Sensible Absurdity or Absurd Wisdom Lets go We

Sensible Absurdity or Absurd Wisdom

“Let’s go. ”____ “We Can’t. ” “Why Not? ” “We’re Waiting for Godot” With this infamous refrain, Samuel Beckett introduces the uncanny world of…

Waiting for Godot

Main Focus The ancient question of existence dealt by “Samuel Beckett”

Existentialism ?

Origin Existentialism began in the mid-19 th century as a reaction against thendominant systematic philosophies, with Søren Kierkegaard generally considered to be the first existentialist philosopher

Philosophical and cultural movement which asserts that Starting point of philosophical thinking must be Individual Experiences of the individual

Philosophical thinking Moral thinking For the Understanding of Human Existence Insufficient

Further set of categories Necessary requirements Governed by the norm of authenticity

Concepts Despair Angst Authenticity Existence precedes essence The Absurd Importance of the Individual

Theatre of the Absurd

If Existentialism was the philosophical model of a universe that has lost its meaning and purpose… Then… Theatre of the Absurd was one way of facing up to that universe

Absurd is… nonsensical, opposed to reason, something silly, foolish, senseless, ridiculous and topsy-turvy. Absurd is a term derived from the existentialism of Albert Camus, and often applied to the modern sense of human purposelessness in a universe without meaning or value. (Literary Dictionary)

Theatre of the Absurd Martin Esslin coined the phrase Theatre of the Absurd in 1961 He referred to the playwrights of the 1950 s (led by Samuel Beckett and Eugene Ionesco) The works of these writers evoke the absurd by abandoning logical form, character and dialogue together with realistic illusion Dramatists: Edward Albee, Jean Genet, Harold Pinter Works: Waiting for Godot, Endgame The Caretaker, The Chairs , The Sandbox etc.

Crux “Absurdity presents humanity stripped of the accidental circumstances of social position or historical context, confronted with basic choices” Albert Camus

This theatre dealt with the issues… Life Isolation Death Resulting from the Lack of Communication

Absurd Drama Spoke to a deeper level of the audience’s awareness Funny and Terrifying staging Sequence The Opposites Multiplied in their minds Pushed the audience forward Offered Opposites Confused them Compelled a personal Assessment of their Reactions

So… Is existence Absurd?

The question of survival is as old as humanity. In the world of drama, this inquiry about human existence is very old. From the Greeks to the Elizabethans and till the modern times, the dramatists have been dealing with the issue of… “To be or not to be That is the question” Hamlet

Plot • Two existential tramps near a scrawny tree wait for a mysterious Mr. Godot • Godot doesn’t show up. • They keep waiting. • Pozzo and Lucky appear. • They feel like hanging themselves but can’t. • Nothing happens, and the play finishes. Now HOW on earth can a play like that have some WISDOM in it? ? ?

Apparently… Lack of plot No significant character No development or change in relations Absurd Language

Criticism… “ Typical of the self delusion of which certain intellectuals are capable, embracing obscurity, pretense, ugliness and negation as protective coloring for their own confusions” (Marya Mannes)

Criticism… The Dialogue was characterized as “gibberish” between two “symbolic maniacs”. The review ended by quoting the line from the play “Let us hang ourselves” and she quipped that the line was UNHAPPILY not acted upon.

Criticism… “At his best or at his worst, then, Beckett creates dramas which are like Tom & Jerry cartoons, or Laurel and Hardy shorts, or Three Stooges’s, or Marx Brothers featured films. It is probably inaccurate to argue that they are only simpleminded, on the one hand, or that they are especially sophisticated” Robert A. Kantra

Now is that all to it? ? ? Certainly NOT !!!

Formulae Romantic Era formula Beckett’s formula Boy-meets-girl Problem-climax-resolution Heroic-action Born-Troubled-Died Cyclical Equation Superficial Away from reality Close to the reality of Existence

Defense… The defenders of Waiting for Godot believed that the lack of scenery, plot , action and character development in the play actually draws the audience into an existential encounter with his or her own truth.

Defense… The ensuing vacuum created between the audience and the stage forces an encounter between the audience with the absurdity of their own lives.

Atmosphere , setting and surroundings Tree t r a m p s

A scrawny tree, where two tramps engage in fruitless conversations while waiting for rescue from their misery…. . Sounds TOO ABSURD? ? ? By this monotonous repetition, Beckett turns theatre into LIFE and shows life to be the illusion.

Hidden. Wisdom in apparent Absurdity

Sensible Absurdity In Characters

CHARACTERS Vladimir and Estragon

Vladimir and Estragon Two friends who are stuck together waiting for something better to come Each day in their life is a repetition of the previous day

CHARACTERS Pozzo and Lucky

Pozzo and Lucky The Master and the Slave dependant on each other Though they could separate, they choose not to They become physically dependant

CHARACTERS Godot

Godot Insignificant character? He may or may not arrive, is it important? ? WHO is he then? ? ?

