On The Theatre Of The Absurd
The theatre of the absurd is the term applied to a drama that reflects the attitude that the universe is without purpose and that human life is futile and meaningless. Under such circumstances, man’s existence becomes absurd. In both form and content, the theatre of the absurd portrays human beings as isolated from others. This formlessness and apparent irrationality are an expression of the absurd predicament of man, whose existence has no reason. Among the dramatists who have written these kinds of plays are Samuel Beckett, Eugène Ionesco, Harold Pinter, Edward Albee, and N.F. Simpson.
Most of the plays with such characteristics were written between 1940 and 1960. Many of them were labelled “anti-plays.” In an attempt to clarify and define this radical movement, Martin Esslin coined the term “The Theatre of the Absurd” in his 1960 book of the same name. He defined it as such because all of the plays emphasized the absurdity of the human condition. Whereas we tend to use the word “absurd” synonymously with “ridiculous,” Esslin was referring to the original meaning of the word– ‘out of harmony with reason or propriety; illogical.’ Essentially, each play renders man’s existence as illogical, and moreover, meaningless. This idea was a reaction to the “collapse of moral, religious, political, and social structures” following the two World Wars of the Twentieth Century.
The theatre of the absurd provoked many minds to write and three figures are the most prominent to mention.
George Steiner’s The Death of Tragedy
“Tragedy is irreparable. It cannot lead to just and material compensation for past suffering.” (Steiner 8) It is all predestined for the amusement of the gods. “There is no use asking for rational explanation or mercy. Things are as they are, un-relenting and absurd. We are punished far in excess of our guilt. It is a terrible, stark insight into human life. Yet, in the very excess of his suffering lies man’s claim to dignity.”
This form of high tragic drama is no longer available. Steiner tackled, in his Death of Tragedy, Dante’s definition of tragedy and comedy moving in opposite directions, Chaucer’s definition of tragedy, Ibsen’s claims of the ideals, and the innocence of the definition of tragedy for the Athenian and Elizabethan theatres that was lost when dramatists became critics and theoreticians. Thus, concepts such as grace, damnation, purgation, blasphemy, or the chain of being that used to be implicit in classic and Shakespearean tragedy, lost their vitality.
Albert Camus’ The Myth of Sisyphus
Albert Camus addressed the topic of suicide in his essay to judge if life is worth living. The myth referred to in the title itself speaks of Sisyphus who tries to cheat death and is eternally punished and left with no other option, he revolts by accepting his absurd situation to shoulder his burden while making an ascent once again. Sisyphus is a figure related to Greek mythology.
Camus defined absurdity as the futile search for meaning in a universe devoid of God and meaning. Thus, absurdity tends to rise as a result of the tension between our desire for order, meaning, and happiness, while on the other hand, the indifferent natural universe refuses to provide that.
Jean-Paul Sartre’s Existentialism
According to Sartre’s theory of existentialism, “existence precedes essence” and only by existing and acting a certain way do we give meaning to our lives. There are no fixed instructions as to how a human being should be and no God to give us purpose.
In the end, the theatre of the absurd was a reflection of the despair felt at the time because of all the changes in paradigms and numerous movements that preceded the two world wars socially, culturally, economically, and Politically.
