice and truth, due to
different context of interpretation, it is still valid for readers to read this play
through the lenses of feminist literary criticism. This criticism analyzes plays'
portrayals of female characters and accentuates bias towards these characters. In
Death and the Maiden, Paulina, as the main and only female character, had gone
through torture and rape under the rule of Pinochet, as a political victim. Since then,
she has never recovered from the horrifying memory and is described as"locked" in
the basement where she was tortured for the past 15 years. The significance that the
main victim in this play is a female is that the contrast between a common woman
and Paulina exaggerates the tormenting power of political dictatorship. While
woman is commonly portrayed as fragile, weak and the minority of the society, the
fact that Paulina transforms to be a almost cold-blooded murderer with evil
thoughts of torturing and killing her suspected criminal, Doctor Roberto,
demonstrates clearly to the audience the theme of finding justice and truth.
However, this criticism is most likely to be used by modern audiences because of the
rising female power in current society.
Depending on readers, there can be different conclusions. A long period of
dictatorship can hardly be found in today's world; advances in technologies open up
people's mind decades ago. Although a huge portion of the world today operates
under a system of democracy, they usually did not form directly from a dictatorship.
Since then, several generations have passed and this work is hardly relevant to
modern audiences.
Historically, the setting of the book is in the twentieth century where sexism
remains a serious issue. Yet again with evolution in mind settings the equilibrium of
gender right gradually shifts to the women side. Regionally, in today's life, there are
Students: Christine Yang, Jacob Curry, Hee Chul Byun, Keisha Burns, Mickey Ting &
Clarence Lee
DEFINING DRAMA
DRAMATIC STRUCTURE
Number of Characters
This play has a total of three characters, Paulina Salas, Gerardo Escobar and Roberto
Miranda. With the story centered around ambiguity of the guilt of Doctor Miranda,
the fact that the play only has three characters is quite effective, as it allows the
audience to focus in on these three characters and try really hard to figure out
whether Doctor Miranda is truly guilty or not. The fact that this play only has three
characters makes it quite different from most other plays as most plays have a
relatively larger cast. This is apparent even in A Streetcar Named Desire as it has
over 10 different characters.
STAGE DIRECTIONS:
Stage directions are instructions written into the script of a play, indicating stage
actions, movement of performers or production requirements. Stage directions are
typically found at the beginning of each scene, however, there are also instances
In Death and the Maiden, there are stage directions written at the beginning of each
act and scene. The first stage directions of each act inform the stage director about
the setting and context of the play (time, place, specific set-up such as where the
chair or certain furniture should be). For example, the first paragraph of Act I Scene
1 includes information about the time and place of that act by stating “After
midnight” and “The Escobars’ beach house.” This provides the information that the
setting of this act is set near a beach to the director, therefore the audience is also
informed of its location. The location and time of the play could have great effect on
the audience, as different context would lead to different interpretation of the plot.
Further more, stage direction are use to inform actor/actress position and what
he/she should be doing. For example, “Paulina Salas is seated in a chair on the
terrace, as if she were drinking in the light of moon.” Actions of each character
inform the audiences about their characteristics and attitudes. Never the less, a
specific movement is needed to create the same effect each time the play is shown.
It is important to remember that stage directions are for actors and actresses, stage
director, and backstage crews not audiences. Yet, since stage directions help deliver
a play better, it affects the audience to the extent that it will help bring them a better
performance. Stage direction during dialogues could be short and direct through
use of brackets such as “(voice off) “ or “(He laughs)”; or long and descriptive in
sentence(s) such as “Paulina edges out onto the terrace from where she will be able
to hear the men but not see or be seen by them”.
Without stage directions, the play is just a matter of dialogue, as if listening to a
radio. Stage direction acts as the five senses, especially the eyes. It plays a role in
setting the right mood for the play and creates tension between the audience and
the plot. Ariel Dorfman was able to engage the audience on an emotional level from
the start ‘til the end of the play.
