Theatre of Absurd and Waiting for Godot by SAMUEL BECKETT:
After the dawn of twentieth century, many kinds of theatres existed .One of the prominent theatres was the Theatre of Absurd. The Theatre of Absurd applied many plays . Those plays , such as Waiting for Godot, expressed "a confusing, seemingly meaningless world where people encounter(ed) bizarre or absurd circumstances" (Eugene Ionesco , Theatre of Absurd ).However, The Theatre of Absurd and Waiting for Godot had some themes in common .
Waiting for Godot applied many themes that Theatre of Absurd h b andled. Firstly, repetition was observed in every single scene . "Nothing to be done" was repeated continually by more than one character, and in whole scenes, to emphasize the sameness in lives of people , and the unimportance of time. Repetition caused some kinds of routine and cliché . Secondly, meaninglessness was an important issue which the Theatre of Absurd focused on. This play had many meaningless actions such as ; waiting for Godot . Moreover , the characters' dialogue was so meaningless , and had no effect on others . For example, the two characters, Estragon and Vladimir, were talking just for passing time. To avoid loneliness, this two characters tried to keep in touch , and be together . Thirdly , the plays in the Theatre of Absurd , as we noticed, were tragic- comedy . In Waiting for Godot , we noticed that there were many comical incidents .To make audience laugh, Estragon continually took his boots on and off, as Vladimir did with his hats. In contrast, to arouse sadness, the play presented injustice which the audience couldn't change or stop. In this tragic comedy play, the audience laugh, but at the end ,the play made them feel sorrow.
At the end , we must know that this theatre symbolized many issues in people's society at that time ; people's reaction toward war, seeking for peace, etc. So, remember when you are reading the absurd plays , you are reading about the absurdity of life .