The Visitor is a 1993 play written by French-Belgian author Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt, first published in France. It consists of seventeen acts of varying length. The play is set in Vienna in 1938, when the Nazis were beginning to take control of the city (in the Anschluss). It explores the inner conflicts within Sigmund Freud as this occurs.

Eric Emmanuel Schmitt is known for writing literature that is primarily philosophical. As he himself noted in a French magazine, philosophy and Greek tragedy were invented simultaneously, and tragedy is, in a way, a version of philosophy that is accessible to the public. As a writer, he says his goal is to present and explore philosophical ideas that are simple enough for everyone to understand, and this can easily be seen in The Visitor, as well as in other works by the author.

Main themes in this play are the human condition and defects, the belief (or disbelief) in God, the results of war, and Nazism.

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Schmitt portrays Sigmund Freud, the Twentieth century psychoanalyst, living in Vienna before World War I. In the play Freud seems very troubled as a result of several inner conflicts. First, the question of living Vienna or not: if he leaves, he ensures safety for him and his family but leaves his fellowmen and the city that watched him grow behind; if he stays, he puts him and his family in danger, but he shows solidarity to the victims and he stays with the city he loves. Then, The Visitor raises another question: is he really God or is he merely a mythomaniac with astounding persuasion powers. Freud desperately wants to believe The Visitor is God, but his reason tells him not to. He is presented as a loving father that would do anything for his children, as a lonely man that needs love from a father he may hate, and as a soft and fragile individual at the brisk of death.

Anna is Freud's daughter. Her age is never explicitly revealed on the play, but despite being an adult Freud treats her as a little child. She shows great character strength when she stands up to the Gestapo officer and psychoanalyzes him to account for his disrespectful behavior toward Jews. She is taken for questioning, but she shows no fear, unlike Freud. She reassures him that everything will be fine, and that fear is worthless. She is the voice of reason in her father's life, constantly reminding him to sign the paper that will enable them to leave Vienna and escape the Nazi regime. She proves to be smart and to know how to defend herself.

His character represents the cliché Gestapo officer. Presented in a negative light, he is a violent, brute individual. He is perverse and thirsty for money. He is the one that takes Anna for questioning after she challenges his entire persona and the real reasons why he finds pleasure in humiliating Jews. Although he pretends to be strong, he is weak, full of fears and regrets about the person he is. He returns after taking Anna to get more money from Freud, telling him that he knows about the money he has deposited in other countries. But he flees when Freud, with to the help of The Visitor, notices the great resemblance in his uncle Simon's nose, who was a rabbi, and the officer's.

Dressed as an opera Dandy, he invades Freud's apartment and refuses to tell him who he is, claiming he would not believe it. After several questions, Freud realizes he is God, but is he really? He bombards Freud with several atheist arguments questioning his own existence, and Freud counterargues saying he must be God, until the Gestapo officer notifies him of a mythomaniac on the loose. He is then referred to as Walter Oberseit, which is the name of the fugitive. Freud then bombards The Visitor with reasons why he cannot be God. However, he isn't Walter Oberseit either. When he is presented to Anna, she sees him as the man that stalks her at the park. Freud, as well as the reader, never knows whether the Visitor is God, or simply a mythomaniac. It is a matter of faith to believe or not.