The uses of sight in The Visit Kaylan C. Anderson 11th Grade

In The Visit, by Friedrich Dürrenmatt, the fictional town of Güllen is turned on its head by the proposal of immense wealth from benefactress Claire Zachanassian, who returns to her hometown for a visit. However, in order to receive this money, the citizens must murder one of their own, a man named Alfred Ill. While the citizens first decide not to break their moral codes by committing a murder, they all slowly become metaphorically “blind” to a harsh reality: money means more to them than high morality. While the citizens try to justify their actions by dubbing Ill as a twisted man for what he did to Claire when they were young, what he did in his past does not mean he deserves to be murdered, which the citizens of Güllen do not comprehend. The uses of sight throughout the drama show the citizens’ eventual downward spiral into greed and bloodlust. In The Visit, by Friedrich Dürrenmatt, the lack of physical and metaphorical sight throughout the town of Güllen foreshadows Alfred Ill’s murder, and symbolizes the town’s ability to become blind to the sin they have committed.

Throughout the entirety of the drama, Dürrenmatt uses sight to foreshadow aspects of Ill’s murder before they happen. The clearest example of Ill’s death...