論彼得‧薛佛《戀馬狂》中焦慮之意義

Abstract

本論文以存在主義心理學來檢視彼得薛佛《戀馬狂》中兩位主角，病人艾倫‧斯壯與心理醫生馬汀‧戴瑟的內在衝突。本劇所描繪的社會建構了許多教條式的價值並將其灌輸給人們，而這些內化了的社會價值致使人們與內在自我產生衝突，做出違背自己本性的行為並表現出行為與信念上之差異。本劇暗示了，盲目地接受社會價值將使人面臨「焦慮」以及可能隨之而來的認同危機。許多人通常認為「焦慮」對人類之健全有負面影響，然而，「焦慮」在彼得‧薛佛的《戀馬狂》中是個人掙扎實現其理想自我的隱喻。雖然兩位主角內化社會價值並因此有了不好的自我形象，本論文認為，他們所經歷的治療過程協助他們處理焦慮，檢視自身信念並且獲得心靈成長，原諒他者，接受自己。

The present thesis examines the inner conflict of the protagonists in Peter Shaffer’s Equus, the patient Alan Strang and the psychiatrist Martin Dysart, from the perspective of\nexistential psychology. The play depicts a society that constructs many dogmatic values and instils them within people for the sustainability of the community, and these internalized social values often lead people to come into conflict with their own inner self, acting against their nature and displaying a discrepancy between actions and beliefs. The play implies that accepting social values blindly will result in man’s "anxiety" and identity crisis that may come afterwards. “Anxiety” is normally considered by many to influence man’s well-being in a negative way; however, “anxiety” for Shaffer in this play is a metaphor of an individual’s struggle to fulfill the ideal self. Although Alan and Dysart internalize social values and thus have a poor self-image, I argue that the therapy they go through help them cope with anxiety, examining their own beliefs and achieving spiritual growth through showing self-acceptance and forgiveness of others.