The Chairs: Analysis of Major Characters
"The Chairs" is a play that explores the complex dynamics of its major characters, primarily the Old Man and the Old Woman, who represent a spectrum of contradictions and emotional depth. The Old Man, at ninety-five, embodies both the wisdom of age and the innocence of childhood, often engaging in games of make-believe with his wife while grappling with his perceived inadequacies. He eagerly anticipates delivering a significant message to an invisible audience, hiring a professional Orator to communicate it on his behalf. The Old Woman, his ninety-four-year-old wife, serves as both his support and counterpart, oscillating between strength and subservience, and reflecting their shared memories and experiences. Together, they navigate the tension between reality and illusion, culminating in a tragic double suicide as they seek to unite in death. The Orator, described as a deaf-mute, adds to the surreal atmosphere, remaining largely unresponsive and embodying the theme of communication barriers. The invisible guests, signified by empty chairs, symbolize society's varied perspectives and the universal search for meaning, ultimately framing the existential questions posed by the characters' lives and choices. This interplay of characters invites reflection on the nature of human existence, communication, and the desire for connection.
The Chairs: Analysis of Major Characters
Author: Eugène Ionesco
First published: Les Chaises, 1954 (English translation, 1958, in Four Plays by Ionesco)
Genre: Play
Locale: An island
Plot: Absurdist
Time: The indeterminate future: “four hundred thousand years after Paris has been extinguished”
Old Man, a “general factotum” aged ninety-five. He is an employee, or assistant, who serves in a wide range of capacities. He, like all the characters in this play, both visible and invisible, is made up of contrasts and contradictions; he is both man and child. His speech is composed of words and logical sentences as well as some nonsense words and syllables and illogical sentences. Although he is a character of flesh and blood, he sometimes appears to be more illusionary than the invisible characters. While awaiting the arrival of guests, he and his wife reminisce about earlier times and play games of make believe; for example, he sits on his wife's lap like a little child and calls for his mother. Although he says he is bored with it all, he continues to play the same games and tell the same story night after night. He invites a large crowd of both great and ordinary people to hear his great message that will benefit humanity. Believing himself to be inadequate to communicate this message to others, he has hired a professional orator to deliver it. He greets invisible guests as they arrive and talks with these guests while awaiting the Orator. When the Orator finally arrives, the Old Man gives him a wordy ineffectual introduction. Saying that his life is now fulfilled, the Old Man jumps out of the tower window to his death.
Old Woman, the Old Man's ninety-four-year-old wife and “helpmeet.” Like the Old Man, she is made up of contrasts and contradictions. She is both mother and wife to the Old Man. At times, she seems stronger and more mature than her husband, telling him that he could have been so much more than what he is if he had had more power in life. At other times, she seems only her husband's shadow as she literally echoes the words that he says. She has heard the same bedtime story for seventy-five years but still asks the Old Man to tell it again. It fascinates her because it is his life, and she purposely makes her mind new, “a clean slate,” for him every evening. She helps the Old Man greet their invisible guests and brings chairs for them. She also serves as usher and seller of Eskimo pies and programs. She reveals a hidden personality when she reacts like an old prostitute to one of their guests. She claims that she and the Old Man have a son, but the Old Man says they have no children. Like the Old Man, she is extremely honored that the emperor has come to their house to hear the Orator present her husband's message. She echoes her husband's words and actions about their dying but states that at least a street will be named for them. She jumps to her death from another window to die at the same moment as the Old Man and to be united with him in time and eternity.
The Orator, a deaf-mute between forty-five and fifty years old, dressed in the typical garb of a bohemian artist of the nineteenth century. He is built up by the Old Man as the greatest professional orator of all time, having documents to prove it. He is also called a friend of the Old Man. Although he is the third flesh-and-blood character, he is made to seem more like an invisible character than those who are invisible because he does not speak or react to the Old Man and Old Woman. He signs autographs in an automatic fashion and is impassive and generally immobile until after the double suicide, when he tries in vain to communicate with the invisible audience.
Guests, a cross section of humanity, including the emperor. The guests have come to hear the Old Man's message. All of them are invisible to the audience and are indicated by empty chairs placed on stage for them to occupy and by the speech and gestures of the Old Man and the Old Woman.