Assignment Paper 110(A)

• Name: Divya Sheta 
• Paper Name: 110(A)History Of English Literature – From 1900 to 2000 
• Assignment Topic: Theatre of Absurd 
• Subject Code No:22403
• Roll No.:06
• Enrollment No :4069206420210033
• Email ID: divyasheta@gmail.com
• Batch:2020-23 MA SEM-II
• Submitted to: Smt.S.B.Gardi Department of English, MK Bhavnagar University. 

• Introduction:

After two World Wars, whole world suffered from the dark trauma of existential thoughts. There were such a huge complicated era that leads people towards their identity crisis and how to know oneself. Such a huge dark era ends with many ideological aspects like, Existentialism, Nihilism, Nothingness, Meaninglessness, Absurdity along with artistic movements like, Surrealism, Dadaism, Expressionism which were leads as the part of particular movement at twentieth century era. 

The twentieth century was one of particular worldwide upheaval, ranging from wars to economic downturns to radical political movements. No one can disagree that the years between 1900 and 2000 were years of extreme change for artists all over the world. These changes were boldly reflected in the works of avante-garde artists throughout the century. Classical art was being challenged more and more as waves of nationalism and imperialism spread over the world in the early half of the twentieth century.

• What is Absurdity:    

Absurdity is the state or condition in which human beings exist in an irrational and meaningless universe and in which human life has no ultimate meaning —usually used with ‘The’. It is ridiculously unreasonable, unsound, or incongruous and also having no rational or orderly relationship to human life and dealing with the absurd or with absurdism

Absurd contains the rarer related adjective surd, which, like absurd, derives from the Latin surdus ("deaf, silent, stupid") Surd can mean "lacking sense or irrational," much like absurd:

Absurd stresses a lack of logical sense or harmonious agreement, of parts (such as a premise and a conclusion) not fitting together. In philosophy, it describes the problem of trying to distill meaning from one's experiences. In A Discourse on Novelty and Creation (1975), Carl R. Hausman writes, "There is an incongruity, an inconsistency, a conflict with a context that appears as lawful, orderly experience. As [Albert] Camus points out, absurdity 'springs from a comparison,' a comparison between two aspects of reality which seem to be out of harmony."

An ''absurd'' definition encompasses any concept that is nonsensical or bizarre. Absurdities can be incorporated into literature to create a specific mood or to express political ideas. The word absurd comes from the Latin absurdus, meaning ''out of tune'' or ''discordant.''

• Absurdism in Literature

Absurdism in literature has a long history, with writers creating and codifying the absurdist literature definition to suit their purposes. Often, writers use absurdism to point out the bizarre randomness of life. They might use it to describe a world that has been abandoned by any higher power, or a world where people are alienated from society. Existentialism is a particularly important philosophy that is associated with absurdism. Existentialism argues that people are alienated from one another and the world, that they must create their own moral codes as no universal morality exists, and that as a result of alienation, people may be more susceptible to control and manipulation.

Different approaches to absurdity and absurdism can include the following:

• Rhetoric: absurdity is a negative outcome of an argument, to be avoided whenever possible.
• Philosophy: philosophical approaches like existentialism and nihilism explore absurdity as a negative, neutral, or positive force.
• Literature: writers use absurdity and absurdism for a variety of reasons.
• Language: absurdity can impede communication but can be used for humor, as in the case of malaphors and malapropisms.
• Theater: Theater of the Absurd is a particular theatrical genre with its own conventions and themes.
• Theology: different religions approach the concept of absurdity from varying perspectives, sometimes associating the absurd with evil and at other times considering it to be an aspirational concept.

It is important to understand the difference between absurdity and absurdism. Absurdity is the concept of the absurd in any form and in any context. Absurdism, on the other hand, is the deliberate exploration of and use of the absurd in art and literature for effect.

• Theatre of the Absurd: Background: 

In 1942, the French-Algerian philosopher Albert Camus published his work "The Myth of Sisyphus," examining humanity's desire for rationality and purpose in the face of the inherent irrationality and emptiness of the universe. From this, Camus developed his Theory of the Absurd: that this juxtaposition is something that all free-thinking and honest people must eventually come to accept. According to Camus, human beings should not strive to find purpose where there is none, and that true contentment can only be felt once this is acknowledged. To explain this, he uses the Greek myth of Sisyphus, an ancient king who fought against death and was condemned for all eternity to move a massive stone up a hill, only for it to roll back to the bottom immediately. Camus argues that Sisyphus, rather than experiencing torment, must instead experience satisfaction, having come to terms with the absurdity and inescapability of his position and persisting despite it.

