Equus Study Guide & Notes

Equus Plot Summary

Preview of Equus Summary:

Act I

The play opens on two scenes: Alan Strang fondles the head of a horse, who in turn nuzzles the boy's neck; subsequently, Dr. Martin Dysart addresses a lecture audience about the case of Alan Strang, a troubled boy of seventeen who blinded six horses. Dysart begins his narrative with the visit by his friend Hesther Salomon, a magistrate who managed to persuade the court to put Alan in a psychiatric hospital rather than in prison. As the action on the stage enacts this recollection, Salomon tells the doctor that she feels something very special about the boy. Dysart agrees to see Alan, although he is already overworked.

In their first session, Alan is evasive, singing advertising jingles in response to Dysart's ques-tions. Alan is clearly startled when the psychiatrist coolly responds to the jingles as if Alan were speaking normally. Upon conclusion of the meeting, the boy is reluctant...
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