Beckett’s major plays are listed as the follows: Waiting for Godot; Act Without Words I; Endgame; Krapp’s Last Tape; Happy Days and so on。 Beckett resorted to anti-play artistic conceptions and techniques of expression to reveal the Western people’s loneliness, anxiety and agony。 He analyzed the living situation and dilemma that human beings are faced with, and draw the conclusion that life is senseless and hopeless。

1。2 Introduction to Waiting for Godot

Waiting for Godot is Beckett’s magnum opus, and it is also an absurdist masterpiece of Theater of the Absurd。 The World War II was just over, the whole Western society suffered from economic depression and social upheaval。 Traditional morality, ethics and values lost the function of influencing sentiments and purifying mind。 People who lived at that time felt bored and dispirited。 And they failed to get pleasure in life thus lost their hope for the future。 In Waiting for Godot, Beckett took the form of farce to reveal the absurdity and tragedy of real life by describing two wanderers’ hopeless waiting。 

These two tramps, Vladimir and Estragon, are the leading characters in the play。 They wait hopelessly for a man who was named Godot at the same place。 While waiting, they keep on communicating and doing various kinds of trivial things。 They repeat the same thing: Estragon often gets off his boots and Vladimir always examines his hat。 Their conversations are completely illogical: they keep on squabbling, recalling the past, questioning what they are doing, talking about how to commit a suicide — the way and sequences to hang themselves。 

Their personalities are also hard to understand。 Vladimir remembers clearly what have happened while Estragon often has no idea about them and he even feels confused when Vladimir gives him a hint; Estragon asserts that he will be a poet someday while Vladimir is conscious of their poor situation; Estragon likes to share his dreams while Vladimir can not bear it。 During the waiting, they run into two passengers Pozzo and a little boy Lucky。 Pozzo is a cruel and mean person。 He maltreats Lucky, and refuses to share foods with him。 This poor boy always follow Pozzo’s words, and he dare not to resist。 In the play, he usually makes a unilateral declaration, but his words turned out to be a load of long senseless vocabulary。 After Pozzo and Lucky leave away, Vladimir and Estragon remain in the same place and continue to talk with each other。 Then a boy comes with the message that Godot will not show up today, but he is sure to come tomorrow。 Then the two tramps are determined to leave but neither of them moves。 来自~优尔、论文|网www.youerw.com +QQ752018766-

In the second Act, the bare tree in the first act has several leaves and the two passengers come again。 But Pozzo becomes blind and Lucky becomes dumb。 After greeting a few words with Estragon and Vladimir, they go on their journey and leave the two tramps waiting for Godot by the tree on the country road again。 And then the same boy arrives with the same message。 Estragon and Vladimir decide to leave, but actually they still stay in the same place。

In a word, Waiting for Godot is such a perplexing drama, but as an ancient treasure in the history of literature, it is worthy of further analysis and interpretation。