Tawfiq Al-Hakim’s The Tree Climber (1962) is widely regarded as one of the most symbolically tricky performances in present-day Arabic drama. Departing from traditional realism, the play constructs its meaning through ambiguity, abstraction, and symbolic movement, rather than linear plot development. This paper examines the foremost symbols employed in The Tree Climber—specifically the tree, the act of mountain climbing, disappearance, silence, and disrupted speech—and analyses how these symbols articulate existential worries related to life and loss of life, expertise and lack of knowledge, presence and lack, and the breakdown of human conversation. Through close textual evaluation, the analysis demonstrates how Al-Hakim transforms normal items and moves into metaphors that mirror the anxieties of modern-day life and the person’s warfare to find meaning in an uncertain world. The tree features as a paradoxical symbol of aspiration and confinement, at the same time, as climbing represents humanity’s persistent but ultimately futile choice to go beyond its boundaries. Moreover, the habitual motif of absence destabilises rational interpretation and emphasises the fragility of human relationships. Situating the play within the broader context of existentialist and absurdist drama, this paper argues that symbolism in The Tree Climber is not simply decorative but structural, forming the very foundation of the play’s dramatic and philosophical significance. Ultimately, the observer highlights Al-Hakim’s contribution to redefining Arabic theatre as a medium able to engage with regularly occurring existential questions via symbolic expression (Al-Hakim 1962, 3–5).
Hani Oudah Neamah (Tue,) studied this question.