Amédée, or How to Get Rid of It (1954) by Eugène Ionesco (List of Characters)

 

Amédée, or How to Get Rid of It (1954)

by Eugène Ionesco

(List of Characters) 

List of Characters in Amédée, or How to Get Rid of It

Amédée, or How to Get Rid of It by Eugène Ionesco features a small cast, which intensifies the play’s claustrophobic and symbolic atmosphere.

 

1. Amédée

A failed playwright and the central male character. He is indecisive, passive, and creatively blocked. For fifteen years, he has lived with the growing corpse in his apartment without taking decisive action. His hesitation reflects existential paralysis and avoidance of responsibility. By the end of the play, he becomes the figure most directly transformed by the corpse’s removal.

 

2. Madeleine

Amédée’s wife. Practical, sharp-tongued, and often bitter, she works to support the household while criticizing her husband’s inactivity. Though she urges action, she too has tolerated the corpse’s presence for years. She represents frustration, resentment, and shared complicity in avoidance. In the final scene, she is left alone as Amédée rises into the sky.

 

3. The Corpse

Though not a speaking character, the corpse is the most dominant presence in the play. It continues to grow throughout the action, occupying more and more space. Symbolically, it represents guilt, decay, unresolved past events, or the death of love. Its final ascent transforms it from a burden into an ambiguous image of release or escape.

 

4. The Concierge (or Doorman)

A minor offstage or briefly appearing character (depending on staging). The concierge represents social pressure and the outside world. His presence heightens tension by suggesting that the secret within the apartment cannot remain hidden forever.

 

5. The Policemen

Appearing near the end of the play, the policemen symbolize authority, order, and societal intrusion. Their arrival suggests that the private burden of the couple is becoming a public matter, intensifying the urgency of action.

Although the cast is small, each figure carries symbolic weight. The limited number of characters enhances the play’s focus on psychological tension and absurdist atmosphere, allowing the growing corpse to dominate both space and meaning.