Waiting for Godot

1. Waiting for Godot Image source:http://www.timil.com/tft2/godot/Godot.jpg

2. Beckett’s dramatic works • Beckett’s dramatic works don’t reply to the traditional elements of drama. • For Beckett, language is useless; he creates a mythical universe peopled by lonely creatures who struggle vainly to express the inexpressible. • human nature and human condition.

3. Characters Vladimir Estragon Vladimir calls him Gogo weak and helpless has a poor memory is always taking off his boots • Estragon calls him Didi • the boy calls him Mr. Albert • responsible and mature • More intellectual character

4. Existensialism • Existentialism is a philosophy that repudiates the idea of religion bringing meaning to life. • It advocates the idea that individuals are instrumental in creating meaning in their lives. (Not God or anything else) • Waiting for Godot shows that the individual must take action instead of just sitting around waiting for a God that may or may not bring salvation. • Some Existentialists are atheist i.e. Jean-Paul Sarte

5. Existenstialism in WFG • Existential question: "why are we here?" Answer is “waiting for Godot”. • While waiting for Godot in Act II, Estragon tells Vladimir “We always find something, eh Didi, to give us the impression we exist” • Existential monologue – In the second Act, Vladimir has a monologue while Pozzo is pleading for help: “What are we doing here, that is the question… one thing alone is clear. We are waiting for Godot to come” • Vladimir says “In an instant all will vanish and we’ll be alone once more, in the midst of nothingness” ! • Pozzo reaffirms “one day we were born, one day we shall die” Estragon says “All my lousy life I’ve crawled about in the mud”

6. Pozzo and Lucky’s coming was all an act to entertain Vladimir and Estragon. Beckett questions whether life itself is just a mere entertainment to pass the time while waiting for salvation.

7. Recall… • Estragon compares himself to Christ when he decides to go barefoot. When Vladimir tells him not to compare himself to Christ, Estragon responds that "all my life I've compared myself to him.“ • The end of Act I establishes Vladimir and Estragon's hopelessness. Even when they both agree to go, and Vladimir says "Yes, let's go," the two men do not move. Even their resolution to go is not strong enough to produce action. • This inability to act renders Vladimir and Estragon unable to determine their own fates. Instead of acting, they can only wait for someone or something to act upon them. • The Tree having leaves in Act II gives the characters hope once again.

8. The Theatre of the Absurd • The term theater of the absurd derives from the philosophical use of the word absurd by such existentialist thinkers as Albert CAMUS and Jean Paul SARTRE. • Camus, particularly, argued that humanity had to resign itself to recognizing that a fully satisfying rational explanation of the universe was beyond its reach; in that sense, the world must ultimately be seen as absurd.

9. The Theatre of the Absurd • The playwrights loosely grouped under the label of the absurd endeavor to convey their sense of bewilderment, anxiety, and wonder in the face of an bizarre universe. • They rely heavily on poetic metaphor as a means of projecting outward their innermost states of mind.

10. Absurd drama uses conventionalized speech, clichés, slogans and technical jargon, which is distorts, parodies and breaks down. • By ridiculing conventionalized and stereotyped speech patterns, the Theatre of the Absurd tries to make people aware of the possibility of going beyond everyday speech conventions and communicating more authentically.

11. An absurd world : • has in itself no norms, no absolutes, no consoling certainties, and no direction. • Nothing and nobody living in it has any pre-ordained sense or purpose. • The Theatre of the Absurd constituted first and foremost an onslaught on language, showing it as a very unreliable and insufficient tool of communication.

12. The Theatre of the Absurd • No dramatic conflict in the absurd plays! Dramatic conflicts, clashes of personalities and powers belong to a world where a rigid, accepted hierarchy of values forms a permanent establishment. Such conflicts, however, lose their meaning in a situation where the establishment and outward reality have become meaningless.

13. Symbol • hat: reason? intellect? • boot: It may suggest that humans try to earn a living and struggle for their life. • tree nature? hope for their future? Image source: www.thomastonoperahouse.org& samuel-beckett.net

14. ThemeWaiting for something…? Two tramps are waiting for Godot. ↓ They want to find something to prove their existence. ↓ • For example, we're waiting for nicer weather, the end of exams, etc. ↓

15. We’re waiting all the time. ↓ We should create the goal and the value of existence. ↓ Theater of the absurd

16. Works Cited • Stanford University • http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/existentialism/ • Philosophy Paradise • http://www.philosophyparadise.com/essays/waitingforgodot.html • Theatre Database • http://www.theatredatabase.com/20th_century/theatre_of_the_absurd.html