Foil

Character Role Analysis

Botard and Dudard

So there’s Berenger and Jean as the two similar-but-not sort of dudes in the show, and then Ionesco drops in another nice little foil pair for one scene in the play. Even their names have a sort of semi-rhyme going on.

Botard is a man who will not believe anything until he sees it for himself, while Dudard is one who is willing to believe anything that is written in the papers. Dudard is a university-educated man, while Botard fancies himself a man with street smarts and real knowledge:

DUDARD: It’s in the paper, in black and white, you can’t deny that […]

BOTARD: I never believe journalists. They’re all liars. I don’t need them to tell me what to think. I believe what I see with my own eyes. (2.1.63-76)

Think of it like Botard gets freaked out a lot (as if someone snuck up on him and went, Boo!) and Dudard is a bit more of a chill dude.

The two (with some help from Mr. Papillon and Daisy) bicker throughout the scene in the office. They stand at opposite ends on everything from their stance on journalism to their origins. (Botard is a Northerner who chastises the Southerners in the office for having too much imagination. Yeah, for real.)

Despite the bickering, though, everything is handled quite politely between the two of them. In the end, they actually agree on certain things. They just disagree on how things should be discussed and approached:

DUDARD: But Botard’s attitude was too passionate, as usual, and therefore over-simplified. (3.1.418-419)

Can’t win ‘em all, even if you’ve got almost the same name.