Rhinoceros

by

Eugene Ionesco

Dudard Character Analysis

Berenger’s friend and coworker. Dudard is a handsome and successful young man who, according to everyone, has a future ahead of him if he continues at the law publication office where he and Berenger work. Though Berenger likes Dudard, they aren’t especially close since both men nurse crushes on Daisy and, next to Dudard, Berenger feels inferior. Berenger later insists that Dudard is shy, but his actions don’t necessarily support this. At first, Dudard appears to be on Berenger’s side: he insists that the rhinoceros does exist and that it’s a bad thing for it to run over cats. A few days later, when he visits Berenger, Dudard changes his tune. After a few days living amongst the rhinoceroses, Dudard begins to believe that they’re actually admirable creatures and deserve respect, just like humans do. An educated person, Dudard feels that it’s important to see both sides of the issue and debate the righteousness or evil of the rhinoceroses using logic and rationality. He insists that Berenger’s gut reaction that the rhinoceroses are evil makes Berenger seem overly sensitive and is indicative of no sense of humor. Ultimately, Dudard becomes increasingly sympathetic to the rhinoceroses and finally joins them.

Dudard Quotes in Rhinoceros

The Rhinoceros quotes below are all either spoken by Dudard or refer to Dudard. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Absurdity, Logic, and Intellectualism Theme Icon
).
Act 1, Scene 2 Quotes

Botard: You call that precise? And what, pray, does it mean by “pachyderm”? What does the editor of a dead cats column understand by a pachyderm? He doesn’t say. And what does he mean by a cat?

Dudard: Everybody knows what a cat is.

Botard: Does it concern a male cat or a female? What breed is it? And what color? The color bar is something I feel strongly about. I hate it.

Papillon: What has the color bar has to do with it, Mr. Botard? It’s quite beside the point.

Related Characters: Botard (speaker), Dudard (speaker), Mr. Papillon (speaker), Berenger, Daisy
Related Symbols: Rhinoceroses, The Cat
Page Number: 50
Explanation and Analysis:
Act 3 Quotes

Dudard: Perhaps he felt an urge for some fresh air, the country, the wide-open spaces—perhaps he felt a need to relax. I’m not saying that’s any excuse…

Berenger: I understand what you mean, at least I’m trying to. […]

Dudard: Why get upset over a few cases of rhinoceritis? Perhaps it’s just another disease.

Related Characters: Berenger (speaker), Dudard (speaker), Jean
Related Symbols: Rhinoceroses
Page Number: 94
Explanation and Analysis:

Dudard: What if you do? They don’t attack you. If you leave them alone, they just ignore you. You can’t say they’re spiteful. They’ve even got a certain natural innocence, a sort of frankness. Besides, I walked right along the avenue to get here, and I arrived safe and sound, didn’t I? No trouble at all.

Related Characters: Dudard (speaker), Berenger
Related Symbols: Rhinoceroses
Page Number: 97
Explanation and Analysis:

Berenger: If only it had happened somewhere else, in some other country, and we’d just read about it in the papers, one could discuss it quietly, examine the question from all points of view, and come to an objective conclusion. We could organize debates with professors and writers and lawyers, and bluestockings and artists and people. And the ordinary man in the street as well—it would be very interesting and instructive. But when you’re involved yourself, when you suddenly find yourself up against the brutal facts, you can’t help feeling directly concerned—

Related Characters: Berenger (speaker), Dudard
Related Symbols: Rhinoceroses
Page Number: 98
Explanation and Analysis:

Dudard: I consider it’s silly to get worked up because a few people decide to change their skins. They just didn’t feel happy in the ones they had. They’re free to do as they like.

Berenger: We must attack the evil at the roots.

Dudard: The evil! That’s just a phrase. Who knows what is evil and what is good? It’s just a question of personal preferences. […]

Berenger: There you are, you see. If our leaders and fellow citizens all think like you, they’ll never take any action.

