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What is the purpose of this combustion? Just as night most vividly defines day, Grotowski believes that blasphemy against a taboo re-creates a sense of the holy. If a man were to defecate on a church altar, for example, even a confirmed atheist would feel some sense of shock. In that shock, in the very act of profanation, some sense of the sacred would be reborn and reconfirmed. Opposites imply each other. Grotowski shows an audience the passion of man, his agony, his desolation, his death, and above all the violation of his body and his spirit. By portraying the utter humiliation of man, Grotowski reminds one that no prouder being ever issued from the hand of God.
The drawback to Grotowski's method is that while it would work perfectly in Hamlet, it would be no good at all for a superb comedy of manners like The Importance of Being Earnest. In the arrogant exclusivity of his definition of drama, Grotowski elevates the director and the actor while excluding much of the world's dramatic literature. But when it comes to plays and themes that are stocked with spiritual tinder, Grotowski has proved that no one can set them more fiercely ablaze.