In Friedrich Dürrenmatt's play, The Visit, the decrepit town of Guellen is given the final choice: they can escape poverty thanks to a gift from billionaire Claire Zachanassian, but by doing so , they must abandon their morality and kill one of their own. As the city's leader, the mayor faces a particularly difficult struggle between morale and money. And, just as the mayor represents the people in the government of the city, the mayor's struggle also reflects the struggle that the entire city experiences; a slow and painful slide into desire and a decaying morality. Before Claire arrives in Guellen, the mayor, along with the entire town, considers Alfred III to be one of Guellen's most beloved citizens. This is demonstrated in the opening scene of the play, when the mayor's unaffected opinion of Ill is expressed when he says, "I have sounded out the opposition: we have decided to appoint you as my successor" (Dürrenmatt 15). Not only is he held in low esteem by the people of Guellen, but they wish for him to become their leader, which clearly demonstrates the deep respect they have for him. This trust for Ill continues when Claire's return to Guellen is announced and the city tasks Ill with securing a donation from Claire to revitalize the city. In a conversation with other city leaders, the mayor gives a toast to Ill and says that he is "a man who does everything he can to improve our lot" (Dürrenmatt 27). In this same conversation, the mayor reveals his feelings about Claire's purpose, stating "I'll keep her in the bag... She'll get thousands of dollars out of it" (Dürrenmatt 26). This demotion of Claire to nothing more than a source of money contrasts starkly with the admiration the Mayor has for Ill, but as the show progresses, the consideration of... middle of paper... appreciates Alfred Ill as the their favorite citizen, and continue their squalid life. Naturally, they are ready to defend Ill when Claire offers the city a million for Ill's murder. However, the seeds of desire were planted and became a powerful challenge to the city's original values. This dissonance between desires and morals has caused the angst found in the city's initial behavior, and as the desire grows, it becomes impossible to resist. Therefore, to reunite their morals and their desires, they change them, now citing the condemnation of the sufferer and the acceptance of the money not as a surrender to the desire, but as a release of justice to correct the evil they had allowed to happen. The mayor's speech and the city's repetition of that speech cement this change in morality, and Alfred Ill is unanimously "condemned" by this new court of justice.