According to Martin Esslin, the four defining playwrights of the movement are Eugene Ionesco, Samuel Beckett, Jean Genet, and Arthur Adamov. Beckett is a prime example of an existentialist writer for the Theatre of the Absurd. His plays, Waiting for Godot and Endgame, are perhaps the finest examples of the Theatre of the Absurd. Endgame is a play where ‘nothing happens, once’, whereas in Waiting for Godot, ‘nothing happens, twice’. These plays are read as fundamentally existentialist in their take on life. The fact that none of the characters retain any memory of their past clearly indicates that they are constantly struggling to prove their existence.

This Theory of the Absurd posed a challenge to the artists and writers of the day, drawing into question what kind of art, if any, could be produced if one accepted that the universe was a fundamentally absurd and meaningless place. For the playwrights of the time, this meant examining the constructs and narratives that made up the traditional understanding of theatre and doing away with them. The first absurdist play is Eugene Ionesco's The Bald Soprano, first performed in 1950, with other seminal productions such as Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot, Jean Genet's The Balcony, and Harold Pinter's The Birthday Party being produced over the next ten years. In 1960, a name was given to the movement by British drama critic Martin Esslin, who formally categorized the plays and their authors for the first time in his seminal essay "The Theatre of the Absurd." Over the next decade, the movement's influence would steadily wane. However, the ideas and conventions it had explored would continue to transform and shape the theatrical landscape for years to come.

• Theatre of the Absurd: Characteristics

The most important characteristics of the Theatre of the Absurd are as follows:

1. There is often no real story line; instead there is a series of ‘free floating images’ which help the audience to interpret a play.

2. The main focus of an Absurdist play is on the incomprehensibility of the world, or the futility of an attempt to rationalize an irrational, disorderly world.

3. The Theatre of the Absurd is, to a very considerable extent, concerned with a critique of language (which has become devoid of meaning) as an unreliable and insufficient tool of communication.

The Theatre of the Absurd examines the fundamental absurdity of choosing to live one's life normally when confronted with an uncaring and meaningless universe. Absurdist plays recontextualize these two aspects of existence, presenting the characters as either behaving routinely in absurd situations, behaving absurdly in routine situations, or any combination of the two. While Theatre of the Absurd is, by definition, absurd, themes of futility, anxiety and isolation are commonly present throughout these works, and much critical discussion is still dedicated to studying and interpreting these plays.

• Plot in Absurdist Plays

Plays belonging to the Theatre of the Absurd typically function as demonstrations of traditional human rationality and expectation gone awry. They often begin from the point of familiarity for the audience, such as Estragon and Vladimir's evocation of the classic vaudevillian double-act in Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot or the use of the preestablished Shakespearean characters of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern in Tom Stoppard's Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead. This establishment of familiarity is then either immediately or steadily subverted, challenging the audience's understanding of theatrical and narrative norms and confronting them with a dramatic representation of life's inherent absurdity.

Theatre of the Absurd actively rejects conventional notions of narrative, opting instead for chaotic and seemingly nonsensical plots. Characters may react to certain statements or events with uncharacteristic levity or gravity or disregard cause-and-effect altogether. Time and space are typically mutable, ill-defined, or absent. Many plays are cyclical, ending at the same place they began, such as in the case of Eugene Ionesco's The Bald Soprano or Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot, with all preceding action either disregarded, forgotten, or rendered irrelevant by the production's conclusion. Other plays follow the conventional dramatic structure of action rising to a climax. However, the reasons for these rising actions are often unclear or actively inscrutable, such as in Eugene Ionesco's The Chairs and Harold Pinter's The Birthday Party. By the narrative's conclusion, the audience is typically left with a sense of uncertainty, prompting them to examine their own lives for examples of absurdity and existential confusion.

Another important feature of the Theatre of the Absurd is that it does not situate man in a historical, social, or cultural context; it is not merely a commentary on the general condition of human life. Instead, it delineates human condition the way man experiences it. For example, in Waiting for Godot, the tramps have a very blurred sense of time and history. This lack of knowledge of one’s own culture and past symbolizes the breakdown of culture and tradition in the twentieth century.

• Conclusion: 

Absurd theatre is the way that one can find the real essence of the life in practical way and of course theatres were again start to present the change in people’s life during and aftermath of World Wars. Absurdity is very close to Existential philosophy and it relates that why, how, for what and for whom you live. It also leads huge change in narrative techniques in literature. 

Work Citation:

“Absurd.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/absurd. Accessed 9 May. 2022.

Shanna. “20th Century Art Movements with Timeline.” Owlcation, Owlcation, 26 Mar. 2012, owlcation.com/humanities/20th-Century-Art-Movements-with-Timeline. 

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