"Waiting for Godot" Final Essay

“Waiting for Godot”
Many people could say that the Tragicomedy “Waiting for Godot” written by Samuel Beckett, doesn’t have any purpose or even its dialogues don’t have any sense. But actually the play has a sense and a purpose that maybe is not implicit and as readers is difficult to discover at once. The play carries out with its intention because it calls our attention since its dialogues and its characters. Also as we know, readers are used to read texts that follow a structure and a specific pattern so as to cause impact, the author wanted to write the play in a non sense way in order to create something particularly different.
As it was mentioned before in the introduction, “Waiting for Godot” is a tragicomedy play. If we analyze the word Tragicomedy, it refers to tragedy and comedy, so we can infer that the play is a mixture of both styles. The characters present so many problems in the story that as readers we can consider it as funny or as a joke. Maybe because readers can think that it is unbelievable that the characters have to confront so many problems in such a short time.
To have a better understand of the play we must identify some essential information that respects on its author and the historical approach in which the play is developed. First of all, we must say that Samuel Beckett was, “an Irish writer, dramatist and poet. Beckett's work offers a bleak outlook on human culture, and both formally and philosophically became increasingly minimalist. Beckett is considered as a modernist writer, for other as a postmodernists writer and also one of the key writers in what Martin Esslin called "Theatre of the Absurd".”[1] We can infer that it wasn’t only his play called “Waiting for Godot” his different way of writing. Beckett as an author impose another way of writing and making plays very different from what people were used to read and watch in a play. Also is very interesting to know that the “Waiting for Godot” was written after the Second World War II in which people were very sensible and affected because of all the implications that a war brings. So we can observe that the play has two possible purposes, one could it be that it tries to show us how people were affected after war, desolated and very sensible. Also we can think that the author want to make people have a good time by laughing at their own problems in order to alleviate and relieve.[2]
“Waiting for Godot” can have a lot of different interpretations depending in the reader. In view of my catholic raising, I focus my reading on what Catholics called the purgatory. This is a none well defined place where Catholics believe that after we die we go to this special place to relieve ourselves of small and simple sins in order to go to heaven. Maybe for some readers this vision could be absurd and ridiculous but for many Catholics, the play shows how we think the purgatory would be. The play presents the situation of two men that are looking for Godot, they are very frustrated and they do not understand what is really happening with them and their own performance in the play.
We can identify many elements in the story that can help me to support my thesis of the play. Firstly, the play narrates the situation of two men that are looking for someone called “Godot”. Firstly, I must say that while I was reading the play I related the name “Godot” with “God” mainly because of the word but after I finish reading the play I could identify that it perfectly fits with my interpretation of the play.
We can also identify that Vladimir and Estragon are looking for Godot in unknown road where they do not even know if they have been there. The road presents characteristics very similar to the ones that the purgatory is shown by Catholics. Mainly because it is unknown and nobody have too much information and an explanation for it. Also because it is a place where they can identify there own acts and their own errors but they do not understand much why they are doing although they know that they have a purpose, meeting Godot.
At the beginning of the play, Estragon has a big difficult to take out his boots. As readers we can interpret this element as a heavy load that he had in his life that he is trying to get rid of in this special place because they are a nuisance for his path. Through all the play we can observe that Estragon and Vladimir are desolated and with a particular feeling of not knowing anything and not remember anything. For me as a reader this loose of memory is understandable because they have to get rid of their past. In there path to heaven they forget about whom they were before in their past life, now they are new persons in a new life without sins and reaching what ever catholic wants to.
To conclude, we must say that “Waiting for Godot” is a very interesting play for everyone who wants some answers written in another vision very different from reality. My point of view in relation with the play could be very different from the ones that other can have depending in their believes or even seen from a different perception of life. It is very important to read this play being aware of the different elements that it presents in order to captivate the readers and make us think more about its real meaning and purpose. The play make us part of it because it tries to make us also feel a little bit desolated because sometime it is very confusing and it does not have one clear way to read it. As readers we must be open minded and try to figure out more than one vision of things in order to be more critical thinkers.
Sources
· http://www.uahdramaclass.blogspot.com/
· http://samuel-beckett.net/Waiting_for_Godot_Part1.html
· http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waiting_for_Godot
· http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Beckett
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Beckett
[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waiting_for_Godot

