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 #7
Stage Direction: "We hear waves, boats, the continuous ringing of the doorbell.... The doors are no opening and shutting all together ceaselessly." (328)
So here's a question: if the invisible people are just products of the old couple's imagination, then why do we hear all these sounds? We hear the guest's boats arriving and them ringing the doorbell. The doors even open and close as they enter. Ionesco has filled the play with suggestions that the invisible people aren't real, but then he goes and does stuff like this. What gives, Eugene? It could be that there really are invisible people. Or it could be that we, the audience, are being drawn into the old couple's hallucination. We have a feeling that Ionesco has us right where he wants us: constantly questioning what is real.
Quote #8
Old Woman: "Ghosts, you know, phantoms, mere nothings..." (372)
This quote brings up an interesting possibility: what if the invisible people are actually ghosts? Some scholars have suggested that the play takes place at the end of the world and the Old Man and Woman are the last people on earth. You could choose to see the invisible guests as the ghosts of everyone who was annihilated in whatever disaster destroyed humanity. This, of course, makes the Old Man's quest to bring meaning to everyone's life even more absurd.
Quote #9
Old Man: "He [the Orator] exists. It's really he. This is not a dream!" (491)
The Old Man seems totally surprised when the Orator walks in. This seems to support the theory that the couple was playing make-believe the whole time. What do you think it means that the Orator is played by a real person? Does it mean he's actually real? Or have we as the audience been totally sucked into the old couple's dream world?