The Memorandum is a play overflowing with absurdities, primarily revolving around Gross's problematic memorandum. At the core of this absurdity is the language used in the memorandum. Ptydepe, a constructed language designed to improve office communication, proves to be cumbersome, overly complex, and hard to learn. Only a few office staff members are actually acquainted with it. The absurdity escalates as Gross tries to get the memorandum translated. Bureaucratic red tape creates a catch-22 situation, preventing anyone in the organization’s translation department from assisting him. Someone receiving a memo in Ptydepe can have it translated only after the memorandum itself has been translated, creating a paradox. A similarly perplexing loop occurs when trying to get authorization for translation from the bureaucrats.

Gross attempts to circumvent this issue by attending Lear’s Ptydepe class to have the memorandum translated, but he is expelled from the class for questioning the language, thereby closing another route for translation. Ultimately, Gross gets the memorandum translated by Maria, who does so out of sympathy for him, but she loses her job as a consequence. The play’s absurdities serve as Havel’s critique of the economic system under communism in Czechoslovakia and the broader Eastern Bloc, where employment was guaranteed, but the work often lacked meaning.

In The Memorandum, several characters engage in acts of betrayal and deception, heightening the play's absurd nature. Ballas is particularly relentless in his attempts to undermine his superior, Gross, by constantly betraying and deceiving him. He manipulates Gross's decision to take the bank endorsement rubber stamp home for work as leverage to pressure him into signing a document. Additionally, Ballas hides the fact that he was the one who initially ordered the implementation of Ptydepe without Gross's approval. He also set up a translation center, moved the accounts department to the basement, and instructed all employees, except Gross, to attend Ptydepe classes, effectively sidelining him. Once more, Ballas blackmails Gross into signing a supplementary order for Ptydepe's introduction, which he exploits in another scheme. Despite his manipulations, Ballas experiences some success; although he temporarily loses the managing directorship, he uses his betrayals to secure his position when Gross tries to dismiss him.

Other characters also partake in betrayal and deceit. Pillar collaborates with those at the translation center against Ballas, who in turn accuses Pillar of opposing Ptydepe from the beginning. George, the staff observer, discreetly monitors everyone's actions from his office, strategically located between their workspaces. His surveillance leads to Gross's sole significant deception in the play. George discovers Maria translating Gross's memo and reports it to Ballas. As a result, Ballas orders Maria's dismissal, and Gross does not intervene, even though her translation helped him regain his position as managing director. Betrayal and deceit are central themes in The Memorandum, appearing crucial to its bureaucratic setting.

Gross finds himself ensnared in the machinery of bureaucracy, unable to break free from its hold. When Ballas and Pillar aren't using the complexities of the system to control him, the tedious process of getting his memo's translation approved traps him. He temporarily loses his role until Pillar starts plotting against Ballas. Eventually, Ballas also becomes caught up in the bureaucratic mess and shares Gross's frustration.

The only way Gross can secure the memorandum is by stepping outside the bureaucratic maze. Maria, the secretary at the translation center, eventually takes pity on him and completes the translation. The memorandum praises Gross for his compassionate approach as a bureaucrat. This minor act of rebellion against the system results in Maria's dismissal, yet Gross does nothing to stop it. He offers her...