Seeing and Unseeing in a Gaze Relentless: A Critical Reading of The Public Eye by Peter Shaffer

Volume 2 Issue 2 Monsoon Edition 2022

Abstract

Aim: The aim of the paper is to bring to light the quintessence of Peter Shaffer’s dramatic art that delves into a deeper engagement with life and one that ponders over the immediacy of an undying need to revisit the body of work that Peter Shaffer is endowed with.Methodology and Approach: The paper in its attempt tries to retrieve the quintessence of the modern English play and positions its primacy in the contemporary questions of intellectual enquiry. The paper is exploratory and it’s based on fresh interpretation of the play. Peter Shaffer’s The Public Eye is a play that brings to light a writer’s talent exuded in the art of performance as its vital exemplar.Outcome: The paper in its desired outcome is also an attempt to look into the fine theatrical skills of the playwright advancing a showcasing of novel ideas as a significant merit of Shaffer’s oeuvre. As a play, The Public Eye is enshrined in the uniqueness of its title where the domain of the plot interestingly draws forth complexities of a private space brought to light in the conflict of spousal discord and its subsequent tensions arising out of misjudged apprehensions that seek a “public eye” for an immediate remedy.Conclusion and Suggestions: The dysfunctional conjugal relationship of Charles Sidley and Belinda marks the ideal dramatic question for Peter Shaffer and is also one of the prominent thematic aspects that the play and subsequently the paper intends to take into account. A sense of wonderment that the stage provides in its effort to reflect upon the varied facets of human existence is a key touchstone of the stage space.