Unlike other forms of literature, a drama does not only have a story-telling aspect,
but also involvement of an audience. There are many different ways that a drama
can involve the audience, such as using asides, soliloquies, monologues and stage
props. There were no monologues or soliloquies in Death and the Maiden, but the
drama is enhanced with the usage of props. At the end of Act III Scene 1 as a part of
the stage direction, a huge mirror descended on the stage and was shown at the
audience. This is a very effective technique, as it causes the audience to raise the
question as to why such mirror is presented before them. The director and
playwright then achieves its purpose of letting the audience reflect themselves and
truly ponder about the message that is put forth from the author through the play
Death and the Maiden.
Setting is the time, place, circumstances in which the fictional story takes
place as well as the cultural, political and social background within the story. Death
and the Maiden has a contemporary setting, meaning that the cultural, historical and
social background within the story is similar to background context when the play is
written. This section will introduce the setting of Death and the Maiden by analyzing
the music, stage direction, plot, dialogue and set design.
Music:
The music used in the play, Death and The Maiden:
Death and the Maiden is a musical composition by Schubert, a talented
musician who died young because of his illness, when he was 20 years old (1817).
The well-known name of this piece is quartet in D minor series. While there are four
parts in the piece, only the first part of the piece is played in the play. All of them
were related because other three parts came from the variation of the first part. The
song describes how a crying maiden is getting seduced, and is dead in the end. The
song could be somewhat related to death.
Stage Directions:
Stage directions tell the audience about the atmosphere of setting in the play.
Ariel Dorfman starts out the play with a description of the setting in Scene 1, while
mentioning "on a sideboard is a cassette recorder and a lamp" (p. 3) hints that the
play takes place back in the twentieth century. Also, the play is set in "the Escobars’
beach house" in Scene 1 and the audience realizes that one of the main characters of
the play, Paulina Salas, is on a somewhat higher social class since she is able to relax
"in a chair on the terrace, as if she were drinking in the light of the moon" and has a
gun, too. The directions that describe Paulina's reaction to Gerardo coming in the
room creates a sort of tense mood, especially with Paulina hiding behind the
curtains, the appearance of the gun and "the lights sweeping the room."
The stage directions on music or sound effects are also meaningful in shaping
the atmosphere. For example, in the beginning of scene 2, the "sound of the sea" and
"the sound of a car approaching" then having someone knock on the door "first
timidly, then more strongly" and "the knocking on the door gets more insistent," the
mood changes fast from peaceful and calm to alarming and hostile. When we know
that "Paulina edges out onto the terrace from where she will be able to hear the men
but not see or be seen by them," the confining and tense mood is formed again.
Also, effects of brief pauses in the middle of dialogues play a role in forming
the mood. such as on page 4 when Gerardo says "that depends on you" and "takes an
enormous nail out of his jacket pocket." Like the use of a caesura in poetry, pauses in
the middle of speeches or dialogues allow tension to build up. In this case, a violent
mood is formed as Gerardo stops and takes an action that involves "an enormous
nail" that seems like it would be used for inflicting pain, although it is not. The pause
creates the cold, threatening and even nightmarish atmosphere that fits the
conversation that is close to a fight. Ariel Dorfman uses more "brief pause" onwards
during the whole conversation, making it sound more grim and the audience to feel
uneasy.
Furthermore, the lighting and the recurring motif of the sound of Schubert's
quartet 'Death and the Maiden' helps build up a negative mood. For instance, on
page 58 (ACT III), at first "the lights begin to go down," then after Paulina mentions
Doctor Miranda, "the lights go down further and Paulina's voice continues in the
darkness, only the cassette recorder lit by the light of the moon." After a while, "in the
darkness, we hear Roberto's voice overlapping with Paulina's and the second
movement of Death and the Maiden." Then, "the lights go up as if the moon were
coming out" while at the same time "the Schubert fades," where Roberto is put into
light, and when he says "too late" the first time, "the lights start to slowly go down."
The phrase "too late" is repeated and Ariel Dorfman keeps using lights to heighten
the mood of desolation. Also in the beginning of Scene 3 in ACT I, "a cloud passes
over the moon," using lights to foreshadow a discomforting incident of Roberto
Plot:
Plot is the main events of a play, movie, novel, or similar work, devised and
presented by the writer as an interrelated sequence
How does the plot tell you when and where the play is set?
