full title ·  Rhinoceros author ·  Eugène Ionescotype of work ·  Dramagenre ·  Absurdist drama/comedylanguage ·  Frenchtime and place written ·  Paris, 1959date of first production ·  Paris, 1960publisher ·  Grove Pressnarrator ·  No narrator; dramaclimax ·  The climax is delivered in the final line of the play, when Berenger decides to fight the

rhinocerosesprotagonist ·  Berengerantagonist ·  The rhinocerosessetting (time) ·  Modern daysetting (place) ·  A small townpoint of view · As it is a play, there is no distinct point of view, but the audience sides with

Berenger, the only person who sees through the rhinoceroses. However, Ionesco has the rhinoceroses grow more beautiful by the end to represent the changing perceptions of the remaining humans (such as Daisy), a fact that the audience cannot ignore.

falling action ·  There is no falling action; the curtain closes on Berenger's climactic decisiontense ·  Play; present tenseforeshadowing · Berenger and Jean both show oppositions of character in relation to will (Berenger

is more responsible and committed than one might think, Jean less so).tone ·  Absurdly comic, philosophicalthemes ·  Will and responsibility; absurdity and logic; fascismmotifs ·  Bourgeois alienation; escapism; harm/violencesymbols ·  Rhinoceroses

ContextEugène Ionesco was one of the major figures in the Theatre of the Absurd, the French dramatic

movement of the 1940s and 50s that emphasized the absurdity of the modern condition as defined by existential thinkers like Jean-Paul Sartre. The existentialists followed Soren Kierkegaard's dictum that "existence precedes essence" – that is, that man is born into the world without a purpose, and that he must commit himself to a cause for his life to have meaning. Absurdity and purposelessness frames Rhinoceros, which is a study of a single man's transformation, from apathy to responsibility, as the world around him descends into violence and greater levels of absurdity.

Born in Romania in 1912, Ionesco spent his childhood in Paris until his family returned to its homeland. Ionesco quickly developed a hatred for Romania's conservatism and anti-Semitism and, after winning an academic scholarship, returned to France in 1938 to write a thesis. There, he met anti-establishment writers such as Raymond Queneau. He lived in Marseille during World War II. His first play, The Bald Soprano (1950), a one-act piece that borrowed its phrasing from English language-instruction books, garnered little public attention but earned Ionesco respect among the Parisian avant-garde and helped inspire the Theatre of the Absurd.

Spearheaded by Samuel Beckett and other dramatists living in Paris, the Theatre of the Absurd emphasized the absurdity of a world that could not be explained by logic. The Absurdists' other major

themes focused on alienation, the specter of death, and the bourgeois mores that, they felt, had displaced the significance of love and humanity in exchange for a diligent work ethic. In the character of Berenger, a semi-autobiographical persona who figures in several of Ionesco's plays, Ionesco portrays the modern man trapped in an office, engaged in shallow relationships, and escaping with alcohol from a world he does not understand. Yet this is all presented in the Theatre of the Absurd's characteristic morbid wit, an often self-conscious, comic sensibility that makes us laugh at the most horrific ideas – death, alienation, evil – in an effort to understand them.

Ionesco wrote a number of plays in the 50s, but it was not until Rhinoceros (first produced in 1960) that he received global attention. He called the play an anti-Nazi work, and it was performed just long enough after World War II for tensions to have settled down, but not so long that the almost visceral fear associated with fascism had dissipated. The debut of Rhinoceros had a reported fifty curtain calls in Germany. This is understandable; the play demonstrates how anyone can fall victim to collective, unconscious thought by allowing their wills to be manipulated by others. Walter Benjamin stated that one could not write poetry after the Holocaust, and though others have since refuted this as hyperbole, the world was indisputably damaged beyond repair and left searching for answers. Ionesco skirted the problem of trying to represent the Holocaust realistically by dressing his play in heavy but apparent symbolism. Through this indirect path, achievable only through the untamed techniques of the Theatre of the Absurd, he comes closer to answering the unanswerable questions left in the wake of fascist brutality.

Ionesco remained a prolific writer until the early 1980s, although none of his works, dramatic or critical, ever reached the same heights of tragedy and comprehension as Rhinoceros. His work has influenced playwrights as diverse as Harold Pinter and Sam Shepard. He died in 1994, but Rhinoceros is still performed across the world as a reminder of the human capacity for evil - when men consciously want to do evil, and, more frighteningly, when they unconsciously desire it.

Character ListBerenger -  Berenger is the protagonist of the play, an Everyman slacker who finds neither his

work in an office nor the culture around him fulfilling. Alienated, yet still confused as to why he has been displaced, he is unwilling to commit himself to anything in life but his love for Daisy. His friend Jean constantly reprimands the submissive Berenger for his uncouth appearance and apathetic attitudes.

Jean -  Jean is Berenger's foil, a highly cultured, somewhat arrogant and angry young man who prides himself on his rationality. He urges Berenger to be more like him. His occasional lapses, however, expose cracks in his façade of efficiency.

Logician -  The Logician is a highly rational man who appears only in the first act, but who is referred to several other times. He believes strictly in the laws of logic, though his attempts to prove anything often collapse.

Daisy -  Daisy is Berenger's love interest. She, too, is fairly uncommitted to anything and does not mind the presence of the rhinoceroses. Nevertheless, she is the one other character of proportion in the play that has an emotional life.

Botard -  Botard is a senior member of Berenger's office. He is cynical and skeptical, and jealous of Dudard's rising stature. He refuses to believe at first the presence of the rhinos and seeks rational explanations for everything.

Dudard -  Dudard is a co-worker of Berenger's and a rival for Daisy's affections. He prides himself on his intellect and rationality.

Papillon -  Papillon is the head of Berenger's office. He privileges work above his employees. The Boeufs  -  Mr. Boeuf, another co-worker of Berenger's, appears off-stage only as a rhinoceros.

His wife remains devoted to him despite his new form. Townspeople  -  The Old Gentleman, the Grocer, the Grocer's Wife, the Housewife, the Café

Proprietor, and the Waitress appear in the first act. They are characterized largely by their trivial concerns, though the Old Gentleman is very interested in the Logician.

Plot OverviewRhinoceros begins in a small town square where Jean, an efficient, refined young man, meets his semi-alcoholic and

fully apathetic friend, Berenger, for a drink. Jean upbraids Berenger for his drinking habits and his aimlessness. Soon, a rhinoceros runs through the square (off-stage), shocking all the townspeople with the exception of the indifferent Berenger. Jean lectures Berenger about will-power while a rational Logician explains the concept of a syllogism to an old man. Berenger concedes that he has a crush on Daisy, a typist at his office, but worries that she favors Dudard, an up-and-coming co-worker. Jean recommends will-power and cultural self- improvement to garner Daisy's affections, and to improve his life in general. Another rhino rushes by and tramples a cat. The townspeople debate whether or not it was the same rhino and what breed it was. Berenger and Jean get in a fight over the physical specifics of the rhino, and Jean storms off after calling Berenger a drunkard. The townspeople ask the Logician to clear up confusion, but his lengthy analysis makes no progress. The townspeople vow to stop the rhinos. Berenger expresses remorse for fighting with Jean, then says he's too upset to culture himself as planned and instead drinks.

In Berenger's office, the co-workers argue with Botard, an old skeptic who doesn't believe in the rhinos. Berenger arrives late, but Daisy sneaks him in. The employees ask Berenger if he saw the rhino. Botard claims the illusory appearance of the rhino is an example of "collective psychosis." They return to work, proof-reading law proposals, and wonder where co-worker Mr. Boeuf is. Mrs. Boeuf rushes in and says her husband is sick and will be back in a few days. She tells them that she was just chased by a rhino, which is now downstairs. The rhino crushes the staircase it tries to ascend, stranding the workers. Mrs. Boeuf recognizes the rhino as her husband. Daisy telephones the fire station to rescue them. The men give Mrs. Boeuf practical advice for dealing with this setback, but she is too devoted to her rhino-husband and vows to stay with him. She jumps down to the ground floor and (off-stage) rides off on his back. More rhinos are reported in the town. The firemen arrive to help them out the window. Botard vows he'll solve the rhino-riddle. Berenger passes on an offer to drink with Dudard so he can visit Jean.

Jean coughs in bed at home. Berenger visits and apologizes for their argument the previous day. At first, Jean has no recollection at all about the rhinoceroses. Jean's voice grows more hoarse, a bump on his nose continues to grow, and his skin gets greener by the moment. He becomes more misanthropic and savage. Berenger informs him of Mr.Boeuf's transformation, which Jean applauds. He moves in and out of the bathroom, each time appearing and sounding more like a rhino. He pronounces humanism dead, sheds his itchy clothes, tries to run down Berenger, apologizes, and runs into the bathroom. Berenger is about to escape, but follows Jean into the bathroom to help him. Off-stage in the bathroom, Jean attacks Berenger. Berenger escapes and closes the bathroom door behind him (but is pierced by a rhino horn) as Jean, now a full-blown rhino, tries to break free. Berenger alerts the tenants in the building to the rhino's presence in the building, but everyone else has transformed as well. Berenger looks out the window, where a herd of rhinos march. The bathroom door is on the verge of breaking. Berenger throws himself against the wall and breaks through it. He runs through the street, yelling "Rhinoceros!"

