A Study Of Mental Illness In Peter Shaffer’s Plays

Peter Shaffer,a prominent British playwright after World War II,has been earned favors by scholars and audiences by virtue of his abundant linguistic forms and the spectacular stage performing arts.The Royal Hunt of the Sun,Equus and Amadeus are three of Shaffer’s most important works,which are also known as the “Trilogy of Belief”.There are various images of mental illness in “Trilogy of Belief” which reveals the morbidity of post-war Western society and the mental dilemma of the masses,highlighting Shaffer’s acuminous insight into the spiritual crisis of modern Western society.Based on the definition and classification of mental illness in Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders,this thesis analyses the varied mental illness in The Royal Hunt of the Sun,Equus and Amadeus through a close reading of the texts under the guidance of Carl Jung’s analytical psychology to achieve cross-integration of literature research and psychiatric research.In addition,the thesis elaborates the causes of mental illness and its metaphor conducted by Western modernity.The thesis consists of six parts.The first chapter introduces Shaffer’s life and major achievements,the research of status quo of Shaffer’s plays,research significance,as well as Carl Jung’s analytical psychology involved in the thesis;the second chapter analyzes the anxiety disorder and Western racial discrimination in The Royal Hunt of the Sun,implying Shaffer’s deliberations on racial discrimination and colonial aggression;Chapter 3 explores schizophrenia and the conflict of modern Western family ethics in Equus,containing the playwriter’s care for the repressed spiritual world of adolescents;Chapter 4 examines paranoia and the Western faith crisis in Amadeus,reflecting Shaffer’s concern about the spiritual crisis that humanity is suffering from;Chapter 5 explores motivation of Shaffer’s mental illness writing and criticism on instrumental reason in light of his unique life experience and the context of his time;and Chapter 6 concludes.The thesis points out that the writing of mental illness in the plays is featured with distinct contemporary criticism and social criticism.The playwright’s writing of mental illness has gradually deepened from macro to micro,from nation and race to the dimensions of family ethics and human soul,reflecting the refinement and profundity of Shaffer’s social criticism.Diseases in literature are metaphorical diseases.Shaffer’s writing on mental illness is a means to visually reveal the drawbacks of British modernity and indicates the playwriter’s questioning and criticism on British society and instrumental reason,which implies his attention to the predicament of family ethics,racial issues,and faith crisis as well as his concern for the human spirit,showing the playwriter’s profound humanitarian care.