Absurdism in Post-Modern mind: Waiting for Godot
Since post-modernism was conceived in the cradle of a godless society blinded to the facts of the situations lived after a world war, authors let their creativity lies under the fear of uncertainty, stinging deep in their brains as the new brand of acceptance. In that sense, life is defined by absurd qualities and constantly existentialist tendencies of their actors, which were thematically linked by a sense of desperation, anguish, pessimism and loneliness: a distaste of life. As a result, art was widely influenced and drown in this matter and the suffocated feeling of dissatisfaction with every single aspect of life- everything couldn’t care less.
“Nothing happens. Nobody comes, nobody goes. It's awful.”
-Estragon
A play about two tramps with a dubious appointment is at once a philosophical speculation of the complexity of the human condition -As its main characters depict the concept of having “hope” in a situation which does not seem to give hope, waiting for nothing but uncertainty- but it rapidly turned into a representation of the absurdity of human existence -Estragon and Vladimir, throughout their waiting time, the only thing they do is to make the time pass by doing things that would practically entertain them- and this “denial” of any ultimate principles and lack of optimism define the play as a child of post-modernism.
Finally, and what is unexpectedly worth to mention for the reader is the fact that significance of the play lies in how Vladimir and Estragon wait for Godot, a figure who will never come, even though they seem to know he will not come. The characters will wait because there is nothing else to do and whatever they will meet is inevitable and therefore their actions do not matter. The importance of this set the bleakness of the play: it doesn’t count with a specific location, date or time and has been defined existence as an ephemeral act. Beckett captured a sense of complete isolation and powerlessness in respect to the individual’s role in the world.
"Let's go." "We can't." "Why not?" "We're waiting for Godot.”
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ResponderEliminar"Waiting for the one
ResponderEliminarthe day that never comes
when you stand up and feel the warmth
but the sunshine never comes"
Life is a constant wait for tomorrow, hoping it will bring meaning to our existence, and yet, even though our faith is weaker than it once was, naively we keep waiting.
But, as a consequence of that, we often forget about the present.
'Better the devil you know than the devil you don't', this means that it is usually better to deal with someone or something you are familiar with, even if is not good, than take a risk with an unknown person or thing. This is a very known idiom, that appeals to common sense...supposedly.
ResponderEliminarThe absurd thing with this is that the situation depicted in these characters waiting for Godot, is that they actually wait for something or someone else. They do not seem to care about the present, and wait for the one who is coming. Not conformed with waiting, they decide to do it in a time-wasting way. Maybe this has something to do with the first paragraph that you wrote. A blind and godless society does not have a hope. Living makes no sense because all you know are these dark feelings after war. How can a person feel blissful when there have been ambition, massacres and hatred so recently? It is absurd any idea of being positive. And to make sense out of this, living or imagining something even more absurd, might be the solution to elude what has been so disasterous, and it might give you the hope that you might have been longing for so long but that in a way it has been murdered along with so many people. Waiting for that something that might not even come, seems to be more sensible than to live a post war reality that only depicts itself as negative.