Theme of Lack of Empathy & Integration in Eugene Ionesco’s, Rhinoceros.

Theme of Lack of Empathy & Integration in Eugene Ionesco’s, Rhinoceros.

The play Rhinoceros depicts the enigmatic & puzzling nature of the human condition concretely and visually. The individual who did not conform is alienated as a single human. Trying circumstances, to choose either conformity or individuality places one in an existential dilemma. It reverts and subverts the traditional, the accepted, and the normalized expectations, showing the futility and void one faces. The present paper shows how dexterously, Ionesco has used integration of form and content, to give this play its strong desired impact. Considering the play from the perspective of Carl Jung’s concepts of Unconscious and Individuation unveils the layers and layers of meanings. The findings of this essay are that Jung’s concepts help link up the playwright’s idea of absurdity, temporal meanings of the play of the sudden proliferation of Fascism & Nazism, (almost synonymous with totalitarianism and dearth of tolerance, for plurality of opinion & expectation of inhuman uniformity in such authoritarian regimes) relevance for us, facing covid-19, & the eternal condition of fragmented humanity, not recovered since World Wars I & II, entangled & confronted with challenges that demand authenticity of taking a stand. In such a chaotic situation, of life of humanity, the pieces of their psyche & social lives are disintegrated and shattered. The disillusionment results in a sense of metaphysical anguish.                                

Keywords 

Allure, Empathy, Individuation, Integration, Metamorphosis, Metaphor, Proliferation, Rhinoceros, Rationality. 

Introduction

It captures the allure & the automatic behavior of characters. Ionesco's intellectual friends and colleagues had conformed to Nazism, which was an unimaginable and irrational act of the majority who shunned responsibility to take a stand against something so inhumane, violent, and prejudiced. The play belongs to the " Theatre of the Absurd."                        

        In an essay on Kafka, Ionesco defined his understanding of the term as follows: 'Absurd is that which is devoid of purpose...Cut off from his religious, metaphysical, and transcendental roots, man is lost; all his actions become senseless, absurd, useless.'(Ionesco.E, no. 20)”.(Esslin.M, p 23). 

           Ionesco wanted to “bludgeon [audiences] into detachment from our daily lives, our habits, and mental laziness, which conceal from us the strangeness of the world. (Hudgson.S, p 8).

[...] Esslin historicizes the growth of the Absurdist movement through miming, Shakespeare, and silent-film comedies, as well as some of the more obviously Modernist influences. Esslin agreed with Ionesco's Absurd, a long-standing tradition, rather than a new genre."(Kemock, kC, p 2). 

Each of the Absurd playwrights had a personal & unique style of their own apart from the prominence of Absurdity in their plays. Samuel Beckett in his play, waiting for Godot, shows absurdity through a different angle.

Philosophical Background  

Rhinoceros by Eugene Ionesco conveys the existential crisis and absurdity of the human condition in a very concrete manner. He shows that man needs to take control of his life. He should not stay at the mercy of circumstances. This is possible by self-reflection, & vigilance, compassion, care & concern towards humanity. It draws attention to the fragmentation of the human psyche. It has the curious fusion of the tragic & comic, Ionesco believed there is an integration of both aspects of life especially if it is a tragedy & if a play is tragic, it has comic aspects as well.                         The title is gripping. The strong thematic concern about the lack of authenticity & the drift toward conformity in various sorts of characters who fell prey to ideological victimization i-e they become victims of the impact of dominant ideology or mass insanity to be more precise, they seem to be spellbound like rats who responded to Piper's tune. His mesmerizing tune helped to rid people of plaque. However, in this play, traditional norms of behavior are subverted and techniques of theatre & its conventions are also altered and innovated into their anti or opposite ones. Rhinoceros is a pioneer of drama of the Theatre of the Absurd, which focused on “lack of harmony, propriety and reason”, & highlighted, ‘incongruity’ using different techniques for this purpose.

Apathetic Behavior

Berenger is an anti-hero. He was an escapist, a dissatisfied sort of a person. His apathetic character made him lose sight of creeping flaws in his fellows and later in the play, it is revealed he should have been a careful person. He presumed others would tackle the issue, which let the metamorphosis go unchecked. He presumed the responsibility of Papillon to resist turning a Rhinoceros. The problem grew in momentum and scale, it turned almost impossible to reverse, as not just a huge majority each and every person was conforming except Berenger. The ending itself poses the question will he be able to keep up to his resolve since his weak will, is a confirmed trait of his character throughout the play.

