Reflective Statement

The Visit is a very interesting work, being a more modern play written in classical style. Through

the Interactive Oral discussion, I learned that The Visit reflects Greek Theatre. Freidrich Durrenmatt

actually intended for it to be a tragicomedy, both a tragedy and a comedy. Many of the characters also

parallel characters from Greek Theatre.

The Visit reflects elements of both Greek tragedy and Greek comedy. A typical Greek tragedy

follows a hero with a fatal flaw, hubris. The tragedy then would tell the story of the hero’s downfall

because of his hubris. Usually the hero is too arrogant and thinks he is better than the gods. The gods

then prove that he is not. As it was discussed, Ill paralleled with the hero, he has hubris. At the

beginning, he was successful and charmed Clara, but his flaw was his greediness when he left her,

betrayed her, and made the town banish her while he married off for money. I hadn’t seen this before

the discussion, but Clara parallels to a god, specifically the avenging goddess. She has unlimited power

and gets revenge on Ill for betraying her by getting the town to kill Ill. Furthermore, it was brought up

that her artificial limbs make her more of a surreal, immortal figure.

Though tragedy and comedy could be thought of as opposites, The Visit is a comedy as well as a tragedy.

Though they reflect heroes and gods, they are literally just common folk. A Greek comedy, as defined in

the discussion, usually follows everyday characters, often young lovers, and has a happy ending. Ill and

Clara fit these exact roles, and the ending is mostly tragic, but it can be argues that it is justified and

slightly happy. The Visit also contains humorous elements throughout the play.

Word count: 299

 Written Assignment

Theatre has been present in almost all cultures since the beginnings of civilization. Ancient

Greek theatre is a major influence on modern Western theatre, in fact, Greek theatre is often referred

to as classical theatre when talking about Western theatre. Elements and themes of Greek tragedy and

comedy can be found throughout modern plays. The Visit, published in 1956 is an exemplar of a modern

play, incorporating elements of both tragedy and comedy. The Visit has direct similarities to both classic

Greek tragedies and comedies. Classic tragedies usually served to teach a lesson and tell a fantastic

story, while the purpose of comedies was to tell an interesting worldly story. Tragedies would feature

heroes and gods while comedies usually featured common folk. The Visit is both worldly and fantastic;

Durrenmatt exhibits this through the characters, their dialogue, and their reactions to the situations.

Friedrich Durrenmatt creates characters with juxtaposing comedic and tragic elements in his play The

Visit to create depth and realism from the characters, helping the reader understand the moral and its

reality and importance.

The story and plot development of The Visit parallels that of a Greek tragedy, shown through

the two main characters, as a Greek tragedy only had 2-3 speaking actors. The Greek tragedies served to

teach morals through the retelling of mythology. The tragedies focus around the story of a Greek hero

suffering from hubris, having exaggerated and foolish pride. The conflict of the tragedy, therefore,

would arise because of hero’s hubris, and a god would punish the hero and cause his downfall. Similarly,

in The Visit, Ill had made a mistake because of his reckless, egocentric youthfulness. “[BUTLER]…Claire

Zachanassian, Clara Wascher at the time, charged you with being the father of her child/ BUTLER (cont.)

You denied paternity, Mr. Ill” (Durrenmatt 32). Ill was young and selfish, characteristics of hubris, and

now his mistake has caught up to him, which becomes the conflict and the focus of the plot as Claire

visits Gullen and seeks justice against Ill, putting her in the role of the god. Claire Zachanassian is

presently very rich and powerful. She reveals that she owns all of the businesses in Gullen and she was
the one who ran them into bankruptcy. “CLAIRE ZACHANASSIAN I own those too. The factories,

Puckenried Valley, Petersen’s barn, the town, street by street, house by house. I had my agents buy the

whole mess and shut every business down” (71). She seems to have total power and everyone around

her bends to her will, or rather, to her wealth. Furthermore, she is seemingly indestructible. “CLAIRE

ZACHANASSIAN Almost. From a plane crash in Afghanistan. I was the only one who crawled out of the

wreckage. I’m indestructible” (26). Claire is depicted as all powerful, indestructible, god-like. With this

power, she offers Gullen one billion dollars for the death of Ill. The two main characters and the high-

stakes conflict between them parallels a Greek tragedy, using a larger-than-life story as a hyperbole to

teach a moral.

