Four Plays
Who is The Orator from Four Plays and what is their importance?
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The Orator serves as a manifestation of the absurdist contention that nothing a human being wants and/or expects can or will turn out the way that's wanted or expected. When stage directions portray the Orator specifically as being as unrealistically represented as possible, the author is suggesting that human expectations are themselves unrealistic, that when expectations become reality they are inherently disappointing simply because they're never enough. The irony, of course, is that the Old Man and Woman convince themselves that the Orator is exactly who/what they've longed for and deserve. This is, of course, a delusion, the same kind of thing as their belief in their invisible guests (see below), and also a variation on one of the central thematic points of all four plays - that the veneer of civilization and/or of order is ultimately destructive.
Four Plays