The narrator as a demythologizer: Peter Shaffer’s The Royal Hunt of the Sun

Abstract

This paper posits that Martin Ruiz, the narrator of Peter Shaffer’s drama The Royal Hunt of the Sun , serves as a catalyst for demythologization. The paper first offers a brief account of the concept of demythologization, coined by German philosopher Rudolf Bultmann, and heavily influenced by the writings of fellow German philosopher Martin Heidegger. Bultmann’s two suggested phases of demythologization, namely, negative and positive demythologization are discussed in order to shed light on the role played by the narrator as a demythologizer of events. The narrator is dramatized as two distinct characters, Old Martin and Young Martin, each of whom represents a different perspective than the other, from a different temporal vantage point. Old Martin is the one who engages the audience in deconstructing the play's events and characters, while Young Martin goes through the events themselves, unaware of what the future holds. This elicits the collective engagement of the audience, even if unconsciously.