The plot provides plenty of examples that display the atmosphere of the play
as well, which is part of setting. An example of the uneasiness and tense mood is
conveyed in Scene 2 when Roberto takes a page to open the door for Roberto.
Gerardo says himself that he is "unused to democracy" and all the peace that comes
along with it. The fear of Gerardo's household is shown in the sentence "That
someone knocks on your door at midnight and it's a friend and not...."
Dialogue:
Set design:
Example:
Act 1: "The Escobar's beach house. A terrace and an ample living/dining rom where
dinner is laid out on a table with two chairs. On a sideboard is a cassette recorder
and a lamp."
Explanation:
First it gives a peaceful atmosphere, then by changing of the set design, dark and
moonlight set, it gives a contradicting atmosphere.
Example:
Act 2:" Both Gerardo and Roberto exit in different directions to their respective
bedrooms. A brief pause: silence and moonlight"
Explanation:
This set design builds up the intense atmosphere. The 'silence and moonlight'.
Example:
Example:
"mirror which descends, forces the audience to look at themselves."
Explanation:
It's a clever theatrical device, but it has already taken the discussion away from the
ground of history and into the realm of individual morality
A play or any type of literature revolves around its theme. The theme constructs the
message, and the plot of a play.
Ambiguity
The theme of ambiguity in the play is used to emphasize the political backdrop of
the play as it demonstrates how a government can undermine the rights of its
citizens. It identifies the loopholes in a government's constitution and their methods
of instituting justice, as they cannot fully tend to the needs of every individual
despite their good intentions. The use of ambiguity in the play puts "truth" into
question by providing multiple interpretations to Dr. Miranda's guilt and death as
well as Paulina's sanity.
In various parts of the play, Ariel Dorfman hints or shows behaviors that engage the
audience to decide for themselves how the play might have ended or if Miranda was
actually dead or alive or the fact that he was one that tortured Paulina. Dorfman
purposely included evidence that could be used to argue the guilt and death of Dr.
Miranda in both directions. For example, when Paulina remembers that Schubert's
"Death and the Maiden" was what her torturer played as he tortured her, and Dr.
Miranda has a copy of the song in his car. This can be a point to prove that Dr.
Miranda was in fact the one who tortured Paulina. Or a point that can prove his
innocence since "Death and the Maiden" was a popular tune in the late 1990s.
By creating doubt into the play (mentioning that Roberto might be a figment of
imagination in Paulina's mind) Ariel Dorman gives the audience a sense of not
knowing the truth, which is a very important aspect in Death & the Maiden
The purpose of using ambiguity was to question the outcome of the situation and of
course not being able to discover the truth. In relation to play, at the very beginning
of the play it mentions that the setting could be "a country that is probably Chile but
could be any country that has given itself a democratic government just after a long
period of dictatorship". It gives of a clue that this play is set during the birth of a new
government where everything is undergoing a dramatic change, this on the other
hand also gives us the feeling the ambiguity of whether or not change in the country
is good or that it would end up exactly the same as the old government. The use of
ambiguity also muddles the truth emphasizing the flaws of a newly established
democratic regime.
Justice
Justice is an important theme in the play. In the play, Paulina and Gerardo both
experience how justice plays out however they have different perceptions and
thought about justice. They have different thoughts on how justice can be served on
different situations.
Gerardo thinks that justice can be solved through the process of country court
finding justice of human rights and abuses through the government was his duty as
a lawyer and a person who works at government commission. He strongly believes
that the commissioners can authentically find justice through these formal
processes after the country has changed its state to a Democratic government.
Gerardo watches Paulina’s acts and says “please, Paulina, could we start being
reasonable, start acting if –“ and she cuts through saying “you be reasonable. They
never did anything to you” showing controversy thoughts and acts between the two.