"Waiting for Godot"

“Waiting for Godot”
Many people could say that the Tragicomedy “Waiting for Godot” written by Samuel Beckett, doesn’t have any purpose or even its dialogues don’t have any sense. But actually the play has a sense and a purpose that maybe is not implicit and as readers is difficult to discover at once. The play carries out with its intention because it calls our attention since its dialogues and its characters. Also as we know, readers are used to read texts that follow a structure and a specific pattern so as to cause impact, the author wanted to write the play in a non sense way in order to create something particularly different.
As it was mentioned before in the introduction, “Waiting for Godot” is a tragicomedy play. If we analyze the word Tragicomedy, it refers to tragedy and comedy, so we can infer that the play is a mixture of both styles. The characters present so many problems in the story that as readers we can consider it as funny or as a joke. Maybe because readers can think that it is unbelievable that the characters have to confront so many problems in such a short time.
To have a better understand of the play we must identify some essential information that respects on its author and the historical approach in which the play is developed. First of all, we must say that Samuel Beckett was, “an Irish writer, dramatist and poet. Beckett's work offers a bleak outlook on human culture, and both formally and philosophically became increasingly minimalist. Beckett is considered as a modernist writer, for other as a postmodernists writer and also one of the key writers in what Martin Esslin called "Theatre of the Absurd".”[1] We can infer that it wasn’t only his play called “Waiting for Godot” his different way of writing. Beckett as an author impose another way of writing and making plays very different from what people were used to read and watch in a play. Also is very interesting to know that the “Waiting for Godot” was written after the Second World War II in which people were very sensible and affected because of all the implications that a war brings. So we can observe that the play has two possible purposes, one could it be that it tries to show us how people were affected after war, desolated and very sensible. Also we can think that the author want to make people have a good time by laughing at their own problems in order to alleviate and relieve.[2]
“Waiting for Godot” can have a lot of different interpretations depending in the reader. In view of my catholic raising, I focus my reading on what Catholics called the purgatory. This is a non well defined place where Catholics believe that after we die we go to this special place to relieve ourselves of

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Beckett
[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waiting_for_Godot

"Outline"

I. Introduction

II. Writing style

III. Readers interpretation

IV. Important elements and its meanings

V. Conclusions

Spender v/s Auden

Both authors wrote poems concerning political and historical topics. In the poem called September 1, 1939 written by W.H.Auden, there are many important themes as world war II, patriotism and politicism. It shows a strong feeling of patriotism which is reflected on a flag always clean and up no matter what. However, it also mention different issues as corruption and also some things and persons that makes a country get dirty. On the other hand, the poem called In no man´s land, written by Stephen Spender, shows a land that it is able to change, able to go beyond and let behind past problems and issues. Also I think that the tittle is very important because it implies that people are fighting against something unknown, something that its not even their business because it belongs to no one.

I think that both authors want to show us the importance of knowing and reflect about the historical events that have happened in our coutry and what join us as citizens. Also not forgetting about important events that happened in the past in order to not commit the same mistakes. The authors want to make us conscious of what is our position as citizens, trying to change the bad things and letting the evil far away fromour dreams as a person, members of a society.

"Virginia Woolf"

Almost every presentation had very interesting topics, concerning with Feminism, women novels and new thoughts. It´s amazing how women had been discriminating just because being a women! I agree with Virgina Woolf in the fact that women were hidden for many years because society didn´t let her express themselves, instead of they were at home doing the housekeeping and taking care of family. After 1920´s women possition in society changed, women suffrage was admitted and women were not considerated only as a housekeepers. All this changes happened because they wanted to change, they wanted to study and work and because they think that they were not the weaker sex.

