Ariel Dorfman's, Death and the Maiden, displays a shift in power we have yet to discuss in class. Paulina Salas comes face to face with her alleged rapist, Dr. Miranda. At the time of the rape, Paulina did not see the man's face, just the sound of his voice. This brings up the power of sound and it's connection to memory. In addition, the power and significance of sight is implied and contrasted.
The audible aspect of sound allowed Paulina to recognize the voice of her alleged rapist, bringing back haunting memories of the event as well as the song played during the event, Franz Shubert's piece, "Death and the Maiden" (much like Blanche DuBois' haunting association with "The Varsouviana Polka" in A Streetcar Names Desire). If I remember correctly, (don't quote me on this), Shubert composed this piece on his deathbed after being diagnosed with a serious illness. The song therefor represents the exact moment when he began to die, like discussed in class and seen in the story "The Wall." This shows that Paulina began to die and lose hold of "the self" after her rape, which is symbolized through Shubert's piece. However, Paulina tried to gain back "the self" by transferring power and holding her rapist captive to get a confession. This could symbolize the change in government from a dictatorship (absolute power held by an individual, like Paulina's alleged rapist), to a democracy (giving Dr. Miranda the choice of a confession).
Paulina is attempting to forgive Dr. Miranda after realizing the fallibility of humans. However, the solution to her problem runs much deeper and is much more complicated than she assumes, much like the topic of "forgive but never forget" in history with past wars (like the Vietnam war). She believed that the tangible and visible quality of a hand-hand written confession would be a physical record of her painful past being buried. Unfortunately, by the end of the play, we realize the complexity of the problem and the impossibility of forgetting; a temporary burial can easily resurface. Was the confession true? Was is formulated? Was he ever guilty? How reliable were Paulina's memories? Were they selective memories?
Great analysis! I like how you interpreted the song Death and the Maiden in regards to Paulina's own "death" or psychological demise. I feel like what you said can be connected to Elaine Scarry's idea of the destruction of world or self. The description of Paulina's torture can be considered a destruction of what used to be her world or what used to be real to her. The most obvious example would be her inability to listen to Schubert, her favorite composer, after the torture. Also, we see the usage of medical institutions as a form of torture. Dr. Miranda is brought in, or so it is assumed, in order to gauge a prisoner's capacity for torture and thusly prolong the torture. Paulina expresses her almost disbelief at how a doctor was brought in to aid the torture process. In a way these two things (Schubert & doctors) are destroyed once their purpose became to inflict pain on Paulina during her captivity. However, Paulina begins to reconstruct her world again when she takes Dr. Miranda hostage. She is able to listen to Schubert again once she has him under her command and power. This is an interesting dynamic where the victim now becomes the perpetrator of pain and power. However, the ending is, indeed, complicated when Paulina reveals she still has the desire to kill Dr. Miranda despite his full confession. Paulina believes the confession to be true, but because she does not believe he truly repented, she is not satisfied with the confession. This leads us to question whether Paulina would have let Dr. Miranda go under any other circumstance. Perhaps she was intent on killing him all along.
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