Amédée, or How to Get Rid of It (1954) by Eugène Ionesco (Key Facts)

 

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

by Eugène Ionesco

(Key Facts) 

Key Facts

 

Full Title

Amédée, or How to Get Rid of It

 

Author

Eugène Ionesco

 

Type of Work

One-act absurdist play (tragicomedy in dramatic form)

 

Genre

Theatre of the Absurd; tragicomedy; symbolic drama

 

Language

Originally written in French

 

Time and Place Written

Early 1950s, France (Paris)

 

Date of First Publication / First Performance

1954

 

Publisher

First staged in Paris; early publication associated with French theatrical publishers (commonly Éditions Gallimard in collected works).

 

Tone

Grotesque, tragicomic, ironic, claustrophobic, absurd, and psychologically unsettling. The tone shifts between domestic comedy and existential dread.

 

Setting (Time)

Mid-20th century; action unfolds over a single continuous period (real-time dramatic progression).

 

Setting (Place)

A small Paris apartment, primarily the living room and adjoining bedroom.

 

Protagonist

Amédée — a failed playwright struggling with paralysis and avoidance.

 

Major Conflict

Amédée and Madeleine must confront and remove a mysterious corpse that has been growing in their apartment for fifteen years. The deeper conflict lies between avoidance and responsibility, denial and confrontation.

 

Rising Action

The couple argue about the corpse’s origin and what to do about it.

The corpse continues to grow, physically overwhelming the apartment.

Outside pressure (neighbors, Concierge, Policemen) increases tension.

Madeleine urges Amédée to take action.

 

Climax

Amédée attempts to remove the enormous corpse from the apartment. As he pushes it out the window, the body unexpectedly becomes buoyant and begins to float.

 

Falling Action

Amédée is lifted into the air along with the corpse, ascending into the sky while Madeleine remains below, watching in stunned isolation.

 

Major Themes

The burden of unresolved guilt

Decay of marriage

Existential paralysis

Breakdown of communication

Absurdity of human existence

Avoidance versus confrontation

The oppressive weight of the past

 

Motifs

Growth and expansion (the enlarging corpse)

Circular, repetitive dialogue

Creative stagnation (Amédée’s unfinished play)

Decay and odor

Social intrusion (knocking, outside pressure)

 

Symbols

The Corpse — guilt, moral decay, unresolved past, death of love

The Apartment — psychological confinement and emotional suffocation

The Floating Ascent — ambiguous liberation, transcendence, or annihilation

The Policemen — social order and external authority

The Concierge — societal surveillance and inevitable exposure

 

Foreshadowing

Repeated references to the corpse’s increasing size hint at the eventual crisis.

Growing tension about neighbors and outside suspicion foreshadows authority’s arrival.

Amédée’s long hesitation suggests that confrontation, when it comes, will be dramatic and transformative.

The constant emphasis on weight subtly prepares the audience for the ironic reversal into weightlessness at the end.