Women begun to write about different topics related with feminism, lesbianism, society and discrimination. After many years we can identify that there are many good women writers but nothing compared with William Shakespeare. I am sure that this is going to change in a near future because each day there are many women that are more interested in Literature and many topics that before were just considerated only by men.

Correction......2

"The Rocking-Horse Winner"
It is unbelievable how people are always thinking about money and richness. Sometimes people spend all their life trying to become richer and more powerful, never realizing that those things are not fundamental in life. We must value significant things as family, friends, values, religion, etc.
In the story the word lucky is directly related with money and richness but the truth is that money can bring us pain and suffer. Being lucky is not having more money is when we are happy and we are grateful with what we have. Money do not make us happier, indeed I think most of the people really enjoy life when they live with the necessary things to survive and their worries are emphasized on relationships, faith, God and enjoying life as real sons of God.

Correction.....1

Creating as God??? (Frankestein) ---Correction

Each day we get impressed with the wide variety of new invents and discoveries. Nowadays technology has shown the world that almost nothing is impossible. Human beings want to control everything and want to show the world that they are able to do anything.The story wants to show us that not everything is possible. We are human beings and because of this we make mistakes all the time and we do have limits because we are not perfect as God does.The author “did not believe that all knowledge was “good” knowledge and instead thought that there were some areas that were beyond human understanding and should not be pursued.” Maybe we need to know that some things are not understandable and do not have a reason. We need to know our limits in order to continue with our natural process as human beings. We can not live trying to attempt against natural laws and trying to compare ourselves with God.

"The Waste Land", T.S.Elliot

The picture represents many of the elements that are mencioned in the Waste Land, written by T.S. Elliot. Firstly, in the beggining of the story, the poem depicts a dead land, a wasted land and as we can see in the picture it is full of garbage and trash. The author wants to show us how we have destroyed our own land, our own habitat. In the poem we can observe that modernity is related with one of its fundamental elements, the city. It is a place where everything is money, time and which it is shown as a "rats alley", because it is always crowded. As it is shown in the picture, the city is a place full of trash and in which human beings have forgotten about the essencial things in life, wasting their own goods.

"The father as a figure"

Most of the people think that money is everything in life. Some people can spend all their life trying to figure out a way to become richer but the truth is that money is not a synonym of happiness and wealth. However, being more powerful is becoming a common sense among human beings.

Each family has an important figure who provides money and who manages all the economic movements. In general, this rol is particulary made by the father. He is the one that has to have a job in order to provide material goods to his family. "The odour of Chrysanthemums" and "The Rocking-Horse Winner", written by Lawrence, provides a clear perception of the rol of the father in a family. The father as a figure is what we can call a supplier because he maintains his family giving them all the needs that he can. The problem is that he is only shown as a provider of material goods and not shown as a real member of a family. In Both stories of Lawrence the father is seen as the man of the house how has to work everyday to bring money, he is not anymore envolve with relationships either with his children or his wife.

It is amazing how true is this issue nowadays. The father comes later everyday, tired and with many problems so he does not have time for anything, he just want to sleep and rest. Most of the time families have economic problems and we tend to accuse and blame the rol of the father, if he is doing a good job or not, all of this make us forget about the real importance of a father. We must take care of it, share with him and try to spend many time with him not oppresing him for his job or if he is earning more money.

Money is an important topic for everyone, it is talked in every dinner, at home, in a restaurant, etc. The problem is that we do not care about other important things in life because we are always worried about money. At the end we are going to be able to discover that money does not make us happier, so we must try to be aware of other important things as relationships, nature, and essentially life. If we do not we will realize that we spend all our life worring about stupid things.

"The Rocking-Horse Winner"

It is unbelievable how people are always thinking about money and richness. Sometimes people spend all their life trying to be richer and more powerful and they never realize that those things are not important. We must value significant things that are fundamental in our life as family, friends, values, religion, etc.

