Summary of Death and the Maiden Book Written by Dorfman Free Essay Example, 1250 words

Paulina must go through a process of rebellion that frees self-interest and philosophizing from her character before he is able to actually act out and carry out her revenge. This process takes up a lot of the play so that by the end, the viewer is more concerned with Pauline s self-interest and indecision than they are with the plot of the play, which is being delayed by her failure to simply kill the doctor without having the showy trial. She makes some progress in that she is unable to question the fact that the doctor raped her, but this does not mean that she is willing or ready to act. There are also gender issues that are at work in Paulina s revenge and trial of the doctor. Women often participate in revolutions, but they seldom bear the fruits of such equality afterwards. Political awareness and advancement like Paulina s, for a woman, was a mixed advancement in many cases, because often when the troops came home, the working women were expected to abandon their roles in the revolution and go back to being a woman in society. Although women were taking more jobs than ever in the 20th century worldwide, gender segregation remained a major issue in South and Latin America, where most countries have strong patriarchal cultures. Income disparities between women and men working the same job continued as proof of continuing sex discrimination, even though women became more respected because of what they had achieved during various revolutions. Dr Miranda often shows more direct action than Paulina when he is being put to the show trial, and when he realizes that she represents a danger. When revenge does come, it comes too late, and tragedy ensues. Paulina has spent most of the play deliberating in the show trial about her revenge on the doctor so that in the end, the action appears less important than the deliberation, and the play s viewer or reader is left with the mystery. This is a direct challenge to the cultural values of the play s contempo rary audience, who were taught to respect knowledge and the method of the linear narrative with a clear ending. We will write a custom essay sample on Summary of Death and the Maiden Book Written by Dorfman or any topic specifically for you Only $17.96 $11.86/pageorder now