Guilt Theme Analysis

At the start of DNA, a group of teens takes a cruel prank too far—their actions result in what they believe is the death of their classmate Adam. In the weeks following Adam’s “death,” as the group struggles to maintain their composure in the face of their shame and a widespread public investigation, their guilt nonetheless begins to eat away at them. As Dennis Kelly charts the deterioration of his core group of characters, he ultimately suggests that guilt is a force capable of eroding—and even destroying—the human psyche.

There are several characters throughout the play who, oddly, experience no remorse, guilt, or shame—but the ones who do find their mental states rapidly deteriorating, leaving them just as destroyed as those whose lives they’ve been complicit in ruining. The first major character whose guilt over hiding the truth about Adam’s death results in mental deterioration is the kind, sensitive Brian. At the start of the play, Brian stands out within the group as one of its kinder, gentler members. When the news of Adam’s supposed death comes to him—along with the mechanics of how it happened—he becomes deeply upset and begins crying. John Tate calls him a “crying little piece of filth,” and when Brian responds that he believes they should “tell someone” about what has happened, no one else agrees with him. Over the course of the play, Brian’s guilt over keeping quiet worsens. His already fragile mental state worsens, and soon, Brian is doped up on psychiatric medication to cope with his emotions. Reduced to a childlike, disconnected state, Brian giggles maniacally, eats dirt, and suffers an inability to read social cues or understand the basic outline of what’s happening to him at any given moment. Towards the end of the play, after discovering that Adam has been alive and clinging to life in the woods, Phil orders Brian to kill Adam by strangling him with a plastic bag. In the wake of actually committing murder, Brian goes truly mad with guilt and grief—and by the very end of the play, Brian’s meds are upped once again and he is reduced to a drooling, catatonic mess.

The second character whose guilt eats away at her is Leah. At the beginning of the play, Leah is a shallow and self-absorbed girl concerned only with how others perceive her. She is in a very one-sided relationship with her boyfriend Phil, whom she talks to at length despite getting no response from him. She interrogates him endlessly about what he thinks of her: her voice, her appearance, and her social standing. After learning of what has happened to Adam, Leah is terrified more than she is sad. In accordance with her selfish nature, she is determined not to get caught up in the mess and goes along with what’s asked of her when it comes to covering up the crime. Later on in the play, however, as Phil shuts Leah out more and more and then eventually orders Brian to murder Adam for real, Leah becomes unable to deal with the guilt she feels over having been complicit in Adam’s death. Leah rejects Phil, leaves the school, and cuts off contact with the group—her guilt has eroded the person she once was and forced her out of her old life.

The third character who finds his life torn apart by guilt is the swaggering, confident John Tate. Though John Tate seems to be the de facto leader of the group—and an intimidating social presence—at the start of the play, the business with Adam’s murder fundamentally changes him. After the man the teens frame for Adam’s murder is arrested, John Tate—perhaps realizing the coverup has gone too far—stops associating with the group and even avoids attending school. By the end of the play, the others have heard rumors that he’s “found God” and “joined the Jesus Army.” John Tate now evangelizes on street corners and in shopping malls—his religious conversion is, ostensibly, the result of his desire to ameliorate his guilt over his involvement in Adam’s death while feeling barred from atoning for it or claiming responsibility in any real way.

The fourth character who is slowly consumed by guilt—albeit in a strange and barely-perceptible way—is the cold, calculating, aloof Phil. Phil is the play’s central and most enigmatic character. Phil is distant, cold, and mostly silent—he is obsessed with food, he rarely speaks (even when spoken to or shouted at), and he opens his mouth only to direct the other members of the group as to what actions they should take in moments of crisis. Phil’s intricate plans seem to arrive fully formed, and he apparently has no guilt, qualms, or hesitations as he concocts plans to frame an innocent man for Adam’s “death” and, later, to murder Adam for real when he’s discovered alive. Phil often eats or drinks through others’ pleas for him to answer their questions or respond to him, stopping his snacking only to coolly deliver his robotic instructions at the most crucial of moments. By the end of the play, however, Kelly implies that not even Phil is free from guilt. After Adam’s murder and Leah’s departure, Phil is seen—for the first time in the play—sitting alone without any food around him. This implies that his guilt, which he is likely unable to acknowledge, has made even his one joy—eating—completely unappealing and perhaps even revolting. Guilt has eroded Phil and changed the person he used to be, even if he remains outwardly much the same.

As Dennis Kelly shows how four major characters wrestle with feelings of guilt—feelings they often aren’t even able to admit to themselves—he demonstrates how the emotion slowly festers within a person’s heart and mind, changing them and sometimes even destroying them from the inside out. Guilt, to Kelly, is a force of nature—and over the course of the play, he suggests that it’s better to come clean than to let such a powerful weight slowly crush one’s soul.