Rhinoceros

Study Guide

Characters

Daisy

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Characters Daisy

Daisy appears as if she, along with Berenger, cares deeply about humanity, but she continually urges Berenger to acclimate himself and not to feel guilty about the rhinoceroses. Her love for him appears as an ephemeral desire that flickers on and off, and in the end love for only one person does not necessarily make one into a truly loving person. In order to commit one's life to something outside oneself, as the existentialists were concerned with, one must love all humanity. Daisy's constant avoidance of responsibility and her lack of concern for her fellow man reveals her desires for Berenger as selfish despite the good intentions she often has for him (she tries to limit his alcohol intake, for instance, and wants to assuage his guilt to make him happier). Understandably, she is seduced by the beauty and power of the rhinos, something that offers her greater pleasure than the "weakness" of human love, as she puts it. Her final betrayal of Berenger in joining the rhinos incites his dramatic decision to save humanity; it is his love for her (and the loss of it) that makes him feel guilty and responsible and which allows him to see how much he loves humanity, and not a single person, after all.

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