The Character Claire in “The Visit” drama by Friedrich Durrenmatt”

The play The Visit is a comedy-drama authored by Friedrich Durrenmatt. The drama's plot is about a woman who returns to her childhood home with an outrageous bargain. She wanted to have a man who impregnated her and abandon the pregnancy killed in exchange for funding the town, which was in an economic crisis. Although the people were reluctant at first, they eventually gave in to the bribe the woman offered them. They, therefore, ended up voting for the execution of their own man, who was famous among the people from the town. Marxist criticism applies to the drama because of the period the writer lived in and the modern cultural context, which is shaped by the countries’ political past. The context and themes of the drama are factually related to the shadow of dictatorship the author experienced as well as the negative impacts of money and economics in corrupting even the good people.

It is good to understand how social phenomena such as money and economic superiority can corrupt society. The need to understand how money and economics affect people is because society has continued to suffer ignorantly under the influence of the rich. Therefore, the aim of this work is to help people understand the dynamics of money and economics as well as gain insight into how their lives are affected by economic and social forces. Consequently, they will be able to be driven by integrity, human nature, and self-consciousness instead of greed. In the play “The Visit”, the people of Guellen are unaware of their predisposition to money, power, and economics. Their susceptibility to social phenomena such as corruption is seen in the end scene of the drama, where they vote for the execution of Alfred Ill. Alfred Ill was a famous person as well as a store owner in the town of Guellen. In his teenage periods, he impregnated a girl by the name of Claire Zachanassion but abandoned her. Claire ended up in prostitution but later managed to find herself and establish herself as a world-known billionaire (Bühler 78). The play, therefore, starts with the town eager to receive Claire in their bid to see her help the town revitalize their town which was bankrupt.

Her arrival was fascinating as the people made a homecoming celebration where Claire announced her will to donate one billion to the town. However, the donations came with conditions that dampened the happiness of the people. In Act Two, Alfred Ill started noticing changes in his town. People, including the mayor, were buying expensive things, which was not the case several weeks before the homecoming of Claire. He started growing suspicious of all the changes. Later, Alfred Ill decided to leave the city for Australia. However, at the train station, he was met with a crowd of people from the town inquiring about his mission to leave the town. In the end, he decided to abandon his mission to leave the town.

In Act Three, the doctor and the schoolmaster go to Claire and try convincing her to help the town out of her goodwill rather than pushing for her vengeance desires. However, Claire did not accept the queries from the doctor and the schoolmaster. In the end, Alfred Ill was confronted by the mayor who saw him accept the guilt of the town’s suffering. In the end, he gets convicted by a majority vote from the people and ends up being killed. His death was then stated to be caused by a heart attack. The mayor then gets the money promised by Claire, whereby half a billion was to go to the families while the other half was to go to the town.

The Visit has some themes, which range from justice, morality and money, irony, love, and prostitution, as well as humanism and dehumanization. Justice, money, and morality are the major themes in the play. Claire's desire to avenge her anger propels the plot of the drama. She quested to win justice for Ill’s betrayal (Bühler 67). She succeeds in taking Ill’s life at the end of the play by bribing Guellen people with money. Irony is another theme that is seen in the drama. The people of Guellen are a disguise, and nothing is as it seems in the town.

Moreover, the economic crisis in the town did not happen as the people believed. The crisis establishes a platform where people can be easily manipulated. Despite their self-drive and compassion to do things, they end up betraying one of their popular citizens, believing they are not responsible for his death. Love and prostitution are also seen throughout the entire play. First, the reader sees the complex relationship between Claire and Ill which acts as the only true love in the drama. After their relationship ended, Claire ended up being a prostitute before marrying eight different men. “Claire has now married her eighth husband in Guellen…” (Oxford Cambridge and RSA 3) Justifying her complex love life.

Similarly, humanism and dehumanization are vivid as one reads the play. “When the citizens moved away, Ill’s body is seen lying on the floor” (Oxford Cambridge and RSA 4). People of Gullen town see their society as humanist, where people are selfless and have compassion for each other through understanding themselves well. However, Claire’s visit unravels the deep truth about the town that betrayed their popular citizen for money. Analyzing all the themes in Friedrich’s work, it is clear that they are all shaped by power, greed, and money. Therefore, power, greed, and money are the major factors that cause the predicaments of humanity.

How are class differences presented in Friedrich’s work? Are characters aware or unaware of the economic and social forces that affect their lives?

Class differences are presented in work in such a way that the poor are the subject of the rich. The difference in class is justified when Claire takes advantage of the town’s economic crisis and offers her support on condition that the town will take Ill’s life. The town was reluctant to take Claire’s offer but later decided to comply with what she wanted since they were in a really bad economic crisis. Therefore, they had to vote vehemently against Ill, who was later pronounced dead as a result of a heart attack, to cover up his murder. The town was able to grow its economy once again as the citizens enjoyed materialistic gain from Claire’s funding to the families. Claire boarded the train and left the town where the people of Guellen, “now identified as a chorus, celebrate their growing economy and materialistic gain” (Oxford Cambridge and RSA 4). The irony here is that people celebrated the revival of the town’s economy at the expense of Ill’s life.

