Theatre of absurd in English literature

 

                  The absurd theatre in English literature shows absurd human condition during world war II. Drama portraying the futility and anguish of human struggle in a senseless and inexplicated world. 

 

                    The theatre of the absurd is post world war II designation for particular plays of absurdist fiction written by a number of primarily European playwrights in the late 1950s. It is also a term for style of theatre the play represent. The play focus on ideas of Existentialism and express what happens when human existence lacks meaning or purpose and communication breaks down. The structure of the play is typically a round shape with the finishing point the same as staring point. Logical construction and argument give way to irrational and illogical speech and tothe ultimate conclusion. 

               The British Critic Martin Esslin coined the term eassay " The Theatre of the Absurd" in 1960.

                Albert Camus uses the term in his essay "The Myth of Sisyphus" in 1942. Albert Camus employed the term to describe the futility of human existence, which he compared to the Sisyphus, the figure in the Greek mythology condemned for eternity to push as tone to the top of a mountain only to have it roll back down again.

Esslin wrote about Absurd theatre in his book Absurd Drama:-

The Theatre of the Absurd attacks the comfortable certainties of religious or political orthodoxy. It aims to shock its audience out of complacency, to bring it face to face with the harsh facts of the human situation as these writers see it. But the challenge behind this message is anything but one of despair. It is a challenge to accept the human condition as it is, in all its mystery and absurdity, and to bear it with dignity, nobly, responsibly; precisely because there are no easy solutions to the mysteries of existence, because ultimately man is alone in a meaningless world. The shedding of easy solutions, of comforting illusions, may be painful, but it leaves behind it a sense of freedom and relief. And that is why, in the last resort, the Theatre of the Absurd does not provoke tears of despair but the laughter of liberation.

 

 The important features of the Absurd theatre are according to  given bellow:-

• Meaningless human existence
• Non- realistic characters and situations
• Farce and comedy
• Dream like situations
• Meaningless plot and dialogues
• Irrational things

             Samuel Beckett's "Waiting for Godot" is one of the most effective example of this kind of drama.

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