Berenger wakes up from a nightmare in his room and inspects himself for any impending rhino-signs. Still human, he struggles not to drink, but eventually does. Dudard visits and they discuss Jean's transformation, which Berenger feels guilty about. They discuss the metamorphoses as an epidemic. Berenger takes another drink, under the premise that alcohol is an immunization. Dudard urges Berenger not to feel too guilty. Dudard reveals that Papillon, their boss, has turned into a rhinoceros. Berenger believes that for a man of Papillon's human stature to change, it must have been involuntary. Dudard considers the metamorphoses natural, while Berenger continues to find them abnormal. The flustered Berenger says he will seek the Logician's services in clearing this up. A herd of rhinos passes and Berenger spots the Logician's hat on a rhinoceros, a sign of metamorphosis, and vows not to become one as well.

Daisy visits Berenger, which makes Dudard jealous. Daisy appears not to care too deeply about the epidemic. She informs them that Botard has metamorphosed. Berenger can't believe it, but then later rationalizes it. Daisy and Dudard iterate that acclimating oneself to the rhinos is the best solution, but Berenger resists. They start to have lunch, but are interrupted by a crumbling wall outside. The fire station has been sacked, and the firemen have turned into rhinos. Dudard leaves; he wants to experience the epidemic first-hand. Berenger tries to stop him, but Daisy lets him go. Dudard soon turns into a rhino outside. The sights and sounds of the rhinos become more beautiful despite their savagery. Berenger laments Dudard's demise, and Daisy reminds Berenger that they have no right to interfere in other's lives. She pours some brandy for Berenger and removes his bandage—still no signs of a transformation. Berenger claims he will defend her. He blames himself and Daisy for contributing, through lack of sympathy, to the transformations of Jean and Papillon, respectively. Daisy convinces him to shrug off the guilt. The phone rings, but they hear only rhino trumpeting on the line. They turn to the radio for help, but the rhinos have taken that over, as well.

Upstairs, a rhino stampede disrupts the house's foundations. Daisy believes they must adapt to their new neighbors, but B. proposes they regenerate the human race, like Adam and Eve. Daisy finds the power of the rhinos seductive. B. slaps her, then apologizes and declares that he'll never surrender and that he will protect her. She pledges her loyalty to him. The noise of the rhinos becomes more musical to Daisy, though B. still finds it savage and argues with her. Daisy breaks up with him and leaves. B. barricades his room and plugs his ears. He doubts his own humanity. He inspects photographs and cannot recognize any of his former friends - but he does identify himself and hangs three of his pictures on the wall beside the rhino

heads. They turn out to be pictures of unattractive people and, compared to the elegant rhino heads, are even more grotesque. He envies the bodies of the rhinos, but at the brink of desperation, he nevertheless decides that he will fight the rhinos.

Analysis of Major CharactersBerengerB.'s transformation is the true metamorphosis in Rhinoceros. While the other characters physically

turn into rhinoceroses, embodying the savage natures they had formerly repressed, Berenger's change is moral and completely opposite from his position at the start of the play. He begins as an aimless, alienated Everyman who drinks too much and who finds little worth in life, except for the beauty of Daisy, his co-worker. He is bored by his work, too lazy to culture himself, and wonders if life is a dream - that is, if its absurdity is the product of a dream-like state of absurd logic, and if life, like a dream, is controlled by unconscious desires. Despite his escapism through alcohol, he holds on tightly to his human identity, never comprehending why someone would want to be anyone else. While his passivity is the underlying cause of the metamorphoses, helping promote the climate of irresponsibility and indifference, it is his recognition of life as an absurdity that prompts him to change his character, rather than accept the presence of the rhinos. Yet he remains indecisive nearly to the very end, losing his faith in humanity and finding the rhinoceroses beautiful. In the last line of the play, however, he overturns his weak will and lack of responsibility by deciding to save humanity against the tyranny of the rhinos.

Berenger's decision, however, is not totally unforeseen. His love of Daisy, as mentioned above, reveals he has emotional desires for another human. At one point, when it seems to him that he and Daisy will be united at the expense of their co-worker Dudard's departure and metamorphosis, Berenger exclaims "Happiness is such an egotistical thing!" Yet his desires turn out not to be so self-centered. Even when Daisy abandons him to become a rhino, and when other friends insult him and do the same, he feels guilty for pushing them out, although they would have metamorphosed without him. He does not love Daisy alone; he loves humanity, and is willing to take responsibility for its fate. This "will" of responsibility, rather than the will of power the other characters treasure, is what ultimately galvanizes Berenger's final line of resistance, "I'm not capitulating!"

JeanJean epitomizes the Nietzschean conception of the "super-man" who is above morality. He

believes in the strength of his will and rationalist intellect. His arrogance and unspoken disdain for the common man, especially for Berenger's lackadaisical attitude toward life, foreshadows his metamorphosis into a savage, vicious rhinoceros. As the most fleshed-out character who transforms into a rhino, he symbolizes the Nietzschean "will to power" of the fascist rhinos, their use of strength and will to circumvent morality and return to a primal state of nature. Yet Jean is ridden with hypocrisies and contradictions. He shows himself from the start to be as irresponsible as Berenger, showing up late to their meeting and refusing a day of culture to nap and drink. In fact, his appreciation for self-improvement seems to stem from his view of education as cultural capital, and not as an exploration of his humanity. He always rationalizes these lapses after the fact, drawing on his vast reserves of logic to skew the discussion. When Jean vows, as a rhino, that he will trample Berenger and anyone who gets in his way, it is clear that his transformation was a mere exchange of bodies, and not of morality.

RhinocerosesThough they are not human characters, and they never appear on-stage in full form, the projections

of rhino heads and off-stage trumpeting dominates the play. The rhinoceroses stand, above all, for man's latent savagery and capacity for violence. The rhinos themselves are not to blame; they are generally a solitary species, as Berenger notes, but the collective consciousness of man and the tendency toward safety in numbers turns them into a hostile, totalitarian herd reminiscent of Nazis. Nevertheless, Ionesco makes sure to flesh out the rhinoceroses' characterizations. When Mr.Boeuf turns into a rhino, he trumpets tenderly to his wife, who can recognize her husband through his green skin. Not all of Boeuf's humanity is lost, and it appears that the individual man affects the characteristics of the rhino he

becomes. To nuance their depictions even more, Ionesco has the rhinos become more beautiful and majestic as the play progresses until, by the end of the play, they outshine the ugliness of humanity. This technique makes the audience see how one's individual perceptions can be altered by mass opinion, how the savage, destructive rhinos, much like the Nazis, could be seductive to someone who doubts his own strength and will.

LogicianAlthough he appears only in the first act, the Logician, as his name suggests, represents the other

rationalist characters (Jean, Botard, Dudard) and one of the underlying premises of the play and existentialist philosophy, that logic cannot explain everything. In fact, Ionesco severely mocks the Logician's circular, comic train of thought, which focuses on all the wrong questions and ends up with completely incorrect answers or answers that re-pose the original question. We must recognize the universe as absurd and nonsensical, Ionesco believes, in order to take any meaning from it; the Logician and other characters resist this, though they often succeed only in proving themselves absurd.

DaisyDaisy appears as if she, along with Berenger, cares deeply about humanity, but she continually

urges Berenger to acclimate himself and not to feel guilty about the rhinoceroses. Her love for him appears as an ephemeral desire that flickers on and off, and in the end love for only one person does not necessarily make one into a truly loving person. In order to commit one's life to something outside oneself, as the existentialists were concerned with, one must love all humanity. Daisy's constant avoidance of responsibility and her lack of concern for her fellow man reveals her desires for Berenger as selfish despite the good intentions she often has for him (she tries to limit his alcohol intake, for instance, and wants to assuage his guilt to make him happier). Understandably, she is seduced by the beauty and power of the rhinos, something that offers her greater pleasure than the "weakness" of human love, as she puts it. Her final betrayal of Berenger in joining the rhinos incites his dramatic decision to save humanity; it is his love for her (and the loss of it) that makes him feel guilty and responsible and which allows him to see how much he loves humanity, and not a single person, after all.

