Nobody is perfectly immune, and, most importantly, such transformations have aftereffects that make clear and sharp discontinuity with the past impossible. It offers an account of how a society’s plural space of meaning and the relationships underpinning it are destroyed, gradually replacing political conversations with incomprehensible noises-a reference to the intolerant proclamations of authoritarian ideologies. Rhinoceros captures a society’s ideological contamination and gradual slide into complicitous accommodation to systemically violent regimes, characteristic of the twentieth century’s authoritarianisms. Eventually, he “snaps out of it.” His lonely cry “I’m not capitulating!” ends the play. He experiences intense ambivalence and despair: he tries to convince himself that the animals are indeed beautiful and unsuccessfully attempts to imitate their trumpeting. By the end, he is the last human in town. He is told “rhinoceritis” is a temporary epidemic and that those transformed “will get over it.” Crucially for this project, Bérenger remarks: “But it’s bound to have certain after-effects! An organic upheaval like that can’t help but have. He “spoils everything” with his “bad conscience” he is a “neurotic with no sense of humour.” He is afraid yet stubbornly repeats that he will not accept the situation, that communication is impossible with the animals because their guttural noises are meaningless and their trumpeting silences dialogue.
He is berated for his intransigent insistence on the distinctions between “normal” and “abnormal” and “speech” and “trumpeting” and his refusal to adjust to the situation and “be happy in spite of everything.” His urgent desire to “do something about it” is insufferable and so is his feeling of responsibility: “Sometimes one does harm without meaning to, or rather one allows it to go unchecked” (act 3). Whereas most residents get used to these massive animals galloping around, Bérenger grows fearful, anxiously observing his friends either turn into rhinoceros or become excessively tolerant toward them. As Bérenger realizes in act 2: “Everyone’s in the same boat!” 1 Complicity and accommodation emerge as relational phenomena, underpinned by the destruction of a plural space of meaningful dialogue and the replacement of speech by animal roars. Everyone has a friend, a colleague, or a relative among the rhinoceros-which makes it difficult to take a joint position on their destructive presence: social allegiances and identities feed rhinoceration and render it normal. If you are not a rhinoceros yourself, you only need get out of their way when they crisscross the town in herds at great speed. Personal ambition, class mobility, political commitments, certain modes of thought, a corrupt sense of solidarity, and cowardice gradually push various people to embrace the transformations: rhinoceros begin to appear beautiful, strong, noble, and harmless.
#Rhinoceros plural form skin
More and more people get green skin and grow horns, and Ionesco intimates that the transformation is not entirely outside one’s control: it is nothing like an accident but more like a choice one makes from within one’s social situation. As it progresses, we understand that humans are turning into rhinoceros. This is the opening scene of Rhinoceros (1959), a play by French-Romanian playwright Eugène Ionesco (1909–94).
#Rhinoceros plural form full
Although this second incident triggers general outrage, and a clerk suggests that the authorities should intervene, the conversation gradually derails into a dreamlike, obsessive exchange, full of clichés, over the correct species of the animal: was this an Asian or African rhinoceros? Everybody returns to what they were doing before this bizarre apparition, when suddenly another animal passes by, trampling a cat. After a minute of shock and awe, things slowly fall back into place. As various townsfolk go about their daily business in the two friends’ vicinity, unexpectedly, a rhinoceros gallops by, raising a cloud of dust and momentarily alarming everyone. He loves his job, is cultured, and takes pride in his integrity and rationality. Bérenger is a misfit, who cannot “get used to life” and who resorts to alcohol to alleviate his spleen, while Jean is the perfectly adjusted citizen. ON A SUNDAY AFTERNOON, in a French town, two friends, Bérenger and Jean, sit and chat on a café patio.
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