You ever have those mornings when you wake up, look in the mirror, and you start to think to yourself, “Who am I and what am I doing?” If so, you’re not alone. If not, you might be: minor morning-time existential crises are just a part of life sometimes. Hopefully once you get your coffee on, you start to feel better about your place in the world.
For Ionesco’s characters, though, the question never really goes away. Rhinoceros returns to the question of who we are as individuals and as a society time and time again. Every character in the play is confronted with questions of identity when they start to understand what the rhinoceroses really are. In the end, Berenger shouts at the top of his lungs to tell the world that he is still human—he is still the man he was—and he is never going to give up his identity.
Questions About Identity
- Whose pajamas start to itch? What is the significance of this in relation to the whole humanity thing?
- Why do you think Ionesco doesn’t give certain characters (e.g. Housewife, Old Man, Logician) actual names?
- Without others around you, is it possible to maintain your identity?
- Do you think there is real meaning in the Logician hanging on to his boater when he transforms?
Chew on This
During his transformation, Jean goes into the bathroom and shatters the mirror. He no longer sees himself as the man reflected there, and therefore he wants nothing to do with it. Soon after he shatters the mirror, he runs out to join the rhinoceroses. The act of shattering the mirror is the act of Jean shedding his identity. And hey, maybe rhinos don’t get seven years of bad luck with that sort of thing.
At the end of the play, Berenger takes on the identity for all humankind. Sure, he’s functioned as an Everyman throughout, but keep in mind that he does not proclaim himself to be “Berenger!”—he proclaims himself to be “the last man left.” The individuality of his name or character is no longer as important, because he truly is the only individual still standing.