The Performance examines the victim- perpetrator relationship as it is
formed between the guard and the prisoner and in “The Unburied Dead” by
Jean-Paul Sartre. This performance is a description of the continuous
attempts of the person to regain his authenticity and, as a result, his
freedom, through a relationship with the “other” which is based on
dominance. What is hidden behind the sadomasochistic character of such a
relationship? What is the role of violence, mimicry and dependence? In
the same manner, another question is asked: is it possible that this
relationship, which in the beginning is presented as antithetical,
contains elements that can lead to identification. If such elements
exist, people can surpass the conditions that support dominance of one
over the other, and reach reconciliation. In order to exist without
hating each other, one has to communicate with the others, knowing that
existence is an impermanent state and that always changes.
According
to the dominant view in the Western World, the perpetrator is
interpreted and presented as the one who executes the sacrifice, the one
who has the power and is in opposition to the victim, the person he has
power over. The victim is usually subjected to violence, physical or
psychological. On a first level, the two roles seem to begin from two
different stances and views and the persons have to adopt different
strategies that correspond to the expectations of each part. Power
characterizes the perpetrator while weakness is the characteristic of
the victim, the one sacrificed. The two roles are interpreted in a
“surrealistic way” and have a common beginning and goal, which is none
other than the search for the authentic self. Through it the person can
gain freedom. However finding authenticity is for Sartre an endeavour
that cannot be successful, a utopia. This search is initiated by man’s
need to identify with God. There is no way that man can be an original
being because simply he is not God.