(p. 25)
On the other hand, Paulina doesn’t believe that the government will find the right
justice. She doubts that justice can be followed as to what really happened. That is
why she took action by her self and seeks for justice by her self after her
unforgettable past experience. She shows her own way of how to resolve this case
and find justice: First she says, “ I want him to confess. I want him to sit in front of
that cassette recorder and tell me what he did- not just to me, everything, to
everybody… That’s what I want.” (p. 41) But after doctor Roberto confesses she later
says, “To kill you. So I can listen to my Schubert without thinking that you’ll also be
listening to it…that’s what I need…” (p. 63)
Moreover, Forgiveness and justice are not necessarily tied together in the Death and
the Maiden. In the play Death and the Maiden, Paulina cannot forgive Dr. Miranda
because she she considered Miranda as the person who raped and tortured her. For
her, Miranda is the devil that brought her nightmares therefore she found no
reasons to forgive her. However, Paulina's husband, who is a member of the
Commission, understands that such justice is almost impossible to be achieved in
their country as it has just turned democratic while the Commission only investigate
the incidents with people have died. In Paulina's perspective, the justice is to punish
Power
In Death and the Maiden, one of the biggest themes is who holds the power. During
Pinochet's rule, he asserted brutal power and force to all his people. They felt taken
advantage of as they were treated as lesser beings. In the play Death and the
Maiden, it is about Paulina fighting back to gain the power that she lost alongside
other people who were tortured. Gerardo says, "As long as you're holding the gun,
we have nothing to discuss." This quote signifies the amount of control Paulina has
over the situation, to the point where she is even scaring her own husband as he
tries to comfort her. The whole play dances around who HAS the power. Does Dr.
Miranda still have the power because he is the one that has been controlling her for
the past 30 years in her thoughts? Dr. Miranda and Gerardo quote, "She's mad, she
needs therapy", followed by, "You ARE her therapy." This shows that Dr. Miranda
almost still has a mental control over her regardless of Paulina holding the gun to
his head. Although Paulina is speaking and acting up, we can see how Dr. Miranda
has power over her mind, even though Paulina has power over the situation.
Characterization:
Things to determine character: appearance, names, props, mannerism and
actions
Writer may also use grammar and other characterization in order to convey
the personality and views of a character
Main types:
o Direct Characterization: When the writer or character explicitly states
the character is a certain type of person or has certain characteristics.
o Indirect Characterization: Characterization by actions. Showing how
intent in actions, and implicit assumptions based on way they are
dressed, what they say, and how they interact with others
Characters in Storytelling:
Protagonist: the leading character of a plot, most often one who is moving
towards a goal and experiences change by the end of the story
Antagonist: the character that is either an obstacle to the protagonist's goal
or is also actively competing for that same goal. They do not need to be evil,
just in contention with the protagonist. The antagonist does not have to be a
specific character, it could also be a group or system
Foil: a character that is specifically used to have opposite values and
behaviors to another character in order to create conflict as well as for plot
purposes.
Round Character: a character whose characteristics, thoughts, and
background etc. are fully described and shown. This character archetype is
more commonly seen in the main character to make them more relatable to
Definitions:
Internal Conflict — A struggle within the mind of a character. This creates suspense
within the plot.
External Conflict – The struggle between one character and an external force (e.g.
another character or nature). This type of conflict is an important element to drive
action of the plot.
Central Conflict – The main conflict within the story that is usually faced by the main
character. The plot of the story will revolve around this conflict.
Conflicts:
The conflict between Paulina Salas and Dr. Roberto Miranda (Victoria Gonzalez):
This is known as the central conflict within the play. The external conflict
between Paulina and Roberto begins when Paulina eavesdrops during the
conversation that her husband Gerardo has with Roberto. Paulina claims to have
recognized him as her rapist and torturer. “Paulina: It’s his voice. I recognized it as
soon as he came in here last night. The way he laughs. Certain phrases he uses,”
(Dorfman 23). This causes her to tie Miranda up to the chair with a gun to his head,
Even though the main external conflict happens between Paulina and
Miranda, conflict between Gerardo and Miranda is important as well. Intentionally
Gerardo was trying to help Miranda get out of the situation caused by Paulina, but as
the play went on and emotional struggle with Gerardo he started to doubt Miranda.
Near the end of the play we see a scene where Gerardo explodes with rage and
curses Miranda for the actions that he may or may not have done. Miranda is
constantly trying to convince Gerardo to help him and do something about Paulina's
actions. On the other hand Gerardo tries to be the fair man doubting Paulina's
thoughts.
