TOM STOPPARD’S ‘SPIRITUAL LONERS:’ A STUDY OF FOUR EARLY ABSURD PLAYS

Tom Stoppard is a leading figure in contemporary British drama. He began his writing career in the early sixties. He was considerably influenced by the dominant literary trends in the first half of the twentieth century, the most important of which is absurdism, both thematically and technically. In the plays dealt with in this paper; namely, The Dissolution of Dominic Boot, ‘M’ Is For Moon Among Other Things, If You’re Glad, I’ll Be Frank and Albert’s Bridge, Stoppard not only employs the elements of the absurdist drama, but also presents a series of spiritual loners who are helpless and unable to cope with the realities of life. They are condemned to a life of boredom and meaninglessness and are put in a series of absurd situations.