The Charm Of Ambiguity

Theatre of the Absurd was an important drama school which emerged in 1950s and swept in Europe and the United States in 1960s. By its weird artistic form and obscure and complicated themes, Theatre of the Absurd made the audience and readers of Europe and the United States who had refined artistic tastes infatuated deeply, although they felt stunned at first. Such double impacts also reflected on the unique dramatic language of Theatre of the Absurd. The purpose of this dissertation is trying to comb the unique dramatic language features of Theatre of the Absurd with the paradiam of"ambiguity"which was carried forward by William Empson, a British New Critics.Centering about the thesis of this paper:"the language of Theatre of the Absurd is ambiguous", this dissertation consists of four chapters:ChapterⅠ: a general introduction of the term"ambiguity". This chapter mainly includes the origin of the term"ambiguity"and the evolution of its connotative meanings, the introduction of the famous seven types of ambiguity which was defined by William Empson, and the comparison of the term"ambiguity"and the similar"复义(pluri-signation)"and"朦胧(dim)".ChapterⅡ: specific analysis to the concrete ambiguous dramatic language of Theatre of the Absurd. The quotations selected for analysis mainly came form four classics: Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot, Eugène Ionesco's The Bald Soprano,Harold Pinter's The Dumb Waiter and Edward Albee's The Zoo Story. Those episodes of the context are not arranged by the groups which those inside belong to the same play, but classified them firstly and then illustrate them respectively.ChapterⅢ: the demonstration how those ambiguous dramatic language express the theme of Theatre of the Absurd. The process of expression also can be divided into two aspects: on the one hand, the ambiguous languages can evoke directly the speculation on Theatre of the Absurd to the audience and readers; on the other hand, the ambiguous language of the plays can build a artistic atmosphere in which the audience and readers could receive and understand the serious and profound theme of the plays easier by the means of poeticizing the language and so on.ChapterⅣ: the values and significations of the viewpoint of this paper. It would be insignificant if the purpose of this paper was merely to establish a term"ambiguity"or other likely terms to define the language features of Theatre of the Absurd. In this part, we will connect the multiple perspectives of some numerous modern literature critics and find the unique aesthetic value of"ambiguity", on the basis of the ambiguous features of Theatre of the Absurd.Above all, the ultimate purpose of those Absurd playwrights was not just to make some ambiguous languages, but that they had injected their thoughts on society and life in those languages. Maybe they viewed the ambiguity of languages as the best, the most direct and efficient means to express their ideas. Moreover, by the creative use of the language, those masters such like Beckett, Ionesco,Pinter, etc., have showed us the essential charm of literary language. That is, the charm of ambiguity.