DRAMA IIMODERN DRAMA

Lecture 19

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SYNOPSIS

An Introduction to 1. Philosophical Background of Waiting

for Godot Theatre of Absurd Existentialism The Paradox of Consciousness

2. Becket: Critical Analysis (Analytical Mapping)

Characters

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The Theatre of Absurd andSamuel Beckett (1906-1989)

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Beckett is one of the most widely discussed and highly prized of twentieth century authors, inspiring a critical industry to rival that which has sprung up around James Joyce.

Samuel Beckett depicted on an Irish commemorative coin celebrating the 100th Anniversary of his birth.

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Of all the English-language modernists, Beckett's work represents the most sustained attack on the realist tradition.

He, more than anyone else, opened up the possibility of drama and fiction that dispense with conventional plot and the unities of place and time in order to focus on essential components of the human condition.

Writers like Václav Havel, John Banville, Aidan Higgins and Harold Pinter have publicly stated their indebtedness to Beckett's example, but he has had a much wider influence on experimental writing since the 1950s, from the Beat generation to the happenings of the 1960s and beyond.

The Theatre of the Absurd and Samuel Beckett

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Philosophical Background of Waiting for Godot

1. Effects of World War II (62 million people killed [37.5 million in WWI];

2. 12 million in concentration camps;

3. Atomic bomb and the promise of annihilation)

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Philosophical Background

(No Exit by Sartre)absurd content butrational form or presentation

(No Exit by Sartre)absurd content butrational form or presentation

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The term "Theatre of the Absurd" was coined by Martin Esslin in a book of the same name; Beckett and Godot were centerpieces of the book.

Esslin claimed these plays were the fulfillment of Albert Camus's concept of "the absurd"; this is one reason Beckett is often falsely labeled as an existentialist.

The Theatre of the Absurd and Samuel Beckett

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Though many of the themes are similar, Beckett had little affinity for existentialism as a whole.

Broadly speaking, the plays deal with the subject of despair and the will to survive in spite of that despair, in the face of an uncomprehending and, indeed, incomprehensible world.

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The words of Nell—one of the two characters in Endgame who are trapped in ashbins, from which they occasionally peek their heads to speak—can best summarize the themes of

the plays of Beckett's middle period:

Nothing is funnier than unhappiness, I grant you that. ... Yes, yes, it's the most comical thing in the world. And we laugh, we laugh, with a will, in the beginning. But it's always the same thing. Yes, it's like the funny story we have heard too often, we still find it funny, but we don't laugh any more.

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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.

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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 inexplicable universe.

They rely heavily on poetic metaphor as a means of projecting outward their innermost states of mind.

Hence, the images of the theater of the absurd tend to assume the quality of fantasy, dream, and nightmare; they do not so much portray the outward appearance of reality as the playwright's emotional perception of an inner reality.

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The Theatre of the Absurd

One of the most important aspects of absurd drama was its distrust of language as a means of communication.

Language had become a vehicle of conventionalized, stereotyped, meaningless exchanges. Words failed to express the essence of human experience, not being able to penetrate beyond its surface.

The Theatre of the Absurd constituted first and foremost an onslaught on language, showing it as a very unreliable and insufficient tool of communication.

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The Theatre of the Absurd

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.

Conventionalized speech acts as a barrier between ourselves and what the world is really about: in order to come into direct contact with natural reality, it is necessary to discredit and discard the false crutches of conventionalized language.

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The Theatre of the Absurd

Objects are much more important than language in absurd theatre: what happens transcends what is being said about it.

It is the hidden, implied meaning of words that assume primary importance in absurd theatre, over an above what is being actually said.

The Theatre of the Absurd strove to communicate an undissolved totality of perception - hence it had to go beyond language.

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The Theatre of the Absurd

Absurd drama subverts logic. It relishes the unexpected and the logically impossible. …In trying to burst the bounds of logic and language the absurd theatre is trying to shatter the enclosing walls of the human condition itself.

Our individual identity is defined by language, having a name is the source of our separateness - the loss of logical language brings us towards a unity with living things. In being illogical, the absurd theatre is anti-rationalist: it negates rationalism because it feels that rationalist thought, like language, only deals with the superficial aspects of things.

Nonsense, on the other hand, opens up a glimpse of the infinite. It offers intoxicating freedom, brings one into contact with the essence of life and is a source of marvelous comedy.

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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.

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The Theatre of the Absurd

However frantically characters perform, this only underlines the fact that nothing happens to change their existence. Absurd dramas are lyrical statements, very much like music: they communicate an atmosphere, an experience of archetypal human situations.

The Absurd Theatre is a theatre of situation, as against the more conventional theatre of sequential events. It presents a pattern of poetic images. In doing this, it uses visual elements, movement, light.

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HISTORICAL BACKGROUNDHISTORICAL BACKGROUND

NEW MEANING OF EXISTENCENEW MEANING OF EXISTENCE FRENCH EXISTENTIALISMFRENCH EXISTENTIALISM SAMUEL BECKETTSAMUEL BECKETT

The Theatre of the Absurd and Samuel Beckett

1. The Theatre of the Absurd and Samuel Beckett

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The Theatre of the Absurd and Samuel Beckett

The Theatre of the Absurd: main features

Only Connect ... New Directions20

The Theatre of the Absurd: main features

The Theatre of the Absurd and Samuel Beckett

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The Theatre of the Absurd and Samuel Beckett

The Theatre of the Absurd: Main Themes

Only Connect ... New Directions22

• No Setting: a desolate country road and a bare tree.

• Time: evening.

