Existentialism In Western Drama

Existentialism emphasizes the uniqueness and isolation of the individual experience in a hostile or indifferent universe, regards human existence as unexplainable, and stresses freedom of choice and responsibility for the consequences of one 's acts. Existentialism maintains existence precedes essence. This implies that the human being has no essence, no essential self and is no more that what he is. He is only the life is so far he has created and achieved for himself. Superfluity, contingency, alienation, suffering, helplessness, freedom and responsibility, despair and religious spiritual detachment are the themes of existentialism. (reference?)

Sartre, in his major work Being and Nothingness, talks about creating oneself in action. What

In spite of this, we see the influence of western drama in few of his early dramas like ‘Muntasir’ , Jondis O Bibidho , Shongbad Kartoon etc. His early works, he used to say were rather influenced by Sartre and Camus. But with in a very short time, he comes out from the western influence and starts to take elements from Bangali society, their way of life and Chaka is an example of this stage. Though Chaka is written in his later stage of writing career, we cannot avoid the influence of a western philosophy that is existentialism on Chaka if we carefully read out

In spite of this connection, the characters are alienated and we feel a kind of nothingness everywhere. They are searching something but they cannot get it. The author here uses the images of bird, snake, bee and also bull but all these somehow intensify the sad atmosphere, this sadness is strengthen when we see the indifference of wedding ceremony in a house. Baher cart-puller and his companions are alienated not only from society but also from truth, purpose and even from God. When they reach Nayaanpur, no one claims the body. Then the cart-pullers are left in an awkward predicament. They suffer a lot. They do not get a place to rest and also a place where they can cook their meal. They are homeless and they are outcast from the society. That is why Baher screams by saying “হো ও ও খোদা হামাকের মুক্তি নাই* মোরা নেতিয়ে পরমো উপুড় হমো পথের ধুলায় তবু মুক্তি নাই* এই পীরের থানোর গরুর মুক্তি নাই” (Al Deen 32). Human beings cannot feel at home in a world where chaos, death, and suffering are present. In Chaka we see that it is such a kind of society where ‘dattya’(devel) and `mohajon’(feudal master) are