Death And The Maiden - Past Changes Future

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The Pasts Destruction of the Future It has been said that “the past is a bridge to the future.” Within the light of this play I do agree with this statement because Ariel Dorfman shows the consequences and the hardships his protagonist, Paulina Salas, faces due to her brutal kidnapping and the torturous circumstances she was forced to withstand. Because of the treatment she received, the restricted life she lived after the event haunted her forcing her to with restraints. Her emotional scars haunt her with her daily tasks and because of this, the past determines her future. Through her actions, the audience sees how she was affected by the torturous violation of her humanity and this causing her to be trapped in her past as she described her damage as “beyond repair”, or “irreparable” (1.3.9). Paulina places her mind in a time warp of the past therefore, making it difficult for her to entirely move on. For the other characters, Gerado Salas and Doctor Roberto Miranda their past did not change their hope for their future, as they never had a major psychological setback making them a prisoner in their own world. Throughout the play we see Paulina’s main aim from Doctor Miranda is repentance, once attaining this ,she hopes to feel free from her past because of her assurance that Doctor Miranda regrets his actions. As she hopes for closure, she seeks to escape the vacuum of her scarred world, her “years living in terror” 2.1.11) and to repair the haunting scars she received making it difficult to cross the bridge to her future. Being reminded daily of her physical disabilities as a woman (such as being unable to orgasm or bear children) may make her feel sub-human and causes her pain by bringing back the memory of the experiences she faced: “I could feel the possibility of an orgasm building, the very idea of currents going through my body would remind me and then – I

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