실존하는 자유인: 셰퍼의 앨런

This study aims to clarify an aspect of an existential freeman which is found in Alan's life in Peter Shaffer's Equus and for the better understanding of that aspect, to examine Dysart's attitude toward life before and after he treats his patient Alan. The four primary motivational forces which enable Alan to live an existential free life are the courage to be an existential self, the will to freedom, passion and imagination. The richest of the fruits that they produce is that he creates a religious rite in order to worship Equus, his god and at last experiences the union with the deity which leads to the realization of self-transcendence. Dysart, who has as strong a sense of existence as Alan, never gives up searching the meaning of life. Since he lacks the motivational forces that Alan has, Dysart has never experienced the presence of a transcendent being with emotion though he wants it. As a result he is in despair. Unfortunately Alan is not free enough to be beyond the influence of his parents. Their negative influence on the bad image of Equus as an ambivalent deity results in the disharmony between his inner and outer lives. Nevertheless since he is a freeman with existential courage, Alan will hopefully find a new mode of existence which will bring a new meaning of life. And Dysart's despair will finally provide him with the decisive will to leap into a new step of existence because despair is a springboard for a new start. Specially Alan, an existential freeman, invites us to become a passionate and courageous master of our life with the will to freedom and imagination.