The Visit

The Visit is the title of various English translations of Friedrich Dürrenmatt's play Der Besuch der alten Dame (literally, "The Visit of the Old Lady"). It is probably the most well-known of his work, at least in the English-speaking world. The play deals with the themes of punishment, greed, revenge, and moral strength.

Plot summary

The play centers around the fictional European town of Güllen, which was once a vibrant center of culture but has in the past few decades decayed into near-bankruptcy. When the play opens, the town is preparing a celebration of the arrival of Claire Zachanassian, a former resident who had since attained a great fortune and is coming back to visit. She arrives with her fiancé (throughout the play, she has several husbands, and it is mentioned repeatedly that she has had many more), and after some general festivities on the part of the townspeople she announces the true reason she has visited: when she was young she was impregnated by her lover Alfred Ill, who, at the paternity suit, denied the charges and bribed two drunks to testify that they were the fathers, and she was shamed out of the town. Now that she has become rich, she will give the town one billion in currency if they kill Alfred Ill. The exact currency is not specified so as to keep the town as an anonymous location in Europe that is detached from the outside world. The townspeople unanimously refuse to do so — but soon they start to buy things on credit, expensive things, even from Ill's own store. Ill notices this and becomes troubled. The townspeople's rhetoric of support behind Ill slowly but surely changes to flat-out outrage at his actions in his youth. Ill sees it all coming and accepts his eventual death, which is brought on by the crowd en masse. The mayor receives the check for the billion. The dark tone suddenly gives way to a prosperous, cheerful ending on behalf of the townspeople, which underscores the main themes of the play.

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The play is written in a kind of resigned, slow manner that reflects the state of the town after their gradual ruin (which is revealed around the middle of the play to have been intentionally brought on by Zachanassian). There is a lot of potential in the play for varying interpretations, both in meaning and in production. It remains, nearly fifty years after its writing, a mainstay of Western theater.

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