Baudrillardian Hyperreality in Travesties

Abstract

The present study discusses the Baudrillard's hyperreality in Tom Stoppard's play, Travesties. Baudrillard states that in the hyperreal world, a constructed reality with some fake signs of reality and without any origin or exact referent takes the place of reality. In this study, hyperreality presents to be the result of blurring the boundaries between reality and fiction, plays-within-the-play, disguising and doubling identities, intertextuality, Self-Referentiality, lack of the poems' originality, and trompe-l’audience. Old Henry Carr, the narrator of the story, recounts the actual realities about the past and distorts the realities while narrating. He lives in his self-made idealized world, enjoys that, and even accepts that as the actual reality. Carr’s illusive memory provides unsettled debate between reality and fiction. Besides, the one-dimensional and fascinating media with its seductive power manipulates man's mind and plays a significant role in making the hyperreal world.