Death and the Maiden

            I find the strong connection between sound and torture so interesting in Ariel Dorfman’s “Death and the Maiden.” While her rapist remained anonymous, Paulina Salas was forced to listen to Schubert’s composition “Dean and the Maiden” during the act of rape. While she never saw the face of the rapist, Paulina was able to, as Scarry defines, channel the pain and torture into an objectified thing, or associate the pain of rape to Schubert’s composition. Then, many years later when her husband gets a ride home from a stranger, Paulina is sure that she recognizes his voice as that of her former captor. 

           This entire relationship between sound and torture has many parallels to Azulay’s “O Judeu” and our class discussion on the film. We spoke about the particular torture scenes and how impactful the sounds themselves were. Most students within our class agreed that the sounds alone were harder to hear and had more effect than the images shown. The sounds were also so impactful when regarding subjectivity- some of the characters were tortured in front of loved ones. 

            Furthermore, the mental aspect of torture as again shown by Dorfman’s play, parallels to some of Scarry’s writings on pain. Paulina clearly looses much of herself due to her captivity and the actions endured.  Her husband even works with her accused perpetrator in hopes of relieving her from her past, providing some amount of closure. This obsession can be linked to what Scarry describes as the destruction, dismantling, and unmaking of one’s world and self.