Equusthe God of horses  By: FrancescoLepore   In the play Equuswritten by Peter Schaffer, horses play a symbolic meaning throughout theplay.  It’s Alan’s strangs fascination of horses at such a young age thatleads him to believe and praise the God of horses called Equus. He becomesobsessed about horses at such a young age by his mother who reads him booksabout the revelations of God and biblical stories which influences his interesttowards horses. When he first encounters and rides a horse at the age of 5 thisfeeling of excitement builds in him and influences his love towards the horse.Horses have a symbolic meaning in this play since they represent the freedomthat Alan’s strangs is being restrained from by his parents, represents a veryreligious aspect of the play and the eyes in particular illustrates a littlewindow frame where Equus could see the real world through horses eyes.

  Horses have a hugereligious importance in this play. After being brought up by a strict religiousmother, Alan is being influenced in following religion and starts to believe andpraise the god of horses Equus. The quote “Equus—son of Fleckwus—son of Neckwus—Walk…Here we go. The King rides out on Equus,mightiest of horses. Only I can ride him. He lets me turn him this way andthat.

We Will Write a Custom Essay Specifically
For You For Only $13.90/page!


order now

His neck comes out of my body. It lifts in the dark. Equus, my Godslave!…Now the King commands you. Tonight, we ride.” (Pg.73 Act 1, Scene 21)IllustratesAllan’s obsession with horses and how he glorifies Equus since only a kingcould ride on him. Kings back then were seen as godly figures since they had royalblood.The quote “”Prince begat Prince! Prance begatPrankus!” …”Behold—I give you Equus, my only begotten son!” (pg.

50 Act 1, scene 14) illustrates Alan chanting to a picture of a horse hungon top of his bed.  Himchanting to his picture in his room of a horse clearly illustrates Alan’sworship towards Equus and how he sees him as his God. Alan strongly believesthat horses and humans are one and that he shall ride the horse naked to show unity.

Horses have a very religious importance in this play since it enables Allan tobelieve in something and in salvation. Horses give Allan a purpose to exist.      A horse’s bit, along with the rest of the chainsthat bind him, symbolize the oppression of freedom.  This clearly reflects the difficult life thatAllan has gone through. Since life wasn’t so easy for Allan growing in a householdwith 2 parents that didn’t really agree with each other, being alone permittedhim of being free and allowed him to let go with horses. Since Freedom isextremely important to Alan, who feels confined by his own life, he has swornto set these horses free from the sins of humanity. He does this every nightwhile everyone is sleeping.

He sneaks to the barn and detaches nugget to thenride him nakedly through the fields so they can become one and then sexuallyclimaxes on top of him. (His way of making love to the god Equus)The quote”I’mraw! Raw!Feel me on you! On you! On you! On you!I want to be in you!I want to BE you forever and ever! –Equus, I love you!Now! –Bear me away!Make us One Person!” (Pg. 74 act 1, scene 21)Depictshis love and affection towards Equus. This quote clearly shows his passiontowards Equus and how he wants to ride the horses so that he and they couldbecome one.

This shows a very rare moment of Allan finally feeling free.     Lastly, the horse’s eyes represents a windowthat enables Equus to watch over the human world.  The eyes in general have a very powerfulmeaning in this play and this is why Alan decides to blind 5 horses. Alandecides to blind the innocent horses because he strongly believes that Equus iswatching over him at all times through the horse’s eyes.  Alan has only showed love to Equus by ridingnugget every night. Alan has never really liked girls besides Jill the girl heworked with.

He decides to take her on a date and after their date, the 2 ofthem want to proceed further by having fun and Jill proposes to do it in thebarn.  The quote “what on earth is thematter with you? Look if the horses offend you, my lord, we can just shut thedoor. You wont have to see them alright?”(Pg99 act 32, scene 2) IllustratesAlan’s guilt of making love with Jill in the presence of Equus .When their justabout to make love, Alan starts to feel guilt towards Equus because he’s hisonly love and he’s about to make love in front of his God.

In an attempt tosave himself and to prevent Equus from seeing, he decides to blind all thehorses in the barn so that Equus could stop watching over him through horseseyes.” The quote Equus … noble Equus… faithful and true … god-slave ….Though-God-seest-nothing” (pg.105 Act2, scene 34) represents Alan’s final wordsspoken to Equus before he decides to blind the horses so that his God doesn’tjudge or watch over him sleeping with Jill.

  In conclusion, horses have a significantpresence symbolically throughout the whole play. Horses represent a religiousaspect of the play since Alan strongly believes in Equus the god of horses, thebit that’s inserted in their mouth symbolically represents the oppression offreedom and the horses eyes represents Equus vision on earth. It’s Allanpassion towards horses that makes him unique and distinguishes him from the normalaverage people.

After blinding 5 horses Alan is brought to DR. Dysart who eventuallycures him from his mental illness but at the same time removes what Allan’slikes most which are horses. 

x

Hi!
I'm Erica!

Would you like to get a custom essay? How about receiving a customized one?

Check it out