Related Characters: Berenger (speaker), Dudard (speaker)
Related Symbols: Rhinoceroses
Page Number: 99
Explanation and Analysis:

Berenger: A rhinoceros! […] Mr. Papillon a rhinoceros! I can’t believe it. I don’t think it’s funny at all. […] Why did’t you tell me before?

Dudard: Well, you know you’ve no sense of humor. I didn’t want to tell you. […] I didn’t want to tell you because I knew very well you wouldn’t see the funny side, and it would upset you. You know how impressionable you are.

Related Characters: Berenger (speaker), Dudard (speaker), Mr. Papillon
Related Symbols: Rhinoceroses
Page Number: 101
Explanation and Analysis:

Berenger: I’m not very well up in philosophy. I’ve never studied; you’ve got all sorts of diplomas. That’s why you’re so at ease in discussion, whereas I never know what to answer—I’m so clumsy. […] But I do feel you’re in the wrong—I feel it instinctively—no, that’s not what I mean, it’s the rhinoceros which has instinct—I feel it intuitively, yes, that’s the word—intuitively.

Related Characters: Berenger (speaker), Dudard
Related Symbols: Rhinoceroses
Page Number: 104
Explanation and Analysis:

Dudard: If he was a genuine thinker, as you say, he couldn’t have got carried away. He must have weighed all the pros and cons before deciding.

Related Characters: Dudard (speaker), Berenger, The Logician
Related Symbols: Rhinoceroses
Page Number: 106
Explanation and Analysis:

Daisy: What he said was, “We must move with the times.” Those were his last human words.

Related Characters: Daisy (speaker), Berenger, Botard, Dudard
Related Symbols: Rhinoceroses
Page Number: 109
Explanation and Analysis:

Berenger: They should be all rounded up in a big enclosure, and kept under strict supervision.

Dudard: That’s easier said than done. The animal’s protection league would never allow it.

Daisy: And besides, everyone has a close relative or a friend among them, and that would make it even more difficult.

Berenger: So everybody’s mixed up in it.

Related Characters: Berenger (speaker), Daisy (speaker), Dudard (speaker)
Related Symbols: Rhinoceroses
Page Number: 111
Explanation and Analysis:

Berenger: He’s joined up with them. Where is he now?

Daisy: (Looking out of the window.) With them.

Berenger: Which one is he?

Daisy: You can’t tell. You can’t recognize him any more.

Berenger: They all look alike, all alike.

Related Characters: Berenger (speaker), Daisy (speaker), Dudard
Related Symbols: Rhinoceroses
Page Number: 115
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire Rhinoceros LitChart as a printable PDF.
Rhinoceros PDF

Dudard Quotes in Rhinoceros

The Rhinoceros quotes below are all either spoken by Dudard or refer to Dudard. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Absurdity, Logic, and Intellectualism Theme Icon
).
Act 1, Scene 2 Quotes

Botard: You call that precise? And what, pray, does it mean by “pachyderm”? What does the editor of a dead cats column understand by a pachyderm? He doesn’t say. And what does he mean by a cat?

Dudard: Everybody knows what a cat is.

Botard: Does it concern a male cat or a female? What breed is it? And what color? The color bar is something I feel strongly about. I hate it.

Papillon: What has the color bar has to do with it, Mr. Botard? It’s quite beside the point.

Related Characters: Botard (speaker), Dudard (speaker), Mr. Papillon (speaker), Berenger, Daisy
Related Symbols: Rhinoceroses, The Cat
Page Number: 50
Explanation and Analysis:
Act 3 Quotes

Dudard: Perhaps he felt an urge for some fresh air, the country, the wide-open spaces—perhaps he felt a need to relax. I’m not saying that’s any excuse…

Berenger: I understand what you mean, at least I’m trying to. […]

Dudard: Why get upset over a few cases of rhinoceritis? Perhaps it’s just another disease.