Act 1 Scene 1
Mood
Scene 1 is begun under an ambiance of peacefulness, portrayed by the sound of sea
in a quiet midnight. An approaching car and Paulina’s reaction breaks this
tranquility, that is to say, the mood turns tense with Paulina on guard and taking out
a gun. But this sudden tension breaks away with Gerardo's rather casual, amiable
conversation with Roberto; after the conversation Paulina hides her gun away, and
hides herself behind curtains as the tension eases. The following five-page long
lover's spat between Geraldo and Paulina is shrouded by many emotions, the most
tangible, and perhaps Dorfman's strongest intention, is the great intimacy between
the two.
The stage directions portray, "Sound of the sea. After midnight." These Six words,
though simple, elicit an atmosphere of utmost tranquility. A peaceful evening by
the beach can be imagined.
Tone
"Paulie?"
"Poor little love."
"Silly. Silly girl, my baby."
Geraldo's affection for Paulina is expressed through these lovers' names he calls
her.
"You know what this is? This is the son of a bitch that gave me a flat."
"Now. What the hell did you do with the jack?"
"While I can go fuck myself."
"... and this son of a bitch of a nail is lying in wait for me"
"without a spare and without a jack on the goddamn road."
These vulgar swear words of Geraldo show hostility and anger during his
conversations with Paulina, expressing his great annoyance at Paulina not replacing
his spare tire and lending his jack to her mother without permission.
"The judges? The same judges who never intervened to save one life ... That judge?
Act 1 Scene 2
Mood
Scene 2 begins in a fashion similar to that of Scene 1. The tranquility of a silent night
by the beach is interrupted by the return of Roberto in his car to speak with Geraldo.
The insistent knockings and Geraldo and Paulina's wariness incite nervousness
from the readers. The tension disappears when Geraldo expresses relief and invites
Roberto inside. The two then engage in a conversation in a very polite and quite
formal manner, which make the readers feel the two have respect for each other and
both intend to maintain a good relationship between the two. The friendly
atmosphere is then led to the two's discussions on Geraldo's new commission, and
Roberto's support of Geraldo in his work of justice. In the midst of the positive
dialogues on the importance and risks of Geraldo's new job, Geraldo politely offers
and insists Roberto to stay overnight, to which Roberto initially declines but is soon
convinced to stay. Overall the scene illustrates a friendly and bonding conversation
between two newly befriended friends.
Tone
"Oh, it's you. God, you scared the shit out of me."
Geraldo expresses his relief from anxiety.
Act 1 Scene 4
Tone: Slightly humorous
" Good morning, my darling. Sorry breakfast isn't ready yet."
Paulina's behavior is in extreme contrast with Roberto and Gerardo's. In this
situation, Paulina acts as though nothing is wrong, and casually says she
hasn't made breakfast, placing that minor detail aside from her obvious
kidnapping of Roberto.
Threatening
" Besides you know that if the police do show their noses here I'll put a bullet
straight through this man's head."
Paulina continually threatens Gerardo using her gun, as well as taking
Roberto hostage against the police. The shift in power is made obvious, with
Paulina dominating the other characters, as opposed to her role as housewife
before.
Mood: Suspenseful
"Paulina! What is this? What in the name of...Roberto...Doctor Miranda."
The sudden change of pace from the last 3 scenes is rather jarring, as
Paulina's actions are a surprise to both the characters and the audience. The
sudden rush of events and information revealed continues throughout the
rest of the play, making everything seem to spiral out of control.
"Not me. You and me. We're going to put him on trial, Gerardo, this doctor.
Right here. Today. You and me. Or is your famous investigating Commission
going to do it"
Paulina has challenged the integrity of Gerardo's commission, referring to
how her specific case (which did not result in death) would have been
overlooked under normal circumstances. At the same time, it also
foreshadows events later on in the play, ending the scene with Paulina's plan.
