Analysis Of Existentialism And Absurd Theatre

The ideas of life and death are often questioned and it’s hard to find a way to explain what happens, but the theory of Existentialism and the practice of Absurd Theatre take a look at these ponderings. Existentialism is a philosophical idea that was focused on trying to find life’s purpose and while answering the questions about death and meaning to life that was explored by Tom Stoppard, in his absurd play, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead. Existentialism is a philosophy centered on the analysis of why humans exist and what their purpose is to life through trying to look at things such as the ideas of death and the meaning of life (Existentialism 1). It is centered on the ideas of finding yourself through free will, choice and personal

Absurd theatre was first explored with the ideas of silent film and comedy with actors such as the Marx Brothers and Laurel and Hardy (Ahmed 3). As a result of trauma and the threat of nuclear war after World War Two, the thoughts of absurd theatre became a way of life. (Crabb 2) The people living in the world saw no way out and were looking for answers because life had become meaningless in their eyes. The person that was given credit to starting absurdist plays was created by Martin Esslin but inspired through Albert Camus’s Myth of Sisyphus (Maslin 2). In the Myth of Sisyphus the idea of absurd theatre was presented when the main character had to complete a pointless act with no progression. This reminded people of the life they were living in post war society. Absurd theatre uses no religious dimension but tries to use myth and ritual to bring back meaning into the life that people live (Ahmed 1). Absurd theatre aims to through existential beliefs to break down people’s confidence so they have no sense to who they are and where they belong. The characters are often living in a world of nonsense and have to reestablish their connection with the universe (Ahmed 2). They do this by learning through the decisions they make in life. There are many elements that help make the absurd theatre

It is a behind the scenes look at a viewpoint you don’t get to see during Hamlet. The characters Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are behind the scenes of the story Hamlet and watch the events unfold. They often debate the philosophical questions of free will versus predestination and throughout their debates they are trying to prove absurd questions with existential answers. It was written in 1966, the prime time for existentialists and absurdist’s (Bas 1). Stoppard connected the play to these views in many ways with absurd theatre. His play analyzed the views of human existence, with meaningless communication, while distorting character and tapping into a force that controls everything outside of nature (Bas 2). Stoppard did a very swell job at connecting everything together and making people