The plot of Death and the Maiden is not particularly pleasant; a rape and torture of an individual is something that no one wants to witness or hear about, let alone that victim seeking “justice” on her perpetrator. Because of this controversial and atrocious storyline, the audience is already engaged in an uneasy subject, which

Death and the Maiden forces the audience to analyze their beliefs about true justice and how society should be configured, leaving them anxious and uneasy; this is due to their constant relation to the characters, and witnessing an ending that does not provide adequate conclusions to satisfy their uncertainty. The writer clearly wrote this play in an effort to have each individual walk out of the theatre questioning his own morals. He also toyed with their emotions throughout the play, and its ups and down, and provided a political setting that instigated a feeling of resentment, antagonism and bitterness towards the society that the characters lived in. Ariel Dorfman succeeded in writing an interesting, indulging and suspenseful play on the outside, while making the audience analyze themselves on the inside.

cannot do anything but make them feel uncomfortable. As the suffering that Paulina endured is depicted to the audience, they automatically imagine themselves in the same situation, wondering how they would deal with it. The audience always relates themselves to the characters: that is just how humans react to theatre. So if the audience is sharing the same pain as Paulina, they are

Some topics in this essay:
Death Maiden, Ariel Dorfman, Scene Line, Commission Gerardo, death maiden, ariel dorfman, question own, moral emotional political, question own beliefs, ariel dorfman leaves, dorfman leaves, political setting, victim seeking, own beliefs, audience analyze, emotions throughout, justice society,