“Berenger: I am not ambitious at all. I'm content to be what I am" (Act 3, p75).  

However, he is not content about societal degradation and is concerned about them, his metamorphosis is an inner transformation, from an escapist and drunkard, a self-indulging apathetic person to a conscious & empathetic person. But he showed love and concern toward, Jean & Daisy, “Berenger: (alone) I never should have quarreled with Jean. I shouldn't have got into such a rage.!" (Act 1, p 37). The lack of identity in the majority of characters is disappointing. The play ends on a note of uncertainty which gives a real feel of the terror under a crisis when diversity in the individuals is blurred by conformity. The plot is cyclic or circular without climax or resolution and it's not based on cause and effect. The lack of resolution in the plot of the play itself depicts the absurdity of the situation in which characters are caught up.               

Integration| Form & Content                                      

Exploring the play to resolve how “integration”, of the form & content makes this play remarkable and it shows the importance of integration of pieces of psyche in an individual, which helps one to form a meaningful bond with humanity. The play has integration of form & content, in a dexterous manner. The Psychoanalytic theories of Jung also unveil, that Ionesco’s play says something very important about integrating inner pieces of our psyche, man's integration with his fellow beings, and the world in which he has an important role as a unique individual which can be actualized when he is integrated well with other human beings and environment.

Rhinoceros

     "The Stage is a multidimensional medium; it allows the simultaneous use of visual elements, movement, light, and language."(Esslin's.M, p 406).

Lack of Proper Communication

Repetition in the dialogues shows the pointlessness of conversation and lack of proper communication, The expression, "Oh, a  Rhinoceros!", exclaimed by Jean is repeated 6 times on the same page by different characters. (Act 1,p 8) ,& the clichés,  Well of all things is also repeated 6 times on a single page. (Act 1, p 10). Circularity & repetition are a prominent and deliberate feature to depict the pointlessness and void. The lack of proper communication is explicitly shown, where Logician and the old Gentleman converse with each other while Berenger and Jean also converse simultaneously and the interactants do not listen to each other with concern but merely pick up lines from the other conversation going on. This shows their emotional gap, characters are shown as totally devoid of empathy and compassion.( Rhinoceros, Act1 p 21).                

The emotional gulf is depicted to be more tragic than the lack of rationality, which is satirized  & mocked by Ionesco. 

Logician concludes, “Therefore Socrates is a cat”, (p19), as a logical progression of facts that cats die and Socrates is dead. The height of absurdity highlights the utter failure of reason, rationality, and logic to explain or understand life and reality. Ionesco used clichés and repetitions in the play profusely which seems like the meaningless repetition of nationalistic slogans by fanatics, to show the unreliability of language as a means of communication.

Rhinoceros as a metaphor

Rhinoceros is a metaphor for innate savagery & ideologies of authorities that tolerate no opposition or plurality of opinion, like totalitarianism. It subverts the traditional, the accepted, and the normalized expectations, which serves to stimulate the minds & thinking of readers and audience. 

The various techniques unveil the significance of original thinking, going beyond the normalized bent of mind, and multiple perspectives beyond man-made definitions of black & white, right & wrong. contrasts. Need for tolerance and empathy.

Defamiliarization

        Ionesco has used the technique of “defamiliarization”, which means making something strange to foreground or highlight it. Defamiliarization is most conspicuously achieved by the use of the metaphor of Rhinoceros. Jean is shown to be very proud of his superman-like physical strength and energy and he gets enraged if his ideas are opposed or countered, this is clear from his verbal conflict with Berenger in Act 1. He is almost akin to the Nietzschean concept of super-hero, enamored by his physical vigor and virility, considered an exception by the masses. Dotard says to Berenger about Jean's case that you must not take exceptions to generalize. After his physical metamorphosis into a Rhinoceros, Jean says to Berenger with whom as a human being he was talking moments ago, 

    “I’ll trample you. I’ll trample you down"(Act 2, scene ii, p 69).                              

 Only Jeans' metamorphosis is presented on the stage. These are not familiar happenings in this world. The scene is about 13 and a half pages long. In the brackets Ionesco wrote, “[Berenger stops short, for Jean's appearance is truly alarming, Jean has become, in fact, completely green. The bump in his forehead is practically a rhinoceros horn]” (Act 2, Sc ii, p 68).

