Actions without benefits in the Chairs of Eugène Ionesco

Abstract EN

The Absurdity, the movement that has followed The Existentialism, represents how the people lived in Europe in general and in France in particular during the second half of the 20th century.

This pessimistic situation that has followed the catastrophe that shocked the world during the first half of this century: the two world wars.

The people had the impression of not being supported by anyone.

They began to question the meaning of their life and why they were victims to these wars.

They have even lost faith by refusing any idea that explains their condition.

Yet they have accepted The absurdity as a movement that isolates life from all meaning.

Neither communication with others nor with God healed them.

Indeed, several writers appeared at that time, they explored and enrich this movement with literary works, including Albert Camus, Samuel Beckett and Eugène Ionesco, whose play Les Chaises is the corpus of this research.

This play has shown the uselessness of people's actions, communications, stories told, and even language.

Ionesco has chosen another language to show its message: it’s the language of the objects.

It is up to the spectators to understand the ideas through the scenery of the stage.

It’s the objects that speak and show the author's idea, and not the story of the play or the sentences of its protagonists.

It’s an image that shows the pessimistic condition of the human in the 20th century.