ThemesWill and ResponsibilityThe transformation of Berenger from an apathetic, alcoholic, and ennui-ridden man into the savior

of humanity constitutes the major theme of Rhinoceros, and the major existential struggle: one must commit oneself to a significant cause in order to give life meaning. Jean continually exhorts Berenger to exercise more will-power and not surrender to life's pressures, and other characters, such as Dudard, seem to do just that as they control their own destinies. Berenger does not have great conventional will-power, as demonstrated by his frequent recourse to alcohol and his tendency to dream (both daydreams and nightmares). However, he maintains a steadfast, latent sense of responsibility after Act One, often feeling guilty for the various rhinoceros-metamorphoses around him - in a sense, his initial apathy was the cause, helping promote a climate of indifference and irresponsibility. Furthermore, he shows early on that he at least cares about Daisy, the only evidence in the play, other than Mrs.Boeuf's devotion to Mr.Boeuf, of sincere love for another human. By Act Three, his powerful guilt and sense of responsibility indicates that Berenger practices the most selfless kind of love - unconditional love for all humanity, whereby he is concerned for the welfare even of those who have scorned him. This all-encompassing love is what gives his life meaning.

The supposedly strong characters, like Jean, fail the ultimate test of will-power, the rhino-epidemic, and their crumbling wills are foreshadowed by their subtler evasions of responsibility - Daisy, for instance, wants to live a guiltless life. Their idea of will borrows from Friedrich Nietzsche's concept of "the will to power". For them, will is a means to metamorphose into Nietzsche's "super-man", a powerful being beyond human morality. The savagery of the rhinos, and Jean's transformation and statements in Act Two, exemplify this desire for power. He becomes violent, claims humanism is dead,

and tries to trample Berenger. The play's final irony is that B. becomes the true super-man, gathering his resources of will, built on a foundation of love for his fellow man, to take responsibility for humanity.

Logic and AbsurdityRhinoceros exposes the limitations of logic, and absurdity reigns as the dominating force in the

universe. Self-proclaimed rational characters, such as the Logician, Botard, and Jean, either flounder in their proofs (the Logician, especially) or ridiculously rationalize their incorrect presumptions - consider Botard's accusation of a conspiracy in Act Two. The Logician's attempts to uncover how many rhinoceroses there were in the first act, and what breeds they were, results only in re-posing the original question. In Act One, B. calls Jean's ideas "nonsense", and this word resonates throughout Rhinoceros. The world is nonsensical, absurd, and defies the extent of logic. As Berenger says, if one were to read about the rhinoceros events in a newspaper, away from the action, one could be rational and detached, but in the midst of things one can't help getting involved. The balance between detached distance and intimate confusion divides the supposedly logical characters from Berenger. They maintain their logical distance until confronted with a real problem, when their logic implodes. Berenger concedes absurdity from the outset - "life is a dream", he says, alluding to the inexplicable randomness around him - and this enables him to understand the absurdity of the metamorphoses better, even though he never arrives at a logical "solution". Recognizing the world as absurd, Ionesco suggests, is the first step in cobbling together a meaningful life.

FascismThe "epidemic" of the rhinoceroses serves as a convenient allegory for the mass uprising of

Nazism and fascism before and during World War II. Ionesco's main reason for writing Rhinoceros is not simply to criticize the horrors of Nazis, but to explore the mentality of those who so easily succumbed to Nazism. A universal consciousness that subverts individual free thought and will defines this mentality; in other words, people get rolled up in the snowball of general opinion around them, and they start thinking what others are thinking. In the play, people repeat ideas others have said earlier, or simultaneously say the same things. Once other people, especially authority figures, collapse in the play, the remaining humans find it even easier to justify why the metamorphoses are desirable. Ionesco is careful not to make his play a one-sided critique of the brutality of Nazism. The rhinos become more beautiful as the play progresses until they overshadow the ugliness of humanity, and the audience is forced to recognize that an impressionable individual might have similarly perceived the swelling ranks of Nazis as superior. In fact, Dudard's desire to join the "universal family" of the rhinos points to the notion of the rhinos as an Aryan master race, physically superior to the rest of humanity. Nevertheless, they are still morally repugnant, escalating their violence over the course of the play. Ionesco carefully traces an argument against John Stuart Mill's "harm principle," which states that individual freedom should be preserved so long as it does not harm anyone else. Ionesco demonstrates that passively allowing the rhinos to go on - or, allegorically, turning a blind eye to fascism, as individual citizens and entire countries did in the 1930s - is as harmful as direct violence.

MotifsTheatre of the AbsurdIn the tradition of Beckett's Waiting for Godot, Sartre's No Exit, and Harold Pinter's plays,

Ionesco's drama combines abstract philosophical ideas with concrete humor. The various rationalizations that characters come up with to explain their previous errors delight us with their silliness, but they also suggest deeper ideas about logic and responsibility. As many of the plays from the Theatre of the Absurd go, Rhinoceros is conscious of itself as a play, as when Jean suggests Berenger sees one of Ionesco's plays, but more so in the ways that it forces the audience to recognize the production before them as a play and not as a diversion. A production with back-lit rhinoceros heads stakes no claim to the typical drama's attempts to suspend the audience's disbelief, but this is the point: Ionesco breaks the "fourth wall" of the theater (and numerous other walls and structures explode in the play) to make the

audience leave the theater feeling that the absurdity they witnessed was somehow more real than a "realistic" play.

Bourgeois lifeIonesco makes a number of critiques of the emptiness of the bourgeois working world. The root of

Berenger's apathy seems to spring from his boring job, and Act Two presents us with the drudgery of his office, its repetitive work, and its shallow relationships built to serve the corporation. Jean recommends that Berenger improve his cultural vocabulary, but Jean's appreciation for the avant-garde theater, for instance, is clearly only a surface interest or he would not succumb so easily to the rhinoceroses. Berenger's reliance upon alcohol is understandable - the ennui of daily life is too great not to escape. In fact, the escapism of alcohol is a trope for the escapism of the metamorphoses; both Berenger and the others feel they regain their lost identities in their respective escapes. The others, then, are similarly oppressed by their jobs (Jean feels it is something one must get used to), though Berenger seems to be the only one who has a deeper awareness of the way bourgeois life crushes his spirit.

SymbolsRhinocerosesThe rhinoceroses are a blunt symbol of man's inherent savage nature but, to Ionesco's credit, the

articulation of this idea deploys slowly throughout the play: the first rhino causes no apparent damage; the second one tramples a cat; later ones destroy more property and Jean-as-rhinoceros attacks Berenger. They represent both fascist tyranny and the absurdity of a universe that could produce such metamorphoses. These ideas crystallize into one question: how could humans be this savage, allowing the barbarity of World War II Nazism? Ionesco answers this in a variety of ways. He equates the epidemic of the metamorphoses with the ways the ideals of Nazism can infect the unconscious minds of individuals. Yet the rhinos become more beautiful and humans more ugly by the end of the play. They are beautiful, however, because of their brute strength and power; true beauty, as Berenger demonstrates when he finally decides to fight the rhinos and save humanity, lies in moral strength.

Act One (part one)SummaryRhinoceros opens in a provincial town square after church on Sunday. In a grocery and a café, the mundane squabbles

of bourgeois life fill the air. Jean, an upright, no-nonsense, cultured young man, chastises his slovenly, aimless friend, Berenger, for his lateness in meeting him, although Jean has only just arrived as well. Berenger thirsts for an alcoholic drink, and Jean upbraids Berenger's hungover appearance, giving him a comb and a tie. Berenger justifies his drinking as a necessary escape from the boredom of life, especially his dreary work. Jean stresses the need for will-power; he alludes to himself as the "superior man…who fulfills his duty."

The sound of a distant trumpeting interrupts the men's conversation. The sound intensifies until all characters on-stage - including a Waitress, the Grocer, the Grocer's Wife, and a Logician - see a rhinoceros off-stage and exclaim their shock. While the rhino rages nearby and the townspeople continue expressing amazement, Berenger remains unaffected.

Berenger orders alcoholic drinks for himself and Jean. Jean presses him to see what he thinks of the rhinoceros, but Berenger cares little about the disturbance. The waitress brings the drinks, and Jean again chastises his friend for drinking at noon. Berenger lies and says he ordered water and the waitress made a mistake. At another table, the Logician explains to an Old Gentleman what a syllogism is (a three-part logical statement with a main proposition, a secondary one, and a conclusion). Jean accuses Berenger of day-dreaming for lack of interest, and Berenger proclaims, "Life is a dream". Berenger tiredly comes up with a number of meager explanations for the rhino's appearance. Jean angrily refutes these and reproaches Berenger for mocking him. Berenger denies this, but lets Jean bully him; he soon accepts Jean's opinions of the rhino and agrees to abstain from liquor.

Daisy, the pretty typist from Berenger's office, passes by the men. Berenger likes her, and in his nervousness spills his drink on Jean. Berenger explains in greater depth why he drinks: when sober, he doesn't recognize himself, but when drunk, he can escape and then identify himself. While Jean lectures Berenger about strength and will-power, the Logician gives a long-winded and eventually incorrect example of a syllogism to the Old Gentleman that concerns cats and paws. Jean refutes Berenger's further descriptions of his alienated misery, labeling them contradictory.