In the story the word lucky is directly related with money and richness but the truth is that money can bring us pain and suffer. Being lucky is not having more money is when we are happy as human beings and we are grateful with what we have. Money do not make us happier indeed I think that most of the people really enjoy life when they live with the necessary things to survive and their worries are emphasize in relationships, faith, God and enoying life as real sons of God.

Graham Greene: "The invisible Japanese Gentlemen"

The story contains 10 different characters:
- A group of eight Japanese gentlemen: Most of them wore glasses and most of the time they were smiling. They talked in a not very understandable language.
- A beautiful young lady: Blonde hair and pretty girl. She had thin features and a gorgeous face. She looked very sophisticated.
- And her fiance: He looked very handsome too. He was very similar to her fiance, he looked from the high socialite.
The author of this short story made a wonderful description of each of the characters. Physically he is in the setting of the story, sitting in a different table, worried about this particular couple which called him attention. He is looking both tables but he really got interested with the one where the couple was sitting. The observations that are made by the author of the story makes us, as readers more conscious about what is going on with the couple. We can indentify their worries, specially the ones of the girl, about her future as a writer and also her concernes about the wedding and their future as a couple.
The Japanese Gentlemen are in the begining a distractor but then we can realized that are fundamental in this short story. They try to show us an important characteristic of the girl´s personality. Even though at the begining of the story she seemed intelligent and a good writer, aftewards we can say that she is not a good writer because she is not a good observer. She is just a girl who is worried about her future and her career but she does not seem like a real writer because she does not have the power to look beyond things. That is why the story is called “The invisible Japanese Gentlemen” because through her eyes Japanese Gentlemen were nobody they were almost invisible. She was so concerned about her own superficial worries that she left the restaurant and she did not have a look at them. I think that a writer must be critical and look beyond things. They have to have the power of interpreting things that no-one are able to identify, they must open a door to make us critical and have our own critical thinking about a certain topic. This girl does not have any of those characteristics, she is not a good writer because she is very superficial and also very egocentric.

"FRANKENSTEIN"

With the growth of technology and the new discoveries, human beings have always been trying to have control of almost everything, even though they know that some things are unattainable. It is true that many problems and issues have been solved thanks to men´s inventions but we need to know our limits. Each day men try to improve themselves trying to show that nothing is impossible. This role of full perfection and knowledge, in which men has wanted to reach in the few years belongs to what God is because he is perfection and flawless in every sense.

The famous story “Frankenstein”, written by Mary Shelley, provides different elements in which we can support our thesis. The writer mainly wants to make us conscious of men´s actions, owing to the fact that his enormous desire of answering and knowing everything can make him act against himself. Indeed Shelly was very critique with his opinion of human´s knowledge, she “did not believe that all knowledge was “good” knowledge and instead thought that there were some areas that were beyond human understanding and should not be pursued”[1]. In other words she supports the idea that we can not have the answer for everything regarding that there are certain things that do not have an explanation or an answer. Maybe we can use that unuseless time for making it worth and trying to solve different issues that are within reach of human power like new medicines, poorness, descrimination, etc.

“Frankenstein” contains different elements that are directly related with the Gothic style. This particulary style refers to, “a genre of literature that combines elements of both horror and romance, Prominent features of Gothic fiction include terror (both psychological and physical )[2]. Firstly, the fact that the main character is a monster it is directly related with the gothic style. A monster, as a figure is something creepy that produces horror and terror among people. This odd character is rejected by society just because it is different. We can also identify Gothic style because of the mystery and the horror which it causes. Another particular and very important characteristic of the Gothic style is it architecture, full of big and ominous constructions, high ceilings and large windows producing darkness and coldness in order to making the scene more creepy.

Reading “Frankenstein” can allow readers to interpretate many different things. First of all if he was really a monster or it was just someone very different from us but with feelings as every human being. He felt how society rejected him and how lonely he was, he wanted to become part of this terrible society which descriminated him. Society can destroy someone´s life because he was odd and abnormal, nobody thought that this terrifying figure had feelings too. The reading also gives an overall view of what men can become if we do not stop attempting against with our natural process as human beings. It shows us as beings that act according with his ego no matter how and because of his imperfection he only realized that he has made a mistake when it is already done and the damage is almost impossible to mend.

