Philosophical wonder and theatre of cruelty

Abstract

The paper defends the thesis that through the theatre of cruelty Artaud tried to cause in the audience a similar experience to what philosophers traditionally have called wonder (thaumazein). To this effect, we reconstruct the concept of wonder through the works of Plato, Aristotle and Heidegger. Thereafter, we outline the theatre of cruelty and we show how, even without mention of thaumazein, this is the experience that Artaud expected to provoke. Finally, we reflect on the capacity of wonder to question the social norm, and we open two possible issues to be further considered.