The term Absurd when used to describe theatre or literature is not used in the same way as in everyday conversation when it can mean ridiculous, strange or bizarre. Although these elements can be seen in the plays the use of the term is somewhat more profound and complex. In his book The Theatre of the Absurd Martin Esslin uses a quote from Eugène Ionesco to illustrate his use of the term:
Absurd is that which is devoid of purpose...Cut off from his religious, metaphysical, and transcendental roots, man is lost; all his actions become senseless, absurd, useless. The Theatre of the Absurd P23
Ionesco here expresses the thoughts that were being voiced by many philosophers and writers. People were becoming disillusioned and were losing faith in the beliefs that had once sustained them. Friedrich Nietzsche had declared that ‘God is dead’ and the World Wars had shaken the fundamental laws of life. People no longer had a strong sense of purpose or identity; they were lost without direction or guidance.
The Myth of Sisyphus
Albert Camus wrote a book The Myth of Sisyphus and within it he sets Sisyphus up as being an absurd hero. This is because in the Greek myth Sisyphus scorns the gods, attempts to evade death and as punishment is trapped for eternity pushing a boulder that will never remain at the peak of the hill he is aiming for. His situation echoes the plight of the modern man who, in his daily drudgery, toils endlessly with no sense of significance or hope of reward.
Camus also states that the absurd comes about in man’s constant state of contradiction. He seeks meaning in a world that offers none and desires immortality where death is inevitable. It is this struggle that inspires the playwrights who Esslin places under the umbrella of the absurd.
Playwrights of the Absurd
There are many playwrights whose works could be described as absurd; they include such writers as Samuel Beckett, Eugène Ionesco, Jean Genet and Harold Pinter. Within their plays they explore such ideas as the state of existence, the questionable presence of God, the unreliability of language, and the concept of time.
Nearly all these concepts are present in the plays of Samuel Beckett. In his play Waiting for Godot Beckett’s characters, like Sisyphus, are engaged in a fruitless task; they are to wait for an indeterminable amount of time for the mysterious Godot. They fear silence and void and so fill it with seemingly meaningless chat. Beckett uses repetition to highlight the ceaseless circularity of life and his characters throw doubt on the reliability of memory, language and of existence itself:
We always find something, eh Didi, to give us the impression we exist? Waiting for Godot P69
Stasis is also frequently seen in Beckett’s plays. In both Endgame, Happy Days and Krapp’s Last Tape he has characters that are longing to progress but who are trapped into immobility either by nostalgia or fear:
Yes, let’s go / They do not move. Waiting for Godot p54
Absurdism in Literature
The absurd is not confined to theatre and can be seen in literature as well, notably in the novels of Albert Camus and Franz Kafka. In Camus’ novel The Outsider the absurd hero Meaursault commits a murder and is sentenced to death and it is here he fulfils the criteria of the absurd man; trapped in a cell waiting for inevitable death while filled with the contradictory hope of freedom and life.
Kafka employs the use of extreme images and scenarios to highlight the conflicts within life. In The Metamorphosis his character Gregor Samsa waking up to find himself transformed into a giant insect illustrates the parasitic nature of man and the fact that Samsa’s only worry is about how he is to get to work shows how the mundane in life envelops everything else.
In The Trial Josef K is arrested but he does not know what for and is never told. His struggle to prove his innocence against unknown crimes is an echo of the habitual struggle of man against the unknown forces of the world.
Laughing in the Face of Adversity
While the concept and ideas of the absurd can be seen to be very bleak one thing that many of these writers have in common is their use of humour. Within the plays especially there is a great deal of dark comedy, as, when all we are faced with is endless toil and then death what else is there to do but laugh?
Jade Weighell - My name is Jade Weighell and I have a BA in English and Drama and an MA in English Literature. I write book reviews and have been ...
