Theme Of The Absurd In Rhinoceros, By Eugene Ionesco

The Penguin Dictionary of Theatre defines the theatre of the absurd as-”The Theatre of the Absurd diagnoses humanity’s plight as purposelessness in an existence out of harmony with its surroundings. Awareness of this lack of purpose in all we do produces a state of metaphysical anguish which is the central theme of the writers in the Theatre of the Absurd. The ideas are allowed to shape the firm as well as the content: all semblance of logical construction, of the rational linking of idea with idea in an intellectually viable argument, is abandoned, and instead the irrationality of experience is transferred to the stage”. The polarization and the lack of connectivity between the world and the self is part of the philosophical premise out of

He has illustrated a society of people that are in a condition in which the people of the town exist in an irrational and meaningless universe where human life has no ultimate meaning. He uses characters like self-proclaimed rational Botard, all knowledgeable logician and many others to demonstrate such an illogical society. In the first act of the play, a logician is introduced who is speaking with an old man and their conversation is paralleled with that of two friends Jean and Berenger. It is apparent that the so called logician uses no logic at all. All he says in the name of logic is actually illogical. Ionesco begins to exploit the artificial Logician when the con explains that the Old Gentleman’s dog has four paws and he concludes that therefore it is a cat as a cat also has four paws. He informs the old man that all cats die. Socrates is dead. Therefore he is a cat. The worst thing is that the old man believes everything that the Logician tells him and he doesn’t question any if his absurd theories. At the end of Act 1, everyone goes to the Professional Logician to seek the wise man’s opinion on whether the African rhinoceros is single horned or double horned. With his incongruous logic, the Logician states that one must figure out whether or not the one that passed was the same rhinoceros or another one and finally concludes that “good logic cannot

The rhinos represent an absurd world, a world which has neither intelligence nor purpose. Taking Berenger into consideration, the play conveys the absurdity of defiance as much as the absurdity of conformism. Rhinoceros contains insights, though only as half-presences, which suggest that the play makes the movement away from the Absurd view of life to a more socially and politically engaged