Existentialism in Waiting For Godot

Introduction:

"Waiting for Godot" is a play that captures this feeling and view of the world, and characterizes it with archetypes that symbolize humanity and its behavior when faced with this knowledge. According to the play, a human being's life is totally dependent on chance, and, by extension, time is meaningless; therefore, a human's life is also meaningless, and the realization of this drives humans to rely on nebulous, outside forces, which may be real or not, for order and direction.

Existentialism in Waiting for Godot

 “Waiting for Godot” is an existentialist play because it has clear tints of existentialism in it. If we study the term existentialism we would come to know that it is a philosophical doctrine which lays stress on the existence with his concrete experience and solidities. However, “Waiting for Godot” is an existentialist play for it embodies Christian existentialism.

The word “Existentialism” stands for one’s “awareness” of one’s “beingness”. It stands for a vital principal of life. “Waiting for Godot” resembles the existentialist literature because it deals not only with existence or identity but also with the momentary and the internal time. The time mentioned in “Waiting for Godot” is related to man’s mental condition. For instance, the major problem for the tramps is to make time pass in such a way that they are least bothered by it. Vladimir and Estragon constantly complain of the slowness of time passing and do their best to hurry it with their futile diversions.

Vladimir represents the portion of humanity who trusts in religion and spiritual beliefs to guide them, and that Estragon represents the more ideal existentialist portion of humanity who chooses to stop waiting and construct the meaning of life based on experience in the tangible and physical world around them. The following is an example of dialogue which supports this concept:

Vladimir: Let’s wait and see what he says.

Estragon: Who?

Vladimir: Godot.

Estragon: Good idea.

Vladimir: Let’s wait till we know exactly how we stand.

Estragon: On the other hand it might be better to strike the iron before it freezes.

For Christian, existentialism religious leads to God, whereas according to the Atheistic Existentialism, it is based on the idea of Jean Paul Sartre and Martin Heidegger who state that:

Man is alone in a godless universe.

The comparative study of both philosophies helps us to prove “Waiting for Godot” as a Christian existentialistic play.

We know that man is confronting the problem of his existence as a being. He is striving for his survival and to control the bridle of the pacing time. He is struggling to save his “individuality” and this very idea leads to the philosophy of existentialism.

The word “Existentialism” stands for one’s “awareness” of one’s “beingness”. It stands for a vital principal of life. “Waiting for Godot” resembles the existentialist literature because it deals not only with existence or identity but also with the momentary and the internal time. The time mentioned in “Waiting for Godot” is related to man’s mental condition. For instance, the major problem for the tramps is to make time pass in such a way that they are least bothered by it. Vladimir and Estragon constantly complain of the slowness of time passing and do their best to hurry it with their futile diversions.

 Estragon says:

Nothing happens, nobody comes, nobody goes, it’s awful.

But we know that outside the natural time, its consequences flow on. For example, the tree has grown five or six leaves. Pozzo has grown blind and Lucky dumb.

 Here Estragon remarks:

They all change, only we not.

Here we see that Vladimir is depending on Godot to tell him what he needs to know regarding his existence, while Estragon asserts that they do not have the time to wait and that they should take action on their own before it is too late. The metaphor of the cooling iron suggests that humanity does not have enough time to wait for their spiritual ponderings to offer them enlightenment, that the chance will pass, and their efforts will not take effect once it does.

 Therefore, it can be concluded from this that Estragon’s suggestion that he and Vladimir make their own way now, before it is too late, is the more ideal course of action advocated by the play. It is Estragon who follows the notion of no longer waiting on religion for answers and going to the philosophy of existentialism.

The play “Waiting for Godot” has all the traits of existentialism both Vladimir and Estragon represent the man in general who is facing the problems of his existence in this world. They are interdependent like all other man. Hope for salvation is the subject of play and is the problem faced by the whole human race. Representing the man in general, the two tramps realize the futility of their exercise and we note that they are merely filling up the hours with the pointless activity. Hence their ‘waiting’ is mechanical and deals with problem of existentialism.

What is Point Of View

What  is Point Of View

Definition  of  Point View ….

Point Of  View is the angel of  considering  things, which  shows  us  the opinion , or  feelings  of  the  individuals   involved in a situations

In Literature…

    
With the objective  point of view   writers  tells  what happens without Stating more than can be  inferred from the  story’s  action and dialogue . The Narrator never discloses anything about  what  characters   think  or feel ,   Remaining a detached observer.


In  the  literature  is  the  mode  of  narration     that an author employs to let  the  readers “ Hear” and  “ See”  what  take  place  in  the  story.

