Q: DISCUSS WAITING FOR GODOT AS AN ABSURDIST PLAY.
Q: WHAT IS THE THEATRE OF THE ABSURD? HOW WAITING FOR
GODOT
CAN BE CALLED AN ABSURD
PLAY?
Ans:
"Waiting
for Godot", "Big Feet", "Stampeding Rhinoceroses", and
"Barren Sets" are typical of the theatre of the absurd. The dramatic
content, symbolism, and spectacles presented in these pieces are amazing things
to see and an impossibility to comprehend. The philosophy of the absurd and the
dawn of mankind influenced these plays in the twentieth century. The main
proponents and works of the theatre of the absurd and philosophy were
influenced by the chaotic actions of the early and mid-twentieth century. These
chaotic actions led them to search for something in literature and drama never
seen before.
The
phrase "Absurd Drama" or the theatre of the absurd gained currency as
a result of Martin Esslin's book "The Theatre of the Absurd"
published in 1961. In his attempt to show in what way the Absurd Theatre
produces something really new, Esslin suggests that it is "the unusual way
in which various; familiar attitudes of mind and literary idioms are
interwoven" and the fact that this approach has met with a, "a wide
response from broadly bared public." Esslin makes certain important
suggestions while discussing the significance of the Absurd. According to him
the number of people for whom 'God is dead' has greatly increased in the
present century. The Theatre of the Absurd is one of the ways of facing up to a
universe that has lost its meaning and purpose. As such it criticises a society
that is petty and dishonest.
Samuel
Beckett is considered to be an important figure among the French Absurdists,
more particularly his creation "Waiting for Godot" is looked upon as
one of the masterpieces of Absurdist literature. The absurd world, which
Beckett presents, is a fright rending one that has in it no norms, no
absolutes, no consoling certainties, and no direction. It simply exists; nobody
living in it has preordained sense or purpose.
Waiting
for Godot is a dramatic re-enactment of the unrecognized absurdity of the
world. In other words, Theatre of the Absurd transfers irrationality of life on
the stage. The talks and actions of the characters do not convey any meaning.
There is in fact, no plot in these plays. The time is static. The place is not
specific. As a whole "Waiting for Godot" is totally an unconventional
play.
After
the first performance of "Waiting for Godot" in 1953, some critics
were of the view that Beckett has contrived an absolute negation of human
existence. But after thirty years of serious critical discussion, critics have
reached the conclusion that the situation depicted in "Waiting for
Godot" is symbolic of man's general position in this world. In the world
of Godot there is complete impossibility of rational action. Estragon's
struggle with his boats is as absurd as his effort to commit suicide. The
striking dialogue, "There is nothing that I can do about it",
repeated so often by Vladimir and Estragon is an epitome of the whole play.
This dialogue has metaphysical implications. It is a comment on the absurdity
of life.
Placed
in the perspective of eternity, in the shadow of death that the living can
never forget, the antics with which the characters fill their short span are
ludicrous. All are levelled down to the same laughable status. Estragon laments
over his aching feet, Vladimir's complaints of his friends' sweaty socks, games
of losing, finding, swapping hats and boats, suicide attempts, debates on
damnation. Beckett's black, absence, pantomime humour is an attempt to bring
life preserving detachment into a situation so atrocious that to view it head
on could only produce a formless cry of despair. Geoffrey Brereton is of the
view,
"nihilism........... Beckett
suggests a state of thing, which is so appalling
that it must be meaningless. If it had a
meaning, it would be unbearably
horrible".
The
play is in two acts, each of which follows exactly the some pattern. On an
empty stage representing a country road with a single tree, two men, Vladimir
and Estragon, dressed in tattered clothes and ancient bowler hats, are trying
to keep an appointment. They are not too sure whether they really have this
appointment nor are they too sure with whom the appointment is to be made and
what its purpose is. They are dependent upon each other and yet want to get
away from each other, and above all they are convinced of the desirability of
doing away with themselves. But each time, they attempt to commit suicide, they
fail through sheer incompetence. In each of the two acts Vladimir and Estragon
meet another pair of characters; Pozzo and Lucky. Pozzo is big, fat and opulent
while Lucky is thin old with a rope round his neck. The second act depicts the
tramp's loss of identity. Although both the characters are bound in a friendly
bond, they are unable to communicate with each other throughout the play, their
relationship verges on uncertainty.
The
play also depicts the difference in the attitudes of the two tramps. Vladimir
is of a speculative turn of mind, while Estragon is weaker and more temper a
mental. Yet both are at the mercy of Godot absolutely who has asked them to
wait for him. The two tramps are in such a mental state in which nothing
happens twice. The time stands still and their only pre-occupation is to pass
time. They are accurately aware of the futility of their existence and they are
merely filling up the hours with painless activity. They deliberately even
abuse each other so as to get their conversation going. All that Estragon can
do is to eat a carrot or pull off and put on his boot. All that Vladimir can do
is to remove his hat, pear inside, shape it thoroughly and put it on again.
They are totally helpless in the presence of their mental condition. Hence
whatever they do is highly farcical but at some time it is deeply tragic. In
the treatment of comedy and tragedy, Beckett's "Waiting for Godot",
thus comes very close to the concept of tragic comedy of the theatre of absurd.
Like
committed absurdist, Beckett combats the traditional notions of time. The
principal theme of this play is "Waiting"; the act of waiting is an
essential and characteristic aspect of human condition. Throughout their lives
human beings wait for something, an event, a thing a person, or death. Moreover,
it is in the act of waiting that people experience the flow of time in its most
evident form. To wait means to experience the action of time "Waiting for
Godot" is a dramatic statement of the human situation itself. It lacks
both character and plot in the conventional sense but it tackles its subject
matter at a level where neither characters nor plot exists Vladimir and
Estragon are not human characters but embodiment of basic human attitudes and
what posses in this play are not events with a definite beginning and a
definite end, but types of situation that will forever repeat. That's why the
pattern of Act I is repeated with variations in Act II. The two tramps have no
ambition, no special purpose, no place to go, only a place to wait. In fact
Godot is nothing but the name for the fact that the life, which goes on
pointlessly is wrongly interpreted to mean as "Waiting for something"
what appears to be a positive attitude of tramps amounts to be a double
negation their existence is pointless, and they are incapable of recognizing
the pointlessness of their existence. They are like men who, despite living on
a desert island and never having been married continuously expect the return of
their wives. In fact, they are ruined by their habit merely because they happen
to exist, and because existence does not know of any other alternation but to
exist. Thus absurd drama becomes a kind of modern mystical experience, says
Esslin;
"...
the dignity of man lies in his ability to face reality in all its
senselessness; to accept it freely, without fear, without illusions—and to
laugh at it".
To
say that life is an absurd; is to challenge the two great acts of faith; reason
and religion. Confidence in reason is the basis of belief in human ability to
order and control the material world. Religion gives an overarching assurance
that every thing is in control. These are the two languages with which Vladimir
and Estragon must make sense of their world, and they would seem to be just so
many empty words. In Beckett's own words, there is nothing but words, divorced
from all meaning; "It all boils down to a question of words".
In the end, it can be remarked that
"Waiting for Godot" belongs to the theatre of Absurd, in its
treatment of themes, delineation of characters, symbolic undertones, form and
style. A recent critic named Roby Cohn looks upon "Waiting for Godot"
as one of the master — pieces of Absurdist Literature
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