A study of ionesco's hunger and thirst

Life is a constant struggle between the self and its surroundings, between the material and spiritual planes. The plays of Ionesco are packed with the burlesque and grotesque; the empty chairs in the play The Chairs; the coffee cups in the Victims of Duty, the pieces of furniture in The New Tenant or the eggs in The Future are some of the examples of the comedy of proliferation of Ionesco. Ionesco evolved his own subtle dramatic language with a mission to deform it; the normal speech is replaced by incongruous banalities. His plays are performed as pure pantomime. For instance, his play Exit the King was written in the form of a ballet in the beginning. Ionesco's plays reveal a strong cinematic influence. Ionesco's anti plays are written to explore the identity of the individuals who are confronted with the baffling metaphysical problems of existence. This paper is going to be an intense study of Ionesco's Victims of Duty that gives an overall idea that the protagonist of the play is suffering not because of outer world but because he is in conflict within his own self.