AccScience Publishing / BIJP / Volume 15 / Issue 1 / DOI: 10.29228/beytulhikme.80614
Cite this article
6
Views
Related Info Links
More by Authors Links
Journal Browser
Volume | Year
Issue
Search
News and Announcements
View All
RESEARCH ARTICLE

On the Existential and Moral Dilemmas of Staying Human in a Rhinocerized World

FİLİZ BAYOĞLU KINA1
Show Less
1 Atatürk Üniversitesi, İnsani Bilimler ve Edebiyat Fakültesi, Felsefe Bölümü 25030, Erzurum, Türkiye
BIJP 2025, 15(1), 163–184; https://doi.org/10.29228/beytulhikme.80614
Received: 5 February 2025 | Published online: 25 March 2025
© 2025 by the Authors. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution -Noncommercial 4.0 International License (CC-by the license) ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ )
Abstract

Eugene Ionesco, one of the most important representatives of the Theatre of the Absurd, emphasizes in his plays the lack of communication between people and the absurdity of the world. Arguing that theology and philosophy cannot explain their reason for existence and cannot convince themselves of the need to give meaning to life, Eugene Ionesco maintains that truth in fiction is more meaningful than everyday reality. For this study, his play Rhinoceros was chosen. The study draws parallels between the rhinoceritis in the play and the creature-like state into which modern people have been transformed, highlighting the difficulty and necessity of staying human (or, more accurately, becoming human). In doing so, he conducts an existential investigation that demonstrates how fanaticism gradually deepens, how dictatorships are formed with everyone's consent, and how people contribute to establishing regimes that will eventually oppress them. As a solution, he points to human consciousness and the existential power to act with that consciousness. Instead of saying, ‘If I don’t do it, someone will certainly do it; what I don’t do, others will do it’, he draws attention to the fact that reality is only in action, in work. Because human; his life consists of the sum of his actions.

Keywords
Eugene Ionesco
rhinoceros
existentialism
ıdeology
becoming human.
References
  1. Abbotson, S. C. W. (2003). Thematic guide to modern drama. Greenwood Press.
  2. Bloom, H. (2005). Dramatists and Drama. Chelsea House.
  3. Camus, A. (2008). Sisifos Söyleni. Can Yayınları.
  4. Dolamore, C. E. J. (1984). Ionesco: “Rhinoceros”. Grant et Cutler.
  5. Emerson, R. W. (2020). İnsanın Görkemi (F. C. Dansuk & P. Öztamur, Çev.). Okuyanus.
  6. Esslin, M. (1960). The Theatre of the Absurd. The Tulane Drama Review, 4(4), 3-15.
  7. Esslin, M. (1999). Absürd Tiyatro (G. Siper, Çev.). Dost Kitabevi.
  8. Hatiboğlu, B. (2023). Eugene Ionesco’nun Gergedanlar Oyunu ve Mine Söğüt’ün Gergedan Hikâyesi Bağlamında Kötülüğün Dönüşümü. Kültür Araştırmaları Dergisi, 18, 87-103.
  9. Ionesco, E. (1996). Toplu oyunları-4 (H. Anamur, Çev.). Mitos Boyut Yayınları.
  10. Ionesco, E. (2020). Notlar ve Karşı Notlar (H. Güven, Çev.). Yapı Kredi Yayınları.
  11. İpşiroğlu, Z. (1978). Uyumsuz Tiyatroda Gerçekçilik. İstanbul Üniversitesi Yayınları.
  12. Kaur, H. (2016). Study of Eugene Ionesco’s Rhinoceros. Academic Deliberations, 1-8.
  13. Kıraç, T. (2023). Bir Söylemin Devamını Yazmak: Ionesco’nun Gergedanlar Adlı Tiyatrosundan Mine Söğüt’ün Gergedan Adlı Hikâye Kitabına Devam Eden Bir Başkalaşımın Hikâyesi Ve Türlerarasılık. Sanat ve İkonografi Dergisi, 5, Article 5. https://doi.org/10.5152/ArtIcon.2023.1320092
  14. Kuçuradi, I. (2009). Çağın Olayları Arasında. Türkiye Felsefe Kurumu Yayınları.
  15. Lane, Nancy. (1994). Understanding Eugène Ionesco. University of South Carolina press.
  16. Özcan, O. (2015). Eugene Ionesco’nun “Gergedanlar” Oyununun Türkçeye Çevirilerinin İncelenmesi. 4th International Conference on Languange and Literature (Uluslararası Dil ve Edebiyat Konferansı) “In Memory of Sami Frasheri” (Şemseddin Sami Hatırasına) Proceedings Book, Hena e Plote Beder University, 484-496.
  17. Sartre, J. P. (2003). Varoluşçuluk (A. Bezirci, Çev.). Say Yayınları.
  18. Thoreau, H. D. (2018). Walden Gölü Ormanda Yaşam (C. Turan, Çev.). Say Yayınları.
  19. Williams, R. (2018). Modern Trajedi (B. Özkul, Çev.). İletişim Yayınları.
  20. Zutshi, M. (2013). Who‘s Afraid of Humans? : Absurdity and Affirmation in Eugène Ionesco‘s Rhinoceros. Lapis-Lazuli -An International Literary Journal (LLILJ), 3(1), 1-12.
Share
Back to top
Beytulhikme An International Journal of Philosophy, Print ISSN: 1303-8303, Published by AccScience Publishing