In addition to paralleling Greek tragedy, The Visit also parallels Greek comedy. The comedic

elements are very present and vital throughout the play, and they add the extra depth and roundness to

the characters. The characters of a Greek comedy are many insignificant common folk, creating a cast of

several characters and a chorus. The Visit follows this structure, having multiple characters – Ill, Claire,

Mayor, Teacher, and other even more minor characters – and a chorus. Even though the main

characters seem very significant within their own story, the reality of it is that the Ill and Claire are,

relative to the world, quite insignificant. Claire Zachanassian, though godlike to Gullen, is still vulnerable,

shown by her emotional vulnerability. “CLAIRE ZACHANASSIAN I loved you. You betrayed me. But the

dream of life, of love, of trust – this dream that was a reality once – I haven’t forgotten that” (98). Claire

still loves Ill, which is another characteristic of a Greek comedy, as these plays typically focus around

lovers and a conflict that is keeping them apart. In the case of The Visit, they were separated because of

each other. Claire has come back to resolve this, in her own way. “But the dream of life, of love, of trust

– this dream that was a reality once – I haven’t forgotten that. I want to rebuild it with my billions, I will

change the past, by destroying you” (98). By killing Ill, she will bring their relationship full circle, and end

the guilt, frustrations, and anger associated with the conflict of the relationship. In a way, the resolution
is a happy ending, characteristic of a Greek comedy. Claire and Ill will be together again at last, and Ill

begins to understand and accept his death. “ILL Thank you for the wreaths…They’ll look good on the

coffin in the Golden Apostle. Distinguished. /CLAIRE ZACHANASSIAN I will take you to Capri in your

coffin. I built a mausoleum in the garden of my palazzo…There you will remain. With me” (99). Soon

after, the town kills Ill and the murder is covered up from the press, insignificant, forgotten. The town is

happy with their money, Claire has served justice, and Ill accepted his death. The comedic side of The

Visit leaves the audience with a realistic look at the situation and the moral, and a content ending.

Throughout the book, Friedrich Durrenmatt draws the audience’s attention to one moral

question: Can justice be bought? Commonly, Greek tragedies also had morals attached to the story,

usually the teaching of a moral lesson. The fantastical nature of the tragedy’s story would be a

hyperbole to accentuate the wrongdoings and exaggerate the consequences. The hero would often be

eternally punished, a punishment worse than death. In addition, fantasy stories are more interesting

and attention-grabbing, only emphasizing the importance of the moral lesson. The Visit is also

hyperbolic, in how poor Gullen is and how rich Claire is. As mentioned by the policeman regarding the

sum of money on Ill’s head, “Now, this proposal cannot be meant seriously, because the price of one

billion is just too extreme, you have to admit that yourself. For something like this, people offer a

thousand, maybe two thousand…” (46). However, unlike Greek tragedies, the author is not teaching a

moral lesson, but Durrenmatt is establishing a moral question. The comedic elements constantly remind

the audience of this question, and how real it is. By creating real characters and showing their logic,

Durrenmatt displays both sides of the question. At one point, the Mayor tries to convince Ill that Ill’s

death would be for the better. “[MAYOR]…But wouldn’t it be your duty, as a man of honor, to face the

facts and put an end to your life? If only for the sake of the community, out of love for your hometown.

You’re well aware of our wretched poverty, the misery, the hungry children…” (89). The Mayor admits

that Ill did commit a cruel act to Claire, and that justice has not been done, and furthermore, that it
would help the struggling town immensely. Instead of looking at the punishment as something

supernatural and inevitable, the comedic side shapes it into a weighty decision, forcing the audience to

ponder the moral question and what is right and wrong. Overall, the moral question is set up by the

Greek tragic structure but the Greek comedic elements are vital to displaying the reality of the question

to the audience and effectively making them consider the morals.

In The Visit by Friedrich Durrenmatt, the main characters have similarities to both tragic and

comedic characters from classic Greek theatre, making characters with more depth and meaning, and

also juxtaposing both the relative significance and worldly insignificance of the situation to the audience.

From the Gulleners’ point of view, Ill and Clara are hero and goddess pitted against each other, with the

fate of their world (Gullen) in the middle of the conflict. But in reality, Ill and Clara are just 2 lovers in a

complicated situation. These two juxtaposing aspects, tragic and comedic, guide the audience to realize

the impending moral question, its realism, its importance, and consequently making them evaluate the

question. Using both dramatic and comedic elements, whether in a classic sense or not, is very popular

in modern literature. One well known example is that of children’s fairy tales, which use mythical

elements and comedy to teach morals. Modern theatre is solely based off of Greek tragedy and comedy,

though it has evolved to, similar to The Visit, contain elements of both, to enhance storytelling and

emotional response from the audience.

Word Count: 1443

 Works Cited

Durrenmatt, Friedrick. The Visit. Trans. Joel Agee. New York: Grove, 2006. Print.