Existentialism In The Rhinoceros
Rhinoceros by Eugene Ionesco falls under the genre of Absurd theatre, which was a literary movement in drama, popular throughout european countries from the 1940’s to Samuel Beckett’s death in 1989.
Definition of absurd: “Wildly unreasonable, illogical or inappropriate.”
Theatre of the Absurd arose from the doubts and fears surrounding The second world war. WWII essentially left the world in a state of confusion and depression. “The theatre of absurd wanted to show that the world was unintelligible and meaningless” - study.com/academy/lesson/theatre-of-the-absurd.html
“Ionesco said he wrote the play as a response to the widespread conversation of supposedly free-thinking humans to fascist ideas before and during WWII”
Theatre of the absurd
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( this is more present in Ionesco’s other play, “the Bald soprano”.)
The characters are quite existential in nature, hoping to find some meaning in their lives. They often express frustration with deep, philosophical questions.
This particular play is interpreted as a metaphor for the resistance against conformity specifically social and political ideologies like communism and fascism. The play tackles human nature and its inclination towards conformity. The rhinoceros is the symbol for conversion to fascism and conformity and the various characters in their transitions represent different kinds of peoples reactions and relationships with these ideologies however the rhinos can stand for any movement in mass conformity. Ionesco chose the Rhinoceros as a symbol fr this because of its savage and mindless nature.
The main character of the play, Berenger, implies that escaping oneself, or belonging to another group somehow allows the individual to feel as if he is more himself, a better, stronger self.
In a world in which the atrocities of fascism can take a hold of human emotions, Ionesco classifies logic as absurd and inexplicable, beyond human
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