Two Absurd Playrights and Two Plays: Ionesco (The Lesson), Tardieu (The Useless Courtesy) in the Axis of Existence-Conscious

Abstract

The causes of social, political, economical changes after two great World Wars and lndustrial Revolution have been directly felt in many dimensions in human life. A man as an outcast in the universe has lost his hope for life. His life is unimportant and his death is insignificant. Neither his life nor his death is in his hands. The man, the matter of the existence of whom comes before his ego, finds himself in a big nullity, stiving for overcoming the universe. While he is searching for the significance of his existence, he finds out the fact that he comes before the core of his existence; that is to say that first he exists, then he creats his core. in other words, he becomes a man as he defines and forms. By this way, during the struggle of his making his core, he knows himself, others, and coprehends his life. in the process, he both chooses and is chosen. in the same period it is seen that the existentialist doctrine and absurd theatre have similarities in many respects. By this approach in this study, two important playwrights and two plays representing the absurd theatre betler have been discussed. La Lecon by lonesco and La Politesse Inutile by Tardieu have been analysed with regard to the principles of Existentialist Doctrine.