In Peter Schaffer's "Equus," things get Jungian almost immdediately. In act 5, Dr. Dysart delivers a monologue describing a dream where he is the chief priest in a ritual sacrifice of 500 children. In it, he is wearing a Mycenaean mask, as are the other priests. Dysart is becoming nauseous, which is a problem, as he perceives that he will be the next sacrifice if his cohorts catch on to his discomfiture. Underneath his mask, Dysart explains, he is going green (and not in the recyclical sense). Unfortunately for Dysart, the mask begins to slide down, revealing his verdant sweat; blood lust swims in the others' eyes, and "they tear the knife out of [his] hand ... and [he wakes] up" (18).Surely, Freud would have had much to say about this nightmare, but I think that Jung would have had his own ideas about Schaffer's initial dream scene. In 1917, Jung posited the existence of two inner principles: the anima and the animus. The anima is the feminine principle (as seen in males) and the animus in the masculine principle (as seen in females). Both of these are opposed to the persona, which is the outer "personality," adopted, necessarily, for survival in society; this persona is likened to a mask.
The dream of Dysart seems to align perfectly with this idea; if his persona falls away, there will be dire consequences. If his anima is revealed, his masculinity will be questioned (he is the patriarchal figure of the dream) and Dysart says that if the others even glimpse what is behind the mask, he will be next on the stone. This dream reifies Jung's assertion that the persona is critical to survival, and also illuminates the dangerous nature of the anima.
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