Absurdity forms the cornerstone of Absurdism, weaving a tapestry of chaos in a universe stripped of logic and meaning. Here, the inhabitants flounder in a realm where making rational choices becomes a distant dream, and every action spirals into futility and emptiness.

This concept also breathes life into a multitude of surreal scenarios in Absurdist plays, painting bizarre spectacles like orators lost in a sea of gibberish in The Chairs, a clock chiming seventeen times in the bewildering world of The Bald Soprano, or the astonishing sight of a rhinoceros sauntering across the stage in Rhinocéros.

Within the whimsical chaos and farcical humor of Absurdism, there lies a disturbing thread of cruelty, often unveiled through the exchanges between characters or at times, through stark, violent acts. Pinter's theatrical works are particularly renowned for the latter. In The Room, a chilling scene unfolds as a blind man is savagely attacked. Meanwhile, in The Birthday Party, what starts as a celebration spirals into an intense interrogation and eventually an abduction. Similarly, in The Dumb Waiter, we are introduced to two assassins caught in the web of an apparently arbitrary murder.

Equally unsettling is Ionesco’s The Lesson, where a professor, seething with frustration at his students’ failure to grasp his meaningless lectures, mercilessly slaughters them one by one. Arrabal’s seemingly innocent, childlike characters shockingly engage in horrific acts of torture and murder. On a subtler plane of cruelty is the seemingly humorous banter in Beckett’s Endgame, depicting a master-servant dynamic where Hamm exerts dominance over Clov. Yet, Hamm himself bears the scars of childhood cruelty inflicted by his parents. His father recounts with chilling detachment how young Hamm would wail in fear of the dark, and their method of handling it was, “We let you cry. Then we moved out of earshot, so that we might sleep in peace.”

In the realm of renowned absurdist literature, the dynamic dance between dominator and dominated characters often takes center stage. Some narratives explore this through literal master-servant scenarios, as vividly portrayed in Genet’s The Maids or Beckett’s thought-provoking Endgame.

Other tales delve into the complexities of the master-slave relationship within the confines of matrimony. Consider Albee’s The American Dream, where the overbearing Mommy exerts her will over the feeble Daddy, or the traditional teacher-student dichotomy seen in Ionesco’s intriguing The Lesson.

The Absurdity of Human Endeavor

In the realm of absurdist literature, the notion of human endeavor as an exercise in futility echoes loudly. Adamov’s Ping-Pong offers a stark illustration, as two once-promising students forsake their academic pursuits to immerse themselves in the trivial delight of pinball machines. This theme of powerlessness over one's destiny is also evident in Adamov’s earlier work, La Parodie (1947). Here, we witness the juxtaposition of two characters: one who shuns life entirely and another who embraces it with unabashed exuberance. Yet, in a twist of irony, both share the same inevitable fate.

Vaclav Havel's early plays, such as The Garden Party, unravel the frustrations of ambitious souls thwarted by an unyielding and self-sustaining bureaucracy. Meanwhile, Beckett, through his renowned Waiting for Godot, masterfully illustrates the ultimate insignificance of human effort. His characters, ensnared in inaction, suffer such profound ineptitude that even in their bleak attempt at suicide, they fail—not once, but twice. Their immutable passivity is encapsulated by the iconic closing scenes of both acts, where, despite their resolve to depart, they remain frozen, anchored to their spots on the stage.

In the realm of Absurdist literature, the poignant failure of language to effectively communicate meaning emerges as a...