Four Plays
What is the author's style in Four Plays by Eugene Ionesco?
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Essentially, the point of view of all four of these plays is that taken by the philosophy of absurdism (see "Themes - The Absurdity of Existence"), the belief that the universe and everything that exists within it is governed by principles of randomness. A key component of that belief is the contention that in the midst of the chaotic randomness of day-to-day existence, attempts to create and/or perceive any kind of order or meaning are futile and delusional. This particular aspect of absurdist theory (the desire to assert control) manifests in all four plays in this collection. The Smiths in The Bald Soprano attempt to assert conversational control over their guests, the Professor strives to assert control over the Pupil in The Lesson, Jack attempts to control his destiny in Jack ..., and in The Chairs the Old Man and Old Woman strive to achieve the recognition they both feel the Old Man deserves. Efforts in all four plays ultimately end in failure, thereby manifesting the absurdist point of view - and as described in "Themes - The Absurdity of Existence" all efforts at control result in eventual destruction, of one sort or another. This too can be seen as a manifestation of an essentially absurdist point of view - that ultimately, destruction in the form of various aspects of death (spiritual, physical, emotional) is, perhaps paradoxically, the only certain thing that can be counted on to be consistent in a chaotic world.
Four Plays, BookRags