Rhinocerization is a metaphor for nationalistic fervor, enthusiasm, and 'fanatic nationalism ' as Russell says, it means going blind with nationalistic slogans which are political in reality but the masses don’t get it.

By the end of the 1930s, what Eliade fearfully termed ‘the time when we will no longer be free to do what we wish’ had arrived. War covered the globe, shattering accepted social norms and moral codes, including the laws of friendship. What Ionesco famously labeled ‘rhinocerization' trumped previous existing individual loyalties and the joint effort to create culture. (Bejan.C. A, p 59).

The Plaque

The plaque of rhinoceritis can be any sort of mob insanity, mass hysteria or collective failure to act vigilantly. Repression to an earlier stage of identity in the masses, allured and mesmerized by the primal energy and force attained by metamorphosis into rhinos. A relief from the hectic routine in an easy indulged manner. The majority in this play is revealed to be puppets & slaves. The trying circumstances and crises in the outer world reveal their hollowness. They give up to the temptation of excess they lack restraint and get allured by the dark primeval energy of the rhinos, like Kurtz in The Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad, the majority is devoid of the inner core of values, they cannot help being, mesmerized and allured by the charm of becoming something mighty, powerful and fearful. They follow their herd instinct, and to secure their individual interests as their social superiors have conformed, they would follow in their footsteps. 

Dotard: “I feel it’s my duty to stick to my employers and my friends, through thick and thin” (Act 3, p 93). 

They all rationalize their decision to conform by inventing different reasons, which shows they have misdirected their thinking capabilities.       

The Breakdown of the Fourth Wall          

The breakdown of the fourth wall blurs the line between the play on the stage and the audience watching them suggesting that the play and reality of people watching are interlinked and not separated. It also stimulates the audience to think about the fragmentary nature of their existence. In the stages setting just Rhinoceros' heads are used to convey the impact, by the use of metonymy, representing the whole by its part.

Proliferation    

    The motif of proliferation is also used in this play as in the play, The Chairs by Ionesco, the increase in the number of empty chairs is used purposefully. In Rhinoceros, the quick proliferation & exponential increase in rhinoceroses is a metaphor of mass conformation & its overwhelming sense is conveyed by the increased number of the beasts until just one man is left & a stampede of Rhinoceroses is ruining buildings. Congestion & suffocation are produced in this way on the stage. A critic quotes in her journal, Martin Esslin’s remark about Ionesco, “Ionesco’s " horror of proliferation[...]expresses the individual's horror at being confronted with the task of coping with the world, his solitude in the fact of its monstrous size and duration". (The Theatre of the Absurd ,147)" (Zutschi.M, p 8)

The setting also shifts from a public cafe to a journalist’s office to Berenger's apartment. So, one can see elements of congestion and confining. It can also contrast openness with isolation. 

In this play, Rhinoceritis is an epidemic, a contagious disease capable of causing mental mutation in its victim. It is shown creeping into the social fabric of the society and the psyche of the people, who gradually take it to be normal Rhinoceros's physical presence is shocking for the people initially but they become a normality as the play advances to an extent that Daisy is convinced that Rhinos are fascinating.       

Exaggeration                    

         Exaggeration is a motif as well as a theme in this play. This incident of Berenger trying to draw an analogy between them and Adam and Eve, as creators of the race of mankind, also shows exaggerating something to make it seem meaningless. She succumbs to the temptation of rhinos & says Berenger's idea of love for humanity doesn't interest her and his love for her is silly since it's based on human weakness. She leaves him a few moments earlier she was thinking of spending her life with him.

   The emotional gap b/w their souls makes Berenger shrink away from her and this thing psychologically frees him, his moral transformation is about to reach its peak when towards the end of the play this drunkard man whom Jean said in Act 1, 

“it's not the same thing for you and me, I am not a drunkard”. 

Berenger’s interaction with Jean and Daisy shows the futility of human relationships & the lack of genuine affection in friendship and love. Jean also said to Berenger,              

“Jean: Don’t talk to me about mankind.

Jean: Yes, I am a misanthrope, very misanthropic indeed. I like being misanthropic." (Act 2, scene ii, p 64).