Related Characters: Berenger (speaker), Dudard (speaker), Jean
Related Symbols: Rhinoceroses
Page Number: 94
Explanation and Analysis:

Dudard: What if you do? They don’t attack you. If you leave them alone, they just ignore you. You can’t say they’re spiteful. They’ve even got a certain natural innocence, a sort of frankness. Besides, I walked right along the avenue to get here, and I arrived safe and sound, didn’t I? No trouble at all.

Related Characters: Dudard (speaker), Berenger
Related Symbols: Rhinoceroses
Page Number: 97
Explanation and Analysis:

Berenger: If only it had happened somewhere else, in some other country, and we’d just read about it in the papers, one could discuss it quietly, examine the question from all points of view, and come to an objective conclusion. We could organize debates with professors and writers and lawyers, and bluestockings and artists and people. And the ordinary man in the street as well—it would be very interesting and instructive. But when you’re involved yourself, when you suddenly find yourself up against the brutal facts, you can’t help feeling directly concerned—

Related Characters: Berenger (speaker), Dudard
Related Symbols: Rhinoceroses
Page Number: 98
Explanation and Analysis:

Dudard: I consider it’s silly to get worked up because a few people decide to change their skins. They just didn’t feel happy in the ones they had. They’re free to do as they like.

Berenger: We must attack the evil at the roots.

Dudard: The evil! That’s just a phrase. Who knows what is evil and what is good? It’s just a question of personal preferences. […]

Berenger: There you are, you see. If our leaders and fellow citizens all think like you, they’ll never take any action.

Related Characters: Berenger (speaker), Dudard (speaker)
Related Symbols: Rhinoceroses
Page Number: 99
Explanation and Analysis:

Berenger: A rhinoceros! […] Mr. Papillon a rhinoceros! I can’t believe it. I don’t think it’s funny at all. […] Why did’t you tell me before?

Dudard: Well, you know you’ve no sense of humor. I didn’t want to tell you. […] I didn’t want to tell you because I knew very well you wouldn’t see the funny side, and it would upset you. You know how impressionable you are.

Related Characters: Berenger (speaker), Dudard (speaker), Mr. Papillon
Related Symbols: Rhinoceroses
Page Number: 101
Explanation and Analysis:

Berenger: I’m not very well up in philosophy. I’ve never studied; you’ve got all sorts of diplomas. That’s why you’re so at ease in discussion, whereas I never know what to answer—I’m so clumsy. […] But I do feel you’re in the wrong—I feel it instinctively—no, that’s not what I mean, it’s the rhinoceros which has instinct—I feel it intuitively, yes, that’s the word—intuitively.

Related Characters: Berenger (speaker), Dudard
Related Symbols: Rhinoceroses
Page Number: 104
Explanation and Analysis:

Dudard: If he was a genuine thinker, as you say, he couldn’t have got carried away. He must have weighed all the pros and cons before deciding.

Related Characters: Dudard (speaker), Berenger, The Logician
Related Symbols: Rhinoceroses
Page Number: 106
Explanation and Analysis:

Daisy: What he said was, “We must move with the times.” Those were his last human words.

Related Characters: Daisy (speaker), Berenger, Botard, Dudard
Related Symbols: Rhinoceroses
Page Number: 109
Explanation and Analysis:

Berenger: They should be all rounded up in a big enclosure, and kept under strict supervision.

Dudard: That’s easier said than done. The animal’s protection league would never allow it.

Daisy: And besides, everyone has a close relative or a friend among them, and that would make it even more difficult.

Berenger: So everybody’s mixed up in it.

Related Characters: Berenger (speaker), Daisy (speaker), Dudard (speaker)
Related Symbols: Rhinoceroses
Page Number: 111
Explanation and Analysis:

Berenger: He’s joined up with them. Where is he now?

Daisy: (Looking out of the window.) With them.

Berenger: Which one is he?

Daisy: You can’t tell. You can’t recognize him any more.

Berenger: They all look alike, all alike.

Related Characters: Berenger (speaker), Daisy (speaker), Dudard
Related Symbols: Rhinoceroses
Page Number: 115
Explanation and Analysis: