Academic Essay on 'The Visit'

Does the resolution of Drenmatt's 'The Visit' carry out the primary requirements of justice in some form?

At its core, the pursuit of justice aims to achieve, on some level, a balance between compensation and punishment for victims and perpetrators respectively. It is this concept that is central in Drenmatt's 'The Visit'. In the play, the wealthy and powerful Claire Zachanassian returns to the town of Guellen in search of the man that betrayed her decades ago, resulting in her becoming a pariah and being forced into exile. The town is in economic turmoil at the time of Claire's arrival, and the complication soon arises once she makes a public, open proposal to the people of Guellen to kill Alfred Ill; as encouragement, she will reinvigorate the town's economy by giving its citizens 'one million' after Alfred has been killed. This statement creates a very obvious and simultaneously challenging dilemma by exploring the relationships between justice, revenge and morality. It is because of this precarious positioning of justice that Drenmatt is able to create a conflict of interest between characters and ultimately allow the narrative to take the direction it does. This challenges the audience's perceptions of the boundaries between personal revenge, or the execution of justice. It is the outcome at the conclusion of the play that therefore demands the greatest attention, as it is here that we recognise the nature of the relationship as Drenmatt suggests.


Drenmatt establishes early in the play that the townspeople of Guellen see themselves as morally upright, and initially refuse Claire's offer on that basis. This immediately positions them as being of high moral character, illustrated in the Mayor's dramatic contrast, "Madam Zachanassian: you forget, this is Europe, you forget, we are not savages."1, and it is the gradual movement away from this so-called 'moral high ground' that reveals Drenmatt's perceptions of the relationship between morality and justice. In his perception, human necessity will overrule our innate sense of morality - essentially advocating not a cognitive dissonance, but rather his belief that when humans are in desperate situations, they will adapt their morality accordingly in order to survive. This is partially elicited by Drenmatt through Ill's concern for his own life, such as the following extract from Act two : "... The town's getting ready to celebrate my murder, and I'm dying of terror.". Ill's terror is met with sinister apathy by the priest, "All they're doing is affirming life, that's all they're doing, affirming life."2, enunciating the community's changing morality.


It is this gradual adaptation that is of most interest in the play, as we see the various members of the town buying material things, [Ill to the Mayor] "That's a fine brand you're smoking there." [Mayor to Ill] "A Pegasus. Virginia." "Pretty expensive." "Well worth the money."3,symbolic of their accumulating debt due to an anticipated windfall at the hands of 'Madam Zachanassian'. As we reach the climax of the first Act, Claire makes her bold declaration, and the opening of Act Two sees Ill's shop busy with new patrons, who simultaneously offer the consolation and support, while also carrying or wearing the hallmarks of the anticipated wealth. [Man one to Ill] "Cigarettes." [Ill to Man one] "Same as usual?" "Not those ... the green ones." "They cost more." "On account."4


It is this wrong that is the first that must be corrected. Towards the conclusion of the play, we become aware that the poverty experienced by the Guelleners is the direct result of Zachanassian's interference. She has bankrupted the town, and as a result, forced them into the desperate situation they now find themselves in. While Claire's financial restitution is sufficient to bring Guellen out of its poverty-stricken state (and ultimately does), the means by which the townspeople achieve such salvation is tainted by the murder of Alfred Ill to acquire it. In this sense, while some sense of 'balance' has been achieved, there is a greater cost that Drenmatt hopes to establish - the cost of their souls, and only in the eyes of the audience.


Secondly, there is the need for Ill to pay for his crimes against Claire, Durrenmatt's assertion of Ill's immoral behaviour and the requirement of justice that he offer some form of restitution. The greatest problem this creates in the eyes of the audience is the fact that, given the very personal nature of the wrong done to her, Claire's pursuit of justice is difficult to be perceived as anything more than revenge. This is exemplified in Claire's response, to the butler's question "And now you desire justice, Claire Zachanassian?", of which she replied "I can afford it."5. To balance this perception, Drenmatt characterises Claire as cold and inhuman, revealed in her allusive comment, "You know what you have to do"6, dehumanising those around her in a similar fashion. The implication is obvious, and it is here that we feel the greatest degree of sympathy for Ill, who by contrast is very human and empathetic as he is terrified by the course of events, "It's me you're hunting down, me."7. The contrast between the two positions Claire as the villain, despite the fact that it was she that was initially wronged. Ill's death therefore satisfies both Claire and the townspeople, but in terms of justice, we are left feeling that the 'hero' has died, and given Claire's vast material resources for little more than Claire and the townspeople own warped sense of satisfaction.


However, it is essentially a question of whether Ill has been treated justly that provides us the most satisfying answer to whether or not the justice at the end of the play offers us a compelling sense of resolution. Ill's conduct before the play is intended to be reprehensible, "It's over and done with, dead and buried! It's an old, crazy story."8 - Drenmatt ensures this by offering not only the details of his crimes through Claire, but also his apparent ambivalence when confronted with them initially. However, despite this initially dismissive attitude, the fact that Claire's wealth affords her a much greater level of power and status than the object of her revenge allows Drenmatt to effectively characterise a man that by any moral standard should be a villain, as a hero. It is our desire to see if Ill will live or die that propels our interest in the play, and by the conclusion, it is our desire to see him live, rather than be murdered for the greed and desperation of the townspeople that is our actual desire. Given that this does not occur, and Ill is murdered to atone for not only his sins but the greed of his fellow Guelleners, we are left with a feeling that although Ill's death was 'necessary' in a purely functional sense, it is far from just.


Ultimately, Drenmatt explores justice as a multi-faceted idea. The belief in a natural justice, one that exists outside of traditional views of morality, is expressed in Ill's death. However, given the fact that mankind is able to move beyond this simple, primitive view, and that emotions are inherently part of our own sense of justice, we are left with our own dilemma. In this sense, justice is both simultaneously served and failed, creating a heightened sense of interest in the play, but also presenting an important challenge to the audience in terms of their own perceptions of morality and justice, and the oft-crossed boundaries that exist between the two.
















































Bibliography:
-          Drenmatt, Friedrich, "The Visit", Grove Press 1956, English version  1962
         1          Drenmatt, Friedrich, "The Visit", Grove Press 1956 Act          1 page 39
         

         2          Drenmatt, Friedrich,          "The Visit", Grove Press 1956          Act 2 page 57
         

         3          Ibid Act 2 pages 52-53
         

         4          Ibid Act 2 page 41
         

         5          Drenmatt, Friedrich,          "The Visit", Grove Press 1956 Act          1 page 38
         

         6          Ibid          Act 3 page 65
         

         7          Ibid Act 2 page 51
         

         8          Ibid Act 1 page 38