Act 2 Scene 1
In the beginning of the scene, everything is really intense. Both Paulina and Roberto
are just standing/sitting there for a while. Paulina then speaks in long rants, which
Paulina repeats word for word what the attacker says to her. Gerardo is also in this
scene, and he clearly is the one thinking rationally. "Paulina, you are going to listen
to me" (p. 30) shows that Paulina in it of herself is losing her mind, and being very
obsessive about proving Roberto guilty. This all together shows that the mood of the
situation is very hectic, and a lot of different personalities of the characters are
being shown in a very short amount of time.
The tone of this part of the scene is also intense because Paulina realizes how much
power she has over Roberto, because of the presence of the gun in Paulina's
possession. “[puts the gun to his temple] who are you threatening?" (p. 32) Paulina
says this, and it shows her true nature of being dominant in a situation where she
can be dominant and have the upper hand against someone, much like how the
attacker (maybe Roberto) had over her when he was raping her.
She continues, "Tie him up again.... tighter Gerardo"(page 33), and this shows that
even Paulina has the more dominant side even against her own husband, Gerardo.
This shows the reader that the tone and mood of this situation is getting out of hand,
and that there are high stakes riding on what Paulina is going to do with that gun.
Even though later (page 34) Paulina explains to Gerardo that she has no intention
on killing Roberto, or him, the audience knows that because of the situation,
something could easily go wrong, and Paulina's emotions could take hold of her and
cause her to do something irreparable.
In the end where Paulina says, "if he is innocent? The he's really screwed" (page 42)
This overall shows the uncertainty of what Paulina may do to Roberto, and shows
the audience that this is a very intense situation and that ANYTHING could happen.
Act 2 Scene 2
As Gerardo and Roberto sit at a table having lunch, Paulina is outside, and there is a
very hostile environment at the table. The stage direction read, "Roberto and
Gerardo remain for several silent instants looking at the food." This shows the type
of mood and atmosphere that is set within the house, which is very serious and a bit
like a hostage situation as Roberto has been held up for a pretty long time.
As Gerardo is feeding Roberto some soup, "he cleans Roberto's mouth with a
napkin", he is also trying to ease the tension at the house. Although, Paulina is still
furious and demanding, Roberto is playing more of a grandma role protecting her
grandchildren when their mom is mad. Roberto is not pleased with what Gerardo
might have done, but he surely is not pleased with the way Paulina is handling the
situation either.
Roberto: (raises his voice, indignant): " She's got nothing to pardon me for.... Do you
Gerardo: "Paulina, would you please do me the favor of leaving so we can continue
our conversation? Would you please do me that favor?" Gerardo here has a mellow
tone that shows his patience and the way he is dealing with this situation. He is
trying to be as reasonable as possible, and he knows that all Paulina needs is a little
spark to go off on, so he chooses his words wisely and tries to keep the peace for as
long as possible.
In response to this, Roberto pleads: "Don't go. Don't call her." From this, the
audience can certify that Roberto is clearly afraid of Paulina than Gerardo and the
tone he uses here is scared. This shows Paulina to be an even stronger character
than the audience may have thought before.
Act 3 Scene 1
The tension seems to have fallen slightly at the beginning of the scene when Paulina
and Gerardo have their conversation. Paulina brings up the past and talks in a
frustrated tone about the woman that Gerardo was with: "That bitch came out of
your bedroom half naked...". Paulina becomes very sensitive to the details of
Gerardo and Paulina's relationship: "How many times did you do it?..." Paulina is
shown to be very demanding and this makes the mood tenser. There also are many
examples of profanity used in this scene such as: "She wasn't a bitch." This use of
such words makes the tone of the play seem realistic.
Paulina is conscious of the fact that she is intimidating Gerardo by asking about his
relationship with the other woman: Gerardo: "Don’t do this to me, Paulina." Gerardo
speaks in an oppressed sort of tone and is ashamed of talking about his relationship
of the other woman. After Gerardo confesses about his relationship details, he picks
up an aggressive tone: "You want me to leave? Is that what you want?" "That's what
you're going to get." At this point Paulina's only words are "No." This shows the
immediate shift in power between the two as Gerardo frightens Paulina that he will
leave.
