Some people just love to talk about how smart they are. They’ll sit there and tell you all the things they know and they’ll talk at length about every subject under the sun. They’ll start sentences with phrases like, “Well, actually, what Shakespeare really meant was…”
Hey, some of those people might actually be really smart. However, if you pay attention, you might find that a lot of them are totally full of it.
Ionesco litters Rhinoceros with a number of characters who are quick to show off their knowledge but are really just throwing out empty phrases that don’t demonstrate any actual smarts at all. At times in the play, this can be extremely funny, and at other times it can almost drive you crazy.
Questions About Wisdom and Knowledge
- What is a syllogism? (Hint: our friends Merriam and Webster know.)
- What sorts of arguments do these folks rely on in claiming they know all about the rhinoceros epidemic?
- In the office debate, who is the only person who actually has proof to support his or her arguments? What makes those particular arguments more credible?
- If Berenger were an “intellectual” like Dudard, would his decision to stay as he is be more difficult?
Chew on This
Ionesco creates the foils of Dudard and Botard in order to show one fellow (Dudard) who is a slave to reason take on a man (Botard) who is a slave to his emotions. In the middle rests Berenger, who prizes both reason and his own feelings. This, like so many other little details about him, makes Berenger the Everyman and a link to the audience.
The thing that destroys Daisy and Berenger’s relationship in the end is religious zeal. Mere moments before the end of the play, Berenger and Daisy were very much on the same page when it came to the rhinoceroses. But all of a sudden, Daisy has an epiphany and begins to see the rhinos as gods. And that is not a form of knowledge that Berenger can comprehend.