"Theater of Absurd"
"Theater of absurd" was emanated after the Second World War from France. This term was originally used by Martin Iselin (a critic) in his book "The Theater of the Absurd" which was published in 1961. It refers to the word "absurdity" used by French philosopher Albert Camus in his essay "Myth of Sisyphus" was written in 1942. In this essay, he talked about the meaninglessness and absurdity of human life. The playwrights of The Theater of Absurd created many whimsical plays both in form and contents due to which Theater of absurd became famous from the 1960s to the 1970s not only in France but also in many other countries.
The Theater of Absurd was highly influenced by the excruciating and alarming experiences of the Second World War. It was the time when human life was prevailed by impermanence, meaninglessness, arbitrariness, and precariousness. Hopelessness was there in the human heart and life. People drove themselves away from religion due to the pessimistic and traumatic environment after the Second World War. Meaninglessness and hopelessness gave birth to The Theater of Absurd it can be said that this theater being universal and philosophical acted as a source of restoration of the connection of human beings with their religions and gave meaning to their meaningless and precarious lives.
One of the most
important features of absurd drama is its irregular and obscure language. The
language of the characters is irregular and unpredictable. The characters find
themselves falling short of words. They don't have enough words to say. There
is the repetition of words and phrases which leads the audiences and the
readers to misunderstand their minds and creates ambiguity. Playwrights of The
Theater of The absurd reflect the darkness of human life through their absurd
language.
Another important
aspect of Absurd drama is that it has a fractured and scattered plot, unlike
traditional dramas. Plots of absurd plays are haphazard. There is no coherence
and there is no specific pattern for the actions to be followed. It is
difficult to guess that what the characters would do next according to their
words and sense. Absurd play is surprising, obscure, and subverts reasoning and
logic. Characters are often seen doing many things abnormally and mysteriously
and mostly, it has no proper ending.
In the Theater of
Absurd characters sit silently for hours and hours. This silence is used as a
metaphor to let the readers understand that what's going on in the minds of the
characters. Characters of absurd play also face the shortness of their memories.
Further, Dramatic conflict is absent in absurd plays due to the meaninglessness
of the outer world and there is no development in the characters till the end
of the play. Absurd plays are lyrical which presents a pattern of poetic images
due to the absurd language.
In short, The Theater
of absurd focuses on the meaninglessness of the existence of human beings, the
dissimilation of society, and the isolation among the people in a comic way to
give meaning to human life. The Theater of Absurd combines laugher with horror
by transcending the category of comedy and tragedy.
Some prominent names among absurd playwrights are Samuel Beckett, Eugene, and Harold Pinter and some famous absurd plays are ‘Waiting for Godot, Amedee, and The Caretaker respectively.
Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett:
The Play "Waiting for Godot" was written by Samuel Beckett who was a famous critic, playwright, and author. It was originally written in the French language and was published in 1953, later on, it was translated into English and was published in 1954. "Waiting for Godot" is one of the finest examples of absurd drama which shows the meaninglessness and the purposelessness of human life. The title of the play itself refers to the concept of absurd play as the person after whom the play is named does not even appear in the whole play. When the play opens, two characters; Vladimir and Estragon seem to be waiting for a person named Godot. Nobody knows about him and the reason behind the waiting of these two tramps. When the messenger tells them that the Godot will not come, they start behaving like aliens like sleeping, hanging on trees, and switching from one topic to another. All this shows the meaninglessness of their life, they have nothing else to do except waiting for Godot and spending their time on useless things.
Another quality of this
absurd play is that the language is irregular and obscure. Communication
breakdown is there. The same dialogues have been repeated time and again in the
whole drama i.e.
Vladimir: Well shall we
go?
Estragon: Yes, let's
go.
But they do not move,
their dialogues change but they don't change their action which also shows the absurdity of human life.
This play also lacks a
plot. There is no proper beginning, middle, and end. The setting is nothing more than a bare tree
on a countryside road. The setting of the play makes it more absurd. The setting also reminds us of the
after-effects of the Second World War which filled the surrounding with
hopelessness, meaninglessness, and ambiguity. Moreover, there is no proper
ending of the play, there is no development in the plot. In the start, two
tramps seem to be waiting for Godot who never comes, and still, they are
waiting. This also shows the meaninglessness of the existence of human beings.
