The Man Who Ate a Goose and 1984: A Critical Study of Two Plays on Totalitarian Practices (Published)
This paper considers the investigation of totalitarian practices dealt with in two contemporary plays, The Man Who Ate a Goose (1985) and 1984 (2013). Written and staged in two different cultures, both plays present ongoing strategies and commands imposed on people depriving them of privacy and free will. Whatever the span of time between the two plays, characters depicted seem to share common features. This study seeks to explore how real and good are those characters in their strife to conform to the despotic tyranny. Bewildered by the question of the right action, both Saad and Winston learn to accommodate with the obligatory illogical commands. If not acquitted by the law, the individual is led into inconsistency of moral conduct. Restrictions on dream and thought are rendered through detention and torture. Goerge Orwell’s 1984 seems to open new paths for dramatists and theatre practitioners in the world then and now.
Keywords: Free Will, Morality, Privacy, Torture, Totalitarianism