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영어

Peter Shaffer is a playwright who tried to succeed realistic psychology traditions and a writer for the stage who combines verbal articulateness with exceptional theatrical inventiveness. And he intended to realize a total theatre through various dramatic techniques. Shaffer built drama on profound human issues. Especially, the major subject of his plays is the conflict between the protagonists and antagonists. He has always developed an established social system, religious factor, and primitive ego. In this study, I have studied private and public ego in his work, Equus which was worthy of notice and aroused impressive sympathy from not only our country but also all over the world. Originally, Equus is a symbol of a horse in Latin but has many other meanings in this play. The meanings include: god likeness, the bondage of destiny, cruel realities of life, and primitive ego. Dysart’s the protagonist and stands for socialized ideas, Alan had grown up with a very complex mental condition taught by his mother. His father, who was a stick socialist, considered religious things to be superstitions so that Alan conflicts about Equus, a Horse-God. In addition, Dysart is a symbol of mental conflict of modern man. He is suffering sorrow of life and his alter ego about barren and meaningless life and he comes to know the fact while he cures Alan. But Dysart cured Alan and returned him to the Normal world with the conclusion of human combination. Shaffer gave us a message that not only the id world that is passion and primitive ideas, but also the superego world that is moral and physical health, is very important in our present time.