In the play “Equus,” written by Peter Shaffer, a boy named Alan creates his own god and worships him passionately. Dysart, a psychiatrist who lives a life without cult and commitment, remains fascinated and envious of Alan. Living through Alan's treatment, Dysart realizes that he is capable of having passion and commitment in his life. Peter Shaffer is able to gradually show Dysart's awakening throughout the play with a sense of excitement, suspense and climax through Alan Strang's treatment. Dysart is a psychiatrist tired of his desolate life; he is also dissatisfied with his occupation. It questions the value of spending every day to bring the countless number of troubled young people back to a so-called normal life because after treatment, when they return to a normal life, their life is devoid of any commitment or adoration. After receiving Alan Strang's case, Dysart realizes that it is one of the strangest cases he has ever dealt with. At the beginning of treatment with Alan it was difficult to get Alan to talk about anything, Alan responded mockingly with songs, however Dysart convinces Alan to talk when he introduces a question game. In this game both ask themselves questions that need to be answered wholeheartedly. After playing the game, Dysart gains knowledge of Alan's family background. He learns that Alan grows up with conflicts with religion in his family, because his mother is an ardent Christian while his father is an atheist. His mother read the Bible to him every day and from these daily readings Alan became more interested in the more violent aspects. Frank Strang Alan's father was concerned about this and destroyed a picture of the crucifixion which Alan later replaced with......half of the paper......and portrays Alan acting out during the sessions, showing suspense which when Dysart begins to realize that he has no passion, nothing to adore in life, he does not want to treat Alan completely, Shaffer also uses a sense of rebellion in Alan to create a greater sense of suspense. To create a sense of climax, Shaffer prolongs the reveal of why and what really happened the night of Alan's crime. At the beginning of the play Dysart was a psychiatrist who was not only dissatisfied with his home life, but also with his work life, and through the process of treating his patients Alan Strang was able to come to the realization behind his barren life, and how his life was devoid of passion and adoration. Through Alan he was able to experience and feel the passion and adoration he so desperately wants in life. Works Cited Shaffer, Peter. Equus. New York: Scribner, 2005. Print