Naturalism Is Depicted in the Term Paper

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Analyze how the term "absurdism" is depicted in the play, Proof, by David Auburn and provide 3 specific examples from the play

However, the subject of the play is also fundamentally absurdist as well as naturalistic, as "Proof" is also a debate revolving around the ownership of ideas. The idea of owning an idea is a kind of fiction, as ideas come from previous ideas, just like parents give birth to children. The level of debate and concern over issues that have little significance to anyone's real life, outside of mathematicians, also seems absurd, especially given the gravity of the situation for Robert's family about the loss of his mind, a dilemma as pressing as any issues over mathematical ownership, proof and speculation.

The non-mathematical viewer is forced to ask, surely his life, his daughter's life, and the relationship between the family members should be more important than the mathematical proof -- the level of concern about the proof at time seems absurd in its height.
However, there is an additional level of absurdity to the debate, for the concepts revolving around the numbers will live on, long after Robert, Claire, Catherine, and Hal are all dead.

Lastly, there is a level of absurdity about numbers themselves -- why are the numbers Robert is now obsessed with any less absurd than the numbers that form the foundations of his potential legacy regarding prime numbers? Perhaps most absurdly of all, there are no answers to these questions that can be….....

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