Biases & Prejudices

Biases & prejudices, the prevalent diseases in Ionesco's contemporary society are also presented vividly through the dialogues of various characters & their pointless discussions in the play. Debate about Rhinoceroses being African or Asian shows they are racist. It satirizes in a metaphorical & veiled manner how Nazis under Hitler's dictatorship exterminated Jews in mass shootings and they were labeled to be like Asians. People cherished grudges and biases based on race and ethnicity, and Ionesco satirizes biased behavior in his play.

     “Berenger: Asiatic people are the same as everyone else.

       Jean: They are yellow.!

      Berenger: [to Jean]: Whatever they are, you are bright red!” (Act 1, p 31)  

     “Daisy: You both were wrong!” (p 32)     

Inner Conflict

Berenger resisted conforming, he was dissatisfied with the mechanical life, he mostly felt tired which Jean said was the "drinkers’ gloom”, he was used to skipping his sleep & getting up late in the morning. Berenger: I don't like the taste of alcohol much. And yet if I don't drink, I 'am frightened and so I drink not to be frightened any longer, further, he says in reply to Jean's question, "Frightened of what? (Jean), I don't know exactly. It's a sort of metaphysical anguish difficult to describe. I feel out of place in life, among people and so I take to drink. They calm me down and relax me so I can forget. "Jean: You try to escape from yourself! / Berenger: I'm so tired, I've been tried for years. It's exhausting to drag the weight of my own body about. (Act 1, p 17)

“Jean: That's alcoholic neurasthenia, drinker's gloom.  

Berenger: [...]I don't know if I am me. The soon as I take a drink the lead slips away and I recognize myself, I become me again “. (Act 1, p 18).

He is facing inner conflict from the beginning of the play. He gets no solace in solitude, not even in the company of people, genuine human connection is what he yearns for. “Solitude seems to oppress me and so does the company of other people."(Ionesco, Rhinoceros, Act 1, p 19). He was going through an existential dilemma, a crisis of identity, and deeply felt his metaphorical sense of loneliness and anguish and isolation.

"Kafka's short story about metamorphosis into a beetle and Ionesco's Rhinoceros are literary examples, Adorno advances to demonstrate allegorically the repression of the ego to an earlier stage of development.” (Fruchtl.J, p 164)

Botard doesn't believe that Rhinoceros really exist, he is reluctant to accept metamorphosis as a reality & he accuses Southern people of being too imaginative and they create myths & fantasies, as he is a Northerner he doesn't give away to such whims. He despises religion, and he criticizes a lack of clear thinking among university intellectuals, who get no encouragement for practical observation. He thinks that transformation into Rhinoceroses is based on collective psychosis. His metamorphosis into a rhino, therefore leaves the remaining characters, Dotard, Daisy & Berenger perplexed. His following dialogues are significant as far as psychological perspective is concerned,

"Botard: (to Dotard) An example of collective psychosis, Mr. Dotard. Just like religion--the opiate of the people!"(Act 2, scene i, p 45)

Papillon: [firmly] That's quite enough. There’s been enough gossip! Rhinoceros or no rhinoceros, saucers or no saucers, work must go on! You're not paid to waste your time arguing about real or imaginary animals." (Act2, Sc i, p 45)

Dotard: Real! / Daisy: Very real! " (Act 2, Sc I, p 45).      

  "A being of the human type is "authentic”, not because it possesses something like a substantive attribute, but because (and to the extent that) it "realizes" and "creates", itself in its life-history."(Fruchtl.J, p 165)                            

Berenger is neither an intellectual nor logical crazy person as Jean believes him to be 'without brain', he has a soft corner for Daisy, has got some intuitiveness & yearns to become heroic like Jean, his friend who humiliates him, considering his uncivilized habits & behavior a Shame. Jean advised him to become a bit cultured by watching plays of Ionesco. His alienation here results ironically from his compassion. The disillusionment dawns on him as the play proceeds & approaches the ending. His expectations of himself and Daisy are comically exaggerated and he is left alone in front of the mirror, and he faces a dilemma but resolves not to conform but to fight against the whole lot of people who turned into rhinos. The tendency to get overwhelmed by the group psyche or to get submerged by it is conveyed concretely in the play. People become influenced by the social pull, that urge to fit in, and they lose the sense of individual responsibility.                     

“Berenger: I’m beginning to see daylight”. (Act 3, p 75).

 "Human personality is not individual only, it is also collective" and we need contact with others.” (Jung ,1970, p 1887).

