Theatre of the Absurd

Beckett is viewed as one of the last pioneers; as incitement to a lot of people later creators, he is now and then considered one of the first postmodernists. He is likewise viewed as one of the key writer in what Martin Esslin called "Theater of the Absurd." As such, he is generally considered as a standout amongst the most powerful authors of the twentieth century. He picked up amazing fame and distinguishment with the execution of comic however cynical play WaitingFor Godotin which two…

themes and complex style. Here is what the Sunday Times critic Harold Hobson wrote after the production of Sergeant Musgrave’s Dance: “Another frightful ordeal. It is time someone reminded our advanced dramatists that the principal function of the theatre is to give pleasure…It is the duty of…

Samuel Beckett’s two-act tragicomedy Waiting for Godot depicts the endless wait of two homeless men, for a man named Godot. Their endless cycle of waiting and thus suffering continues and repeats itself until it is stopped by someone who instead of waiting for false hope, chooses to find this hope on their own terms. A key piece of the play that reflects this idea is the song that Vladimir sings in the beginning of the second act. A song about a dog that stole a piece of bread and thus beaten…

Imagine a world where nobody lets you in, and you can’t feel connected despite your best efforts. This is what Holden Caulfield experiences in The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger. Holden can’t find or reach the connections he wants because the other people in his life won’t let him in, and Holden pushes people away when he doesn’t feel safe from himself and the outside world. Throughout the book, Holden feels depressed. This is the result of isolation and alienation affecting Holden by not…

Waiting for Godot (Samuel Beckett) Waiting for Godot is a play about two men seeking for hope and salvation, Vladimir and Estragon. In a country road (Beckett,1) with a single tree on a hill, they patiently waited aimlessly for someone whose arrival is uncertain, Godot. This play falls under tragedy and comedy. Tragic, in a sense that they are hoping for a day that Godot might come but all that is happening to them are just repeated incidence of the past days, and comedy because there are…

“A country road. A tree. Evening.” These stage directions preface Samuel Beckett’s tragicomedy “Waiting for Godot.” In the play, two men meet on this sparse, forlorn stage and attempt to make sense of their obscure world through encounters with mysterious characters and the prospects of finding purpose upon the arrival of a character they call Godot. The two men, Estragon and Vladimir, experience very little action or significant adventure in regards to the plot. Still, Beckett, regarded by some…

In this paper I will discuss and go into great depth on Sarah Kane’s Blasted and Branden Jacobs-Jenkins An Octoroon and the postdramatic theatre elements that are represented in both of them. Muller’s statement in Steegmans, After Postdramatic Theatre refers to a crisis of drama, which consists of the apparent inability to convey the complexity of the modern world. It’s that the problems of the present exceeds the representational capacity of the situational dramatic art. When we look at…

Romeo and Juliet (1966), Romeo + Juliet (1996), and Gnomeo and Juliet (2011) were all very different. They all told the story differently and had their own individual strengths and weaknesses. Romeo + Juliet (1996) had quite a few strengths and weaknesses. I think the biggest strengths in the movie were the use of modern technology, the exaggerated storytelling, and the use of Olde English. The use of modern technology strengthened the movie because it made it easier to understand; when you’re…

senseless and useless. ‘The Outsider’, Camus’s first novel is a representation of his absurd thinking about the world. The use of the term ‘absurd’ in literature is a vehicle for writers to explore and represent those elements in the world that do not make sense and ‘The Outsider’ is one of the beautiful representation of Camus’s revolt against the norms of the society. In the very first line of the novel elevates the absurd concept, " My mother died today. Or maybe yesterday, I don't know. I…

In Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot two vagabonds wait for man who is only identifiable by his name. The pair attempts various actions to help pass the time but ultimately they are trapped in a wait without end and are forced to inhabit a circular structure of de-narrativised time. Time presents a list of problems in Beckett’s play causing panic, confusion and memory loss. This essay aims to discuss the various aspects of the play relating to the themes of time and waiting. This essay will…