Greek Tragedy
The author appended a subtitle to the edition of the play intended for publication: “Notes Toward a Definition of Tragedy.” The idea throughout is that the love that dare not speak its name—whether of one man toward another man or any human toward an animal—is invested with tragic implications. Imagery is obliquely to underline this thematic approach toward the play being viewed as tragedy. One of the most notable is during the following exchange:
Ross: “I heard a kind of…rushing sound, like a…wooooosh!, or…wings, or something.”
Martin: “It’s probably the Eumenides.”
Ross: “More like the dishwasher. There; it stopped.”
Martin: “Then it probably wasn’t the Eumenides: they don’t stop.”
“The Eumenides” is a reference to mythological figures know as the Furies who are the relentless in their doling out of vengeance in which their victims suffer a horrific demise accompanies by overpowering gilt and remorse. The reference is used as imagery which foreshadows the conclusion of the play.
Sylvia: “The” Goat
The title of the play refers not just to a goat by name, but specifically as the goat. This is not just any goat. This is a specific goat. A goat named Sylvia. It is this specificity which really drives the wife over the edge because it becomes impossible to ignore that her husband is not just messing around with a paraphilia called bestiality. Sylvia is a genuine rival, as real as if she were a teenage beauty queen name Sylvia. She is not merely “a’ goat. She is…Sylvia.
The Real Taboo
Martin is in love with a goat and to physically express that love he is having intercourse. This is, of course, well beyond the pale of most human beings; it is in some ways the ultimate taboo. But taboos are often considered ultimate out of context. Yes, within context bestiality still remains pretty taboo. But the story is not really about that taboo, but another one. That other taboo—the real subject of the story—is foreshadowed in the imagery that Martin uses to describe his son Billy:
“Real cute kid, Billy, bright as you’d ever want, gay as the nineties.”
The Pritzker Prize
Martin, the protagonist, is at the peak of his career. At age 50, he has just become the youngest person to ever win the most prestigious award in the field of architecture, the Pritzker Prize. Ross informs the audience through his TV interview production with Martin that it is what the Nobel Prize would if those awards gave out a prize for architecture. This imagery by itself would be extremely important, but it is even more so because the Pritzker Prize is not something made up by the playwright. It actually exists: previous winners have included such legendary architectural icons as I.M. Pei and Frank Gehry. The use of an actual award can be considered imagery because Martin’s winning of it situates him as a serious man who is both an artist and a master craftsman. He is not just some crazed wingnut who has fallen in love with a goat; he is man among men.
