Waiting for Godot - Samuel Beckett "Nothing Happens, Nobody Comes, Nobody Goes" Analysis

Firstly let us consider conflict. In each act of the play, we see the overpowering desire to belong leading to a climax of conflict

The overall dramatic meaning of this play has been successfully shown by the elements of drama. The

They are usually dressed in bright, colourful costume, they walk jauntily and they talk jovially between themselves to create an immediate light-hearted, happy air. The two servants poke fun at each other and use sexual innuendo to create an immediate sense of humour in the play. They begin by using wordplay to create humour on the first four lines and then move on to boasting to one another about their fighting skills. Sampson says, 'I strike quickly, being moved' to mean that he is quick to fight when he is angry. From line ten, the servants begin to use words with two meanings, one of which is sexual.

In Moliere’s “Tartuffe,” although many things and behaviors are satirized, the play focuses mainly on the issue of religious hypocrisy. Whereas Tartuffe is the obvious hypocrite and

In Molière's Tartuffe, translated by Richard Wilbur, the central character, a man named Orgon, has been completely brainwashed and taken advantage of by the title character, a lecherous and parasitic "holy man." Tartuffe has made use of one of the oldest scams in human history to insinuate himself into Orgon's household; he appeals to Orgon's desire to be a good, upstanding, and pious man by appearing to be the same. Tartuffe's manipulations are evident to everyone but Orgon, and seem to the reader to be blatantly obvious. His use of religion to manipulate Orgon is consistent throughout the play. In his religious zeal, Orgon is blind to the truth about Tartuffe's character. As a result,

shall firstly do a summery of the play and give a basic image of what

This film will provide you with an enhanced understanding of the play. Although, it is misleading at times, this version of the play will keep you fully entertained for the full 111 minutes and provide you with extra knowledge of the play. Casting The majority of the cast was well selected,

central to the play. I am going to look at only the first act of the

Waiting for Godot, written by Samuel Beckett, is a tragicomedy about two men waiting for a person or thing named Godot. The play entitles two contrasting pairs of characters, Vladimir and Estragon, Pozzo and Lucky. These sets of characters differ greatly and they create effect of humanity. The main difference between the pair’s relationships would be their dependency on each other, their level of compatibility, and their development throughout the play. Furthermore, both

Religion was a major factor in a number of Shakespeare’s plays. Religion motivated action and reasoning. In Shakespeare’s “The Merchant of Venice,” religion was more than a belief in a higher being; it reflected moral standards and ways of living. In the “Merchant of Venice,” “a Christian ethic of generosity, love, and risk-taking friendship is set in pointed contrast with a non-Christian ethic that is seen, from a Christian point of view, as grudging, resentful, and self-calculating.” (Bevington, pg. 74) Although Shakespeare writes this drama from a Christian point of view he illustrates religion by conflicts of the Old Testament and the New Testament in Venetian society and its court of law. These Testaments are tested through the

This argues that everything in this world has possibility to be and not to be.

Theatre is a complex art that attempts to weave stories of varying degrees of intricacies with the hope that feelings will be elicited from the audience. Samuel Beckett’s most famous work in the theatre world, however, is Waiting for Godot, the play in which, according to well-known Irish critic Vivian Mercier, “nothing happens, twice.” Beckett pioneered many different levels of groundbreaking and avant-garde theatre and had a large influence on the section of the modern idea of presentational theatre as opposed to the representational. His career seemingly marks the end of modernism in theatre and the creation of what is known as the “Theatre of the Absurd.”

play has the perfect Aristotelian tragic plot consisting of peripateia, anagnorisis and catastrophe; it has the perfect tragic character that suffers from happiness to misery due to his hamartia (tragic flaw) and the play evokes pity and fear that produces the tragic effect, catharsis (a purging of emotion).

In his article “Men Have Forgotten God,” Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn writes about how after several events in world history, corruption is rampant and conscious is dissipated. Using atheism as a base reason, he explains how the Russian Revolution, the French Revolution, and World War Two became bases for forms of hatred. He also mentions that people everywhere have become hardened to the things of this world, and the results of the hatred formed on atheism. In contrast, he mentions the fact that in Russia, a “pious way of life” was sought, and a true Christian church was the norm of the country. Atheism, in his mind, was a poison that has seeped through the world, slowly changing the very fabric that people’s foundations are based upon. In order to understand Solzhenitsyn’s thinking, mankind must understand atheism and all of its effects on the people surrounded by it.

In Waiting for Godot, Beckett often focused on the idea of "the suffering of being." Most of the play deals with the fact that Estragon and Vladimir are waiting for something to relieve them from their boredom. Godot can be understood as one of the many things in life that people wait for. Waiting for Godot is part of the ‘Theater of the Absurd’. This implies that it is meant to be irrational and meaningless. Absurd theater does not have the concepts of drama, chronological plot, logical language, themes, and recognizable settings. There is also a split between the intellect and the body within the work. Vladimir represents the intellect and Estragon the body, both cannot exist without the other.