Characters in the novel are not aware of the economic forces that affect their lives. For instance, when the doctor and the schoolmaster visited Claire, they were unaware of the ownership of town factories. They tried to strike a deal with Claire, who was to buy the factories, but to their surprise, they found out that Claire had already bought the factories. According to Claire, it was she who supervised the closure of all the factories in the town so that the people could suffer in poverty (Tiusanen 97). The doctor and the schoolmaster are two people among many characters who do not know the forces that affect their lives. Many did not know what was wrong with their economy. Perhaps they believed it was only a bad economic period, which happens sometimes. However, in the play, Claire is seen to be the mastermind of all the predicaments that befell the town of Guillen.

How do economic conditions determine the character’s lives?

Economic conditions have a direct impact on the lives of the characters in the play. Since there was an economic crisis in the town of Guillen, the characters became manipulative since they had no hope of reviving their economy without the help of Claire. Poverty made them a subject of Claire’s wish to avenge her anger against Ill, who abandoned her and married another woman. The economic condition also cost Ill his life. The people voted him to be responsible for the predicaments of the town, thus leaving him in the hands of the evil Claire, who gave directives for his murder.

On the other hand, citizens of Guellen lived a poor life as a result of their reluctance to take Ill’s life. However, once they agreed to go against their most popular person, they were able to revive their economy as well as improve their living standards (Tiusanen 103). Their living standard improvement is seen when people were asking for more expensive tobacco. When I also visited the mayor, he found him smoking an expensive brand of tobacco. He was also in new attires which unravel the bitter truth of manipulation.

What ideological values are explicit or implicit?

Anarchism and communism are the two major ideological values vivid in the play “The Visit”. However, these ideological values are implicit since they're not exercised with openness and honesty. Anarchism usually calls for voluntary and cooperative measures without any resort to force. However, in the play, people are subjected to choice whereby their well-being is determined by their willingness to betray one of their popular citizens. Therefore, despite their belief that they are independent in making decisions, they end up making a decision to get their economy and lives revived. They believed that they were a self-governed society before Claire’s visit. However, due to Claire’s economic power, she managed to influence their governance. All people, including the mayor, who was supposed to be the leader, took orders from Claire.

Communism is another ideological value which is implicit in the play “The Visit”. Before, Claire’s visit property was owned by the people, whereby people contributed and earned according to their hard work and determination. However, people later realize that Claire had bought all the properties, particularly the factories, and closed them deliberately to see the people suffer in hunger and poverty. Claire’s quest for revenge caused her to buy the factories, thus overruling people’s belief that they are a communist society. The implicit communism is justified when the doctor and the schoolmaster visit Claire and ask her to buy the town’s factories. However, to their surprise, they found out that Claire had already bought the factories and closed them in a drive to achieve her bid for revenge.

Does Friedrich” 's work challenge or affirm the social order it describes?

The work challenges the social order it describes. Although Friedrich does not show any form of regret among the citizens of Guillen, his work tries to show that people’s predicaments are not a closure but rather an invitation for them to question themselves. In the play, Claire ruins the town in her bid to avenge her anger. She knew the people were greedy and predisposed to bribe. Therefore, her wealth played a vital role in stripping their morality for materialistic gains. Ill’s death was also not a closure but rather an invitation for the people to question themselves. Even though Friedrich never condemned the immoral behavior in the play, people were supposed to question their self-consciousness. People believed that they were self-governed before Claire’s visit. However, their beliefs were wrong since, in the end, it is seen that Claire was responsible for the decision of their leaders, particularly the mayor, who ended up convicting Ill for the town’s suffering. Friedrich shows how an external influence can sometimes be detrimental to society. According to him, governing bodies should not be influenced by external forces since common people may end up suffering. Ill’s death justifies how influence from evil people may impact even the lives of citizens. Therefore, analyzing the novel critically, it is clear that Friedrich indirectly challenged the social order it describes.

Some people may challenge the Marxist analysis of Friedrich's work “The Visit” because he always believed drama is a platform for people to express a fantasy world. However, Marxist criticism is effective since Friedrich lived in a time when the world fell into conflict due to materialistic desires. World War II was one of the conflicts that affected countries from all around the globe as a result of economic conflicts.

Indeed, power, money, and greed are the root causes of human predicaments. Money corrupts even religious leaders. In the play, the mayor was influenced to convict Ill, who had done no offense, which would call for his execution. However, due to greed and desire to have materialistic gains, Ill ended up being killed. Currently, the world suffers the same fate where materialistic desires drive people. People are turned against each other without knowing that their funding agencies are after a resource that they see may be profitable to their organizations or countries. Some media agencies are then used to cover up the real cause of conflicts around the world after being given a lump-sum amount of money. Society is corrupt to the extent that people die in poverty while others have money reserves that can never be exhausted even to their tenth generation. Leaders on their side embezzle funds supposed to improve the lives of citizens without caring about the hardship citizens face to raise their country’s revenues. Therefore, money and economics may have a negative impact even on good people. It is high time that people start to serve with integrity and make decision-based on humanity rather than based on what they may gain for making a decision.

Works Cited

Bühler, Pierre. "Friedrich Dürrenmatt: A Swiss Author Reading and Using Kierkegaard." Volume 12, Tome I: Kierkegaard's Influence on Literature, Criticism and Art. Routledge, 2016. 65-82.

Oxford Cambridge and RSA. Drama and Theater. 2016.

Tiusanen, Timo. Durrenmatt: A Study in Plays, Prose, Theory. Princeton University Press, 2015.