Theater Of The Absurd Analysis
Theater of the Absurd is one of the most significant theatrical movements of 1950s. Mainly it is based on the philosophy of existentialism and idea of absurdity.
French philosopher Albert Camus argues that man’s quest for meaning and purpose of life is futile. He describes this through his character, Sisyphus, in his essay, “Myth of Sisyphus” in which he has to push a rock up to the mountain only to see it rolling down back and he has to do it all over again. He lives his life doing this meaningless task. Critic Martin Esslin’s use of the term “absurd” is derived from Camus’s “Myth of Sisyphus”. His essay, “The Theater of the Absurd” discusses the theme of existentialism in Samuel Beckett’s play, “Waiting for Godot”. Existential philosophy states that human beings exist in a world that does not have any
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Estragon’s struggle with his boot and his remark “Nothing to be done.” Vladimir asks if it hurts when Estragon ask for his help, Estragon cries, “He wants to know if that hurts” and after few dialogues Vladimir repeats the same sentence. Vladimir keep looking into his hat even when he finds nothing inside but still continues to repeat this. Estragon repeats this action with his boots and fails too. Estragon is beaten by an unknown crowd but he does not remember who those people were. Both of them keep telling each other that they are going but do not move.
Awareness about the lack of purpose, state of anguish is one of the main themes of the absurd theater. Vladimir and Estragon subconsciously know that they lack the purpose of living and hence make silly and senseless conversations. They live in denial that their existence has no purpose and desperately tries to create one. The play does not have any defined plot or theme as such and dialogues are loosely constructed as well. There is no logical or reason of events. Characters are not able to convey even the simplest ideas and language becomes a
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