Abstract This paper analyzes the absurdist existentialist tragicomedy
"Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead" by Tom Stoppard. The paper looks at how Stoppard portrays the everyman by portraying the confusion of the characters Rosencrantz and Guildenstern (two minor characters from Shakespeare's Hamlet). The paper also explains how this play is a nexample of good absurdist theater because it allows the audience to draw comparisons with themselves, realizing that the characters they have been so critical of, really represent humanity. The writer believes that Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are not the heroes of the story and they are not given the opportunity to save the day, and never really manage to change the course of the play in any real way. The writer concludes that Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, with their sad charm, are pathetic in a way only an absurdist everyman could be and all of the bleak statements on humanity that Stoppard throws at his audience really mean nothing in the end because after all, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead.
From the Paper "The play opens to an obvious dilemma. No matter how many times they flip their coin, or how much they try to interpret the meaning, the coin is always heads up. They believe they have freewill, and look desperately for a legitimate reason for this anomaly. On pg. 2, Guildenstern muses on their situation, "A weaker man might be moved to re-examine his faith, if in nothing else at least in the law of probability". Three pages later, he is still determined to find an explanation, "It must be indicative of something, besides the redistribution of wealth. List of possible explanations." (And he goes on to examine four possibilities, his will, time having stopped, divine intervention, the principle of probability)."
Tags:absurdist, existentialist, tragicomedy, Shakespeare, Hamlet, drama
Abstract The purpose of this paper is to discuss Absurdist (Existential) theatre and four works by "Theatre of the Absurd" playwrights. The works used are "Victoria Station" by Harold Pinter, "The Zoo Story" by Edward Albee, "The Philadelphia" by David Ives and "Sure Thing," by David Ives. Specifically, it discusses hopelessness and meaningless as a base plot for the "Theatre of the Absurd" and how these two concepts reveal themselves in the works.
From the Paper "All four of these plays are by authors considered to write for the "Theatre of the Absurd" movement, which began in the late 50s. It is a movement concerned with the absurdity and absolute pointlessness of life. Many playwrights participated, including Samuel Beckett, Harold Pinter, Eugene Ionesco, Jean Genet, and Edward Albee. "The 20th century's most popular non-realistic genre is absurdism. The root 'absurd,' connotes something that does not follow the roots of logic. In the Absurdist school of drama, this holds true. Existence is fragmented, pointless. There is no truth so the search for truth is abandoned in Absurdist works. Language is reduced to a bantering game where words obfuscate rather elucidate the truth. Action moves outside of the realm of causality to chaos. Absurdists minimalize the sense of place. Characters are forced to move in an incomprehensible, void-like realm" (Sosnowski)."
Abstract This is an analysis of the minimalist language used by Samuel Beckett in "Waiting for Godot". The author focuses on Beckett's genius in creating the dramatic dialogue of impossible speech in this absurdist drama, where language is a metaphor for the meaninglessness of the human condition.
From the Paper "Language is essential to drama. In a play the characters must speak to each other. In his absurdist drama, Waiting for Godot, Samuel Beckett uses language as a metaphor for the human condition. In the theatre of the absurd both life and language have lost all meaning. It follows that meaninglessness must be presented in meaningless words. In this work Beckett displays both courage and genius in creating the dramatic dialogue of impossible speech. Waiting for Godot demonstrates Beckett's expertise at paradox. He uses language to create a sense of the meaninglessness and futility of language. In reducing life to nothingness, or at least to its lowest common denominator, he must also reduce language to its bare minimum. This minimal language becomes the language of the nearly non-existent self subsisting in an absurdist world."
Abstract In "The Stranger" by Albert Camus, sensual feelings are of an extremely high importance and dictate how Meursault lives his life and is seen to others. This paper discusses the novel from this point of view.
From the paper:
"He said he supposed that I must be very sad since Maman died, and I didn?t say anything.? (Camus 45) This line by Meursault underlines his ideals and feelings about important subjects around him. Camus uses this book and story to relay his points of view on the absurdist view and the existentialist viewpoints on life."
Abstract The paper begins by looking at different forms of tragedy and at the purpose of tragedy, as espoused by Plato. The basic element of tragedy (the fall of a noble person due to their own inherent flaws) is discussed. The writer brings in examples of tragic art forms, such as Shakespeare's "Othello" and Arthur Miller's "Death of a Salesman" and "The Crucible", to highlight variations of tragedy. It looks at Miller's seminal essay,"On Tragedy" and at the components of the modern tragic drama. It presents a comparison between the themes of the Elizabethan "Hamlet" and the modern/absurdist "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead", two plays following the same tragedy from radically different angles. The paper concludes with a study of the key to writing a good tragedy.
From the Paper "The history of the tragic art form has through-out history undergone many apparent metamorphoses, even while keeping certain elements consistent through their many changes in form and theory. This artform is thought by many to have been brought into existence by the Greeks, and it is certainly best known classically according to Aristotle's definition in the 4th century Poetics. Yet the writing of tragic stories, and the role they play in history predates even Aristotle. The Jewish scriptures and Egyptian mythologies both relate stories of overwhelming loss and tragedy and hold these events up as tales which should be repeated often. According to Plato, tragedy on the stage is nothing more or less than play-actors pretending to be sad or villainous for no reason, and thus detrimental to the minds of the impressionable who might be purposefully made sad or villainous. Yet Aristotle claimed, most astutely, that tragedy serves instead a noble purpose (and surely the writers of Jewish scriptures and Egyptian tales would agree) He writes that tragedy serves as a catharsis, a purging and cleansing of the soul. While most other conventions and concepts of tragedy, have undergone and should undergo radical reinvention, this central theme of spiritual or emotional cleansing remains consistent and it may be suggested is the primary reason why tragedy has and should continue to exist."
