Samuel Beckett’s Waiting For Godot and The Theater of The Absurd

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With the appearance of Waiting for Godot at the Théâtre de Babylone in Paris in 1953, the literary world was shaken by the arrival of a drama so different yet so thrilling that it gave rise to the "Theater of the Absurd". His contribution to this particular type of theater movement allows us to refer to him as the father of the genre. While other dramatists, such as Tom Stoppard, have also contributed to this genre, Beckett remains its single, most lofty figure. It is this type of theater that deals with the absurd aspects of life, to stress upon its native meaninglessness. It is the time and identity of characters that are usually vague or ambiguous in such plays from the theater of absurd. The plays are dreamy and impossible to implement in real life and the dialogues of such plays are irrational and make the play seem absurd because the whole structure of the play is in repetition.

In this play, Samuel Beckett emphasizes upon human suffering. The play revolves primarily around Estragon and Vladimir who endlessly wait for something to help overcome their boredom and sins because they seek redemption as mentioned in the play. Godot can be assumed as one of the many wishes that Vladimir and Estragon wait for. Waiting for Godot is part of the ‘Theater of the Absurd’. This implies that it is meant to be irrational and pointless in nature since you do not have a proper moral and conclusion to the play, i.e., it is an open ended play. The readers and audiences can have many conclusions towards the end of the play. The concepts of drama, chronological plot, logical language, themes, and recognizable settings are features of drama that a play from the Theatre of Absurd does not have. We see how the characters of Vladimir and Estrago...

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...s with their incoherent colloquy. And above than all, its theme is unexplained meaning that the play does not only have a single theme like adventure or action. “Waiting for Godot” is an absurd play for it is devoid of characterization and motivation. Though characters are present but are not recognizable for whatever they do and whatever they present is purposeless.

Works Cited

Beckett, Samuel. Waiting For Godot. 3rd ed. N.p.: CPI Group, 2006. Print. Vol. 1 of Samuel Beckett: The Complete Dramatic Works. 4 vols

http://www.studymode.com/essays/The-Absurdity-In-Waiting-For-Godot-868180.html

http://www.gradesaver.com/waiting-for-godot/study-guide/about/

http://www.gradesaver.com/waiting-for-godot/q-and-a/why-is-waiting-for-godot-despite-its-absurdity-a-popular-play-109391

http://elitnotes.blogspot.in/2012/07/absurdity-in-waiting-for-godot-waiting.html

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