Modernity, Conformity, and the Exclusion of Women's Voices in Rhinoceros

Eugène Ionesco’s Rhinoceros has often been interpreted as a symbol of fascism, conformity, and the gradual acceptance of non-resistance. During the play, townspeople are changed into a cattle herd while only the indifferent alcoholic Berenger remains true to his humanity. However, such reading disregards the systematic exclusion of women from the central philosophical and political aspects of the play. Women in the play are defined solely through men: as a wife (Mrs Boeuf), a romantic subject (Daisy), or an object of affection. As a result, the absurdity of a male-dominated hallmark of modernity. This paper attempts to reinterpret Rhinoceros as a feminist critique of patriarchy by means of observation of women’s conformity in the context of modernity according to the theories offered by Beauvoir, Irigaray, and Butler. As per the observation, women are denied the experience of authentic subjectivity and are made objects of a patriarchal discourse. The analysis of Daisy’s abandonment of Beranger to follow the crowd reveals the futility of humanistic love. In view of the above-mentioned observations, women are structurally excluded from any acts of resistance since individual liberties of modern man depend on the elimination of the other sex.