Abstract The paper shows how "Hamlet" by William Shakespeare and "Krapp's Last Tape" by Samuel Beckett are very different sorts of play, emerging from different theatrical traditions, but they have similar themes within the context of their time and in their own style. The paper discusses one theme which is addressed in both - the theme of order versus disorder. It shows how each play finds the main character facing a state of disorder and the desiere to restore order.
From the Paper "It may be more difficult to see the conflict in a play like Beckett's Krapp's Last Tape, which has only one character, but conflict can also be developed within one character warring with himself or between the single character and the audience watching him or her. Conflict is inherent in the vocation of attitudes, ideas, characters, and situations, and it is not possible to have a drama without any of these elements and so it is impossible to have a drama without conflict. As noted, there is only one character on stage, though the voice of the same man from many years before might constitute a separate character, heard only on a tape recorder."
Explores the existentialist protagonist Meursault as an absurdist hero searching for an authentic life outside conventional moral and social boundaries.
1,575 words (approx. 6.3 pages), 9 sources, 1995, $ 55.95
From the Paper "CAMUS' THE STRANGER: MEURSAULT AS ABSURDIST HERO
Few novels have explored the difference between exterior reality and interior life as fully and as effectively as has Albert Camus' The Stranger. The story concerns an office clerk named Mersault (the reader is never given his first name), whose refusal to adhere to societal expectations regarding love, friendship and religion eventually leads to his imprisonment under a death sentence. The novel offers Camus an opportunity to exploit his perception of the world as inherently absurd. The absurdist sees the world as basically meaningless. Events, actions and decisions are all of equal value: one choice is as good as another, and, ultimately, none of the choices one makes has any transcendent purpose.
Still, people strive to impose an order on the world. People have an ..."
Abstract Albert Camus, a political activist and intellectual often expressed his philosophical attitudes through fiction and short essays. Camus is primarily known for philosophical position; a form of existentialism, that he portrays in his essays "The Absurd" and "The Myth of Sisyphus". The absurd is a set of beliefs to be adopted towards life in a universe that is devoid of a true or higher meaning when the only outcome will be death. This paper shows how, in the two previously mentioned essays, Camus explores the way in which absurdity appears in life and the consequences of making this discovery. Camus identifies the Absurd not as a source for despair but describes a way to defy meaninglessness and live life through experience.
From the Paper "The theatre of the Absurd is a display of modern life in a universe that is devoid of a true or higher meaning. This existential philosophy illustrated through plays relates a brutal world freed from any notion of divinity. In a world where the only outcome is certain death, there is no moral code, no god and no ultimate purpose. A person is left with a feeling of unease and dislocation, such is the beginning of Absurdity. Harold Pinter's The Birthday Party and Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot are two plays, which explore concepts such as these. Modernist theatre features the notion of the absurd; a concept reflective of global attitude at the time in the wake of World War Two and the decline of religious faith."
Abstract This paper examines the importance of truth and illusion in "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" by playwright Edward Albee. The paper shows that these themes are central to the plot, making for great suspense as the audience realizes the tragedy of the facade that characters Martha and George have created to avoid facing reality. The paper shows that the issues of truth and illusion allow the author to demonstrate the fragile fantasy which supports the American dream. As an absurdist, Edward Albee believed illusion created a false contentment and this is shown by the shambolic nature of the two marriages in the play. The paper shows that Albee believed that however harsh the reality, people had to learn the difference between truth and illusion.
From the Paper "Another important role of truth and illusion in the novel is that it allows Albee to demonstrate his views on American society. By calling the central characters George and Martha, he makes an unmistakable reference to George and Martha Washington. Albee uses their marriage as a microcosm for the imperfect state of America. The marriage of George and Martha is essentially based on fantasy and illusion, as is that of Nick and Honey, seemingly representative of the conventional American couple. Therefore, Albee is asking his audience to question the American society represented by the marriage of George and Martha, and to begin to consider whether the American dream is actually based on similarly false illusions."
Abstract This paper details the evolution of French artistic and literary expression from before WWI to after WWII. Dadaism, Surrealism, Absurdism, and many of the famous writers of those periods are examined. The paper focuses on the works of Jean-Paul Sartre and looks at influences on his writing, as well as his impact on the Absurdist movement. The paper also analyzes some of Sartre's more famous plays and discusses his philosophy.
From the Paper "There was a brief period of economic prosperity and progress in France, called the belle ?poque (beautiful epoch) before World War I in the early years of the 20th century and right before the wave of pessimism began in the 1920s (Cosper 2004). At this time, inventions like the telephone, the automobile, the airplane and the cinema refreshed modern life. Literature turned away from old styles, such as naturalism, and into the newer and more exciting forms, like cubism and bold experiments by Apollinaire. Other playwrights followed the lead of Apollinaire and introduced stage innovations, among them, Alfred Jarry with his extravagant farce in Ubu Roi in 1896 and Ubu King in 1951 and Paul Claudel. Alain-Fournier's novel, ?The Wanderer,? denied the limitations realists and naturalists placed on the human imagination and philosopher Henri Bergson proposed the naturalist view that human destiny was predetermined and that people had freewill and unlimited creative energy (Cosper)."