• Characters: two tramps, Vladimir and Estragon, bored by a day of nothingness; Pozzo and Lucky.

The Theatre of the Absurd and Samuel Beckett

The Theatre of the Absurd: Main ThemesWaiting for Godot

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Philosophical Background2. Existentialism

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• Awareness of man’s propensity to evil and conscience of the destructive power of scientific knowledge.

• The lack of moral assurance and the decline of religious faith.

• The disillusionment with both the liberal and social theories about economic and social progress.

• Mistrust in the power of reason.

A sense of anguish,

helplessness and rootlessness developed

especially among the young

The Theatre of the Absurd and Samuel Beckett

New meaning of existence

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• Existentialism saw man trapped in a hostile world.

• Human life was meaningless and this created a sense of confusion, despair and emptiness.

• The universe was not rational and defied any explanation.

The Theatre of the Absurd and Samuel Beckett

French existentialism

Jean Paul Sartre (1905-1980)

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The Theatre of the Absurd and Samuel Beckett

French existentialism

• The main exponent of this philosophical current was the French Jean Paul Sartre.

• Existentialists presented the absurdity of human condition by means of a lucid language and logical reasoning.

Jean Paul Sartre (1905-1980)

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Philosophical BackgroundExistentialism

Existentialism states:

“There is, therefore, no preexistent spiritual realm, no soul…,no cosmic compassion for or

interest in human life, no afterlife, no transcendence of worldly existence, no cosmic

meta-narrative, no angels and devils…, no divine will, no preset destiny, no inevitable

fate.”

“There is, therefore, no preexistent spiritual realm, no soul…,no cosmic compassion for or

interest in human life, no afterlife, no transcendence of worldly existence, no cosmic

meta-narrative, no angels and devils…, no divine will, no preset destiny, no inevitable

fate.”

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Philosophical BackgroundExistentialismExistentialism believes

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Philosophical BackgroundExistentialism- The Myth of Sisyphus

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Philosophical Background 3. The Paradox of Consciousness

There are two possible interpretations of the existence of human consciousness:

a. A divine gift

b. A cosmic joke

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existence of human consciousness

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Philosophical Background

(No Exit by Sartre)absurd content butrational form or presentation

(No Exit by Sartre)absurd content butrational form or presentation

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Social Acceptance Beckett

Plot Obscure, non consequential

Setting Symbolic, bare

Theme Meaninglessness of human experience

Stage Directions Repetitive, frequent

Language Everyday, meaningless

The Theatre of the Absurd and Samuel Beckett

Beckett: Critical Analysis

Only Connect ... New Directions 34

• Vladimir and Estragon are

complementary.

• Lucky and Pozzo are linked

by a relationship of master and

servant.

Vladimir and Lucky represent

the intellect.

The Theatre of the Absurd and Samuel Beckett

Analytical Mapping of characters

Only Connect ... New Directions

Waiting for Godot, London, Peter Hall Co.

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The Theatre of the Absurd and Samuel Beckett

Waiting for Godot, London, Peter Hall Co.

• Estragon and Pozzo stand

for the body.

• The two couples are

mutually dependent.

The character the two

tramps are waiting for is

Godot Biblical allusions

in this name.

Only Connect ... New Directions

Analytical Mapping of characters

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Analytical Mapping of characters

Estragon Estragon is one of the two protagonists. He is a bum and sleeps in a ditch where he is beaten

each night. He has no memory beyond what is immediately said

to him, and relies on Vladimir to remember for him. Estragon is impatient and constantly wants to leave

Vladimir, but is restrained from leaving by the fact that he needs Vladimir.

It is Estragon's idea for the bums to pass their time by hanging themselves. Estragon has been compared to a body without an intellect, which therefore needs Vladimir to provide the intellect.

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Analytical Mapping of characters

Vladimir Vladimir is one of the two protagonists. He is a bum like Estragon, but retains a memory of

most events. However, he is often unsure whether his memory is

playing tricks on him. Vladimir is friends with Estragon because Estragon

provides him with the chance to remember past events. Vladimir is the one who makes Estragon wait with him

for Mr. Godot's imminent arrival throughout the play. Vladimir has been compared to the intellect which provides for the body, represented by Estragon.

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Lucky

Lucky is the slave of Pozzo.

He is tied to Pozzo via a rope around his neck and he carries Pozzo's bags.

Lucky is only allowed to speak twice during the entire play, but his long monologue is filled with incomplete ideas.

He is silenced only by the other characters who fight with him to take of his hat. Lucky appears as a mute in the second act.

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a boyThe boy is a servant of Mr. Godot. He plays an identical role in both acts by coming to inform Vladimir and Estragon the Mr. Godot will not be able to make it that night, but will surely come the next day. The boy never remembers having met Vladimir and Estragon before. He has a brother who is mentioned but who never appears.

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Pozzo

• Pozzo is the master who rules over Lucky.

• He stops and talks to the two bums in order to have some company. In the second act Pozzo is blind and requires their help.

• He, like Estragon, cannot remember people he has met.

• His transformation between the acts may represent the passage of time.

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Discussion Questions

How is the play's title "Waiting for Godot" related to its theme?

Point out religious allusions and linguistic references in the play.

How is Waiting for Godot an absurdist play?

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REVIEW Lecture 19

An Introduction to 1. Philosophical Background of Waiting

for Godot Theatre of Absurd Existentialism The Paradox of Consciousness

2. Becket: Critical Analysis (Analytical Mapping)

Characters

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Agenda Lecture 20

1. Analytical Mapping: Social Significance 2. Philosophical Background: ThemesA. SocialB. PsychologicalC. Religious3. Dramatic references: Themes

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