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

 

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

by Eugène Ionesco

(Characters Analysis) 

Character Analysis of Amédée

In Amédée, or How to Get Rid of It by Eugène Ionesco, Amédée stands at the center of the play’s absurd and symbolic universe. He is neither a traditional tragic hero nor a comic protagonist in the conventional sense. Instead, he embodies existential paralysis, creative sterility, and the quiet despair of a man overwhelmed by a burden he refuses—or fears—to confront. Through Amédée, Ionesco dramatizes the human tendency toward avoidance and the psychological consequences of prolonged denial.

Amédée is introduced as a failed playwright, endlessly revising a work he cannot complete. His artistic stagnation is not merely a professional flaw but a reflection of his deeper existential crisis. Writing, which should be an act of creation and meaning-making, becomes instead a symbol of incompletion. Just as his play remains unfinished, so too does his confrontation with the growing corpse in his apartment remain indefinitely postponed. His creative paralysis mirrors his moral and emotional paralysis. He lives in a suspended state, caught between awareness and action.

Psychologically, Amédée is evasive and indecisive. He debates, rationalizes, and reminisces, yet he avoids decisive movement. Even when the corpse’s grotesque growth makes avoidance impossible, he hesitates. This hesitation reflects the absurdist condition: action feels futile in a world lacking clear meaning. Amédée’s passivity is not simple laziness; it is rooted in existential uncertainty. He seems overwhelmed by the magnitude of the problem, and instead of confronting it, he retreats into discussion and memory.

His relationship with Madeleine further reveals his weakness. She often appears more forceful, urging him to act, criticizing his inaction. Yet Amédée does not resist strongly; he drifts between defensiveness and resignation. Their conversations expose his vulnerability and dependence. At times he appears childlike, almost fragile, as though the weight of the corpse has diminished his authority and confidence. His masculinity, creativity, and agency all seem eroded.

However, Amédée is not entirely devoid of courage. In the climactic moment of the play, he finally attempts to remove the corpse. This act represents a delayed confrontation with the past. Though awkward and grotesque, his struggle to drag the enormous body out of the apartment marks a turning point. For the first time, he engages directly with the burden he has long avoided. This moment suggests that beneath his paralysis lies the potential for action.

The final image of Amédée rising into the sky with the floating corpse transforms him into an ambiguous figure. His ascent can be interpreted in multiple ways: as liberation from guilt, as surrender to illusion, as madness, or even as death. Importantly, his transformation occurs only after he attempts to confront the problem. Whether this ascent signifies escape or transcendence remains unresolved, consistent with the play’s absurdist philosophy. Ionesco denies clear moral resolution, leaving Amédée suspended between freedom and annihilation.

Ultimately, Amédée represents modern humanity’s struggle with responsibility and meaning. He is an ordinary man confronted with an extraordinary symbol of guilt and decay. His tragedy lies not in heroic downfall but in prolonged hesitation. Yet his final act introduces a fragile possibility: that confrontation, however belated, may alter one’s condition—even if the outcome remains uncertain.

Through Amédée, Ionesco presents a character who is painfully human—flawed, hesitant, imaginative, and overwhelmed. His journey from avoidance to action, and from heaviness to weightlessness, captures the tragicomic essence of the absurd condition.

 

Character Analysis of Madeleine

In Amédée, or How to Get Rid of It by Eugène Ionesco, Madeleine emerges as a complex and sharply defined character whose presence intensifies both the domestic tension and the symbolic depth of the drama. While Amédée embodies paralysis and hesitation, Madeleine represents frustration, suppressed resentment, and the urgency of action. Yet she, too, is implicated in the long years of avoidance that allow the grotesque corpse to dominate their lives. Through Madeleine, Ionesco presents not merely a complaining spouse, but a portrait of shared guilt, emotional decay, and existential entrapment.

Madeleine is practical and outwardly stronger than her husband. She works to support the household while Amédée struggles unsuccessfully with his unfinished play. Her tone is often sharp, impatient, and accusatory. She repeatedly urges Amédée to take responsibility for removing the corpse, emphasizing the social consequences—the smell, the neighbors, the fear of discovery. In contrast to Amédée’s dreamy indecision, Madeleine appears grounded in reality. She understands that their situation cannot continue indefinitely.

However, her apparent strength is complicated by her complicity. For fifteen years, she has lived with the corpse in the next room. Though she criticizes Amédée for inaction, she herself has not taken decisive steps. Her frustration thus becomes cyclical; she attacks him verbally, yet remains trapped in the same stagnant environment. This tension reveals that she is not a purely rational figure opposing absurdity, but another participant in the denial that sustains it.

