Death and the Maiden

## Discussion Questions: *Death and the Maiden* by Ariel Dorfman Consider the following questions as you discuss *Death and the Maiden*. Be ready to back up your responses with evidence from the text. 1. **Justice vs. Revenge:** Paulina takes matters into her own hands when she believes she has found her torturer. How does the play differentiate — or blur the line — between justice and revenge? Can Paulina's actions ever truly be seen as "just"? 2. **Memory and Truth:** The play questions whether memory alone can serve as a reliable source of truth. How does Dorfman use the uncertainty surrounding Paulina's identification of Roberto Miranda to delve into the nature of trauma and recollection? 3. **Power and Gender:** How does the power dynamic among Paulina, Gerardo, and Roberto evolve throughout the play? In what ways does the play shed light on gender, vulnerability, and control? 4. **Silence and Complicity:** Gerardo is a human rights lawyer, yet he struggles to fully believe or support his wife. What does his ambivalence reveal about the role of silence and complicity in societies healing from political violence? 5. **The Title's Symbolism:** The play takes its name from Schubert's string quartet *Death and the Maiden*. How does this musical motif function symbolically throughout the drama? What does it signify for Paulina, and how does it relate to the play's themes of suffering and beauty? 6. **Transitional Justice:** The play is set in an unnamed country emerging from a dictatorship. How does Dorfman utilize this ambiguous setting to comment on the broader challenges of transitional justice and national reconciliation?

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## Discussion Questions: *Death and the Maiden* by Ariel Dorfman Engage with these open-ended questions in small groups or as a full class. Support your responses with evidence from the text. 1. **Justice vs. Revenge:** Paulina takes matters into her own hands when she suspects Roberto Miranda is the doctor who tortured her. How does the play draw the line between justice and revenge, or does it blur that line? Can justice truly exist without revenge in a post-dictatorship society? 2. **Truth and Uncertainty:** The audience never sees clear proof of Roberto's guilt or innocence. How does Dorfman use this ambiguity to reflect on the nature of truth in transitional justice processes? What are the consequences of a justice system based on uncertain testimonies? 3. **Power and Gender:** How does the play examine the changing power dynamics among Paulina, Gerardo, and Roberto? In what ways does Paulina's act of capturing Roberto reclaim or complicate her sense of agency as a woman and a survivor? 4. **Silence and Voice:** Paulina has been silenced for years regarding her trauma. What does the play suggest about the personal and political costs of enforced silence? How does her eventual confrontation serve as both a personal and symbolic act? 5. **The Title's Symbolism:** The play is titled after Schubert's *Death and the Maiden* string quartet. How does this music serve as a symbol throughout the play? What does it reveal about memory, trauma, and the lingering effects of the past? 6. **Complicity and Compromise:** Gerardo is appointed to a truth commission tasked with investigating past atrocities, yet he encourages Paulina to let Roberto go. To what extent is Gerardo complicit in silencing victims? What does his character reveal about the moral compromises involved in political reconciliation?

ap_lit · ib_lang_lit · aqa · edexcel · common_core