The Portrayal of the Theatre of the Absurd
Throughout literature, much has been assumed and gathered about the state of man and his purpose in life. Different poets, novelists, and playwrights have employed the powerful tools of language to broadcast their respective statement to the literate world. Many authors stand out for their overly romanticized or horribly pessimistic notations on life, but only Samuel Beckett stands out for his portrayal of absence. As Democritus, a Greek philosopher, noted, "nothing is more real than nothing," a quote which became one of Beckett's favorites and an inspiration for his masterful plays (Hughes 1). Beckett's works have astounded many through their utter divergence from the typical basis of a play. His blatant discount for the traditional concepts of character development, setting, time, and sequence of events distinguish Beckett's plays from a myriad of themed dramas. Because of such breaks from the standard, the message of Beckett's plays rings clearly. In his ground breaking play Waiting for Godot, Beckett describes two men, Estragon and Vladimir, who come to a rock and a tree beside a road and wait for an unknown "Godot" in vain day after day, idly making frivolous conversation and casually meeting another pair of characters, Pozzo and Lucky, who pass by daily. His follow up play, Endgame, creates a similar scenario with a blind, chair-bound man, Hamm, and his servantile friend, Clov, stuck in a room characterized only by two high windows and two ashbins housing Hamm's parents, Nagg and Nell. Such unusual plays portray the American Theatre of the Absurd perfectly. In both Waiting for Godot and Endgame, Samuel Beckett expertly incorporates nonconformist setting and dual chara...
... middle of paper ...
...lis Carmel Mendelson. Vol. 6. Detroit,
Michigan: Gale Research Company, 1976. 47.
Mayoux, Jean-Jaques. Samuel Beckett. 1974. 48. Rpt. in Contemporary
Literary Criticism. Ed. Sharon Gunter. Vol. 18. Detroit, Michigan:
Gale Research Company, 1981. 41-43.
McDaniels, Daryl. "Critical Essay on Endgame'." Drama For Students
Vol. 18. Gale, 2003.
Murray, Edward. The Cinematic Imagination: Writers and the Motion
Pictures. 1972. Rpt. in Contemporary Literary Criticism.
Ed. Carolyn Riley and Phyllis Carmel Mendelson. Vol. 6. Detroit,
Michigan: Gale Research Company, 1976. 36.
Campbell 8
Schlueter, June. "Beckett's Didi and Gogo, Hamm and Clov."
Metafictional Characters in Modern Drama 1977. 53-69. Rpt. in
Contemporary Literary Criticism. Ed. Sharon Gunter. Vol. 18.
Detroit, Michigan: Gale Research Company, 1981. 43-46.
From the moment that the curtain rises, Waiting for Godot assumes an unmistakably absurdist identity. On the surface, little about the plot of the play seems to suggest that the actions seen on stage could or would ever happen. At the very least, the process of waiting hardly seems like an ideal focus of an engaging and entertaining production. Yet it is precisely for this reason that Beckett’s tale of two men, whose only discernable goal in life is to wait for a man known simply as Godot, is able to connect with the audience’s emotions so effectivel...
The ‘Modern’ era began, approximately, in the mid-1800s (Worthen), following its predecessor the Romantic period, which was an era that was emotionally charged ad focused on the physical relationships between characters and being one-with-nature, rather than the focus of the modernist period which was to bring social and political issues or statements into the storyline of a script whilst still keeping the stage, characters and overall performance aesthetically pleasing for the audience of the particular period. Modernism in the theatre is the act of bringing the stage and the forms of modern life, at one time, to a critical relationship. As stated by Worthen, the modernist period or the modern world we live in today began in the mid-1800s
abandoned the conventions of the classical play to concentrate on his important message to humanity. Using his pathetic characters, Estragon and Vladimir, Beckett illustrates the importance of human free will in a land ruled by science and technology. He understood the terrors of progress as he witnessed first hand the destruction caused by technologically-improved weapons working as a spy during WWII. In his tragicomedy, Estragon and Vladimir spend the entire time futilely waiting for Godot to arrive. They believe that this mysterious Godot will help them solve their problems and merely sit and wait for their solution to arrive. Beckett utilizes these characters to warn the reader of the dangers of depending on fate and others to improve one's existence. He supports this idea when Estragon blames his boots and not himself for the pain in his feet, and Vladimir responds, "There'...
The play Krapp’s Last Tape, by Samuel Beckett is a literary work that gives a brief background into the past life of an older man. Krapp has a lonely and dull life, as he spends most of his time at his small table, listening to his younger self talk about particular recollections. It is as if his only focus is on the person he once was, rather then the person he has become. His subjective personality and contemplative mindset are portrayed through different literary devices. In Krapp’s Last Tape, Samuel Beckett uses imagery and tone as...