Dramatic conflict is also absent in this absurd play. There is nothing new to see. No change takes place. Vladimir and Estragon seem to be waiting for Godot from the start till the end. Similarly, there is no change in the setting also except in the second act, the bare tree has been shown with some leaves and Pozzo has become blind and the Lucky has become deaf. Repetition in the act of coming and going is also there i.e. Pozzo and Lucky come and go just like the messenger boy.
The mystery is also
there in the play. When Pozzo and Lucky appear on the stage for the second
time, Pozzo has become blind and Lucky
has become deaf without any reason. The play is subverting rationality, nobody
knows that what has happened to them. After that their falling off on each
other refers to the mental disorder of human beings after the Second World War.
Silence also plays an important role as a metaphor in this absurd play to let the readers understand the feelings of the characters. Moreover, characters also have short-term memory as Estragon and Vladimir don't remember their first meeting with Pozzo and Lucky and vice versa. Similarly, Estragon also forgets the reason for his wait.
Hence, this play contains all the elements of the Theater of the absurd as the characters, plot, actions, and dialogues, everything refers to absurdity and can be called a masterpiece of Absurd play.
The
Caretaker by Harold Pinter:
"The Caretaker” is
an absurd play written by Harold Pinter who was a British playwright,
screenwriter, and director. This play was published in 1960 and has three acts.
In this play, Harold Pinter has highlighted the meaninglessness and
irrationality of human existence which is the major theme of absurd plays. This
play revolves around the three characters; Aston, Mick, and Davies. Aston and
Mike is brothers while Davies is a tramp who was rescued by Aston from a
fight.
Being an absurd play,
The Caretaker lacks a proper plot. There is no sequence of the actions.
Characters don't do the things which they have been intending. Characters seem
to be determined but deep down there is nothing like that? The whole play
depends on dialogues rather than actions. Characters change their dialogues but
they don't perform any action as such.
For instance, Davies keeps on saying that he has to go to Sidcup for his
identity documents. Even Aston and Mick also ask him to go to Sidcup and fetch
his documents but he never goes. He keeps on delaying making several lame
excuses such as blaming weather at times etc. All this makes him suspicious in
front of others. This play also subverts rationality. The actions are performed
haphazardly. Characters keep on appearing and disappearing except Davies
without any proper reason. This shows the meaninglessness of their lives. This
play also lacks dramatic conflict. There is no development in the plot and the
characters of the play. Everything remains the same throughout the play.
As long as
communication is concerned, communication breakdown is also there in the form
of long and illogical pauses.
Incoherence is there in the communication. The language of the
characters is obscure and irregular. Davies talks loudly and illogically due to
incoherence in his language due to which Mick is mostly unable to understand
his words and Aston even does not answer properly. All this comically leads to
absurdity. Another important element of repetition can also be observed in this
play. Such as Aston wants to build a shed, Davies wants to go to Sidcup and
Mick wants to redecorate his house. There is also a communication gap between
the two brothers; Aston and Mick which makes things more confusing between
them.
The setting of the play
also plays an important role in making this play absurd. The absurdity exists
within almost everything, for example, the condition of the room where Aston
and Davies enter, there are a lot of things that are there unnecessarily, due
to those things, the room seems to be an old scrap shop- even a stove is there
but when Davies questions about the gas, Aston tells him that "it is not
connected".
This play shows the post-world war environment and the situations. Characters are also facing an identity crisis in the play. For instance, Davies is facing the loss of his identity: his real name is Mac Davies but he has changed it and has been living with an assumed name, "Bernard Jenkins". This shows the aftermaths of the Second World War due to which people lost their identities which lead them to loneliness and hopelessness. Thus, The Caretaker is an enchanting play that exhibits almost all the elements of the Theater of absurd.
Conclusion:
To conclude, we can say that Theater of absurd was a jerk to the meaningless and precarious life of human beings. It highlighted the concept of the meaninglessness of the existence of human beings. Similarly, Samuel Beckett and Harold Pinter through their plays also highlighted the absurdity of human life. Both the plays exhibit all the elements of Theater of Absurd such as lack of plot, incoherence in communication, loss of identity, irrationality, and the loss of the connection with the religion, etc. Many absurd playwrights tried to restore rationality, identity, and coherence by giving people a jerk of that era through Theater of Absurd after the Second World War.
This comparative article is produced by Itrat Batool, one of the staff writers at the SOL Community.
