Introduction

Rhinoceros (1959), by the Romanian-born French playwright Eugène Ionesco (1909-1994), is a scathing indictment of herd mentality. Set in a small town where residents inexplicably turn into rhinoceroses, the play offers a striking metaphor for the psychological forces that lead individuals to surrender to oppressive ideologies like fascism. Ionesco, having witnessed the rise of Nazism, uses this absurd transformation to explore how fanaticism dehumanizes people and strips them of individual freedom.

In the Theater of the Absurd tradition, alongside figures like Samuel Beckett and Harold Pinter, Ionesco employs disjointed dialogue, surreal imagery, and unresolved plotlines to create a disorienting theatrical experience. The bizarre, often humorous, events on stage provoke discomfort, forcing audiences to confront the dangers of conformity and the fragility of personal autonomy.

Plot Summary

In a street café in a small village, Jean, impeccably dressed, sips tea and waits for his friend Berenger. When the unshaven and disheveled Berenger arrives, Jean scolds him for his late-night bar hopping. Berenger, a low-level government clerk, explains his drinking. “I drink not to be frightened anymore.”

Thundering hooves of an approaching rhinoceros suddenly shake the cafe. Among the café patrons only Berenger, bored and nearly asleep, fails to react. “A rhinoceros loose in the town, and you don’t bat an eyelid?” Jean asks. 

As the café calms down, Jean and a local philosophy professor, known as The Logician, debate the construct of a syllogism by using cats. Berenger mocks their arguments.

Daisy, a pretty blonde who works as a typist in Berenger’s office, walks past. Berenger admits his crush on Daisy but knows Daisy admires Dudard, a co-worker a few years older than Berenger with ambitions to be a lawyer.

Another rhinoceros thunders past. This time, it stomps a cat. The horrified townspeople debate whether it is the same rhinoceros and if it has one or two horns, but no one can agree. Tensions rise between Jean and Berenger, leading to an argument before Jean storms off. Berenger orders a double brandy.

A hungover Berenger arrives late to the office. The staff is arguing about whether the rhinoceros reports are real or a hoax, manifestations of “collective psychosis.” Daisy steadfastly asserts she saw the animals.

Mrs. Boeuf, the wife of a co-worker, bursts into the office. Her husband has not appeared that morning, and she is agitated. A rhino chased her from home. A crash is heard downstairs. A rhino is trying to climb the steps. When Mrs. Boeuf runs to the stairway landing, she realizes the rhino is her husband. Wanting to be with her husband, Mrs. Boeuf jumps from the landing and climbs up on her rhino-husband. Together they ride off into the street. The fire department arrives and rescues the staff.

Berenger heads to Jean’s apartment to make amends for their argument. Jean, in bed, does not appear to remember the fight. He complains of a headache and feels a swelling in his nose. He is short with Berenger, and he dismisses their friendship, all friendships, as useless.  “I like being misanthropic.” Berenger tells him how neighbors are morphing into rhinoceroses. “What’s wrong with being a rhinoceros?” Jean asks.

As the two talk, Jean starts to change. His skin turns green, and his nose starts to swell. He attacks Berenger. Berenger traps his friend in the bathroom. He tries to alert the building manager only to find all the building’s residents have transformed. Berenger looks out the window and sees “[a]n army of rhinoceroses, surging up the avenue.”  Berenger feels trapped. He throws himself against the apartment’s cheap wall, breaks through, and runs down the street.

Later...