A Study Of Edward Albee's Theatre Of Absurd In His Three Plays

The Theatre of the Absurd has undergone a long tradition, but it is generally regarded as merely the style and hallmark of the European writers like Beckett, Ionesco, Genet and Pinter. When tracing the influence of the Absurd theatre in America theatre, Edward Albee is one of the few who hold the limelight.This thesis studies Albee's style of Theatre of the Absurd with special focus on his three representative plays: The Zoo Story (1958), The American Dream (1960) and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1960). To probe Albee's practice of the Theatre of the Absurd this thesis examines the dramatic techniques in Albee's plays which include the devaluation of language, the existential choice and violence in action, the realistic style of setting, plot and structure and the embodiment of simulation in characterization. Language in Albee's plays is cliches ridden and marked by emptiness and insignificant repetition, which mirrors a void existence. Moreover, reality is often fused with illusion in language, which demonstrates Albee's special concern over the menace of delusion that invades people's perception of reality. Action in Albee's plays carries the teaching of existentialism, and the meaning it realizes through engaging in purposeful action transcends the pessimistic deadlock of the Absurd theatre. Violence in action embodies Artaud's advocating of a "Cruel Theatre" which returns to the theatre the wonder and force of a lost cosmic power-Realistic style of setting, plot and structure betrays the dominance of realism on American theatre. Finally, characterization in Albee's plays illustrates Baudrillard's theory of simulation, which also demonstrates Albee's attack upon the substitution of false values for the real thing.Albee's manipulation of the Theatre of the Absurd continues the tradition of it and enriches its development in American theatre. By wedding the subject matters of the Absurd theatre with realistic techniques Albee succeeds in achieving a balance of the two which is beneficial to the presentation of the themes in his plays.