Waiting for Godot Flashcards
1
Q
Rubric
A
- Social and individual upheaval due to postmodernism resulting from WWII and Cold War, leading to a lack of meaning, purpose and truth
- Predicaments faced by the individual in a depersonalised society due to modernity
- Activates change and reflection in audience values as they see the impact of technologisation and modernisation
- Challenges social values of the advancement of society through modernisation
- Represents shifting context towards postmodernism and shows the impact that has on attitudes towards modernity and technology
2
Q
Characterisation of Vladimir
A
- Allusion to human mind
- Logical, intellectual and rational, and is the only character that remembers the plot
- Attempts to explain things in the world with evidence but to no avail and becomes less sure of himself and his existence
- Represents the portion of humanity who trusts in religion and spiritual beliefs to guide them
3
Q
Characterisation of Estragon
A
- Allusion to human body
- Concerned with feelings and personal suffering instead of intellectual thoughts, and has no grasp of time or identity
- Represents existentialist portion of humanity who chooses to construct the meaning of life based on personal experience
4
Q
Characterisation of Pozzo
A
- Allusion to arrogant, tyranical and wealthy people corrupted by greed and power
- Concerned with appearances and social conventions
- Continuously loses things such as pipe, watch and sight, and has frayed whip which symbolises crumbling authority and empire after WWII
5
Q
Characterisation of Lucky
A
- Represents portion of humanity who rejects religion, order, thought and choice
- Figure of physical suffering and exploitation as Pozzo’s slave
- Monologue is mixture of scholarly/theological ideas and nonsense/absurd terms
6
Q
Characterisation of Godot
A
- Never appears on stage and has no lines
- Absence is so significant that he is considered character
- Characterised through dialogue of Vladimir, Estragon and the boy
- Vladimir and Estragon are convinced he is their saviour
- Alludes to allusive saviours and purpose
7
Q
Context
A
- Samuel Beckett (1952)
- Beckett was active in French Resistance during German occupation in WWII
- Unprecedented mass violence and destruction of WWII led to postwar despair of questioning moral paradigms and purpose due to atomic warfare, Holocaust and uncertainty of the Cold War
- Modernism and postmodernism reject traditional values and conventional structures or meanings of texts
- Existentialism emphasised subjectivity and the individual’s choices whilst moving away from spirituality
- Theatre of the Absurd had disorienting experience for audience through illogical plot, little character development, no sense of sequence, pessimistic and nihilistic worldviews and cyclical structure
8
Q
Purpose
A
- Show the impact of modernisation resulting in postmodernism
- Convey how society and people are impacted by their technocentric world that relies on modern advancements
- Show how horrors of WWII and uncertainty of Cold War have impacted people’s perception of meaning and purpose
9
Q
Form
A
- Subtitle of ‘Tragicomedy in Two Acts’ due to humour in absurdity of existence and hopelessness from lack of purpose
- Existential play showing conflict between spiritualism and existentialism
- Inspired by modernism through impact of technologisation and alienation
- Inspired by postmodernism through complexity, ambiguity, fragmentation and lack of apparent meaning and purpose
- Theatre of the Absurd
- Cyclical structure of acts
- Plot begins in medias res
10
Q
Audience
A
- Invited to consider how modernisation led to horrific WWII and fearful Cold War, which created a postmodern world of ambiguity
11
Q
Symbols of Postmodernism
A
- Leafless tree
- Lucky’s baggage
- Pozzo’s rope
- Vladimir always tells Estragon to wait for Godot but Estragon always forgets
12
Q
Complexities of Postmodern Human Condition and Folly of Seeking Meaning
“It’d give …”
A
“It’d give us an erection” - Vladimir
- Paradox
- Irony
13
Q
Complexities of Postmodern Human Condition and Folly of Seeking Meaning
“Adieu …”
A
- “Adieu”
- “Silence. No one moves”
- Repetition
- Metaphor
- Paradox
- Cyclical
- French has religious connotations
14
Q
Conflict Between Spirituality and Existentialism
“divine …”
A
“divine apathia divine athambia divine aphasia” - Lucky
- Metaphor for god and humanity as apathetic, imperturbable and silent
15
Q
Conflict Between Spirituality and Existentialism
“Let’s wait …”
A
- “Let’s wait till we know exactly how we stand” - Vladimir
- “On the other hand it might be better to strike the iron before it freezes” - Estragon
- Metaphor
- Contrast
