Essay Questions

What was Dylan Thomas' inspiration for the play?

Thomas was very interested in a murder case that had occurred in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1828. Two men committed sixteen murders in the space of just ten months, specifically so that they could sell the bodies to Dr Robert Knox, and esteemed anatomist, for dissection during his lectures. In the 1800s there was a huge gap between the supply of available cadavers for medical research and the demand for them, especially as the medical research field was expanding dramatically during that time. Scottish law, which was very Puritanical, stated that only the bodies of those who had died in prison, committed suicide or were orphans could be used as medical cadavers, and consequently there was an uptick in the incidence of grave robbing to provide more of a supply.

Burke and Hare decided to sell the body of Hare's one-time lodger, who passed away from natural causes. This gave them the idea for their murder spree. They are the real-life characters upon which the play's characters Brook and Fallon are based.

Dr Rock, Thomas' medical protagonist, is a thinly veiled version of Dr Knox. Both men are anatomists, both popular lecturers and both obsessed with their research to such an extent that the line between ethical and unethical begins to blur for them. They are both also considered highly culpable in the crimes committed although they had no direct input or involvement with them.

The play is considered to be Gothic Horror. What does this mean and why is it not classified as Gothic Fiction?

The play cannot really be considered a fiction at all, because it is based so blatantly upon people and events that happened in real life. Despite this, the play is considered a gothic work, and it is generally classified as Gothic Horror. This means that it is a work of theater that comprises both horror and Gothic elements. Gothic Horror differs from the more traditional Horror genre in that it is not unpleasant or terrifying to watch it, and one is not left emotionally scarred or excessively nervous and afraid after watching the play because the characters and the events that happen are actually somewhat romanticized.

This is particularly true of the character of Dr Rock; he is a physician who has let his love of the anatomical dissection lecture circuit overwhelm his sense of what is ethical. He has looked the other way whilst people are murdered to provide him with cadavers, and he has only addressed this when his own lover's life is threatened. This is not a glowing character reference, yet the play romanticizes Rock as the determined doctor who refuses to let red tape stand in the way of progress, and who goes the extra mile to protect the woman he loves. In this way, he is seen as a romantic hero, rather than as the third party involved in a series of grizzly and mercenary murders.