Manipulation of Biases and Discriminations 

The German manipulation of biases and discriminations based on moral, ethnic & religious superiority, deeming Germans as Aryans or superior race. 'Aryanism reached its peak of influence in Nazi Germany, where it was used to justify discrimination against minorities, which eventually culminated in the Holocaust.'(Wikipedia)            

The awakening of Berenger however comes too late. He suffers like a hermit who got the worst punishment for not taking initiative & responsibility for the common people's straying from the right path. Berenger realized that one must take a stand for the of whole humanity in such a situation.                                                                                          

 "Jean: You Asiatic Mangol!” (p 30)

In the Second World War, the Britons, the then rulers used our religious institutions as a propaganda tool against the Germans. The arguments presented by the British’s sponsored religious scholars to mold public opinion in favor of England against Germany was that the Britons belonged to Godly religion while the Germans were communist and atheist. The formers were better as they believed in the unity of God. (Usama Sherazi.S).                         

  “Berenger: (to Jean) I've got no horns. And I never will have."(Act 1, p30).

After seeing Jean's physical transformation into a green-colored rhino, Berenger tries to save his life to escape, the ending of Act 2, the second scene is like,                

[He goes once more to the various exits, but the spectacle of the Rhinoceros halts hum... Berenger throws himself against the back wall, which yields, the street is visible in the background; he flees, shouting:] Rhinoceros! Rhinoceros!"(Act 2, Sc ii, p 71).

Integration of the Conscious and the Unconscious

The process of self-actualization is achieved by integrating, the conscious and the unconscious. The Self, (The Handbook of Jungian …) means, the unification of an individual's ego, personal and collective unconsciousness. Not quite dissimilar to the modern man, a majority in the play wears a mask, they present a persona, in their social interaction & the tearing of this mask is required to initiate the process of Individuation. The anti-hero, Berenger wears no mask, but his personality is not in keeping with the standards & norms of society, he openly admits to Jean his usual lack of stamina, motivation & energy, that he finds his job boring. So, the first step up this ladder had already been ascended by him. He has accepted his shadow, the negative or weaker sides of his being of which most people are ashamed. He asked for a remedy from a fake, mentor Jean.

Nonsense                                

     Jean: You don't exist, my dear Berenger, because you don't think, start thinking, then you will. (Act1, p19) and the Logician in an ongoing conversation, at the same moment concludes, 

“Therefore Socrates is a cat" (p 19). The standard to gauge “thinking”, is aptly presented as nonsense.

In the scene with Daisy, (Act 3) he expresses his passion and love for her, his personality is naturally open, and he has not repressed the other feminine traits within him. The Anima and Animus both sides are within all of us, the traits that society labels masculine or feminine become suppressed in the opposite gender and lead to such disaster that people shun parts of their true being, out of necessity to become socially acceptable. Which also need not be repressed for our self-actualization journey. Coleridge said, "A great mind has two (both) poles in it. (It is bisexual)". All minds are, only those who express & unify both poles, can reach their potential. Here misery is, the character who undergoes Individuation and seems not quite gifted, capable, or possessing the potential of a great leader. But it is hopeful for Everyman, who Berenger represents that an authentic life is not beyond the reach of all of us. 

     “Dotard: No there is no bump as far as I can see.” / “Berenger: I hope there never will be. Never.” (Act 3, p 73).  

 Social Outcasts    

 The artists and insightful people are also like social outcasts because of their broad vision. They keep trying to lift the veil from the eyes of the masses. 

“The conception of drama, expressing the theories and attitudes of the Playwrights in opposition to those of the great majority of men of his time, marks the early modern dramatist as an embattled revolutionary, seeking to change men's minds and hearts as well as their institutions and laws. (Nicolle. A)"(Khan. A, p 8).                                       

“Berenger: It would be a labor of Hercules far beyond me”. (Act 3, p 106).            

“Berenger: People who try to hang on to individuality always come to a bad end! ...Oh well, too bad! I’ll take on the whole lot of them! I’ll put up a fight against the lot of them, the whole lot of them! I’m the last man left, and I’m staying that way until the end. I’m not capitulating!” (Act 3, p 107).                        

  The characters hardly reach the third stage of Individuation, though Berenger certainly avoided going back to an earlier primeval stage, of losing his identity. He shows a leap in the forward direction, and his empathy enabled him to do so. The anti-hero proceeds toward Individuation, the crisis acts like a melting pot or crucible for Berenger. The general dissociation & disintegration are seen in all characters, the majority leaned to rationalize their instinctive response. The lack of intellectuality up to the social criteria of his time & absence of social acceptance as someone significant, by the masses who idolize superficial charm which was absent from his personality, are the causes of the incapability of Berenger to lead them & motivate them. But his compassion certainly adds a profound significance to his characters.   

