Tragedy and Heroism in Rhinoceros

 The international acceptance accorded the playwrights of the Theatre of the Absurd is one of the most annexing phenomenon of recent theatre history. These authors feel that the cardinal function of contemporary drama is to evolve means of expressing the irrational nature of man's existence. Perhaps the most revolutionary means for communicating this irrationality have been created by Eugene lonesco. His plays confront audiences accustomed to the conventional structure of realistic drama with a bizarre world that is both terrifying and amusing. The purpose of this study was to examine the form of lonesco's plays in order to better understand his method of blending comedy and tragedy. His three-act plays were chosen for analysis since this form generally represents the ultimate test of a playwright's powers of sustained expression.

The method of study involved a comparison of aspects of comedy and tragedy as they are manifested in The Killer and Rhinoceros. The aspects were: province of form, plot development, character, and final effect. Province of Form. Social and serious problems are present throughout both plays. In The Killer, lonesco explores the serious problem of the inevitability of death and contrasts this with the social problems of mass indifference, automatic language, and mass conformism to political ideologies. The Rhinoceros deals with the social problem that is created by inhuman political ideologies, and with the secondary serious problem concerning the alienation of the individual who opposed such an ideology.

This interweaving of the serious and social matters results in a reciprocal intensification. Plot Development: The plots of both plays are built around a central symbol that la intended to capture and hold audience attention. The killer symbolizes the inevitability of death, while man's metamorphosis into a rhinoceros symbolizes the stupid, bestial form political ideologists may assume.

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