The Motor Show (1950) by Eugène Ionesco (List of Characters)

 

The Motor Show (1950)

by Eugène Ionesco

(List of Characters) 

List of Characters from The Motor Show (1950) by Eugène Ionesco

The Salesman

The central and most dominant figure in the play. He represents advertising culture and persuasive authority. He speaks in exaggerated, repetitive, and technical language, praising the automobiles endlessly. Rather than being a realistic individual, he functions as a symbolic type—the voice of commercial manipulation.

 

Monsieur

A middle-class customer visiting the motor exhibition. He tries to ask practical and logical questions about the cars but is overwhelmed by the Salesman’s excessive rhetoric. He represents the ordinary modern consumer, curious yet easily confused.

 

Madame

Monsieur’s wife. She accompanies him to the motor show and shows interest in the cars, but like her husband, she becomes caught in the flood of persuasive language. She symbolizes the passive consumer influenced by spectacle and social pressure.

 

Other Salesmen

Additional promoters at the exhibition who repeat similar exaggerated claims. They intensify the chaos of the scene by overlapping dialogue and competing superlatives. They reinforce the theme of repetition and mechanized speech.

 

Other Customers / Visitors

Background figures who respond to the advertisements and sometimes echo the slogans. They represent society at large—individuals swept up in consumer excitement and collective conformity.

 

Note on Characterization

The characters in The Motor Show are not deeply developed psychological individuals. Instead, they function as symbolic types, which is typical of absurdist drama. Each character represents a role within modern consumer society rather than a complex personal identity.