Empathy & Will to Face Death

Here, even if Berenger stands alone, his own fate is uncertain, he is literally facing death, as he is depicted as a single human being among the beasts. “To be fully human, according to Kierkegaard, is to be fully open to the reality of death."(Mitchell, Giles, p. 23). But his initiative to take a stand, to realize the deeper bonds between humanity & responsibility to leave this world a better place, & save the human race from looming extinction. He felt this thing from his intuition that to resist is what is authentic. Berenger resolved to resist, despite utter alienation & loneliness, since he never felt any genuine connection and his soul was hungry for compassion.

“Dudard: Then face the face and get over it. This is the situation and there’s nothing you can do about it.

Berenger: That’s fatalism.” (Act 3, p79)

Berenger: […] I shall apply for an audience with the mayor and his deputy […]

Dudard: You leave the authorities to act as they think best.

Berenger: We must attack the evil at the roots.

[…] Berenger: I believe in international solidarity. (p 80)

 The betrayal that he faces from his friends, especially from Jean, & from his beloved Daisy, is symbolic of the betrayal Everyman faces living in modern society, where compassion is missing from human relationships. Berenger weaver's but he resolved in the ending, He looks at some past photographs, to alleviate the loneliness. The information in the brackets is that the picture he hangs against the rhinoceros' heads against the wall is, of an old man, an old woman, and another man. Perhaps he envisions himself to have grown a lot in a short span of his life, from Jean's metamorphosis, Daisy's betrayal, and the collective malady in his neighborhood which has spread as far as the telephonic communication, the numbers of authorities he had approached & was waiting for a positive response, the bell rings, Daisy asks him to ignore it, and he was shocked when she picked it up, there was too much noise, rhinoceros’ voices were heard in the background phone also. Thinking of his aging, he ponders he could have become charming, the inferiority complex soon leaves him and he resolves to commit and retain his humanity despite the apparent flaws and isolation.

Berenger: “I'll put up a fight against the lot of them, the whole lot of them” (p. 107). The play ends when Berenger says, "I am not capitulating". (p. 107). 

Earlier, in Act 3, when he says, "I feel responsible for everything that happens. I feel involved, I just can't be indifferent. (Act 3, p. 78). 

This line shows his soul is basically naive and empathetic. 

For Whom the Bell Tolls

These lines echo Robert Jordon’s feelings at the end of the novel, For Whom the Bell Tolls, written by Ernest Hemingway. The protagonist realizes that by fighting for fascism he misses the point, he got used up by political authorities in his confrontation with his opponent when both of them know nothing about each other. But fighting for their national slogans they were about to shoot & kill each other. The death bell was tolling for both of them.                  

In the play Rhinoceros, the lines, "I feel responsible for everything that happens. I feel involved, I just can't be indifferent.” (Act 3, p78)  by Berenger relate to the particular sense of involvement which led Ionesco to write this play. He considered it his duty to write this play. 

A caricature of Cioran

The character of Logician is a caricature of Cioran, who said that "logic" demanded that Romania should be purged of Jews. The massacre of people based on religious & ethnic discrimination. They slaughtered disabled people & many weaker people as well. The play can be said, a slap on the face of people who succumbed to Nazism. It is also an excellent social critique of the dangers of collectivized ideologies and following them blindly to shun the responsibility of facing reality. The majority are of weak moral fabric and little stamina and nerves to take a stand against something absurd and ridiculous succumb and go with the flow and pose no resistance at all. The play also becomes a" universal parable " as a critique remarked. 

The social conflict

The social conflict depicted in the play is perpetually present in our life. It also presents the basic dilemma, Everyman faces in a crisis, when a challenge or a riddle is offered to him by life, he can face it only if he is self-conscious and capable of thinking authentically to decide when it's appropriate not to conform to the majority, authorities or any kind of circumstances and to take a stand against such things.                     

The Plaque, The Pandemic & Epidemic

The contagious pandemic covid-19 and the contagion of the mind, Rhinoceritis depicted in the play Rhinoceros, can be easily related to each other. The contagion of mind is made visual by the use of poetic images and metaphor, the congestion and suffocation increase as the play proceeds to its end. We can perceive so many contagious diseases of mind & soul, that we were suffering apart from the current pandemic.

