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 #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)
We talk about this moment in "What's Up With the Ending?", but we just had to mention it here. There are lots of examples of Absurdist plays that end where they begin, or where you at least get the idea that the characters may be stuck in an endless repetitive cycle. Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot and Endgame are both examples of this. You also see it in Amiri Baraka's Dutchman, and there are intimations of it in Harold Pinter's The Homecoming. There are also hints of it in Ionesco's The Chairs. The list goes on an on. Basically, the Absurdists were all about this repetitious theatrical device. This could be because it highlights the Absurdist idea that our lives are often a series of meaningless repetitive actions.