Absurd Drama in English Literature with Example

Absurd Drama in English Literature with Example

The term ' absurd drama' or what is called ' the theatre of the absurd' sounds somewhat queer. After all, how drama, an imitation of life, can be absurd, for life itself is nothing absurd.

Yet,  this absurd drama is a hard reality in modern theatre, particularly after the 1950s. Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot has opened up the show and its successful progeny has established a secure position for the theatre of the absurd.

'Absurd',  in the literary sense,  means ' out of harmony'. The implication is that the absurd drama is out of harmony with the drama, as it is conventionally staged.  The designation of 'absurd' was given by Albert Camus, ridiculing the situation of a life, where he has simply an entry and an exit.

Camus's denomination resulted in the further interpretation of the position of the modern man in the world with which he is not at all conversant.  The noted literary critic Martin Esslin, recognizing the presence of such strange situations and characters in the theatre of the 1950s, published a powerful treaties ' theatre of the Absurd'  in 1961. He has clearly indicated here what seem to be the actual features of this absurd drama. Metaphysical absurdity in theme and situation,  an aberrant dramatic style, and somewhat strange characters mark the absurd drama.

The theatre of the Absurd was never a formal movement but centered in post-war Paris.  But the absurd group attained an unexpected success with Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot and the Absurd Drama has since then been a vital force in the sphere of modern drama. Other important contributors to the theatre of the absurd drama include Eugene Ionesco,  Arthur Adamov,  Jean Genet,  Edward Albee, and Harold Pinter.   

Background:

The word absurd means bizarre or strange. If you look at the present age, you can see how people are growing up in a complex environment. Some are lonely out of thousands; Instead of healthy thoughts, strange thoughts are waking up in him. These strange or distorted thoughts are mainly presented in the absurd drama. I mean, it's bad to hear, but to put it bluntly, a lot of psycho-type matters.

The dream of the progress of this 'absurd' drama society, which was originally harvested in the aftermath of the Second World War, was erased by the whole people before the Great War. Blood, death, grief, hunger, disease, and terrible cries spread all around. 

As a result, there is a sense of emptiness in Western European and American society, which we call depression. The 'Absurd' drummer was born out of the bad reaction that was created in their political, religious, and philosophical lives.