AnalysisIonesco explodes a number of profound ideas on to the stage, most of which are situated in the

existentialist philosophy of Soren Kierkegaard, Jean-Paul Sartre, and others. The concepts of free will and responsibility are introduced and defined here. Jean is a paragon of will, of having the power to shape oneself according to one's desires. Berenger is his opposite, an alcoholic slacker who cannot even be roused by the unusual appearance of a rhinoceros. Berenger evades responsibility and himself, as is most saliently demonstrated in his attitudes toward alcohol: he lies about ordering liquor and he drinks to escape himself. Yet responsibility is not such a clear-cut issue; while Berenger arrives late to meet Jean, so does Jean. The latter, however, finds a way to justify it.

Ionesco said he wrote the play as a response to the widespread conversion of supposedly free-thinking humans to fascist ideals before and during World War II. Jean's reference to himself as the "superior man" borrows from Friedrich Nietzsche's vision of a "super-man" who is beyond conventional human morality. This super-man, Nietzsche believed, would lead the world. (The concept of a man above morality was critiqued in Fyodor Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment.) Adolf Hitler exploited (and abused) Nietzsche's ideas heavily in convincing Germans that the Aryans were a master race whose destiny was to control the world. Ionesco's contribution to understanding how millions were swayed is focused in his dissection of a collective consciousness (later referred to in the play as "collective psychosis"). Ionesco posits the existence of a universal mentality that compromises the individual mind. These minds, as Berenger's does in this scene, evade responsibility and willful choice. They allow external ideas to enter without an internal check; as Jean says of Berenger : "There are certain things which enter the minds of even people without one". For Berenger, alcohol is his means for mental escapism, and the false sense of identity that alcohol confers upon him suggests why the ensuing rhinoceros-metamorphoses (and, by symbolic extension, conversions to fascism) are so seductive. Escaping oneself, or belonging to another group, B. implies, somehow allows the individual to feel as if he is more himself, a better, stronger, potential self. Still, the benefits of collective consciousness are given their due here; the newly unified community comes together to discuss the rhino.

In a world in which the atrocities of fascism can take hold of human emotions, Ionesco classifies logic as absurd and inexplicable, beyond human rationality. The Logician is parodied for his comic missteps in proving even a simple syllogism; when the Old Gentleman asks if, according to the syllogism, his dog must be a cat, the Logician replies: "Logically, yes. But the contrary is also true." Ionesco further demonstrates the inapplicability of logic to human emotion as he cross-cuts dialogue between the Logician's proof and Berenger's fumbling attempts to provide some coherent reason for his unhappiness. Several key lines assail the inconsistency of logic. Berenger's claim that "Life is a dream" points to life as an absurd undertaking that follows the fractured logic of a dream. Moreover, it accords with his feeling that he leads an unconscious existence with no responsibility (for one has no conscious control over a dream). He later amplifies this doubt as he admits: "I sometimes wonder if I exist myself". His statement contradicts the well-known philosophical premise of 17th-century philosopher Rene Descartes: "I think, therefore I am". For Descartes, the ability to think is the only proof of existence. For Berenger, thought not only fails to certify existence, it even casts doubt upon existence. This doubt articulates the foundation of existentialist philosophy, the formula "existence precedes essence". This important dictum of Kierkegaard's states that humans are born ("existence") before they gain any soul or meaning in life ("essence"). As Berenger (and Ionesco) sees it, neither physical nor even mental existence is enough to count for true existence. Although he does not yet know it, he needs a willful life of responsibility committed to something significant (this will become apparent later in the play).

Ionesco makes plausible the eventual mass transformation into rhinoceroses through two specific stagecraft techniques in this first part. He subtly introduces the first rhino into the play, allowing the sound of the beast to amplify slowly. The off-stage presence of this first rhino piques the audience's interest as well and keeps its existence (or stage existence, at least) in doubt. Ionesco also plants the seeds of collective consciousness in this first scene through dialogue devices; during and after the rhino's appearance, the characters all exclaim the same things ("Oh, a rhinoceros!" or "Well, of all things!") at

nearly the same time. Furthermore, two separate, simultaneous dialogues - between Jean and Berenger and between the Logician and the Old Gentleman - discuss similar ideas, sometimes even using the same exact language.

Act One (part two)SummaryStill in the café, Berenger laments that Daisy holds little interest in him as a low-level employee, and believes she

prefers Dudard, a rising star in his office. Jean berates him for surrendering so easily while the Logician beseeches the Old Gentleman to try and solve a logic problem. Both Jean and the Logician tutor their respective students. Jean recommends will-power and cultural self-improvement to garner Daisy's affections, and to improve his life in general. Berenger agrees to do so, and asks Jean to accompany him to the museum and theater. Jean says he has to take a nap and meet a friend for a drink. Berenger says that Jean is now the one who has little will-power, but Jean defends himself, calling his lapses the exception and Berenger's the rule.

Another rhino rushes by as the townspeople try to speak above the din, not yet recognizing the sound. The rhino's path of destruction prompts another round of choruses ("Oh, a rhinoceros!" "Well, of all things!"). The Housewife reveals that the rhino has trampled her cat. The townspeople (except for the Logician) sympathize with her. They all debate whether or not it was the same rhino or a different one, and if it was an "Asiatic" or "African" breed (dependent on the number of horns). Jean claims he counted the horns on the rhinos and can differentiate between the two of them. Berenger accuses him of talking nonsense, that Jean had no time to count the horns and that his distinctions between the two breeds are erroneous. The townspeople argue about horns and "Asiatic" people. Berenger and Jean fight and insult each other, and Jean storms off after calling Berenger a drunkard.

Daisy convinces Berenger to make up with Jean. The townspeople pose the rhino- problem to the Logician: how many rhinos were there, and how many horns did it/they have? The Logician only muddies the picture, arriving at the original question after a long disquisition. The Housewife leads a small funeral procession for her dead cat. The townspeople vow to stop the blight of the rhinos. Berenger expresses remorse for fighting with Jean and then says he's too upset to culture himself as planned. Instead, he drinks some brandy.

AnalysisThe foundation of logic is parodied as the Logician's efforts do nothing to clarify the absurd world.

Berenger unleashes a key word to trigger his fight with Jean: "nonsense". The world does not merely lack sense; it is nonsensical, illogical in every way. Yet, as the Logician's ridiculous inversions show (especially in his use of reductio ad absurdum, or pushing logic to absurd or contradictory limits), total illogic does not provide meaning either, as some readers might assume existentialist authors propose. Rather, Ionesco shows that even the most conventional use of logic can be flawed. Instead of trying to figure out what has caused (and what can remedy) the presence of the rhinos, the supposedly logical citizens are more concerned with how many horns the rhinos have.

The strength of Berenger's and Jean's respective wills are shaded here for ironic and foreshadowing purposes. As Jean points out, Berenger does care about at least one thing : Daisy. His love of her makes his decision to save humanity at the end of the play seem believable. Jean's slur about Berenger's willingness to surrender, then, is a tremendous irony, since by the end of the play it is Jean who has given-in to the rhinos. Nevertheless, for now Berenger remains a passive individual, eschewing his prior cultural development plan in favor of another escapist drink.

The escalation of violence and its relationship to fascism is also explored in greater depth. In the first part of the scene, the Logician and Jean bump into each other, and both men say "No harm done". In this section, a cat is trampled. Ionesco subtly examines John Stuart Mill's proposition of the "harm principle" in On Liberty. According to Mill, individual freedom should be preserved at all costs unless it harms someone else. While the first rhino caused no harm to anyone else (mirrored in the polite dialogue between Jean and the Logician), the second one does. Ionesco suggests that any mentality, fascism included, should be permitted so long as it does not violate the harm principle (the first rhino), but such mentalities inevitably do harm others (the second rhino).

As in part one of Act I, Ionesco utilizes parallel dialogue again to simulate collective consciousness, but the tone of Ionesco's play is more attention- grabbing in this section. He grounds Rhinoceros in absurdist comedy that examines profound ideas in a comic light. For instance, the Logician's proof examines the limits of logic and its inversions while pleasing the audience with its low

comedy of misunderstanding. More obvious is one of Jean's suggestions to Berenger for cultural exercises - seeing one of Ionesco's plays. Breaking the "fourth wall" of the theater to address the audience directly forces the audience members to recognize the production before them as a play. Ionesco does not allow the audience to forget itself in the play. A new dramatic technique of postwar theater was for the actor to be aware of himself as an actor, to draw attention to the artifice of the play. This self-consciousness extended to entire productions, and in Rhinoceros, Ionesco clearly discards conventional reality, both in the absurdist subject matter and in the stagecraft that relies on imagination. The rhinos never appear on stage in full form, and when they do show up, it is as back-lit projections of rhino-heads. These non-realistic touches force the audience to recognize the play as a performed piece, but not as an escapist spectacle that shuts out the external world. In the same vein, Ionesco's self-referential joke helps the audience affirm its commitment to the play's ideas after they leave the theater. The collapse of the fourth wall (not to mention the fact that numerous stage walls actually fall in the play) implies that there should be no "before" or "after" the play, but that the play is as much a part of their "real lives" as their post-theater dinner will be.

