Jacques and his Master

The show takes place on an empty stage that includes two separate spaces. One space in the upper stage and another in the lower stage. Events that the characters recount their past, or in other words, memories of their past, are displayed at the top of the stage, and present events are performed at the bottom of the stage.

Symbolic Space and Time

Kundera masterfully depicts these two different times in a symbolic space and place at the same time. We can also see very well how he creates a very complex connection in the form of a humorous show with a very bitter theme. We even see that sometimes words are exchanged between two times, which is also a matter of interaction.

Sometimes several tables and chairs are brought to the stage, which is also used to help tell the stories that the three people—Jacques, the master, and the hostess—are telling each other. The story is about three characters who narrate the story of their lives.

The Opening

Now we go to the characters of the play and the play itself. The play begins with Jacques and the Master staring at the audience, and the first dialogues exchanged between Jacques and the Master are about where they came from and where they are going. Jacques shows an unknown place that he is not sure about and does not even show the destination. They are just going, and time goes by and distances go by, but for no reason.

"JACQUES: Because the day I lost my virginity, I went out and got drunk. My father, mad with rage, gave me a beating. A regiment was passing through, I signed up, a battle broke out, a bullet hit me in the knee. And that was the start of a long string of adventures. Without that bullet, I don't think I'd ever have fallen in love."

This dialogue is repeated over and over in the play, and a sentence is added to it each time. This dialogue is a metaphor for the whole life of Jacques' character in the play. A life that can be summed up in one paragraph. After all these years and all these hours and days spent in a lifetime that can all be summed up in one line—this life is completely absurd. The fact that a small event changes a person's whole life is one of the biggest reasons for its frivolity and absurdity.

Vague and Undefined Characters

With a closer look at the characters in the story, we can easily see that throughout the story, the characters in the play remain vague and undefined. From the beginning to the end of the story, we see only a series of vague memories of the past of the three main characters that are displayed, and finally, we realize that all three characters of the story had vague and undefined characters.

This is proof of the claim that the story and the play are based entirely on the philosophy of the absurd because we degrade the characters of the story to such an extent that we no longer care about their existence, and we can easily see the play with their voices, and even knowing and not knowing them, except for their names, does not make a difference.

In most of his books, Kundera uses the technique of choosing the characters of his stories vaguely and only as a symbol of a certain group and model of people in the society, and he never seeks to explain them, and only their actions are important.

What Was Written on High

During the play, we see that there is constant talk about "what was written on high." Looking at the beginning of the play, we see that the two do not know where they came from and where they want to go. Those heights are a metaphor for the destiny of human beings, which many have believed in the past and still have: life is mandatory.

Kundera has used this word (mandatory) in the play. Life has overwhelmed man, and he sees that his life is empty. An absurdity that has no purpose—if it had, it would no longer be absurd. This means that our lives as human beings are reduced to coming and going, while we do not know the destination, and we do not even know what we are doing in the meantime.

Even betrayal of people is quickly forgotten. We easily forget our childhood after years. Also, after the death of our loved ones, after a few years, we will not have any trace of their grief and remembrance, and we will easily continue our life and go through it so that we can join them. And finally, the funeral for us is held, and we will be forgotten.

The Imbecile Creator

On the other hand, we see that in one part, the Master asks Jacques, "Do you know who it is who dared rewrite our story?" And Jacques replies, "An imbecile, sir..." This in itself indicates that it is from a stupid creator that emptiness and meaninglessness arise.

"MASTER: Death to all who dare rewrite what has been written! Impale them and roast them over a slow fire! Castrate them and cut off their ears!"

"JACQUES: Rewriters of what's been written... and those who write new things."

"JACQUES: You know my grandfather, the one who kept me gagged and read the bible every night, he didn't always like what he read, he would even say that the bible repeated itself and that anyone who repeated himself took his listeners for idiots. And you know what I've been wondering, sir? Whether the one who does all the writing on high hasn't repeated himself an incredible amount and whether he too doesn't take his listeners for idiots."

The Merry-Go-Round

The Master reflects:

"MASTER: ...You know what I wondered yesterday evening as I listened to the story of Madame de la Pommeraye? Whether it isn't always one and the same story. After all, Madame de la Pommeraye is merely a replica of Saint Ouen, while I am no more than a version of your poor friend Bigre, who himself is but a counterpart of the dupe of a Marquis. And I see no difference whatever between Justine and Agathe, and Agathe is the double of the little whore the Marquis eventually married."

And Jacques pensively replies: "Yes, sir, it's like a merry-go-round."

Yes, like a merry-go-round in which we are immersed in infinity and we are constantly spinning, and we are born on it and we die on the same, and we are imprisoned in its seats, and the one who spins it—he sees us and laughs at us, and that laugh is the most he gives us.

Unnecessary Truths

"JACQUES: We are mortal, or that the world is rotten."

Says Jacques, and Jacques knows that this is a fact that is unnecessary and that everyone should know.

"JACQUES: Don't worry, sir. I don't like unnecessary truths, I know them already."

"MASTER: For example?"

"JACQUES: For example, that we are mortal. Or that the world is rotten. As if we had to be told. You know the sort who steps on the stage like a hero and cries, 'the world is rotten!' Well, the audience applauds, but Jacques isn't interested, because Jacques knew it two hundred, four hundred, eight hundred years before him."

Forward Is Anywhere

In the end, Jacques asks his master, "Now tell me where are we going?" and the master says, "Which of us knows where we're going?" and Jacques responds, "Nobody knows, sir."

"JACQUES: There, sir, look. The inn."

"MASTER: Which of us knows where we're going?"

"JACQUES: Nobody knows, sir."

"MASTER: No one."

"JACQUES: You lead the way."

"MASTER: How can I lead the way when I don't know where we're going?"

"JACQUES: Because it's written on high. You are my master and it's your duty to lead the way."

"JACQUES: All right then, sir. Go ahead. Lead the way."

"MASTER (looking around, highly embarrassed): Very well but where is forward?"

"JACQUES: Let me tell you a great secret. One of mankind's oldest tricks. Forward is anywhere you're looking."

"MASTER (turning uncertainly): Why that's splendid, Jacques! That's splendid!"

"JACQUES (melancholically): Yes, sir..."

"MASTER (after a brief bit of stage business, sadly): Well then, Jacques, forward!"

(They exit diagonally upstage.)

Prague, July 1971

The Grand Farewell

Finally, while they are both sad, Jacques, with a hand that is spinning around him, while drawing a hypothetical circle around himself, shows the path by chance, and they both continue on their way, which is the same way. They exit diagonally upstage (mentioned earlier as a symbol of the past) and join the other characters in the play (all of whom left the stage) and, of course, Kundera himself. Fate caught up with them.