The play Waiting for Godot is a great example of the style of plays in the 20th Century. The playwright, Samuel Beckett, took a risk and wrote a play that was not exactly the standard for that time. As Beckett continued his works, World War II waged on in the background, and people still found time to come watch a play or two. Waiting for Godot and other plays of that time period were extremely popular, and remain extremely popular even today, showing that the strong power of literature and human emotion can outlast anything. During the 20th Century, there were many extremely important historical events, one of them being World War II. The opening shots of World War II were fired on September 1st, 1939 (Briggs 197) when Germany started their rapid invasion of Poland known as the German Blitzkrieg (Briggs 197). Poland’s defenses were easily defeated by German forces (Briggs 197) and on September 28th, 1939 the capitol of Poland, Warsaw, was taken by the German military. The war lasted less than one month (Briggs 197), the Germans easily taking them over. While the Germans used modern...
"World War II (1939-45)." Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Ed. John G. Royde-Smith and Thomas A. Hughes. Encyclopedia Britannica, 5 Dec. 2012. Web. 29 Jan. 2014.
"World War II in Europe." 10 June 2013. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. 18 March 2014 .
"World War II". Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2013. Web. 05 Nov. 2013. .
World War Two - American Memory Timeline- Classroom Presentation | Teacher Resources - Library of Congress." World War Two - American Memory Timeline - Classroom Presentation | Teacher Resources - Library of Congress. Library of Congress, n.d. http://www.loc.gov/item/item/item/item/item/item/item/item/item/item/item/item/item/item/ Web. The Web.
By the Beginning of 1940 World War 2 was already well on it way. Hitler's military technique, know as the “Blitzkrieg”, was very successful and within a few months almost all of mainland Europe was in German hands. England, with their Prim Minister Sir. Winston Churchill, was Hitler’s only undefeated opponent. Assuming the England would soon surrender, Germany turned on there strongest ally, Russia and was ready to take over the world. However, the tided started turning and with the bombing of Peril Harbour the USA joined the war against German and Japan. With so many world powers against him Hitler could not stand long and soon the German armies were defeated. Then, in a last blow to force the war to an end, the USA dropped the most deadly weapon the world has ever seen and in the matter of seconds killed thousands of Japanese. It only took two atomic bombs to end World War Two, but the technology of splitting atoms for deadly weapons would shape the next 45 years. Clearly, World War Two, springing from the radical ideas of Hitler, drastically altered the coarse of history and showed the potential deviation that one man and his sinful ideas can create.
World War II, known as the largest armed conflict in history, began in Europe in the 1930s and led to effect many people. The war resulted in not only the involvement of more countries than any other war but also introduced powerful, new, nuclear weapons that also contributed to the most deaths. As Hitler rose to power in 1933 the Holocaust began, his quest for the ‘perfect’ race resulted in the use of concentration camps, which would help to create the largest genocide of people in history.
To some, World War II may seem like a great war that happened a long time ago, a war where however great the innovations during the war were, they are much out of date now, and so they have no impact on today’s world. But to another, who understand the world and how it grows, realize that wherever a nation is, it is in that position because of its history. This means that without all of the improvements of technology during World War II, the world as we know it today would be very much different on many levels. One of the levels which has a great impact on today’s world would be the improvements of technology. But as what was said before, almost anything new cannot be created without first developing the old. Therefore, one must look back at the past to not only find the origins of World War II, and its impact, but also to World War I, and not only did it set the groundwork this massive growth of advancement, but without these technologies, then those who won, may have lost, therefore altering history.
... I 1944 [Over Warsaw - Warsaw Thermopylae 1939 and 1944], Warsaw: Fundacja Wystawa Warszawa Walczy 1939-1945, 2000.
