The elevation of language to the status of a dramatic antagonist can be achieved through a number of techniques, Handke's solution in Kaspar is in keeping with the abstract minimalism of that play: language is returned to its purely aural source. Disembodied voices surround Kaspar with a language which actively functions as a character. Since language in Kaspar is not represented through a physical figure, and since Handke takes pains to strip even those voices of any personality traits, we are directed toward the reductive forms of language itself, as used in a reductive social context. Handke's achievement is to assert a total identification between the Prompters' “model” sentences, i.e. correct grammatical forms, and the forms of “model” behavior which they induce and coerce – solely through the use of language.

The plays to which we turn here are written in the Absurdist idiom. They present a variety of characters who struggle against language domination: and lose. Like Handke, these playwrights assign to language the role of dramatic antagonist and, as in Kaspar, language is identified with power, aggression, and victimization. The techniques, however, differ. In each of these plays language is embodied in a physical character who becomes a “medium” for language's aggression. All of the plays are clearly concerned with this verbal aggression and with its power to destroy personality, eradicate individuality, maim and even kill. Moreover, verbal assault is identified, at least implicitly and sometimes explicitly, with ideological and political power structures.