Act Two (part one)SummaryIn Berenger's office, the co-workers argue with Botard, a crusty skeptic who doesn't believe the news about yesterday's

rhinoceroses and who thinks the journalists are sensationalizing the story to sell papers. He believes only in things that are scientifically precise. Berenger arrives late, but Daisy sneaks him the time-sheet to sign. The employees ask Berenger if he saw the rhino, but Botard bullies and insults his opinions. Botard claims the illusory appearance of the rhino is an example of "collective psychosis." They return to work, proof-reading law proposals.

The employees wonder about the unexplained absence of Mr. Boeuf, an older worker. Mrs.Boeuf rushes in, breathless, and says her husband has sent her a telegram from his family visit: he is sick and will be back in a few days. She tells them that she was just chased by a rhino, which is now downstairs. The rhino tries to ascend the stairs up to the office, and in the process crushes the staircase, stranding the workers. Botard begrudgingly concedes the rhino's existence. Mrs.Boeuf suddenly recognizes the rhino as her husband. Daisy telephones the fire station to rescue them. The men give Mrs.Boeuf advice for dealing with this setback. They recommend that she collect insurance and file for divorce, but she is too devoted to her rhino-husband and vows to stay with him. She jumps down to the ground floor and (off-stage) rides off on his back.

Papillon, the department head, considers Boeuf's metamorphosis a business expense. More rhinos are reported in the town. Botard claims he never denied the existence of the rhinos and, in trying to explain their presence, charges that a conspiracy with traitors is taking place. The firemen arrive to help them out the window, and Papillon makes alternative business plans for tomorrow, as the office is inaccessible. Botard vows he'll solve the rhino-riddle. Berenger passes on an offer to drink with Dudard so he can visit Jean. Berenger and Dudard make conspicuously polite gestures as to who shall climb out the window first. They finally leave together.

AnalysisBerenger's previous comments in Act One about his dreary office life come to fruition in this

scene. Ionesco condemns the workplace with its insignificant busywork and gossip. Berenger and Dudard have a petty rivalry for Daisy's affections and Botard and Dudard compete for Papillon's good graces. Ionesco also denounces the privileging of work over people, such as Papillon's view of Boeuf's metamorphosis as a mere labor shortage. Ironically, "papillon" means "butterfly" in French, contrasting sharply with Papillon's indelicate nature. The alienating influences of the workplace help explain why Berenger shows up late, and why his stale bourgeois existence is wracked with ennui. However, he refuses a drink and decides to take advantage of the free afternoon to visit Jean, a sign that he is starting to lead a more committed, responsible life.

Rhinoceros is generally viewed as an indictment of man's intrinsic savagery, his latent capacity for evil. Ionesco highlights this here by actually humanizing the metamorphosis of Mr.Boeuf. His is the first transformation that is not anonymous and shows the rhino's (Mr.Boeuf's) "tender" trumpeting to his wife. "Boeuf" means "beef" in French, and Daisy calls the rhinoceros an "ugly animal," but here it seems as though transforming into a rhino does not totally banish his humanity. In fact, the more savage personalities belong to the men who crassly dispense pragmatic advice to the shocked Mrs.Boeuf, or to Botard, who jealously tries to assign responsibility for the rhino's existence to Dudard.

Botard hints at one of the play's major themes when he labels the appearance of rhinos as a "collective psychosis". His hyperbolic accusation of a conspiracy is not to be dismissed: those who join the herd now are considered traitors, while later those who don't are the renegades. As Ionesco gauges it in the play, morality shifts to accommodate any political movement; the majority of progress is always the good side, and the minority of resistance is always the bad side. At this point in the play, those who turn into rhinos are resisting humanity and are therefore, in Botard's eyes, bad. Yet Ionesco foreshadows Botard's future hypocritical transformation. Like Jean, Botard rationalizes his inconsistent behavior after the fact when he first denies the rhinos and then denies his previous denial.

Ionesco refrains still from showing the rhinoceros, drumming up excitement for a possible glimpse (and curiosity as to how the production will present the creatures on-stage). Other effects abound, however, as they did in the previous act, including the collapse of the staircase. As plays from the often-static Theatre of the Absurd go (see Beckett's Waiting for Godot), Rhinoceros exhibits a wealth of action and dynamic stagecraft.

Act Two (part two)SummaryThe scene takes place in Jean's apartment. Jean lies in bed, coughing. Berenger comes to visit, knocks at the door, and

an old man answers from a few doors down and says he thought he was looking for him, his name is also Jean. A disheveled Jean finally opens the door, wearing green pajamas. Both men make similar comments to each, asking why the other is not at the office and why the other's voice was unrecognizable through the door. Berenger apologizes for their argument the previous day. At first, Jean has no recollection at all about the rhinoceroses. Berenger smoothes things over by saying that it turns out both of them were right - there are both uni-corned and bi-corned rhinos.

Jean's voice grows more hoarse, and Berenger comments on this. Jean says it's Berenger's voice that has changed. Jean says his forehead hurts, though he can't remember knocking it on anything. Berenger suggests he did it in his sleep, during a dream, but Jean says he never dreams, that he's always in conscious control of his thoughts. Berenger points out a bump on Jean's nose, and Jean investigates it in the bathroom. When he emerges, his skin is greener. Berenger advises Jean to seek a doctor, but Jean, in an increasingly bitter mood, calls doctors quacks and says he trusts only veterinarians. They continue to quarrel as Berenger notices more odd signs - thickening skin, a hoarser voice, noisy breathing - and Jean grows more misanthropic, declaring that people disgust him and that he'll run them over if they don't step out of his way.

Jean paces the room like a caged animal and undoes his now-uncomfortable pajamas. He makes the preliminary stages of a growl. He runs to the bathroom to cool down and reemerges even greener and with a larger bump. Berenger informs him of Mr.Boeuf's transformation, and Jean doles out various explanations: Boeuf was fooling them in a disguise; he had a secret side that he never revealed; and turning into a rhino was a pleasurable exercise for him. He defends the rhino's right to live, which Berenger agrees to so long as they don't destroy human life. Jean proposes a return to the primal laws of nature instead of morality. He continues to move in and out of the bathroom, each time appearing more and more like a rhino and losing his human voice. He pronounces humanism dead and sheds his itchy clothes. He barrels his head down at Berenger, apologizes, and runs into the bathroom. B. is about to escape, but follows Jean into the bathroom, saying he can't leave his friend like this and he'll call Jean a doctor. Off-stage in the bathroom, Jean shouts that he'll trample B., and a rowdy fight ensues. B. escapes and closes the bathroom door behind him (but is pierced by a rhino horn) as Jean, now a full-blown rhino, tries to break free.

B. alerts the tenants in the building to the rhino's presence in the building. The old man ignores his pleas and accuses B. of disturbing him and his wife. B. looks for the porter, but another rhino pops up in the porter's lodge. He returns to the old man's apartment, where two rhinos have replaced the old couple. B. runs back into Jean's apartment and looks out the window to the street, where a herd of rhinos march. Everywhere he turns, there are more rhinos. The bathroom door is on the verge of breaking. He throws himself against the wall and breaks through it. He runs through the street, yelling "Rhinoceros!"

AnalysisThe most prominent feature of this scene is Jean's gradual transformation into a rhinoceros.

Ionesco manages to make it plausible by having Jean disappear for moments into the bathroom, where he can alter his visage and body off-stage. His green pajamas serve a double use as a prop, foreshadowing his change in pigmentation and becoming a human nuisance to the emerging rhino. But the simplest of effects, and most powerful, is Jean's changing voice. The unique inflection of the individual voice is essential to humanity, and the subsequent loss of language seems nearly secondary to the ability to sound like a human.

Instead of parallel dialogue, a hallmark of the previous act, Ionesco deploys coincidence here as Jean and the old man share the same first name (not "Old Man," but "Jean"). This coincidence is further

evidence of collective consciousness in that both men can be called Jean, and neither man distinguishes or affirms his human identity before turning into a rhino. The coincidence also attests to the increasing oddity of logic in the play. Berenger tries to make sense of the rhinos; he decides that it doesn't matter where the rhinos come from, but the "important thing, as I see it, is the fact that they're there at all, because…." He doesn't finish the sentence, which speaks volumes: the rhinoceroses are there both because there isn't a rational explanation, and also because absurd and apathetic humans don't take responsibility for making a life meaningful (or finishing a sentence, for that matter).

