Handke presents us with a clown [in Kaspar]—the visual impact of Kaspar, with his unco-ordinated gestures and bizarre costume, is clown-like, his name suggests that he is a puppet, and he is, of course, manipulated by language, just as a marionette is manipulated by strings; but he is also Kaspar—a person—and his mask is so like a face that the audience only gradually becomes aware that it is, in fact, a mask; the set represents nothing but itself—a stage, and there is no dialogue, let alone conversation, merely the voices that condition and torment Kaspar and his responses to them. (p. 51)

In Handke's play we see Kaspar, the non-person, undergoing his "Sprechfolterung" (speech torture), and being transformed by language into a model citizen who will accept the system, keep the rules and play the part demanded of him. Handke demonstrates a diabolical process whereby...