Function of Point of view

Point of view is an integral tool of description in the author's hands to poetry. Personal emotions or characters  feeling about an experience and situation.Writer uses the point of view to express effectively what they want to convey to their reader.

 First person point of view 

  First person point of view involves the use of either of the two pronouns “I” and “ We” .In the subjective case, the singular form of the first person is “I” and the plural from is “We”.

“I” and “We” are in the subjective case because either one can be used as the subject of a sentence.

Second person point of view

 Second person point of view is the last commonly used point of view in literary writings. In the point of view, the narrator uses the pronoun “You”. To refer to one of the character in the story and to address the reader to listener directly.

Third person point of view 

 The third person point of view  is the most commonly used mode of point of view.When it is used, the narrator relates all action in third person. Each character in the story is referred to third person pronouns such as “He”, “She”, “It” or “They”.

Characteristics of Robert Frost 's Poetry

Characteristics of Robert Frost 's Poetry

Introduction :

                                                

                                                 

  Robert Frost is one of the most popular and most honored Poet of America. He thoughts against the traditional poetry, he wanted poetry, he wanted poetry to be as free and natural as love. His central themes are men and women, Humanity, loneliness , isolation and Nature, like Wordsworth, he chose incidents and situation from common life as the subjects of his poem.

Clarity and Simplicity :

The first things that strikes a student of Frost 's Poetry it is clarity. At a time when poets were inclined to show off their erudition, and when a poetry was full of esoteric reference, Frost' s Poetry is clear and specific.

Universality and Depiction of Rural life :

Frost 's Poetry celebrates the countryside of New Hampshire. But he is not a regional Poet. He may began with geography, he has ability to take his poetry into an unmappable country. His poem give real and living people. Frost shows a wordsworthian interest in the  poor common people, and portrays them realistically.

Realism :

"Frost truly said of himself,

"I am not a regionalist, i am a realist. I write about realms of democracy and realms of the spirit. "

Ezra pound has commented on the effectiveness of the portrayal of Frost 's Character. "Mr. Frost' s people are distinctly real. Their speech is real ; he has know them i don't want much to meet them but i know that they exist, and what is more that they exist as he portrayed them.

All this makes it obvious that Frost 's method was that of realism. He was not like the romantic poets interested in extraordinary and remote things.

Dramatic Quality

A very important feature of Frost 's Poetry it is Dramatic Quality. Poems like'  Home Burial ','  Blue Barriers 'and '  The witch of coos ' the best example of Frost' s genius in writing Dramatic poems. In 'Home Burial' we have a man and wife facing a crisis. The wife is almost cracking up under the strain of the grief caused by death of their child.

The feeling of horror that she experiences on seeing the graveyard "so small window frames the whole of it" and the quickly piled burial mound with the gravel leaping in the air, and the stains of mud on the man 's shoes is vividly conveyed.

His Language, Diction and Versification :

As for Frost 's Language, it may be said that his poetry speaks itself. He uses simple words and weaves into verse the actual tones of common speech. His words come from plain language of every day talk. Every words counts, every words somehow is made to add to the mood of the poem. "In Mending Walls" There is not only the attitudes but actual tone of the countrymen lines such as these..

He is all pine and i am apple orchard

My apple trees will never get across

And eat the cone under his pines. I tell him.

Out of their context, lines sound as If they have  been drawn straight from the country man 's stock of proverbial wisdom. But their fuller meaning strikes up when we read them in their context. Frost is perhaps the only Poet who satisfied the wordsworthian theory of poetic Diction. His tone is conversational and his manner dramatic, but his experiments with Various meters are no less significant. A skilled versifier, he has employed a large number of meters in his poetry.

His Philosophy :

The Simplicity of Frost 's verse is leading. It, at time cloaks the depth of his Philosophy. He was always a patient and persistent seeker after truth. Neither in Politics nor in poetry was he willing to surrender himself and his conviction as he says in "The Black Cottage". And "Mending Walls" is one of those poems where Frost makes certain significant observations of human life and conduct. He airs two contradictory opinion regarding the erection of a wall between the compounds of two neighbors

One is......

Something there is that doesn't love a wall

And the other...

Good fences make good neighbors.

As a Poet of Democracy :

Like Whitman, Frost was a Poet of Democracy. Both writers are profoundly interested in Brotherhood and fellowship. But they approach the problem differently. But Frost, more realistic than Whitman. Like Whitman, Robert Frost was also patriotic though he expressed his patriotism in more subdued tone than Whitman 's loud trumpeting of national sentiments.