"The
important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for
existing.”
~Albert
Einstein
When
I first started reading this play, I had my suspicions that none of the
physicists were insane. I am not really sure why I thought this,
but throughout the story I knew they were mentally fine. With that being
said, I was very surprised by the ending. I had created my own alternate story
where I thought they were all three performing a scientific experiment by
killing the nurses, and I imagined them all three gathering their notes at
the end, forming a hypotheses, and proving some strange theory with their
actions and notes. I was very surprised when the two scientists revealed they
were spies. I expected them to shoot each other or be killed while kidnapping
Mobius.
As
I read about the two spies, I picked up on the metaphor of Newton representing
the western world, and Einstein representing Russia. They want Mobius for
different reasons, but both admit he would basically be imprisoned to study
science by their respective governments. Mobius just wants to study science,
and the paradox is he acts mad to protect himself from imprisonment, only to be
imprisoned by what I felt like resembled Germany. Fräulein Dr. Mathilde von
Zahnd reminded me of the Germans, with her armed guards in black uniform, and
the searchlight she had them turn on seemed like light Germans would shine on
prisoners trying to escape from a concentration camp.
· Human beings proceeding
by plan wish to reach a specific goal. They are most severely hit by accident
when through it they reach the opposite of their goal: the very thing they
feared, they sought to avoid (i.e. Oedipus).
I
thought it was ironic that the nurse would not let the investigator call
Einstein a murderer, but Dr. Zahnd did call Mobius a murderer. I also
recognized that the choices for music are important to the story, or they would not
have been named, but I am afraid my ignorance of music has left me wanting for
an explanation of how the musical pieces enhanced the audience’s
experience.
I
know this story is based on the idea of ethics, science, and government, and the responsibility of doing what is best overall. Finding the balance in a professional career will always be challenging,
but giving up on science over fear of the unknown seems mad to me.
I also had the same feeling when I started the play. I started getting suspicious when it was revealed that the doctor had deemed them stable enough to leave and left them alone with a nurse. Once would have been a mistake, twice, I was suspicious. Three times? I knew that something was up.
ReplyDeleteI also knew that something was going to happen when the 3 men revealed their dirty little secrets and settled in agreement. Not only does that never turn out well, but there was too much of the play left for that to be it. Also, I figured with it being a madhouse, surely there'd be some sort of bugging in the room.
I never thought about each spy as a representative of the western world, Russia, or Germany. It's a interesting concept. I wonder if there was some sort of conflict or race towards science at this time that inspired the play.
ReplyDeleteDanielle--I think the focus on science was a part of the aftermath of WWII. This was written in 1962, during the height of the Cold War. People were terrified of nuclear bombs because they already had confirmation of their destruction via the atom bomb being released in Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August of 1945, just a mere 22 years earlier. The tension with Russia was unbelievable for the United States in 1962. Science was definitely at the forefront. In May of 1961 in a speech to Congress, JFK announced the ambitious goal of safely setting an American man on the moon before the end of the decade. Many Americans laughed at him.
ReplyDelete