Emotionally, Madeleine reflects the decay of the marriage. Her interactions with Amédée oscillate between irritation and moments of shared memory. There are hints of a past intimacy that has long since faded. The corpse may symbolize not only guilt but also the death of their love—something that once lived but now decays in their shared space. Madeleine’s bitterness suggests disappointment, perhaps with Amédée’s failure as a writer, perhaps with life itself. Her tone carries the weight of years spent in disappointment.

Symbolically, Madeleine can be seen as the voice of reality pressing against illusion. She demands action, insisting that the corpse must be removed before society intervenes. Yet even her appeals are embedded in circular dialogue, highlighting the breakdown of communication. Her attempts to impose order collapse into repetition and contradiction. In this way, she too becomes part of the absurd mechanism of the play.

The final scene leaves Madeleine alone, watching as Amédée rises into the sky with the floating corpse. This ending isolates her in the apartment that once felt suffocating. Amédée’s ascent may represent escape, but Madeleine remains grounded. Her solitude intensifies the ambiguity of the conclusion. Has she been abandoned? Freed? Punished? Ionesco does not clarify. Her stillness contrasts sharply with Amédée’s upward movement, suggesting that confrontation may lead to transformation for some, while others remain bound to reality.

Ultimately, Madeleine is neither villain nor victim. She is a deeply human figure shaped by disappointment, fear, and shared guilt. Her sharpness masks vulnerability; her insistence on action conceals years of passivity. Through her character, Ionesco explores how resentment grows alongside denial, and how relationships erode when burdened by unspoken truths.

Madeleine’s presence anchors the play’s absurd imagery in emotional realism. She embodies the tension between practicality and paralysis, between confrontation and complicity. In her frustration and isolation, she reflects the tragicomic complexity of modern existence—a life lived beside something unbearable, yet endured for far too long.

 

Character Analysis of the Corpse

In Amédée, or How to Get Rid of It by Eugène Ionesco, the Corpse is the most powerful presence on stage despite having no voice, no movement of its own will, and no clear identity. It dominates the dramatic space physically and symbolically, shaping the actions, emotions, and psychological states of the living characters. Though silent, it is the central force of the play. Through this grotesque and expanding body, Ionesco externalizes the invisible burdens that haunt human existence.

The most striking feature of the Corpse is its continuous growth. It does not remain static but expands relentlessly, occupying more and more of the apartment. This unnatural enlargement transforms it from an object into an active dramatic force. Its growth mirrors the escalation of unresolved guilt and suppressed memory. Whatever event caused its presence—whether crime, betrayal, or symbolic decay—has been ignored for fifteen years. The Corpse becomes the physical manifestation of that prolonged avoidance. Ionesco suggests that what is denied does not disappear; it accumulates and multiplies.

The ambiguity surrounding the Corpse’s identity strengthens its symbolic function. Amédée and Madeleine offer contradictory accounts of who the dead man might have been. This uncertainty removes the possibility of literal interpretation and invites metaphorical understanding. The Corpse may represent moral wrongdoing, the death of love, artistic failure, or the weight of the past itself. Because it lacks a fixed explanation, it becomes universal. It can stand for any burden that individuals attempt to hide but cannot escape.

Spatially, the Corpse transforms the apartment into a suffocating environment. Its presence distorts ordinary domestic life. Doors cannot close properly; movement becomes difficult; the smell permeates the air. The home, which should be a place of comfort, becomes a site of anxiety. The Corpse therefore symbolizes not only psychological burden but also the invasion of decay into everyday existence. It renders normal life impossible.

Paradoxically, in the final scene, the Corpse undergoes a dramatic transformation. Instead of remaining heavy and oppressive, it becomes buoyant, floating upward into the sky. This shift from weight to weightlessness introduces profound ambiguity. The Corpse, once a symbol of suffocation, becomes a vehicle of ascension. It carries Amédée with it, suggesting that confrontation with one’s burden may lead to transcendence—or annihilation. The reversal of physical expectation reinforces the absurdist nature of the play: reality does not obey stable laws.

As a character, the Corpse functions as a silent antagonist. It creates tension without speaking, exerts pressure without acting consciously, and forces confrontation without intention. It shapes dialogue, motivates action, and ultimately determines the play’s climax. Yet it never explains itself. Its silence is significant; it reflects the inarticulable nature of guilt and existential dread. Some burdens cannot be neatly defined or rationally understood.

Ultimately, the Corpse embodies the central paradox of the human condition in Ionesco’s dramatic world. It is both personal and universal, grotesque and symbolic, oppressive and strangely liberating. Through its relentless growth and final ascent, Ionesco illustrates how the past invades the present and how denial magnifies fear. The Corpse is not merely an object within the play; it is the visible shape of the invisible anxieties that define modern life.

In its stillness, it speaks the loudest.

