Existentialism :: essays research papers

empiricismExistentialism is a ideal that became popular during the second World War inFrance, and just after ward it. French playrights have often used the stage toexpress their views, and these views came to step to the fore even during a Nazioccupation. Bernard Shaw got his play "Saint Joan" past the Ger cosmos censorsbecause it appeared to be very Anti-British. French audiences howeverimmediately understood the veridical meaning of the play, and replaced the Britishwith the Germans. Those sorts of "hidden meanings" were common throughout theperiod so that plays would be able to pass censorship.Existentialism proposes that man is full of trouble and despare with no meaningin his life, just simply existing, until he do decisive choice about his ownfuture. That is the way to achieve high-handedness as a human being. Existentialistsfelt that adopting a social or political cause was one way of giving purpose toa life. Sartre is well known for the "Theatre e ngage" or Theatre commited,which is purportedly commited to social and/or political action.On of the major playwrights during this period was Jean-Paul Sartre. Sartre hadbeen confined in Germany in 1940 but managed to escape, and become one of theleaders of the Existential movement. Other popular playwrights were Albert Camus,and Jean Anouilh. Just like Anouilh, Camus accidentally became the spokesman forthe French Underground when he wrote his famous essay, "Le falsehoode de Sisyphe" or"The Myth of Sisyphus". Sisyphus was the man condemned by the gods to roll arock to the top of a mountain, solely to have it roll back down again. For Camus,this related heavily to day-after-day life, and he saw Sisyphus an "absurd" hero,with a pointless existance. Camus felt that it was required to wonder what themeaning of life was, and that the human being longed for some hotshot of clarityin the domain, since "if the world were clear, art would not exist&quo t. "The Myth ofSisyphus" became a prototype for existentialism in the theatre, and eventuallyThe Theatre of the pixilated. chastise after the Second World War, Paris became the theatre capital of the west,and popularized a new form of surrealistic theatre called "Theatre of theAbsurd". some historians contribute the sudden popularity of absurdism in Franceto the gruesome revelations of gas chambers and war atrocities coming out ofGermany after the war. The main idea of The Theatre of the Absurd was to pointout mans helplessness and pointless existance in a world without purpose. AsRichard Coe described it "It is the freedom of the slave to crawl east on the