Theatre of Absurd in Samuel Buckett Novels

Abstract

 Theatre of Absurd is mainly a Western phenomenon, this term coined by the English critic Martin Esslin in his 1961 book Theater of Absurd and subsequently associated with the styles of many playwrights, like Samuel Beckett, Edward Albee, Eugène Ionesco, Jean Tardieu and Harold Pinter. During the 1940s-1960s, this distinct style of drama was written largely by the European playwrights with spreading its popularity beyond France. By rebelling against theatrical traditions, the ‘Theater of the Absurd’ is shaping the characters in an absurd sense to reveal their pessimistic outlook toward life and society. This absurdity arose in the life and society at that time for several reasons and due to socio-political changes, the West was more inclined to scientific temperament which resulted in growing disbelief toward God and religion. As a consequence, the so-called Darwinism emerged with two World Wars totally changing the human concept of the world as a safe place (Abraham, 2009). Due to all these events, a major transformation took place in the society with sensing the difficulty to communicate human’s ideas and sensibilities properly. The Theater of Absurd and Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot, and Bidal Sarcar's Evam Indrajit. The most stunning thing about these plays of this social event is that in spite of their opposing of the rules they are productive. Both Waiting for Godot and Evam Indrijat, symbolize the hollowness, avoid and articulate futility with purposeless and meaningless existence. In both plays the group of onlookers do not appear to get a handle on anything critical, important, or conventional and plays have no sensible or intelligible plot. With its significant presence in the premodern world, theater vibrantly expresses human experience and different scenario of human life. This strongest medium is immensely popular on the global platform of drama for not only representing the world but also for its societal transformation power within its structures of consciousness. The word theater is derived from the Greek word ‘theatre on’ which signifies ‘a place for seeing’ that consistently searching the meaning of life. As a participatory ritual, theatrical experience formulates a strong interface between the actor and spectator by cyclic interchange of reactions.