The Chairs Philosophical Viewpoints: The Absurd Quotes

The Old Man has never committed himself to a profession. As the play constantly reminds us, he's a "general factotum," a person who does a little bit of everything. (254) Perhaps his fear of dedicating himself to any one thing is the reason his life now seems so meaningless to him. Absurdist plays often suggest that many of us do the same thing – just kind of going through life doing whatever. And then we die.

Have you noticed how hardly any of the characters have an actual name in this play? The closest thing to a name in the list above is Mrs. Belle, but belle simply means beautiful in French. Like the Colonel and the Photo-engraver, her name is generic. These kinds of big, iconic characters are typical of the Theater of the Absurd. Absurdists often created characters that were more symbolic than realistic. Mrs. Belle represents all faded beauties, the Colonel all colonels, and the Old Man every old man everywhere.

The Old Woman sells programs and concessions, mimicking the experience that the audience watching the play has undoubtedly just gone through. In this moment, it becomes pretty obvious that The Chairs is a kind play within a play. (Have you ever gone to someone's house and the host tried to sell you something?)

As we discuss in our section, "Art and Culture," the play can be interpreted as a comment on theater itself. This kind of self-referential or meta-theater is typical of the Theater of Absurd. Very often in Absurdist plays the characters reference the fact that they are in a play. Another good example of a play that does this is Pirandello's Six Characters in Search of an Author.