Jean's strength of will comes under fire in this scene, but he tries to appropriate his own meaning of will, one that constantly shifts. He claims that he never dreams, a sharp contrast to Berenger in Act One, who wondered if life is all a dream. Jean believes he is "master" of his own thoughts, but his mastery of his own body is in doubt. Just as he rationalized hypocritical behavior in Act One, Jean again makes excuses for his transformation to reclaim a sense of free will; he claims he simply "felt like" making a growling sound and that it indicates nothing. For him, will becomes a mark purely of physical power, not individual freedom. His call for a reduction of morality to the savage laws of nature works off of his prior belief in a Nietzschean super-man who can circumvent morality. This transformation is plausible; from the start, Jean's interest in culturing himself only seemed like a means to increase his power and respect, and not as an exploration of his humanity. Berenger, on the other hand, foreshadows his future status as the true super-man who saves the world with morality. He makes a willful decision to try and save Jean, though he flees at the end of the scene, maintaining the play's suspense over the inevitable question: will Berenger commit to something significant and remain human, or will he evade responsibility and become a rhinoceros?

Jean hints at the fascist underpinnings of the metamorphoses, alluding to Mr.Boeuf's Jekyll and Hyde-like "secret" life. Under bourgeois propriety, Ionesco implies, savagery lurks. It is Jean, who held up fascist ideals of human perfection and efficiency as a human, who turns into a far more savage rhino than Boeuf was. He even tries to convince Berenger that Berenger's voice is actually changing, exhibiting paranoia as Botard did in the previous scene when he charged conspiracy. Berenger says that the traditional view of the rhino as a solitary animal is outdated, suggesting a possible reason for Ionesco's choice of the rhino as his symbol of a fascist beast: humans, with their fear of individualistic thought, turn the otherwise solitary rhinos into faceless hordes. Berenger continues Ionesco's defense of the fascists' right to live so long as they do not harm anyone. However, Jean's horn does pierce Berenger, showing fascism's inevitable turn to violence.

Act Three (part one)SummaryBerenger endures a nightmare in his room (the room bears a striking resemblance to Jean's). He wakes, takes off a

bandage from his head, and inspects his forehead for a sprouting rhinoceros horn. Still human, he nearly pours himself a drink, but he reprimands his weakness and puts the glass down. After hearing rhino noises from outside, he shrugs and drinks it down. He coughs and fears that he's metamorphosing, but a comparison between his cough and the sound of the rhinos outside allays his anxieties. He lies down again.

Dudard knocks on the door, and Berenger lets him in. Berenger fearfully asks if his voice has changed, for it seems as though Dudard's has. Dudard denies both accounts, and Berenger agrees that he was incorrect. His paranoia augments as he inquires if he has a bump, which he doesn't. They discuss Jean's transformation, which Berenger feels guilty about, thinking Jean chose to change specifically in his presence. Dudard reprimands his solipsism, and B. agrees but asks for an explanation for the metamorphoses, which Dudard admits he does not have. B. says he would want to stay himself no matter what, but is still afraid of "catching" the "disease." Dudard suggests Jean was primed for the change by his excitable personality, and B. seizes upon this notion: Jean, and perhaps the others, were "temporarily unbalanced," in a "critical condition."

They discuss the metamorphoses as an epidemic. Dudard believes it is temporary and even beneficial. Berenger wonders if he is immune, then states with certainty that if one doesn't want to catch it, then one won't. He takes another drink under the premise that alcohol is an immunization. Berenger coughs from the alcohol and again worries over an impending metamorphosis. Dudard recommends that Berenger stop drinking if he is to have will-power, but Berenger argues that his decision to drink is a deliberate one. Dudard points out that Berenger is making excuses, and Berenger assents.

Berenger continues to take responsibility for the metamorphoses, and Dudard urges him not to involve himself too much. Berenger says that if he were to read about an epidemic in another country in the newspaper, he could maintain an objective detachment, but "when you're involved yourself…you can't help feeling directly concerned." Dudard says he's getting used to it and recommends walks and sleeping pills, which Berenger rejects. Dudard says must accept whatever reason there is for the rhinos, which Berenger denounces as fatalism. They continue to argue about how much involvement one should have. Dudard contends that any anxiety Berenger is having is related to his own fears of turning into a rhino - which Dudard claims won't happen, because Berenger doesn't have the "vocation" to become one. They discuss office matters; Dudard is annoyed at the workmen, assigned to repair their office staircase, who seem to disappear after a few days.

Dudard reveals that Papillon has resigned - and turned into a rhinoceros. Dudard finds this humorous, while Berenger is upset and wonders why he would do it, since he held such a powerful position. If this is the case, then the metamorphosis must have been involuntary: "He let himself be talked into it." They discuss Botard, and Dudard explains why he doesn't like the old skeptic - despite the force of Botard's convictions, Dudard finds his logic imprecise and subjective. Dudard considers the metamorphoses natural, while Berenger continues to find them "abnormal." B., flustered in the face of Dudard's supreme intellect, says he will seek the Logician's services in clearing this up. As they discuss him, a herd of rhinos passes and B. spots the Logician's hat on a rhinoceros, a sure sign of the Logician's metamorphosis, and vows not to become one as well.

AnalysisThe strength of Berenger's will vacillates. Though he ends this section with a decisive statement,

and earlier makes a strong declaration of free will (if one doesn't want to catch the disease, one won't), his resistance to alcohol continues to waver. Claiming his decision to drink is a premeditated one, he exposes a complex, circular dilemma: is the conscious decision to remove rational decision-making abilities (here, to choose consciously to escape into unconsciousness through drinking) a conscious choice after all? Extended to the extreme, this sentiment asks whether suicide is a viable form of confronting death. This was the ultimate preoccupation of existentialist philosophers, especially Martin Heidegger and Jean-Paul Sartre. Or is suicide a cowardly act that removes true commitment and recognition of absurdity, of confronting death while still alive? Dudard's accusation, that Berenger is trying to rationalize his cowardice, affirms the existential view that confrontation with death is a constant, lifelong struggle, not a temporary one like the momentary act of suicide.

Unlike Jean, who says he never dreams, Berenger concedes the occasional loss of control over thought in his dreams - yet he has a greater ability to exercise mental control while awake, as his staunch refusals to metamorphose indicate. His dream life versus his conscious life fits the existentialist formula "existence precedes essence" - he is an irrational, absurd, irresponsible being in his sleep (where he has only "existence"), but he controls his destiny in consciousness (where his "essence" emerges). His Act One statement that life is a dream helps to explain the surrounding metamorphoses; everyone else is living out an unconscious dream-life, an existence without essence. Nevertheless, Berenger's will crumbles slightly. When he drinks in this scene, the direct cause is his hearing the rhinos outside and acquiescing to the herd; the indirect cause is his own status as a victim of collective consciousness. His occasional tendency to a mass, rather than individual, consciousness is exposed when he and Dudard, while speaking through the closed door, parrot the dialogue from Berenger's similar visit to Jean. While Berenger does not speak in simultaneous dialogue, as characters in Act One often did, his paralleled dialogue is simply a delayed form of collective consciousness.

This scene introduces the metamorphoses as a "disease," and "rhinoceritis" becomes a central metaphor for fascism as a contagious, half-rational, half-absurd infection of mind and morality. Ionesco provides possible, even humane reasons for why rhinoceritis spreads so rapidly, refusing to settle on the generally acknowledged claim of human savagery. Berenger posits that those who have changed are "temporarily unbalanced." These are certainly not the words of a Nazi apologist, but Ionesco intimates that fascist appeal is linked less to permanent and corrupt human nature but to the provisional imbalance of a time. Likewise, many historians account for the rise of Nazism by pointing to the shattered world of a post-World War I Germany that was willing to submit to a strong leader who promised a return to glory.

As to why other countries, such as the US, failed to react swiftly to Nazi atrocities, Berenger explains that when one is not in the midst of conflict, it is easy to be a detached observer. Ironically, Dudard, the most productive, dutiful worker, tries to assuage Berenger's own sense of duty and guilt for

the rhinos. Of course, Berenger has somewhat caused rhinoceritis. In his apathy towards life he contributes to the overall lack of will that makes this epidemic possible. Yet it is Berenger's original indifference, an indifference that grew out of his awareness of the absurd universe, that galvanizes his own metamorphosis into a being committed to free will. Dudard's assertion that Berenger lacks the "vocation" to become a rhino is a pun on Berenger's lack of will, which will prevent him from attaining the powerful status of the rhino, and a petty insult that criticizes Berenger's apathy towards his job (and boosts Dudard's ego as a reminder of his superior position in the office). Berenger's indifference to his job is probably the greatest immunization to the metamorphosis, as he recognizes the absurdity of his boring, insignificant job in an absurd, often insignificant world.

Here, the two characters seem to flip-flop a bit, as Dudard plays the existentialist and Berenger the realist. What we term the absurd, as Dudard observes, is a gray area. Dudard speaks of the impossibility of distinguishing between the normal and abnormal, but he denies philosophy's ability to answer this. Berenger agrees philosophy is of little help in resolution, but he believes that common sense can explain these issues. However, their underlying reasons reveal their true character. Dudard's belief in the superiority of the scientific and the theoretical over "mass opinion" is an ironic return to his regular detachment and surrender to forces beyond his control. He does not think they can solve the mystery of the rhinos, which would normally be an existentialist viewpoint. But in his refusal to try and think about it in a constructive way he foreshadows his eventual surrender to the mass opinion (by metamorphosis) that he denigrates. Berenger's view reaffirms human will and the ability to make meaning in an absurd universe, despite the difficulty in explaining certain phenomena. Still, both men ignore common sense in everyday life; neither makes the obvious conclusion as to why the workmen disappear after a few days.

Ionesco continues to rail against what he sees as an empty bourgeois, middle- class life. Berenger is flabbergasted at Papillon's metamorphoses only because Berenger notes that Papillon had such a good job to live for. His shock also exposes a contradiction in Berenger's character, pointing to the powerful brainwashing that capitalism can impose even on a person with a general awareness of the emptiness of the workplace. Moreover, the stagecraft helps amplify Ionesco's attitude. The physical similarity between Berenger's and Jean's rooms implies that bourgeois life is homogenous, and that collective consciousness is a predictable result. Both men evidently live alone, and both rooms seem little more than prisons, suitable for housing their occupants in between work-shifts.

Act Three (part two)SummaryAfter a brief delay, during which B. watches the rhinos out the window, Dudard opens the door for Daisy. Dudard

insinuates that Daisy is coming for a romantic rendezvous, but she insists she is just a "good friend". While offering sympathy to Berenger, Daisy also appears not to care too deeply about the epidemic. She informs them that Botard has metamorphosed. Berenger can't believe it, feeling that Botard was fooling them in a disguise. Daisy says Botard's last words were "We must move with the times!" On reflection, Berenger justifies Botard's behavior, indicting his stubbornness as only a pose. Dudard believes Botard was following Papillon, his superior, and both men agree that the rhinoceroses are anarchic, because they are in the minority - "for the moment".

All three discuss the social problems caused by the rhinos - especially the problem of eliminating them. Daisy and Dudard say that acclimating oneself to the rhinos is the best solution, but Berenger resists. They start to have lunch, but are interrupted by a crumbling wall outside. The dust settles and they see that the fire station has been sacked, and that the firemen have turned into rhinos and now march in a regiment, led by drums. Berenger's will seems shaken by the accelerating epidemic. Dudard makes excuses to leave under the guise of politeness. He then reveals that he wants to experience the epidemic first-hand and join the "universal family". Berenger tries to stop him, but Daisy believes in letting him, and people in general, make their own decisions. Dudard soon turns into a rhino outside.

According to the stage directions, the thunderous, thickening stampede (in the form of stylized heads appearing on the wall) creates a "musical sound" and the heads "seem to become more and more beautiful". Berenger makes passionate declarations of love to the nonchalant Daisy. Berenger laments Dudard's demise, and Daisy reminds Berenger that they have no right to interfere in other's lives. As Berenger points out, though, Daisy has assumed control of their own relationship. She explains the difference: as she loves Berenger (and not Dudard), she has the right to interfere in his life. Berenger seizes upon Daisy's admittance of her love for him, pointing out that Dudard would have only been an "obstacle" between them.

Daisy pours some brandy for Berenger, rewarding him for being a "good boy". She removes his bandage - still no signs of a transformation - and they fantasize about their lives together. Berenger claims he will defend her, but Daisy says no one intends them any harm. He replies that we sometimes do harm by simply not preventing harm. He blames himself and Daisy for contributing, through lack of sympathy, to the transformations of Jean and Papillon, respectively. Daisy convinces him to shrug off the guilt; as relatively "good" people, they have a right to happy lives despite the circumstances around them. Berenger agrees, and surmises that guilt is what probably turned a lot of people into rhinos in the first place.

The phone rings, and Daisy cautions B. not to pick it up. B. answers it, thinking it will be the authorities, but hears only rhino trumpeting from the phone. Daisy hangs it up, frightened. Berenger claims he was expecting the prank rhino-call, and Daisy states that you can only predict things once they've happened. The phone rings again, and they turn to the radio for help, but the rhinos have taken that over, as well. They grow more terrified, aware that they are the last hold-outs.

Upstairs, a rhino stampede sparks eruptions within the house. Now Berenger wants to live a guiltless existence, and offers some brandy to the sunken Daisy, who believes the responsibility for the transformation lies with them. She believes they must adapt to their new neighbors, but B. proposes they regenerate the human race, like Adam and Eve. Daisy has given up hope, calling themselves the abnormal ones; she finds the power of the rhinos seductive, and human love a "weakness". In a series of quick reversals, B. slaps her, she recoils and weeps, he apologizes and declares that he'll never surrender and that he'll help her to the end, and she pledges her loyalty to him. The noise of the rhinos becomes more melodious. B. calls the sound roaring, while Daisy believes it is singing. He calls her stupid, and Daisy breaks up with him and leaves.

Berenger examines himself in the mirror, at first unaware that Daisy has left. He still finds the human form attractive. He realizes Daisy has left and calls out to her down the stairwell, but soon gives up. Resentful that Daisy has left, he turns his anger to the rhinos, barricades his room and plugs his ears. He vows that they'll never "get" him. He feels guilty for driving Daisy out, as she will surely turn into a rhino. He wonders if it would even be possible to convert the rhinos back to humans, as he doesn't know their language. He then considers that his own language is just as alien to them, and the concept of language soon becomes alien to him - what words are he using, what constitutes language? He wonders what he looks like, and inspects some photographs. He cannot recognize any of his former friends - but he does identify himself and hangs a few of his pictures on the wall beside the rhino heads. They turn out to be pictures of unattractive people and, compared to the elegant rhino heads, are even more grotesque. He envies the rhinos their horns, their rough, green skin, their melodious trumpet call. He tries to emulate them but he cannot. At the brink of desperation, he decides that as the last figure of humanity, he will fight the rhinos. The play ends on his line "I'm not capitulating!"

AnalysisBerenger's and Daisy's dual desires to fight the rhinos and to surrender vacillate wildly in the first

part of this action-packed section. He is inactive at the start, not hearing Daisy's knock at the door. This is the third delay in opening the door for someone else in the play (Jean for Berenger in Act Two, part two; Berenger for Dudard in the first part of Act Three), and each occasion seems to indicate a physical disconnection from humanity, which the occupant of the house is in no hurry to remedy. While Berenger is at first resistant to Dudard's and Daisy's idea of acclimating himself to the rhinos and to not worrying over it, he later lets Daisy coax him into believing that he should lead a guiltless life, and goes a step further in blaming guilt (and other emotions that show a lack of "purity", as Daisy says) as a cause of the metamorphoses. Daisy's reversals turn to an even more staccato rhythm; she alternates her devotion to Berenger and to the rhinos so quickly, the effect would be comic were the outcome not so grave.

Guilt and love are the dominant emotions in the finale, and Daisy's and Berenger's ideas of these emotions clash in profound ways. The "happy", guiltless life Daisy seeks detaches itself from humanity. The love she expresses for Berenger, then, is simply a love for another individual, not for all humanity; as Berenger expresses, "Happiness is such an egotistical thing!" Berenger is at first manipulated by Daisy into accepting this guiltless life. He greedily misinterprets her distinction between her interference in Dudard's life and his own, not comprehending Daisy's belief that love allows you to act on behalf of someone else. However, Berenger renews his guilt, later choosing to absorb the guilt for Daisy's own departure, even though she probably would have done it anyway. That he still feels concerned for someone who just abandoned him in the worst way shows that Berenger holds unconditional love not only for Daisy, but also for humanity. To love one human, Ionesco implies, is not enough for a life of significance; one must love and be willing to take responsibility for all humanity, and this allows Berenger to interfere on behalf of the world.

The metaphor of fascism blooms overtly at the end. The firemen have turned into an organized militia, showing that authority is just as susceptible to corruption as anyone else; Papillon's earlier transformation and the metamorphoses of the aristocracy and media drum the point home. Dudard's

desire to belong to the "universal family" of rhinos suggests an underlying genetic component to the transformations, a movement to Aryan-style racial cleansing (as well as calling attention to the scarcity of family in Rhinoceros; none of the major characters seems to have any relatives whatsoever). Ionesco does not make his point in as one-sided a manner as a lesser dramatist might: the rhinos not only become more beautiful to Daisy, but to the audience as well. Their trumpeting is melodic to our ears, too, and we can understand why she would be seduced by the rhinos, especially when compared to the pictures of ugly humans alongside them. Yet Berenger's observation about the indirect nature of harm is Ionesco's final critique of John Stuart Mill's harm principle: "Sometimes one does harm without meaning to, or rather one allows it to go unchecked". Seemingly innocuous action can, in fact, be violent. Worse yet, remaining passive, without commitment or choices, can cause harm and makes the passive individual as culpable as the violent one.

The play ends with repetitions on the theme that the universe is absurd, and that logic cannot explain everything. Daisy makes the comment that one can predict things only after they have happened, but this is not even true. Berenger unsuccessfully attempts to justify Botard's absurd transformation (that it was a disguise, which copies Jean's earlier statement about Mr.Boeuf, and that it was a foreseeable collapse of Botard's false stubbornness, which echoes Dudard's earlier words). Both are, in fact, completely wrong; the true "disguise" is the human skin the savage characters were wearing all along, and Botard's stubbornness was not at all a pose. Botard may have held out initially because he was mulish, but once he was presented with proof of the rhinos in Act Two, his stubbornness did not relent, but switched sides to account for the rhinos. One can reasonably imagine that later on, when he realized he was one of the few humans left, Botard would have stubbornly insisted that being a rhino is right. Even those absurdities that can be somewhat rationalized - such as the metamorphoses as a result of collective consciousness - inspire new, unanswerable questions: Why rhinoceroses, for instance, and not bears, elephants, or other savage animals? Why do some of the rhinos have one horn, and some have two - is Ionesco suggesting there will later be division even among the rhinos? The racial distinction between Asiatic and African seems to suggest that there will be.

Oddly enough, the play, which emphasizes the absurdity and inapplicability of logic, accords perfectly to the logic of the Aristotelian three-act structure, with a character whose arc forms as great a transformation as those physical ones around him (an irony similar to the end of Franz Kafka's The Metamorphosis, in which the daughter of the family is the one who has truly changed, not Gregor the insect). Some critics read ambiguity into the ending; perhaps Berenger's stand-off is yet another whimsical turn of his mind (his and Daisy's temporary inversion of character in this scene and other instances throughout reinforce this notion). However, everything leading up to Berenger's transformation suggests a slowly developing awareness of the need for a life of commitment. Berenger's name sounds like the French word "déranger", or "to disturb" (Berenger certainly is disturbed throughout the play, as is the logic of the universe; Ionesco uses a semi-autobiographical character named "Berenger" in several of his other plays). Backwards, his name is close to "régénérer", "to regenerate" (and his idea of restoring the human race with him and Daisy as Adam and Eve lends credence to this wordplay, as does his final decision to fight the dissolution of the human race). Whether or not one buys into these coincidences, it is clear Berenger eventually transforms from a disturbed individual into one who wants to regenerate humanity, and Ionesco closes the curtain with this decision because it appears final. The tidy wrap-up of Rhinoceros implies that perhaps only in art can absurdity be refined into logic.

Important Quotations Explained :"I sometimes wonder if I exist myself."Berenger's statement in Act One expresses existential doubt and counters the well-known

philosophical premise of 17th-century philosopher Rene Descartes, considered a cornerstone of Western philosophy. Descartes said, "I think, therefore I am," or, in other words, the ability to think is the only

proof of existence. Berenger's thinking that he may not exist articulates the foundation of existentialist philosophy, the formula "existence precedes essence," which states that humans are born ("existence") before they gain any soul or meaning in life ("essence"). However, for Berenger, neither physical nor mental existence is enough to count for true existence; he needs a life committed to something significant. His overriding love for humanity and decision to save them constitutes his essence.

"There are certain things which enter the minds of even people without one."Jean's insult to Berenger in Act One helps explain, in a different context, how millions were

swayed to fascism. Ionesco builds up a concept of collective consciousness (later referred to in the play as "collective psychosis"), a universal mentality that compromises the individual mind. These minds, like Berenger's, evade responsibility and choice and allow external ideas to enter without an internal check. After World War II, people were wondering how the widespread fascist atrocities could have taken place, how such brutal ideas could have engaged humanity. Ionesco's play attempts to posit an answer, pinning the blame less on man's tendency to evil than his tendency not to think for himself.

"So then logically speaking, my dog must be a cat?""Logically, yes. But the contrary is also true."This exchange comes at the end of the Logician's syllogism-tutorial of the Old Gentleman in Act

One. In a world in which the atrocities of fascism can take place, Ionesco classifies the logic that orders the universe as absurd and inexplicable, beyond human rationality. The Logician is mercilessly parodied for his comic missteps in proving even a simple syllogism, as here, or when he unsuccessfully tries to explain why the rhinoceroses are appearing. In this scene, Ionesco demonstrates the inapplicability of logic to human emotion as he parallels the Logician's incoherent proof with Berenger's attempts to provide some rational reason for his unhappiness./EXPLANATION

"When you're involved yourself…you can't help feeling directly concerned."To answer why other countries, such as the US, failed to react swiftly to Nazi atrocities, Ionesco

reminds us that when one is not in the midst of conflict, it is easy to be a detached observer. Only through his position in a world of overt absurdity does Berenger (in Act Three) begin to acknowledge the necessity to commit to a life of significance. Berenger's prior apathy towards life did contribute to the overall lack of will that made the epidemic possible. Yet it is this original indifference, combined with his awareness of the absurd universe, which galvanizes his own metamorphosis into a being committed to free will.

"I'm not capitulating!"These words of Berenger's close the curtain on the play, and fully transform his character from

being indifferent and alienated to committed and humane. His will wavers many times after Daisy leaves (shortly before this quote), and he seems on the verge of joining the rhinos. But his will, which was foreshadowed as strongly committed to individualism and humanity despite its conventional weaknesses (his propensity to drink, his apathy towards his job, his lateness), comes through in the end. Some may read this as an ambiguous ending, since Berenger might simply change his mind again after the curtain closes, but the optimistic note the play ends on reinforces the idea that, in an absurd world, we must commit ourselves to something significant to lend meaning to the absurdity.

Study Questions :

What do the various contradictions of the characters say about them, and about the world of Rhinoceros? Consider Berenger and Jean, for example.

Despite being foils, Berenger and Jean seem to trade places often throughout the play. After Jean counsels Berenger on how to lead a better life, Berenger asks Jean to accompany him to the museum and a play, but Jean declines because he is going to take a nap and has to meet a friend for a drink. While he rationalizes his decisions as mere lapses, it is clear that Jean's resolve is not as powerful as he would like others to believe. Rather, he exercises his will only when it can gain him power, and not when it asserts his individual humanity; his appreciation for culture, it seems, is only an exercise in self-improvement in order to gain power. Berenger, on the other hand, appears totally passive and apathetic at first, but he shows hints of commitment and responsibility even early on: he loves Daisy; he visits Jean to apologize for their fight; he tries to resist alcohol (though he usually fails). At the very least, he is always aware of his escapist tendencies. While contradictions are an inherent part of any complex literary (and real-life) character, in Ionesco's play these contradictions can be characterized as absurd. Berenger, for instance, defies his strong individualist stance by parroting the exact language of others to indicate that he, too, is a victim of either collective consciousness or of absurd coincidence.

Do the rhinoceroses maintain their human identities, or are they strictly savage beasts?

The first rhinoceros about whom we have some knowledge is Mr. Boeuf. He trumpets tenderly to Mrs. Boeuf upstairs in the office and tries to reach her. She recognizes him, showing that not all his humanity is gone. Her love and devotion is so strong, even, that she resists practical advice about insurance and a divorce and jumps on her husband's back. The Boeufs are clearly an exception; their relationship is the only evidence of true love and commitment to one other person in the play. Later, Berenger, Daisy, and Dudard discuss the problem of how to dispatch with the rhinos when they include former loved ones and relatives. It is clear that others have devolved into far more violent creatures; the rhino-personality is what they make of it. Jean epitomizes this. His irascible temper, desire for power, and misanthropy manifest themselves in a wild, harmful rhino that tries to mow down Berenger. Yet the rhinos later develop into beautiful, melodic creatures, as Ionesco tries to make the audience see how one's judgment can be altered by public perception.

Discuss Ionesco's dramatic techniques of repetition and parallelism.

At many points in the play, a number of characters say the same thing either simultaneously or nearly simultaneously, such as "Oh, a rhinoceros!" or "Well, of all things!" Characters often echo previous dialogue, as well. These repetitions are indications of a collective consciousness at work, and of the triviality of everyday language and emotion. No one seems too be disrupted by the appearance of a rhinoceros, so they remark on it with appropriate levels of disinterest. Ionesco also stages two separate dialogues at the same time, most prominently in the first act, when Jean tutors Berenger and the Logician tutors the Old Man. While the dialogue does not exactly match up, each set (the tutor or student) speaks about similar topics. The Logician's atrocious mishandling of logic shadows the incompatibility of logic with human emotion and alienation in Berenger's conversation.

Trace the progression of harm and violence in the play and the characters' reactions to it. Use John Stuart Mill's "harm principle" from On Liberty as a starting point (the harm principle states that individual freedom should be preserved so long as it does not directly harm anyone else).

What is the function of Ionesco's use of comedy? Does it distract us from the idea at hand, or call more attention to it?

No full-blown rhinoceroses appear directly on-stage. Aside from the physical difficulties this would present, why does Ionesco refrain from showing us what an actual rhino looks like?

Daisy says that you can only predict something once it has happened. Many characters in the play make incorrect assumptions, and then rationalize these after they have been disproved. Discuss the implications of these retroactive "predictions."

What is Ionesco's take on the workplace? How does this influence the rest of the play?