Irish-born French author Samuel Beckett was well known for his use of literary devices such as black comedy in his various literary works. Written during late 1948 and early 1949 and premiered as a play in 1953 as En attendant Godot, Beckett coupled these devices with minimalism and absurdity in order to create the tragicomedy known to English speakers as Waiting for Godot. True to its title, Waiting for Godot is the tale of a pair of best friends known as Vladimir (Didi) and Estragon (Gogo) who are waiting for the character the audience comes to know as Godot to appear. Throughout Beckett’s play Waiting for Godot, Samuel Beckett alludes to the monotheistic religion of Christianity through symbols, dialogue, and characters to reveal the heavy invisible influence of God in the daily life of man.
It’s 4:30am on September 1st, 1939 and the German battleship Schleswig-Holstein awaits the order to open fire on the Polish garrison of the Westerplatte Fort, Danzig in what was to become the first military engagement of World War II. Meanwhile, sixty two German divisions supported by 1,300 fighter planes prepared for the invasion of Poland. Fifteen minutes later, the invasion would take place and spark the beginning of World War II. Two days later at 9am Great Britain would send an ultimatum to Germany, demanding that they pull from Poland or go to war with Great Britain. Four hours later the Ultimatum would expire and Great Britain would officially be at war with Germany on September 3rd, 1939.
World War II cannot be complete without mentioning the impact of Nazi Germany. With its quick rise to power after the horrific aftermath of Germany’s economy in World War I, it proved to the world that one didn’t need to be powerful all the time to gain all mighty power. Nazi Germany impacted the world with its mighty army regime, its cunning strategy to conquer Europe, and with its atrocities committed to ensure that the mighty “Aryan Race” would be kept pure from the “tainted Jews”. Europe would, because of this awesome rise to power, be conquered by Nazi Germany within the timespan of a mere 15 years.
Kern, Edith. “Drama Stripped for Inaction: Beckett’s Godot.” Yale French Studies. Vol. 14. Yale University Press, 1954. 41-47. JSTOR. 22 Mar. 2004. http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0044-0078%281954>.
Many playwrights drew from outside influences to compose their works. They would look the era they were living in, their personal lives, childhood experiences, and even ancient texts to acquire inspiration for their works and famous playwright, Eugene O’Neill, is no exception. Writing through two world wars, a great depression, and boom of the motion-picture industry, O’Neill certainly had much inspiration to choose from. Although not becoming nationally recognized until after his father’s death in 1920, O’Neill still managed to produce fifty completed works. Using influences from the 1910s, 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s, Eugene O’Neill demonstrated how he used the era he was living in to help compose his works.
In Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot and Henry James’ The Beast In the Jungle the theme of waiting for life to come to you is apparent. Waiting as oppose to taking ambition and determining your life for yourself is a problem present in both of these works. Waiting for Godot and The Beast In the Jungle take two relatively similar stances on the theme of waiting, but they differ in the way the two works present the problem of waiting and how the problem of waiting presents their views on the world.
Although Samuel Beckett's tragicomedy, Waiting for Godot, has no definite meaning or interpretation, the play acts as a statement of hopelessness regarding human existence. Debate surrounds the play because, due to its simplicity, almost any interpretation is valid. The main characters, Vladimir and Estragon, are aging men who must wait for a person, being, or object named Godot, but this entity never appears to grace the men with this presence. Both characters essentially demonstrate how one must go through life when hope is nonexistent as they pointlessly attempt to entertain themselves with glum conversation in front of a solitary tree. The Theater of the Absurd, a prevalent movement associated with Waiting for Godot, serves as the basis for the message of hopelessness in his main characters. Samuel Beckett's iconic Waiting for Godot and his perception of the characteristics and influence of the Theater of the Absurd illustrate the pointlessness and hopelessness regarding existence. In the play, boredom is mistaken for hopelessness because the men have nothing to do, as they attempt to occupy themselves as, for some reason, they need to wait for Godot. No hope is present throughout the two-act play with little for Estragon and Vladimir to occupy their time while they, as the title indicates, wait for Godot.