 

Character Analysis of the Concierge (or Doorman)

In Amédée, or How to Get Rid of It by Eugène Ionesco, the Concierge—sometimes referred to as the Doorman—plays a minor but symbolically significant role. Though he does not dominate the stage like Amédée, Madeleine, or the ever-expanding Corpse, his presence represents the intrusive force of society pressing against private secrecy. In a drama where much of the action unfolds within the claustrophobic interior of an apartment, the Concierge serves as a reminder that the outside world cannot be indefinitely excluded.

Dramatically, the Concierge heightens tension. He embodies the watchful eyes of the building, the whispering neighbors, and the inevitable curiosity of society. The smell of decay, the unusual behavior of the couple, and the growing disturbance within the apartment cannot remain hidden forever. His presence suggests that private guilt is never entirely private. The outside world may not understand the specific nature of the secret, but it senses that something is wrong.

Symbolically, the Concierge represents social order and surveillance. In contrast to the irrational growth of the Corpse and the circular arguments between husband and wife, he belongs to the structured, everyday world. He operates within ordinary reality—rules, responsibilities, and communal life. His existence reinforces the contrast between the absurd interior world of the apartment and the seemingly rational exterior society. Yet even this “normal” world feels faintly mechanical and impersonal, consistent with Ionesco’s absurdist vision.

The Concierge also functions as a catalyst for action. His inquiries and suspicions increase the urgency of the situation. While Amédée and Madeleine can postpone confrontation when alone, the pressure of an observing outsider accelerates events. The threat of exposure forces movement. In this way, the Concierge indirectly contributes to the climax, pushing the couple toward the decision to remove the Corpse.

Moreover, his role underscores a central theme of the play: the tension between concealment and revelation. The apartment has served as a sealed container for fifteen years, but the presence of the Concierge demonstrates that walls cannot permanently protect secrets. Social reality inevitably intrudes upon psychological denial.

Despite his limited stage time, the Concierge’s significance lies in what he represents rather than what he says. He is not deeply individualized; instead, he operates as a symbolic extension of society itself—curious, structured, and potentially judgmental. His presence contrasts with the irrational and grotesque elements within the apartment, grounding the play momentarily in recognizable social dynamics.

Ultimately, the Concierge embodies the external pressure that challenges private avoidance. In a world where guilt grows unchecked in isolation, he represents the knocking at the door—the inevitable reminder that reality, whether social or moral, cannot be shut out forever.

 

Character Analysis of the Policemen

In Amédée, or How to Get Rid of It by Eugène Ionesco, the Policemen appear briefly, yet their presence carries substantial symbolic weight. Like the Concierge, they are not psychologically complex individuals; rather, they function as embodiments of external authority and institutional order. Their arrival intensifies the dramatic tension and reinforces the play’s central conflict between private concealment and public exposure.

Dramatically, the Policemen mark a turning point. Until their approach, the conflict remains largely internal—between Amédée, Madeleine, and the grotesque Corpse. The apartment has acted as a sealed world in which denial and delay can continue unchecked. However, the Policemen represent the collapse of that isolation. Their presence signals that the secret within the apartment has drawn the attention of the outside world. What was once hidden is on the verge of being investigated, judged, and possibly punished.

Symbolically, the Policemen stand for law, structure, and rational authority. In a play governed by absurd growth, circular dialogue, and surreal imagery, they appear to represent conventional order. They are figures of social control, tasked with restoring balance and enforcing rules. Yet within the absurdist framework of the drama, their authority feels fragile. The irrational expansion of the Corpse and its eventual defiance of gravity undermine the stability that the Policemen are meant to uphold. The absurd world cannot be fully contained by institutional power.

Their presence also emphasizes the theme of inevitable confrontation. For fifteen years, Amédée and Madeleine have postponed dealing with the Corpse. The Policemen’s arrival suggests that avoidance has limits. Society eventually demands accountability. Whether interpreted literally as law enforcement or metaphorically as moral reckoning, they symbolize the pressure that builds when wrongdoing or guilt is concealed.

At the same time, the Policemen may be viewed ironically. In absurdist theatre, authority figures often appear mechanical or superficial. Their procedures and formalities contrast sharply with the chaotic emotional reality inside the apartment. They may seek to impose logical explanations on a fundamentally illogical situation. In doing so, they reveal the limitations of rational systems when confronted with existential absurdity.

Importantly, the Policemen do not ultimately resolve the situation. The climax occurs not through their intervention but through Amédée’s attempt to remove the Corpse and the surreal ascent that follows. This suggests that external authority cannot solve deeply personal or existential burdens. The confrontation must originate from within.

Thus, the Policemen function less as individual characters and more as symbolic agents of societal judgment and order. Their brief appearance underscores the tension between the private and the public, between hidden guilt and institutional scrutiny. In the absurd universe of the play, they represent the world knocking at the door—an unavoidable reminder that secrets, however long suppressed, will eventually demand reckoning.