La condition humaine entre les miroirs symboliques de la féminité et l’auto￾spécularité – Eugène Ionesco, Le Roi se meurt

Abstract

The human dimension of death, focused on as a radical form of rebellion from the absurd theatre
perspective or an acute protest of man subjected to the macrocosmic laws, as both a weapon fighting against
destiny and specific type of writing exorcising the anguish of immanent disappearance, turns into a fundamental
theme of Eugen Ionescu’s drama. Covertly doubled by the creator-creation theme, the death obsession is the
key-word of Ionescu’s writing, being enhanced especially by the texts coined around the character named
Bérenger who displays obvious autobiographic features. In The King dies (Regele moare), Bérenger I together
with other two important feminine characters – queen Marguerite and queen Marie - travels within the great
life-death labyrinth, while the whole world is inexorably slipping down to death. Unable to adapt to death,
Bérenger I’s failure actually displays a tragic experience – in its tormenting agony, the frail human nature fights
time down by the power of its own thoughts.