Existentialism
is a concept that became popular during the second World War in
France, and just after it. French playrights have often used the stage to
express their views, and these views came to surface even during a Nazi
occupation. Bernard Shaw got his play "Saint Joan" past the German censors
because it appeared to be very Anti-British. French audiences however
immediately understood the real meaning of the play, and replaced the British
with the Germans. Those sorts of "hidden meanings" were common throughout the
period so that plays would be able to pass censorship.
Existentialism proposes that man is full of anxiety and despare with no meaning
in his life, just simply existing, until he made ...
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Existential movement. Other popular playwrights were Albert Camus,
and Jean Anouilh. Just like Anouilh, Camus accidentally became the spokesman for
the French Underground when he wrote his famous essay, "Le Mythe de Sisyphe" or
"The Myth of Sisyphus". Sisyphus was the man condemned by the gods to roll a
rock to the top of a mountain, only to have it roll back down again. For Camus,
this related heavily to everyday life, and he saw Sisyphus an "absurd" hero,
with a pointless existance. Camus felt that it was necessary to wonder what the
meaning of life was, and that the human being longed for some sense of clarity
in the world, since "if the world were clear, art would not exist". "The Myth of
Sisyphus" became a prototype for existentialism in the theatre, and eventually
The Theatre of the Absurd.
Right after the Second World War, Paris became the theatre capital of the west,
and popularized a new form of surrealistic theatre called "Theatre of the
Absurd". Many historians ...
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Existentialism. (2004, July 23). Retrieved March 26, 2025, from http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Existentialism/11469
"Existentialism." Essayworld.com. Essayworld.com, 23 Jul. 2004. Web. 26 Mar. 2025. <http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Existentialism/11469>
"Existentialism." Essayworld.com. July 23, 2004. Accessed March 26, 2025. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Existentialism/11469.
"Existentialism." Essayworld.com. July 23, 2004. Accessed March 26, 2025. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Existentialism/11469.
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