The theater of the absurd is a literary movement in response to senseless social situations that seemed, to many playwrights and philosophers, as pointless, irrational, illogical, and downright absurd. During a time of military expansion, social upheaval, and religious insecurity, these innovators of modern thought attempted to identify the significant motivators that produced this state of social chaos. The first absurdist works surfaced in theater but soon expanded to include philosophical essays, fiction novels, and even modern film. This essay will endeavor to discover the elements that make up absurdist literature, the religious themes that are addressed in absurdist literature, and the philosophical implications that absurdist authors intend to convey with their writings.
The classification of literature known as absurdism is an abstract notion, referring to, among other things, the style and theme of the work. Martin Esslin summed up this idea eloquently in the essay “Absurdist Drama,” where he states:
A term like the Theatre of the Absurd must therefore be understood as a kind of intellectual shorthand for a complex pattern of similarities in approach, method, and convention, of shared philosophical and artistic premises, whether conscious or subconscious, and of influences from a common store of tradition. (par. 5)
To better understand the theater of the absurd, the authors attributed to this movement must also be considered. Samuel Beckett, like many absurdist writers, often includes overtones of death, suicide, and hopelessness, and as Beckett himself describes as “narration of self-abandonment within an apocalyptic scene” (Cornwell 216). As the protagonists of these stories attempt to come to terms with their inevitable demise, they are faced with concerns of morality, duty, and the persistent struggle of self-realization. Unlike the typical play style of the era, Beckett’s plays contain no witty dialogue, little or no character development, and actions by the players that seem nonsensical. It may seem odd, for example, that Clov, in Becket’s Endgame, feels a strong sense of duty to Hamm and refuses to leave, even though he is so grossly mistreated. This sort of absurd contradiction is a mainstay of absurdist literature. Many absurdist fiction authors also seem to write in response to social events, like war, that greatly impacted their lives. Kurt Vonnegut, known for Cat’s Cradle, participated and was interred as a POW in World War II, and Yossarian, the main character from Joseph Heller’s Catch 22 is a U.S. Air Force pilot in the same war. The point that the authors beautifully displayed in these stories is that: in war, there is no winner. The authors felt that war itself was pointless, but it was part of the human dualistic nature to pursue irrational and illogical endeavors. Weather in play form or novel, the same underlying message of meaningless and irrationality remains prevalent.
In an attempt to understand the moral and ethical source of the social conundrum, these great minds turned their rhetoric and logic on the concept of religion or God. Existentialism, the predominant philosophy attributed to absurdism, has often been at odds with structure and rigidity of organized religion. In the words of Esslin, “the Theatre of the Absurd attacks the comfortable certainties of religious or political orthodoxy” (Esslin, par 30). This does not mean that all absurdist writers and existentialist philosophers are antitheists; Kierkegaard, attributed to being the father of modern existentialism, was an avid Christian and incorporated God into many of his philosophies (Golomb 36). The trouble is in understanding Gods role as it pertains to humanity. The non-existence of God or failure of divine evidence is often a theme of absurdist fiction. In Beckett’s play Waiting for Godot, two men are waiting on a country road for the arrival of a man name Godot. Godot is, according to many literary critics, a representation of God. In this interpretation, the fact that Godot does not appear implies that either God does not exist or that He has abandoned mankind. Esslin too, as Amanda Kelsch states, “acknowledges that Godot could be read as a symbol of God,” but offers deeper philosophical implications as to the meaning behind this unseen character (Kelsch 39). These two men seem to be seeking identity and purpose through this person, but Godot does not ever appear; this therefore illustrates that the pursuit of self-identity cannot be found in some external being, but must be found within one’s self. This leads to the more esoteric religious view demonstrated by Camus in The Rebel. In this essay, Camus claims that “morality is the ultimate aspect of God, which must be destroyed before reconstruction can begin. Then God no longer exists and is no longer responsible for our existence; man must resolve to act, in order to exist” (Camus 34). The concept of God proved to be insufficient evidence to explain the absurd behavior of humans, so the scrutinous lens must be instead turned on mankind.
At first glance, readers may find absurdist literature to be melancholy and depressing. The authors intended for this drowning feeling of anguish to be the starting point of the total journey. Although individuals are bombarded daily by irrational meaninglessness, “through awareness of one’s authentic needs one may organize and refine this chaos into a harmonious, sublimated whole” (Golomb 69). Basically, by identifying the pointlessness of the world, one can then pick out the few things that have real meaning. Absurdism is an observation of the human condition that has been turned into a satire to show the irrational and illogical nature of humans. This is a hard lesson that absurdist authors espouse, not because everything in life is necessarily meaningless, but “because there are no easy solutions to the mysteries of existence, because ultimately man is alone in a meaningless world” (Esslin, par 30).
Absurdism brings to light a new perspective on the human condition. Humanity’s fruitless attempt to bring order to a chaotic universe is futile, but, because of the dualistic and contradictory nature of mankind, is inevitable. This essay has proven through examination of the elements that make up absurdist literature, the religious themes that are addressed in absurdist literature, and the philosophical implications that absurdist authors intend to convey with their writings that the world in which mankind must dwell is irrational, illogical, and completely absurd. This does not excuse, however, humans – being rational beings – accepting senseless social situations. Humanity must endeavor to find morality, identity, and purpose from within.
Works Cited
Beckett, Samuel. “Endgame.” The Norton Anthology of World
Literature. Vol. F. Ed. Sarah Lawall. New York, NY: W. W. Norton & Company Inc., 2002. 2459-87. Print.
Camus, Albert. The Rebel. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., 1956.
Print.
Cornwell, Neil. The Absurd in Literature. Manchester, UK:
Manchester University Press, 2006. Print.
Esslin, Martin. “Absurd Drama.” 1965. Ed. James Saunders.
Penguin Books, 2003. The Samuel Becket On-Line Resources and Links Pages. Web. 29 July 2011.
Golomb, Jacob. In Search of Authenticity: From Kierkegaard to
Camus. London: Routledge, 1995. Print.
Kelsch, Amanda. “Reading Waiting for Godot through the lens of
Christian Existentialism.” Diss. Eastern Michigan University, 2007. Digital Commons @ EMU. Web. 31 July 2011.
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