"The human defense system is built in two lines. One is the immune system which comprises of different organs, cells, and chemicals that fight and kill foreign attackers. The other is the human psychological system that constantly gives motivation to the former in the fight against the Invaders."(Usama Sherazi.S).   

    “Dudard: There’s still the epidemic theory. Its like influenza, its not the first time there’s been an epidemic”. (Act 3 pp 75), the play is set in 1930, here through Dudard, Ionesco might be alluding to Spanish flu, which had hit a large part of the world's population in the wake of World War I, killing up to 50 million people, according to the CDC. Later as the conversation goes on,

Berenger: But it’s bound to have certain after-effects! An organic upheaval like that can’t help but leave […]                     

Dudard: Its only temporary, don’t you worry.  

Berenger: Are you absolutely certain.       

Dudard: I think so, yes, I suppose so. (Act 3, p 76).

And working these days to earn a living, the employers need not to be like Papillion. They must be considerate and concerned with the gravity of the situation. 

“Papillon: [firmly] That's quite enough. There's been enough gossip! Rhinoceros or no rhinoceros, saucers or no saucers, work must go on! You're not paid to waste your time arguing about real or imaginary animals."(Act2, Sc i, p 45)

Quickly Propagating News

Secondly, quickly propagating news without making sure of their authenticity by journalists and mass media. And also, by the majority of common people on social media. It is a epidemic humanity is suffering really badly. The influence of Indian culture is also such a contagious disease that the masses are not able to discern the absurdity of useless rituals and customs they have added to Islam. Misinformation regarding the spread of the diseases and quack-like remedies circulate, they get viral & misguide people, spread panic, such herd-like acts, influence people to weaken their will & psychological defense mechanism, the hormones released under stress and make our immune system weaker. 

Jung's insight that one can build psychological strength and consequently immunity and will to face and fight sickness instead of going blind herd-like manner and so become an agent of spreading panic through utter lack of sense of responsibility for the consequences of our actions, makes the interpretation of the play crystal clear and also its coincidental link with current situation, of humanity fighting against Covid-19. Ionesco's play, Rhinoceros, is certainly full of insightful and illuminating thoughts lifting the veil of ignorance effectively, persuades toward an empathetic and compassionate attitude to stay strong from inward psychological make-up, not to give up on blindly following something which seems alluring, most often such things are a snare.

         "This pandemic might be a harbinger of something good if we reform our religious institutions and make them a source of enlightenment rather than a source of hatred and prejudices"(Usman Sherazi.S.)

          It is revealed we can fight anything threatening, uniting with one another as we & not me, putting aside fears and biases. The idea of metaphorical loneliness, and the metaphysical anguish it brings are depicted aptly as the absurdity of the human condition. The current isolation for concern for humanity. The congested and degraded environment led the urbanized cities & countries to suffer more, while the list of some top countries not affected by the viral disease; includes those pieces of planet Earth that are less devastated by urbanization.       

Conclusion         

        One needs to face the tough situation with integrity. To emerge as a stronger version of oneself one needs to realize the significance of emotional connection & compassion, of realizing that we can fight it, as "we" and not as you and I. The time of isolation must let us connect more deeply with "our religious, metaphysical and transcendental roots ", to live meaningfully knowing to keep on trying to work for the common good of humanity on an international level without marginalizing “others”, to shun discrimination instead of shunning responsibility to take a stand and assert ourselves with authenticity demands. The play has several layers and layers of meanings and many interpretations are possible, I have tried to fulfill the aim I had set to find how "integration”, works on many levels in the thought-provoking play Rhinoceros. Taking a stand against mass insanity needs a lot of guts, intuition, and authenticity. The exploration of the technique of integration of form and content, & a tiny portion of the deep insights of Carl Jung's Psychoanalytic concepts unveil the merit of this play- as a remarkable artistic work and its meanings become more lucid. Such a concrete explanation of the human condition by poetic images is an impressive and gripping feature of the Theatre of Absurd Plays, however, it is made clear that Ionesco’s unique personal insights certainly add more dimensions and profundity to his play. 

Recommended: 

Online Mental Health Therapy

Works Cited

Primary Sources

Esslin.Martin, “Theatre of the Absurd, an Introduction”, Absurdity of the Absurd.3rd Pelican Edition, (1978) pp19-28.