The plots were different. The dramatists believed that the human existence is absurd and they used comedy in their plays such as ,Beckett's Waiting for Godot,(1953) (Drabble3). Beckett has tackled political themes in his plays such as, Catastrophe (1982), and What Where (1983) which deals with torture and totalitarian. Beckett's plays are not intellectually understood. Besides, irony was used in his works and his plays are closed compositions. The characters from the beginning until the end remain the same without development. In the Absurd Theatre the writers selected strange names for their works in order to reflect their rejection of the norms and the conventional values (Innes428-31). As for the Naturalistic Theatre, it rejects the natural laws. The naturalists and the realists share the same idea that the issues of the middle and lower classes should be tackled in the literary works. The writers at that time focused on the influence of the economic and material environment (drabble
The play, Waiting For Godot, is centred around two men, Estragon and Vladimir, who are waiting for a Mr. Godot, of whom they know little. Estragon admits himself that he may never recognize Mr. Godot, "Personally I wouldn't know him if I ever saw him." (p.23). Estragon also remarks, "… we hardly know him." (p.23), which illustrates to an audience that the identity of Mr. Godot is irrelevant, as little information is ever given throughout the play about this indefinable Mr. X. What is an important element of the play is the act of waiting for someone or something that never arrives. Western readers may find it natural to speculate on the identity of Godot because of their inordinate need to find answers to questions. Beckett however suggests that the identity of Godot is in itself a rhetorical question. It is possible to stress the for in the waiting for …: to see the purpose of action in two men with a mission, not to be deflected from their compulsive task.
Life is made up of different routines and schedules that are followed by the ordinary human being daily. In ‘Waiting for Godot’, Samuel Beckett uses time and repetition consistently throughout the play to demonstrate how these routines and habits are key elements in the course of life itself. The three main devices Beckett uses are the illogical pass of time, the lack of a past or a future and the absurdity of repetition in both dialogue and actions within the main characters and their surroundings.
While Beckett’s works are often defined by their existentialist themes, Endgame seems to offer no solution to the despair and melancholia of Hamm, Clov, Nagg, and Nell. The work is replete with overdetermination that confounds the efforts of critics and philosophers to construct a single, unified theme for the play. Beckett resisted any effort to reconcile the problems of his world, offer solutions, or quench any fears overtly. However, this surface level of understanding that aligns Beckett with the pessimism of the Modernist movement is ironically different from the symbolic understanding that Beckett promotes through his characters and the scene. Beckett’s work does not suggest total hopelessness, but rather that the fears of change, self-centeredness, and despair of Hamm and Clov contribute to their miserable existence. He opposes the Modernist attitude of focus on the subjective, internal state, and reveals the soul of the Modernist to be shallow and starving.
Samuel Beckett’s Endgame is a complex analysis of politics in a seemingly apolitical and empty world. As Hamm and Clov inhabit the aftermath of Marxism, they display characteristics of the bourgeoisie and proletariat respectively, but only retain them so they can define themselves as something. The work implicitly argues- through the setting, and by defining Hamm and Clov as the bourgeoisie and proletariat- that political platforms are simply human rationalizations in futile opposition to a meaningless world, pointing towards Beckett’s ideological message of existential nihilism.
In Beckett’s tragicomedy he introduces a man who is aware of his staidness, but is unwilling to change his ways. When another character Pozzo claims that he does not “seem able … to depart” Estragon quickly voices his ideology as he says “such is life.” In the absurdness of the play his words appear to be nonsense, but when examined
Humans spend their lives searching and creating meaning to their lives, Beckett, however, takes a stand against this way of living in his novel ‘Waiting for Godot’. He questions this ideal of wasting our lives by searching for a reason for our existence when there is not one to find. In his play, he showcases this ideology through a simplistic and absence of setting and repetitious dialogue. Beckett’s ability to use these key features are imperative to his ability of conveying his message of human entrapment and existence.
Beckett explores the theme of futility in an attempt to leave the audience with questions about the meaning of life. The techniques and ways in which he does this vary in relation to the scene but he relies heavily on the use of philosophical and emotive language and a shocking way to intellectually and emotionally engage the audience. All characters that Beckett features in his play are used as literary constructs in creating the tone and setting in which to develop and examine the theme of futility. The theme of futility is linked to the philosophy of Nihilism and grounded in the belief that our universe is stochastic, and therefore structure-less. If life has no structure or coherent meaning it can ultimately be seen as futile.
Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot has been said by many people to be a long book about nothing. The two main characters, Vladimir and Estragon, spend all their time sitting by a tree waiting for someone named Godot, whose identity is never revealed to the audience. It may sound pretty dull at first but by looking closely at the book, it becomes apparent that there is more than originally meets the eye. Waiting for Godot was written to be a critical allegory of religious faith, relaying that it is a natural necessity for people to have faith, but faiths such as Catholicism are misleading and corrupt.
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.
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.