For more than half a century, Waiting for Godot has enthralled and baffled theatre goers in equal measure. Why did Beckett’s first play have such an impact on post-war British drama? What was this famously elusive playwright trying to tell us in his two-act tragi-comedy about a pair of tramps? Drawing on what critics have said about Godot over the years, the Oxford academic Sophie Ratcliffe puts Beckett’s masterpiece in perspective and crisply analyses what makes it so compelling.
Contents
Beginnings
What happens in Waiting for Godot?
Did Beckett intend the play to fail?
How funny is Waiting for Godot?
Humans or animals?
Who is Godot?
Why are Beckett’s stage directions so precise?
What is Beckett telling us about life?
Why is repetition so important in the play?
Does Beckett mock the idea of human solidarity?
Five facts about Beckett and Waiting for Godot
What should we make of the “climax”?
Does Waiting for Godot belong to the ‘Theatre of the Absurd’?
Further Reading
