The Visitor (play)
The Visitor is a 1993 play written by French-Belgian author Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt, first published in France.
The play is set in Vienna in 1938, when Nazis were beginning to take control of the city (Anschluss).
As a writer, he says his goal is to present and explore philosophical ideas that are simple enough for everyone to understand,[1] and this can easily be seen in The Visitor, as well as in other works by the author.
Main themes in this play are the human condition and defects, the belief (or disbelief) in God, the results of war, and Nazism.
Schmitt portrays Sigmund Freud, the Twentieth century psychoanalyst, living in Vienna before World War I.
First, the question of living Vienna or not: if he leaves, he ensures safety for him and his family but leaves his fellowmen and the city that watched him grow behind; if he stays, he puts him and his family in danger, but he shows solidarity to the victims and he stays with the city he loves.
Then, The Visitor raises another question: is he really God or is he merely a mythomaniac with astounding persuasion powers.
Freud desperately wants to believe The Visitor is God, but his reason tells him not to.
Her age is never explicitly revealed on the play, but despite being an adult Freud treats her as a little child.
She shows great character strength when she stands up to the Gestapo officer and psychoanalyzes him to account for his disrespectful behavior toward Jews.
She is the voice of reason in her father's life, constantly reminding him to sign the paper that will enable them to leave Vienna and escape the Nazi regime.
He is the one that takes Anna for questioning after she challenges his entire persona and the real reasons why he finds pleasure in humiliating Jews.
But he flees when Freud, with to the help of The Visitor, notices the great resemblance in his uncle Simon's nose, who was a rabbi, and the officer's.
Dressed as an opera Dandy, he invades Freud's apartment and refuses to tell him who he is, claiming he would not believe it.
In order to do so, he must sign a paper stating he has been treated exceptionally by the Nazi regime.
The Visitor calms him down and tells him about his future (the publication of Moses and monotheism, his life in Paris and in London, etc.).
Freud does not know what to do, he wants Anna back, but the money mentioned in his will is what he has saved for all his children.
The Visitor says Walter Oberseit, the runaway, lived for years in a cave in isolation.
When he was finally able to speak, he would tell impossible stories and pretend to be a great figure in history.
Freud is somewhat apologetic but soon changes to a reassuring tone and tells The Visitor to return to the asylum for tonight and he promises he will treat him tomorrow.
She reassures him that she is fine and says that when she was questioned, she denied that the International Association of psychoanalysis had political interests.
Freud demands an explanation from The Visitor, but he seems as confused as him and denies knowing Anna.
Freud desperately wants a definitive answer and tells him not to go out through the window but to disappear in front of his eyes.
Eric Emmanuel Schmitt received inspiration from this play one day after listening to more bad news on the radio.
[4] From his account, he was feeling like Freud (one of the main characters of the play), wondering why God would allow such things to occur.
When Schmitt finished writing the play, he read it to three people, and one of them discouraged him from publishing it.
The play also refers to something even The Visitor, who spoke as if he were God, considered ultimately beautiful: Mozart's music.
[4] Many important newspapers in France and elsewhere qualified the piece as brilliant, intelligent, captivating, and much more.
Oftentimes, the works by Schmitt do not receive great attention from elite scholars.
[4] The play has also been translated into several languages, including English, Catalan, German, Greek, Italian and Polish.
