Language, Action and Time in Samuel Becketts Waiting for Godot Essay

Language, effect and Time in Waiting for Godot Twenty-two hundred years earlier the emergence of the Theater of the Absurd, the Greek philosopher Artistotle stumbled upon one of the themes developed in Samuel Becketts present Waiting for Godot that is, that Thought (Dianoia) is expressed through Diction and that Thought (Theoria) is in itself a form of Action (Energeia). Intellectual action is thus metrical equally in comparison to physical action. Over the centuries, theories regarding theme, action and speech have evolved considerably, and certain underlying themes in Becketts unconventional carry can trace their origins back to Aristotles original concepts concerning drama, namely the relationships between language, thought and the action involved in contemplation. Aristotle proposes that Thought and Diction imitate Action. In Becketts Waiting for Godot, it is possible to see a similar pattern (that when taken a step further is no longer linear but circular), in which La nguage permits the existence of Thought which in turn becomes secondary Action. (Ironically, this whole help which is portrayed by Beckett on-stage is equivalent to the art of field of force itself which, manifested through language, permits the audience offstage, whose witnessing of a play replaces imagining it, to undergo the same process in acting vicariously through the characters.) The first and more evoke part of the process is best illustrated by the ending of both acts when Vladimir, and hence Estragon, says Yes, lets go and the stage directions indicate They do non move. It suffices only if to say and subsequently to think of leaving, for there is no more mean in the vicarious action than in its actual physical manifestation. ... ... Vladimir who comments about the condition of Estragons feet Theres man all over for you, blaming on his boots the faults of his feet. The boots represent perfection, for each is an external object that man contrives to protect himsel f. Beckett is saying that man should non blame the devices that he creates when they fail to protect him from himself, but should rather yield the responsibility for their failure as he is the creator of those devices. If god does not fill mans existential void, instead of hopelessly waiting for that unreliable god to come and rescue him, he should consider looking to himself to resolve the occupation of the meaninglessness of his life. Bibliography Aristotle. Poetics. Tr. S.H. Butler. New York Hill and Wang, 1977 Beckett, Samuel. Waiting for Godot. New York Grove Press, 1954 Durozoi, Grald. Beckett. Paris Bordas, 1972