WAITING FOR GODOT: ANALYSIS SUMMARY
CONTEXT - Written by Samuel Beckett in 1949 (towards end of
WW2).
- Theatre was becoming more experimental, and more
determined to make sense of a rapidly changing world.
- Was originally written in French, which was not
Beckett’s home language and first premiered in 1953.
- The English play was directed by Peter Hall and
premiered in London in 1955.
- Beckett himself directed the play in 1975 in Berlin.
- ELEMENTS OF BECKETT’S DRAMATIC WORKS: he
trades plot, characterization and final solution for a
series of concrete stage images; language is useless,
for he creates a mythical universe populated by
mythical creatures who struggle to express the
inexpressible; and his characters exist in a dream-like
vacuum.
- Estragon and Vladimir can be compared to the
experiences of refugees in the war, and there are
similarities between Pozzo and authorities in war.
INFLUENCES - SYMBOLISM: Placed an emphasis on an internal life of
dreams and fantasies. Use of symbols to convey an
intended message that has significant meaning. The
texts were immersed with symbolic, suggestive
imagery, the general mood of the plays was slow and
dreamlike. The intention was to evoke an unconscious,
emotional response, rather than an intellectual one, and
to depict the non-rational aspects of characters and
events.
[Atmospheric staging; symbolic use of the tree,
mysticism in the inconclusiveness of the characters and
their setting, no prior knowledge of their history;
dreamlike and non-rational.]
- ABSURDISM: Theatre of the Absurd highlights the
absurdity of life; that is disharmonious and ridiculous.
Playwrights wish to show man’s struggles are in a
universe in which he lacks any purpose. Expressed the
belief that human existence has to meaning or purpose
and therefore all communication breaks down. Plots are
cyclical. Dismiss the idea of realism and the ‘well-made
play’.
[Characters are representative types, alienated and
alone; setting is a metaphor of the existential wasteland
in which humans live; life is meaningless, and actions
are futile; time is inconclusive; action is illogical –
nothing is achieved; the structure is cyclical and
repetitive.]
, - DADAISM: Dada was born out of the negative reaction
to WW1. Immerged as a protest against the
conventions of the time. Dada rejected reason and
logic, prizing nonsense, irrationality and intuition. Strove
to provide ground for humans to move forward, forget
the past and re-envision society. Dada was anti-
bourgeois and had political affinities with the radical left.
[Lack of reason and logic, rather nonsense, irrationality
and intuition; nonsense use of language; action uses
nonsensical games.]
- EXPRESSIONISM: Artistic style in which the artist
seeks to depict not objective reality but rather the
subjective emotions and responses that objects and
events arouse within a person. The artist accomplishes
this aim through distortion, exaggeration, primitivism,
and fantasy and through the vivid, jarring, violent,
or dynamic application of formal elements.
Expressionist plays often dramatize the spiritual
awakening and sufferings of their protagonists. The
plays often dramatize the struggle against bourgeois
(middle class) values and established authority. The
speech is heightened and there is an extreme
simplification of characters.
[Subjectivity of the subject, cruelty of their world; poetic
monologues; the landscape is an expression of inner,
subjective feeling; mood of despair and intensity of
emotion; use of character types.]
- SURREALISM: The aim was to ‘resolve the previously
contradictory conditions of dream and reality’. It was
illogical and allowed the unconscious to express itself.
Surrealist work features the element of surprise and
unexpected juxtapositions. Surrealism was a means of
reuniting conscious and unconscious realms of
experience so completely that the world
of dream and fantasy would be joined to the everyday
rational world in “an absolute reality, a surreality.”
[Element of surprise, illogical, dreamscape;
juxtaposition of characters and events; strange,
inconclusive things happen; mystical.]
- SILENT FILM: The dialogue is transmitted through
muted gestures, mime and title cards. Actors use
emphasized body language and facial expressions to
portray to the audience what the characters are feeling.
Melodramatic acting style.
[Top hats and tramp clowns; larger than life acting style;
using big gestures and facial expressions.]
