The Theatre of the Absurd endeavours to show state of affairss both horrific and amusing to its audiences with obvious public presentation roots in amusement theater, yet there is a specific inquiry that arises when analyzing the work of the Absurd dramatists as to whether their Hagiographas have developed into a reaction to specific historical events ; for illustration, the experiential public presentations of the post-war period in France.
Eugene Ionesco and his playtexts, ‘The Chairs ‘ , ‘The Bald Soprano and ‘Rhinoceros ‘ demonstrate his ability “ … to bring outside the anxiousness… of [ his ] characters through… the phase scenes… to interpret the action into ocular footings… ” ( Esslin 2001, 132 ) arguably uncovering the angst-ridden province of the post-war human being.
As Ionesco seeks to penetrate world and therefore significance of being, in his Notes on my Theatre he presents a profound contemplation upon the experience of war and how this relates to our angst-ridden province ; “ … Time wastes off and putting to deaths, we are shown this during a war, but that merely makes it look more violent, more obvious ; the devastation is more accelerated, and basically it is non a inquiry of adult male wasted in war, but instead of adult male blowing off in clip, in being ” ( Ionesco 1963, 131 ) . It seems that war has presented a state of affairs where adult male ‘s angst-ridden province is even clearer for the author, therefore showing a temper and penetration influenced by the war.
This temper can be perceived explicitly within some presenting facets portrayed in his Hagiographas, for illustration, as Sorrel Kerbel remarks in his Hagiographas on Judaic authors of the 20th century, ‘The Chairs ‘ “ … is a attendant look of the emptiness and weightiness of the human status. This tragic travesty… expresses the incommunicability of a life-time of experience ; futility and failure of human being… ” ( Kerbel 2003, 468 ) . This ‘heaviness and emptiness ‘ are deeply portrayed through the empty chairs that are laid out continuously, consolidating the nonsense of being through the fact that cipher is at that place and the characters are feigning otherwise. The nature of this scene presents an infinite bleak landscape, declarative mood of the angst of post-war society because it can be argued that it portrays scenes from France ‘s licking in 1940, where Paris was basically abandoned.
Having performed in military service, Ionesco, in his Notes on my Theatre, expresses his societal alienation and the aimlessness of certain activities adhered to within the military, i.e. reflecting boots, and how he fed this angst into ‘The Chairs ‘ by showing the socially alienated characters ( Ionesco 1963, 138 ) . Their alienation is communicated through their pretension and action of puting out chairs all over the phase, showing “ … their anguish, compunction, and failure ; and the vacuum of their lives… ” ( Kerbel 2003, 468 ) reflecting his ain feelings of exclusion and anguish within the ground forces.
Therefore it is appropriate to infer that the angst-ridden post-war human being is reflected most affectingly through the symbolism of the chairs, which convey an emptiness of significance, reflective of the temper of society after the war. Even the decease of the old twosome presents a platitude, as escape from the symbolism of the chairs is impossible, for “ … the decease of the aged twosome does non prevent the possibility of a continued being… the chairs will go on to multiply everlastingly ” ( Kerbel 2003, 468 ) .
When analyzing ‘The Bald Soprano ‘ , the state of affairs the audience is faced with is familiar, it lures us into a false sense of security, which serves as a device to rise the strength of the duologue and conveyance of the anti-play. ‘The Bald Soprano ‘ is amorphous and it is this specific formlessness and rebellion against the construction of secret plan which exudes the experiential penetration of nonsense. It is Ionesco “ … [ mounting ] a conjunct onslaught on linguistic communication, because he intends to agitate his reader, his audience, out of a natural leaning to lethargy, to the unquestioning credence of certain values or premises ” ( Lamont 1993, 19 ) . The dissipation of linguistic communication communicates the angst-ridden province of the post-war human being, in the signifier of the “ … motionlessness of businessperson being… ” ( Dukore 1961, 176 ) .
There are certain facets presented within the phase waies that demonstrate “ … through the proliferation and generation of words and material objects, whether they are platitudes or chairs or corpses that Ionesco manifests the heavy, loaded, hopeless, depressive provinces of consciousness. ” ( Kerbel 2003, 468 ) . The gap phase way is decidedly a all right illustration of this, as it presents a typically ‘English ‘ puting conveying the strength of the private societal domain, functioning as a sarcasm to the manner the in-between category businessperson live their lives. “ English armchair… , English slippers… , English pipe… ” ( Ionesco 1958, 8 ) phase way portrays ‘bourgeois conventionality ‘ ( Dukore 1961, 176 ) to be utterly pointless and it is through these peculiar types of lives that Ionesco has demonstrated their deficiency of intent and way and therefore has “ … removed from the drama the conventional dramatic construction which would hold given [ the characters ] purpose and way ” ( Dukore 1961, 179 ) . Furthermore, it is arguable that non merely is this gap phase way an onslaught on businessperson life, but besides on the convention of nationalism at the clip. We see the repeat of ‘English ‘ non merely representing English features of the businessperson category to be inordinate and indulgent, but besides bespeaking a drab consciousness of post-war society. It can be argued, that the repeat consolidates a mindless loyal domination within the piece aimed to satirize the manner the populace so mindlessly entered a war with perchance no consciousness of the true horror that lay before them for its victims and its soldiers.