Esslin.Martin, “Theatre of the Absurd”, Significance of the Absurd.3rd Pelican Edition, (1978) pp399-426. 

Fruchtl.Josef, “The Aphorism as a Stylistic and Epistemological Ideal: Theodor. Adorno and Nothing Straub, in Literature and Philosophy, Cranes.H, (Ed.), Guldi Drucj GmbH, Tubigen, Germany, ISSN 0723-0338, vol113, pp 162-172).

Hauke.Christopher, “The unconscious: personal and collective”, The Handbook of Jungian Psychology, Theory, practice and applications, Papadopoulos. K.R.(ed.), Routledge, London and New York, 2006.p 54_73

Ionesco, Eugene,” Rhinoceros and Other Plays”, Pdf, Translated by Derek Prouse, First Evergreen Edition, Grove Press, INC, New York,1960, pp 1-112.    

Jung. Carl. G, “Civilization in Transition”, Collected Works 10, Princeton University Press., Princeton,1970, p 1887. 

Kemock.kClare, “Rhinoceros in 2006: A Dramaturgical Analysis of Eugene Ionesco's Rhinoceros”, Department of Theatre, Miami University, Oxford, OH, 2007, pp 1_35.

Stein.Murray, “Individuation” in Handbook of Jungian Psychology, Theory, practice and applications, Papadopoulos. K.R. (ed.) Routledge, London and New York, 2006.p 196-214.

Secondary Sources

Abdi.Marwan.M, “Eugene Ionesco's Experimentalism and Avant-Garde Approaches in Rhinoceros”. International Journal of Humanities and Cultural Studies, Cihan University/Duhok, Kurdistan Region, Iraq, 2017, vol 4. 

Anne.Holloway. Q, “Excess and Identity: The Franco-Romanian Ionesco Combats Rhinoceritis” South Central Review,24(3); p 36.

Bejan, Cristina.," Rhinocerization: Political Activity and Allegiances of the Young Generation", in Intellectuals and Fascism in Interwar Romania. Modernity, Memory and Identity in South-East Europe, Google Scholar, Palgrave Macmillan, Cham, (2019), p 211, Doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-20165-4_7.

Craddock. George.E. Jr, “The Concept of 'Identity' in the Theater of Eugene Ionesco”, 1966.LSU, Historical Dissertation and Theses.1116. https://digitalcommons.Isu.edu/gradeschool-disstheses/1116 

Ibsen. Henrik, “The Task of the Poet”, translated by Every Sprinchorn, in Playwrights on Playwriting, From Ibsen to Ionesco, By Toby Come, Rowman & Littlefield, An Independent Publisher for the 21st Century, Cooper Square Press, (p. 4). 

Kaur.Harwinder, “Authenticity vs Conformity: An Existential Study of Eugene Ionesco's Rhinoceros”, Unlocking Academic Achievements, Deliberations Heads Above the Rest, Dept of English Kurukshetra University, Haryana India,2016, ISSN: 2348 5833.

Khan. Asifa, “Techniques in Modern Drama, A Study of Theatrical Techniques in Modern Drama with particular reference to Pirandello, Brecht and Albee”, Department of English Aligarh Muslim University Aligarh-202002, India, 2013, (Chapter 1, pp 14-19)

MacKinnon.P, Bielstein. J, “Rhionceros, Words on Plays: Insight into the play, the playwright, and the production”, Hodgson.S, (ed.) A.C.T. (American Conservatory Theatre), A Non-Profit Organization. XXV, No. 7, p 1-48. 

Mitchell, Giles, "T.S. Eliot’s, ‘The Waste Land’: Death, Fear, Apathy and Dehumanization”, Jstor.org, vol.43, No.1, (Spring,1986) The John Hopkins University Press, p 23.

Usama, Shirazi.S., "Coronavirus in Pakistan: Will ignorance & illiteracy let us fight it? “in Global Village Space | News Web Portal, (March,26,2020). doi:https://www.globalvillagespace.com/will-ignorance-illiteracy-let-us-fight-coronavirus-in-pakistan/

Zutshi.Monica, “Who's Afraid of Humans? Absurdity and Affirmation in Eugene Ionesco’s Rhinoceros”, in Lapis an International Literary Journal (LLILJ), Vol.3/ No.1/spring2013, ISSN 2249-4529, pp 1-11.