How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Line). Every time a character talks counts as one line, even if what they say turns into a long monologue. We used Donald M. Allen's translation.
Quote #1
Mrs. Smith: "We've drunk the soup, and eaten the fish and chips, and the English salad. The children have drunk English water. We've eaten well this evening." (2)
Mrs. Smith begins the play by speaking only of the very recent past. The fact that she feels the need to bring up things that have only just happened is a little weird. It seems to make even normal day-to-day things, like eating dinner, out to be a little absurd.
Quote #2
Mr. Smith: "Fortunately, they [the Watsons] had no children."
Mrs. Smith: "That was all they needed! Children!"
Mr. Smith: "She [Mrs. Watson] might very well remarry."
Mr. Smith: "But who would take care of the children?" (50-53)
The Smiths have the worst memories ever. They can't keep it straight from one minute to the next whether the Watsons have children or not. They can't even seem to remember if Mr. Watson is alive or dead. You find this same trait in many of Ionesco's characters. Check out Shmoop's guide to The Chairs if you don't believe us.
Quote #3
Mrs. Smith: "We were expecting them [the Martins]. And we were hungry. Since they didn't put in an appearance, we were going to start dinner without them. We've had nothing to eat all day." (81)
Here's another example of Mrs. Smith's terrible memory. What do you mean you didn't eat, lady? You started off the play by listing every single thing you had for dinner. All these absurd examples of inaccurate memories in the play make us start to ask bigger questions. How do we know if anything in the past really happened? Memory is a pretty unreliable thing. Is the "now" all we really have in life?
Quote #4
Mr. Martin: "Excuse me, madam, but it seems to me, unless I'm mistaken, that I've met you somewhere before."
Mrs. Martin: "I, too, sir. It seems to me that I've met you somewhere before." (87-88)
This takes the cake. The Martins' memories are so bad they don't even remember each other. And they're married! It takes them several minutes of conversation until they figure out that they live in the same house and sleep even sleep in the same bed.
Quote #5
Mr. Martin: "Elizabeth, I have found you again!"
Mrs. Martin: "Donald, it's you, darling!" (137-138)
Awww, that's nice. The Martins are reunited at last. Wait a minute, didn't they just come into the room together? With the Martins, Ionesco takes this theme of memory loss to an absurd level.
Quote #6
Mary: "Elizabeth is not Elizabeth, Donald is not Donald." (139)
Hmm, if Mary is right, then the Martins may have a very good reason for not remembering each other. The maid seems to think that they are different people than who they think they are. Perhaps, their memories are even worse than we originally feared.
Quote #7
Mr. Martin: "Darling, let's forget all that has not passed between us, and, now that we have found each other again, let's try not to lose each other any more, and live as before." (140)
Do you notice all the problems in logic in this statement? Mr. Martin tells his wife that they should forget what "has not passed between" them. How do you forget something that hasn't happened? Also, if he wants them to never forget each other again, it's a really bad idea to try and "live as before." If they do that, they'll, of course, forget each other – just like they did before.
Quote #8
Fire Chief: "You don't have a little fire in the chimney, something burning in the attic or in the cellar?"
Mrs. Smith: "I am sorry to disappoint you but I do not believe there's anything here at the moment. I promise that I will notify you when we do have something."
Fire Chief: "Please, don't forget, it would be a great help."
Mrs. Smith: "That's a promise." (307-310)
The idea that someone would forget to notify the fire department that their house is on fire is pretty darn absurd. Of course, it's not much crazier than a lot of the things that the characters in the play seem to be capable of forgetting. If we were the Fire Chief, we wouldn't trust Mrs. Smith's "promise" at all.
Quote #9
Fire Chief: "It was she [Mary] who extinguished my first fires."
Mary: "I'm your little firehose." (436-437)
It looks like Mary and the Fire Chief have a past together, and a romantic one at that. However, in the world of The Bald Soprano, the reality of the past is always suspect. What do you think? Are Mary and the Fire Chief really long lost lovers? Or have they just invented this romantic past in the moment?
Quote #10
Stage Direction: [Mr. and Mrs. Martin are seated like the Smiths at the beginning of the play. The play begins again with the Martins, who say exactly the same lines as the Smiths in the first scene, while the curtain softly falls.] (564)
It looks like in the world of the play the past is the present and the present is the past. It's really no wonder that everybody has so much trouble keeping things straight. If you lived in a reality where past and present were indistinguishable from one another, your memory would probably be pretty sketchy as well.