The mood becomes intense after the confession when Paulina wants Dr. Miranda to
become killed. Paulina did not know that the confession Dr. Miranda gave was false
and becomes frenzied. Dr. Miranda becomes desperate and knows that he will not
survive. He speaks in a raging tone: "If you want to kill me, do it. But you're killing
an innocent man."
Act 3 Scene 2
The mood of this scene is incredibly suspenseful. It's the last scene of the play and
the readers are told that this is months later after the incident at the Escobars’
house. After the cliffhanger of the scene before where the readers are left untold of
what has happened to Roberto, they are brought to a scene where the setting is
completely different than before.
There is a tension that builds along with an unsettling mood as a mirror is presented
in front of the audience, some members might even be confused. The only two times
that there is spoken word is when Gerardo addresses members of the audience
pretending that they are all in the concert hall together. The rest of the scene is
nothing but the description of the environment and surrounding, which makes the
atmosphere of this scene very suspenseful. The second time is when an old replies
to the president of Commission when he told her to sit down. She repeats “For the
first time” multiple times, this part of the scene reveals a tone and mood of relief and
revelation, a final gratification towards the Commissioners of all the suffering that
she has been through.
The mood of this scene takes a deeper turn as the writer introduces the existence of
Roberto into the scene when he enters “under a light which has a faint
phantasmagoric moonlight quality” (page 67), the tone of the writer makes this
ending of the play very ambiguous, especially with the way that Roberto’s
reappearance is described, leaves the readers in a sense of ambiguity of not knowing
if it is actually Roberto or it’s just a phantom from Paulina’s imagination.
The end of this scene/play shows that Roberto is watching Paulina and Gerardo
from a distance, creating a suspenseful atmosphere because they have no idea if this
is real or just a fiction of Paulina’s imagination. Some of the phrases from the
beginning of the play are repeated such as “Pau mixes a margarita that’ll stand your
hair on end” (page 68) that Gerardo has said to Roberto in the beginning of the play.
This scene/play ends with the realization that Gerardo and Paulina is listening to
Death and the Maiden, with Paulina exchanging eye contact with “Roberto”, bringing
this scene to an ending of ambiguity and suspense.
Students: Chris Zhang, Caleb Sng, Kayla Mohr, Karthik Padmanabhan, YeaSeul Park,
Christy Choi, Lion Lee, Clark Lee & So Hee Park
Main Conflict
Death and the Maiden
o Paulina and Gerardo
One of the main conflicts in this play is the one that exists between
Symbolism
Death and the Maiden
o "Death and the Maiden", which is also the title of the play, is an allegory to
a popular theme of art and literature in late 15th century Germany during
the Renaissance. Many artists painted illustrations of a young lady and a
(mostly skeletal) figures representing death.
o In the play, the phrase is also the title of the famous music piece written
by Franz Shubert. This piece holds a great significance in the play because
the torturer played it when he was torturing her fifteen years ago.
Therefore, Paulina has a very deep and resentful emotional attachment to
this music, which symbolizes the resent and great rage she feels about the
torture and injustice.
o Paulina is the only "maiden" in this play. Although she stays alive
throughout the whole play, Gerardo, her husband, says that she is still a
prisoner without any freedom. Paulina cannot set herself free from the
memories of her traumatic experiences from 15 years ago, so she
desperately seeks for a way to grant herself justice, even though it might
not be a practical solution. This creates the violent and irrational yet
highly vulnerable character of Paulina, as if the sprit of death always
accompanies her. The ending of the play suggests that she never achieves
a resolution for her lingering pain.
o Another connection between Paulina and death can be made as she
Use of characterization
DAM utilizes has very unique characterization
o 3 man cast - 2 men and 1 woman
Paulina
o An aspiring medical student who was kidnapped, raped and tortured
o As a result of this she is shown to be aggressive, constantly scared,
and paranoid.
Act 1 Scene 1 - She hears some car outside and immediately
pulls out her weapon and goes to a vantage point
o She is unable to forget the past. A common character trait for post
modernist plays
Gerardo Escobar
"Jeune Fille Et La Mort." La Mort Dans L'art. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Apr. 2014.
<http://www.lamortdanslart.com/fille/maiden.htm>.