Confronting Irrationality

The film confronts the viewer, existing in a rational world, with the what happens when one meets an irrational force. A force that disenfranchises an individual, as they confront the stronger opponent. The irrational and unexplainable, as it invades a comfortable and familiar environment, revealing a helplessness in the individual. This can be referred to as fate.

The title draws parallels to the Ancient Greek Myth about King Agamemnon in Sophocles' Electra, whose army incurred the wrath of Artemis for killing her sacred deer. Martin, then, is our Artemis. This is further alluded to when Martin asks, "how do you know I'm not God?". This references, of course, not The God, but one of the lesser Gods known in Greek Mythology. In Greek Mytholoy, Gods were seen as the perfect distillation of a set of ideas or principles. If in Christianity Christ is the embodiment of morality and virtue, then in Greek Mythology, Artemis was the God of hunting. Hunting is seen as a confrontation with nature, a form of sustenance, as well as man's subsequent triumph over it. When viewing Martin as a God-like figure, we are able to explain the preternatural events that are shown. As the world of the film exists under the umbrella of Martin's rules (God-like figure), then all of the events shown are consequences of disobeying his rules. Martin, in the context of the film, is the God of surgery.

Steven, existing under the umbrella of this paradigm, and going against this law, has condemned himself to God's wrath (Martin). Steven's sin isn't that of killing Martin's father, which is something that may occur during surgery and is always understood as a possibility, but of going against the codex of surgery. As he was under the influence of alcohol during surgery, Steven broke Martin's law (God of Surgery). He has gone against the objective law of God, and throughout the film justifies his own rules as the accepted norm, "it's acceptable to drink a little before an operation to calm the nerves."

We see that Martin is not seeking vengeance, as evidenced by him stating that he holds no anger towards Steven. Martin is God, and he is enforcing the law of God by punishing Steven for his impropriety. When Steven meets with Martin at the cafe, this is the deciding moment of his fate. This is indicated by Martin stating, "this is the critical moment that needed to come to fruition, and here it is." When Martin explains what Steven must do, Steven realizes what justice means within the confines of his own rules. It is important to note that Martin does not tell Steven that he should repent. This is because Martin is only the law, the prevailing force dictating that for every action must accompany an equal action. His mechanical and emotionless demeanor is further indicative of the notion that Martin is merely the law. He is objective and cerebral.

Fate is typically seen as deterministic. It is accepted as the product of the external, as something unable to be changed. Fate is not seen as the manifestation of a given internal state, which is able to be influenced. We are able to shape how we act or how we think, but we do not see these as arbiters of outcome. During antiquity, philosophers, seeing themselves as under the influence of something greater than them, understood that changing their inner state could inevitably change their fate.

Around the 4th century, as antiquity came to an end, the rise of Christianity replaced Greek Mythology, with the former's understanding of God as Love. This paradigm shift now placed fate as the product of God's will, which the believer saw as a part of His Love. Now love is seen as greater than law, and the belief that God awaits mercy as opposed to sacrifice. Blind fate is seen as the will of God, leading one to His grace.

Despite the West being a product of Christianity, Steven does not adhere to its principles. He does not acknowledge his fault, instead battling his fate internally. Steven, existing within the confines of the temporal, is unwilling and unable to acknowledge that change must come from within. He battles the external by trying to explain Bob's symptoms as physical, dismissing the possibility of psychosomatic disorder, which is an attempt at confronting the external by searching from within (the mind).

In the end, there is no conventional catharsis, which is expected from Greek Mythology, where what occurs is the result of governed laws. The idea of outcome being the product of an internal state is similar to the teachings of C.N. Lazarev, where he writes that change happens on the energetic level before eventually manifesting in the temporal. The frequency and type of thought or action determines the density of this energy and its subsequent composition.

And so Steven conforms to the law of Martin, existing externally, but does not change himself internally. The family leaves the diner spiritually unchanged, still existing within the confines of the corporeal as absolute.