Exploring the Contemporary Stage and Scripts for the Enactment of Dying Roles: A Narrative Review of the Literature

Abstract

This narrative review explores the literature regarding the drama of dying from several academic perspectives. Three key themes were identified including "The impact of blurred boundaries on roles and transitions," "The orchestration of death and dying through time," and "Contemporary dying and new machinery of control." This review reveals the manner in which tightly scripted dying roles serve the needs of the living to a greater extent than those of the dying, by ensuring the depiction of both dying and death as phenomena which have been brought under the control of the living, thereby countering death anxiety. An incongruence between the actual experience of dying and contemporary dying scripts is also highlighted. The authors argue that this incongruence is hidden from the broader societal audience through the maintenance of a dying role that demands serenity and acceptance, thus downplaying or even hiding the actual end-of-life experiences of the dying themselves.

Keywords: death; dying; dying roles; palliative care; role change.