Word: delphic
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Dates: during 1980-1980
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...aliveness that Dysart cannot bear, the fact that his worship of Equus gives meaning to his existence: "That boy has known a passion more ferocious than I have felt at any moment of my life...and I'm envious." Caught under Alan's spell, Dysart--who dreams of the Delphic oracle and eagles bearing prophecies--can think of nothing more monstrous than "taking away someone's worship." But, as a shrink, he is the self-proclaimed high priest of the God Normal. He must exorcise the boy's vital spirits, the phantasms of "insanity" that bring Alan a fulfillment that...
What follows is almost a rerun of Equus. Like the psychiatrist in Equus, who examined the deranged boy who blinded horses, Dr. Livingstone quizzes Agnes only to receive similar rebuffs and elusively Delphic answers. Like the psychiatrist in Equus, who was forced to question his reasoned image of civilization vs. the boy's irrational Dionysian passion, the psychiatrist in Agnes of God is forced to question her reliance on scientific knowledge vs. Agnes' beatific display of faith...