Samuel Beckett was an Irish novelist and playwright who wrote in both English and French. He is considered a modernist and a key figure in the Theatre of the Absurd. His most famous play, Waiting for Godot, features two characters, Vladimir and Estragon, who wait endlessly and engage in meaningless discussions as they wait for someone named Godot to arrive, though he never does. The play illustrates the absurdity and meaninglessness of human existence through its bleak tone and minimalist style.

1. DHARABA GOHIL
Roll no: 8
Semester : 3
Enrollment no.: 2609108420170011
Batch : 2016- 18
Paper no. 9 The Modernist English Literature
Smt. S. B. Gardi. Dept. of English

2.  Samuel Barclay Beckett ( 13
April 1906 – 22 December
1989) was an Irish avant-garde
novelist.
 who lived in Paris for most of
his adult life and wrote in both
English and French.
 Beckett's work offers a bleak,
tragicomic outlook on human
existence, often coupled with
black comedy and humour,
and became increasingly
minimalist in his later career.
He is considered one of the
last modernist writers, and one
of the key figures in what
Martin Esslin called the
"Theatre of the Absurd"

4.  An absurdity is a thing that is extremely
unreasonable, so as to be foolish or not taken
seriously, or the state of being so.
 "Absurd" is an adjective used to describe an
absurdity.
 In specialized usage, absurdity is related to
extremes in bad reasoning or pointlessness in
reasoning; ridiculousness is related to extremes
of uncourageous juxtaposition, laughter, and
ridicule; and nonsense is related to a lack of
meaningfulness.
 Absurdum is a concept in philosophy related to
the notion of absurdity.

5.  Two characters, Vladimir
and Estragon, wait for
the arrival of someone
named Godot who never
arrives, and while waiting
they engage in a variety
of discussions and
encounter three other
characters.
 Beckett's translation of
his own original French
play, En attendant Godot,
and is subtitled (in
English only) "a
tragicomedy in two acts".

7.  The setting of the play creates
the absurdist mood. A desolate
country road, a ditch, and a
leafless tree make up the
barren, otherworldly landscape
whose only occupants are two
homeless men.
 They are in rags, bowler hats,
and apparently oversized
boots-a very comic
introduction to a very bizarre
play. There is a surplus of
symbolism and thematic
suggestion in this setting. The
landscape is a symbol of a
barren and fruitless civilization
or life.

8.  There is nothing to be done and there appears to be
no place better to depart.
 The tree, usually a symbol of life with its blossoms
and fruit or its suggestion of spring, is apparently
dead and lifeless. But it is also the place to which
they believe this Godot has asked them to come.
 This could mean Godot wants the men to feel the
infertility of their life. At the same time, it could
simply mean they have found the wrong tree.
 At the time, there were two distinct opinions about
the play; some called it a hoax and others called it a
masterpiece. Nevertheless, Waiting for Godot has
claimed its place in literary history as a masterpiece
that changed the face of twentieth century drama.

10.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Beckett
 http://www.literary-
articles.com/2009/03/samuel-becketts-
waiting-for-godot-as.html
 https://www.slideshare.net/kishan8282/waiti
ng-for-godot-as-an-absurd-theatre-
54554867