CHARACTERS Tree

Tree A scrawny tree If it hangs you, it hangs anything

Absurd Wisdom In Themes

Time/waiting Nihilism Themes Quest of Self Discovery Religion and God

THEMES Time/Waiting

“Instead of a moving stream, time here has become something like a stagnant mush” Gunther Andres

“Silence is pouring into this play like water into a sinking ship” Samuel Beckett

THEMES Religion/ God

Beckett- An Agnostic “Even if God were to exist, he would make no difference: he would be as lonely and as enslaved , and as isolated as man is, in a cold, silent, indifferent universe”

“The waiting Christian may not presumptuously suppose that salvation is an assured possession, for the future is in God’s hands and not under man’s control” I Cor. 4: 4 -5

Absurd conversation filled with Abundance of meaning Vladimir speaks of the Gospels and of one of the thieves who was crucified with Christ as being saved The Bible is mentioned, although Estragon has only a halting memory of it Christ is referred to as “our savior” Estragon-compares himself with Christ Estragon says that all humans are made in God’s image” Estragon mockingly says his own name is “Adam” They cry out later in the play for God and Christ to have mercy on them.

THEMES Nihilism

Nihilism? “The doctrine or belief that life is utterly without significance of any kind” So… …is it appropriate to call the two tramps NIHILISTS? ? ?

Why Not? They have a meaning. They refuse the freedom of suicide. Their response to Death is far from nihilistic.

The Tramps HAVE a meaning…although its something that is repetitively deadened and empty. “Yes, in this immense confusion one thing alone is clear. We are waiting for Godot to come-” Vladimir

“Vladimir and Estragon conclude from the fact of their existence that there must be something for which they are waiting; they are champions of the doctrine that life must have meaning even in a manifestly meaningless situation…What Beckett presents is not nihilism, but the inability of man to be a nihilist even in a situation of utter hopelessness” Gunther Andres

Nietzsche’s claim Any meaning is better than NONE at all !

Freedom of Suicide… REFUSED !!!

The constant presence of the tree reminds one of Camus’s assertion that suicide is the only serious philosophical problem But HOW do tramps TREAT the idea of suicide?

ACT I Suicide is contemplated as a distraction banter about who should be hanged first-who is lighter or heavier But the tramps decide to do nothing

ACT II The topic of hanging re-emerges An attempt is made to use Estragon’s trouser-cord as a rope, but his pants fall down and the rope breaks

Death Absurd is not the beginning and not the end, it is the representation of that which is in between

Absurd Wisdom In Language/ Dialogues

Language DIALOGUES

Dialogue � Through the dialogue of two clownish tramps, Beckett enacts the essential concerns and futility of the human condition: The breakdown in the very foundation of culture is allegorized: Midcentury humanity stood in a crises in the areas of religion, sex, family, government and economics.

Beckett Rejects learning Sees language as part of the failure to know where and what we are His heroes deny that they are philosophers

Comparison

Harold Pinter’s Caretaker

Setting: One Room Structure: Cyclical Characters: Limited Theme: Time /Waiting (I’ve been waiting for weather to break”) Davies Meaningfulness in Futile Discussion

Edward Albee’s The Sand Box

Uncertainty of Setting Absurdity in setting is presented in both the plays � Waiting for Godot • Tramps on the barren land which is an unknown place with nothing but a tree on the stage � The Sand Box • The setting is not clear, we do not know whether it’s a beach or a graveyard

Absurdity full of meaning � Shakespeare’s assessment that ‘All the world’s a stage /And all men and women merely players has been reanalyzed and extended by Albee, culminating in a work which declares the conventional conception of death as affected and contrived. Jenifer Bayot

Absurdity full of meaning Ø Ø Ø In action In Dialogues ( Mommy and Daddy) In atmosphere Stage setting Style of conveying meaning

Osborne’s Look Back in Anger

Cyclical Structure Waiting for Godot Look back in anger Reading the last act in both plays reminds us of the happenings of the first act… Setting: The bare stage, Setting: The same room, The tree same furniture, with Dialogue: “Shall we go? ” Helena ironing instead of “Yes” Alison. The same (And they don’t move) Atmosphere

Dialogues Waiting for Godot Look back in anger Nobody comes, no body goes, Nobody thinks, nobody cares Its Awe full. No beliefs, no convictions and no enthusiasm. Let’s contradict each other. Let’s pretend that we’re Lets ask each other questions. Human beings and that we are actually alive.

Conclusion We have human existence in the play, and play in human existence, the one gives depth and gravity, the other pleasure and diversion. Harvey, L. E.