In footings of my ain imagining ‘s of set design, it seems natural to show the scene as realistic, merely to help the apposition of the linguistic communication and action badly. Yet, the inclusion of a clock creates a phantasmagoric feel to the piece, with its chiming curiously timed with potentially a immense clock face. Arguably it can be deduced that the domination of the clock is brooding of many things, all relative to the post-war temper, and representative of our ain fleeting being with its lone certainty in life being decease ; and war high spots our ain morality. The bells remind us of the humdrum of life and the perennial province of the angst-ridden human being, most similar to that of Sisyphus in Camus ‘ ‘the Myth of Sisyphus ‘ . Furthermore the obvious subject of clip could be interpreted to uncover the prevailing thought that the war would be over by the Christmas, of which it was non and carried on for about six old ages.
‘Rhinoceros ‘ can be identified as “ … an anti-Nazi drama ” ( Kerbel 2003, 469 ) showing explicitly this piece of work as a reaction to the historical events of World War II. It is extremely political and the angst-ridden province of the human being is communicated through the map of the source of rhinoceritis and the “ … weightiness of being [ is ] embodied in the sheer weight and proliferation of [ the Rhinoceros ‘ ] ” ( Kerbel 2003, 469 ) . In footings of the practical theatrical production of the piece, it is strikingly different to the two other dramas I have analysed. Ionesco has carefully constructed comprehensive and thorough phase puting descriptions between each act in the drama. It is entirely realistic in footings of the vision of the set, and its point is to present world. Arguably it could even be “ … a scheme to bear informant to both political and societal worlds that marked [ Ionesco ‘s ] young person ” ( Quinney 2007, 36 ) , for during his life-time he witnessed the rise of fascism in Romania and the anti- Semitism of World War II. As Judaic by household, the disaffection he perchance would hold faced could be argued as holding a profound consequence upon him as a author. Not merely is this disaffection experienced by Ionesco from people society or work nowadays within Ionesco ‘s early life, he has besides been “ … misunderstood and misinterpreted in Europe, peculiarly in France ” ( Lamont 1993, 10 ) . This disaffection we can see subjected to the character Berenger “ … a human among monsters, but as a homo he is a monster among monsters ” ( Kerbel 2003, 469 ) in Rhinoceros, whereby Ionesco uses this to assail conformist political orientations and peoples misguided attitudes.
As Ionesco launches this onslaught “ To be a conformist is to be normal… ” ( Kerbel 2003, 469 ) to uncover the “ … weightiness built-in in political tenet, authorization, and corporate unreason… ” ( Kerbel 2003, 469 ) , it can be argued that the theatrical production demonstrates this conforming attitude. It is presented item by item to convey how things should be. In act three the phase waies for the character Berenger ( Ionesco 1962, 84 ) have been given so much attending that it could be argued that it is symbolic of control. To be clearer, control exuberated by political indoctrination of the Nazi government.
Furthermore, it can be argued that the item given to these phase waies are besides declarative of rationing. The thorough list of practical theatrical production is symbolic of the thorough lists the Government produced when battling the issue of nutrient, therefore the practical theatrical production is brooding of the post-war temper, showing a profound influence from this clip.
In decision, from analyzing the dramas of Ionesco it seems clear that the practical theatrical production nowadays in his dramas exude the angst-ridden province of the post-war human being, manifested in different objects. The influence of war upon the author I feel is galvanizing, for populating through such disruptive political times, witnessing it both as a subsister and a soldier must hold been profound ; his Hagiographas decidedly reflect this. It is clear from ‘Rhinoceros ‘ that the drama is an open reaction to the historical event of World War II and ‘The chairs ‘ demonstrates a black landscape of empty chairs declarative of war land imagination. Therefore to reason its post-war influence we merely have to inquire ourselves the inquiry of whether these dramas would hold been written before the war, the reply I believe is no and ‘Rhinoceros ‘ and ‘The Chairs ‘ are particularly declarative of portraying adult male ‘s angst ridden province of the post-war human being via the structuring and presentation of the set design and staging way.