CONTEXT - Written by Samuel Beckett in 1949 (towards end of
WW2).
- Theatre was becoming more experimental, and more
determined to make sense of a rapidly changing world.
- Was originally written in French, which was not
Beckett’s home language and first premiered in 1953.
- The English play was directed by Peter Hall and
premiered in London in 1955.
- Beckett himself directed the play in 1975 in Berlin.
- ELEMENTS OF BECKETT’S DRAMATIC WORKS: he
trades plot, characterization and final solution for a
series of concrete stage images; language is useless,
for he creates a mythical universe populated by
mythical creatures who struggle to express the
inexpressible; and his characters exist in a dream-like
vacuum.
- Estragon and Vladimir can be compared to the
experiences of refugees in the war, and there are
similarities between Pozzo and authorities in war.
INFLUENCES - SYMBOLISM: Placed an emphasis on an internal life of
dreams and fantasies. Use of symbols to convey an
intended message that has significant meaning. The
texts were immersed with symbolic, suggestive
imagery, the general mood of the plays was slow and
dreamlike. The intention was to evoke an unconscious,
emotional response, rather than an intellectual one, and
to depict the non-rational aspects of characters and
events.
[Atmospheric staging; symbolic use of the tree,
mysticism in the inconclusiveness of the characters and
their setting, no prior knowledge of their history;
dreamlike and non-rational.]
- ABSURDISM: Theatre of the Absurd highlights the
absurdity of life; that is disharmonious and ridiculous.
Playwrights wish to show man’s struggles are in a
universe in which he lacks any purpose. Expressed the
belief that human existence has to meaning or purpose
and therefore all communication breaks down. Plots are
cyclical. Dismiss the idea of realism and the ‘well-made
play’.
[Characters are representative types, alienated and
alone; setting is a metaphor of the existential wasteland
in which humans live; life is meaningless, and actions
are futile; time is inconclusive; action is illogical –
nothing is achieved; the structure is cyclical and
repetitive.]
, - DADAISM: Dada was born out of the negative reaction
to WW1. Immerged as a protest against the
conventions of the time. Dada rejected reason and
logic, prizing nonsense, irrationality and intuition. Strove
to provide ground for humans to move forward, forget
the past and re-envision society. Dada was anti-
bourgeois and had political affinities with the radical left.
[Lack of reason and logic, rather nonsense, irrationality
and intuition; nonsense use of language; action uses
nonsensical games.]
- EXPRESSIONISM: Artistic style in which the artist
seeks to depict not objective reality but rather the
subjective emotions and responses that objects and
events arouse within a person. The artist accomplishes
this aim through distortion, exaggeration, primitivism,
and fantasy and through the vivid, jarring, violent,
or dynamic application of formal elements.
Expressionist plays often dramatize the spiritual
awakening and sufferings of their protagonists. The
plays often dramatize the struggle against bourgeois
(middle class) values and established authority. The
speech is heightened and there is an extreme
simplification of characters.
[Subjectivity of the subject, cruelty of their world; poetic
monologues; the landscape is an expression of inner,
subjective feeling; mood of despair and intensity of
emotion; use of character types.]
- SURREALISM: The aim was to ‘resolve the previously
contradictory conditions of dream and reality’. It was
illogical and allowed the unconscious to express itself.
Surrealist work features the element of surprise and
unexpected juxtapositions. Surrealism was a means of
reuniting conscious and unconscious realms of
experience so completely that the world
of dream and fantasy would be joined to the everyday
rational world in “an absolute reality, a surreality.”
[Element of surprise, illogical, dreamscape;
juxtaposition of characters and events; strange,
inconclusive things happen; mystical.]
- SILENT FILM: The dialogue is transmitted through
muted gestures, mime and title cards. Actors use
emphasized body language and facial expressions to
portray to the audience what the characters are feeling.
Melodramatic acting style.
[Top hats and tramp clowns; larger than life acting style;
using big gestures and facial expressions.]