Another interesting point is that the monster did not have a name. Having no name is like not having any identity, it makes you totally out of society, making you out of it and not having any rights. What is more nobody put him a name when he was cretaed so we can infer that nobody was interested in him in his creation. He did not have any tie with his creator or any ancestor. There was no solution or explanation for his creation it just happened and he had to live with it. He was created because of someone mistakes and he was paying his error, so the question is, it is good to name this creature as a “monster” if he did not have any fault of looking as he did, although he did had feelings or we must name society as monsters because of how they treat him or we must called his creator as a monster too because he did not take care of him. It is very contradictory call him as a monster if after reading the book we can infer different aspects that are going to show us the opposite.

To conclude, it is unbelievable how men can act trying to show the world that he can do whatever he wants. In that way we can assume that we are not perfect as God does because we do not know nothing about limits and at the same time we want to know everything. Human beings can not figure out the damage that they can produce because of his alter ego.




[1] http://www.kimwoodbridge.com/maryshel/knowledge.shtml
[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gothic_novel

"Outline"

This is a general outline that I will use to write my essay.I couldn´t make it with a specific topic because I am not sure whether to write about "Frankenstein" or the "signal man" .

I.Introduction

II.Relation between the content of the story with the author´s life

III.Writing style

IV. Reader interpretation

V. Conclusion

"Charles Dickens"

Charles Dickens wrote two very famous stories. Both of them try to show the cruel and painful life of the author. “Oliver Twist” caused a big impact because of its social criticism. He tried to show us his real life, full of sadness, work and loneliness. He was orphaned after he family went to jail and he had to work when he was only a child. The story represents the abuse of power, poorness, children working as adults, etc. His rough childhood is directly represented in this great tale but at the same time showing us a real life story.
“The signal man” is a very mysterious and creepy story. It is also part of the author´s life because it was written after a train disaster which had a great impact on Dicken´s life. It contains many elements that we can interprate and analyze. For example, the ghost as an unknown figure represents mystery and fear. This kind of story must contain hidden elements because it let us have a personal representation of them. This story also represents the willing of predicting among beings. Maybe people are so concerned about knowing what its going to happen that they dont care about the things that really important. Maybe the signalman was so worried about predictin what was going to happen that he let him die, who knows.
Both stories are related with the Victorian age because the author has in both stories a big sense of society. The short story is related with trains, which is one of the most important characteristics in the Victorian age because they were represented as a big advancement in society.

Creating as God??? (Frankestein)

Each day we get impressed with the wide variety of new invents and discoveries. Nowadays techonology has shown the world that almost nothing is impossible. Human beings want to have the control of everything and want to show that they are able to do what ever they propose.
The author of Frankestein wants to show us that not everything is possible. That we are human beings and because of this we make mistakes all the time and we do have limits because we are not perfect as God does.
The author, “did not believe that all knowledge was “good” knowledge and instead thought that there were some areas that were beyond human understanding and should not be pursued.” Maybe we need to know that some things are not understansable and do not have a reason. We need to know our limits in order to continue with the natural process as human beings. We can not live trying to attempt to the natural laws of what we can do and trying to compare ourselves with God.

"Identifying Romanticism"

Romanticism is everywhere. It is not only directly related with a man or a woman. Romanticism is represented through nature elements and also when a poem produces us pleasure and a feeling of something pleasent. Most of the time peotry implies romanticism because it produces pleasure and also gives us the power to interprate it in our own way. Giving us freedom to think and give uor own opinion. The following sonets represent romanticism through Kneats words. "When I have Fears that I may cease to be " and the sonet "On seeing the Elgin Marbles for the first time" represents nature elements as cloudy, night star, etc. Also both poems want to show us feelings of loneliness, sadness and weakness. Every poetry writer want to show their experience and believes through poetry and their poems and give us the chance to connect them with our own experiences.

"KUBLA KAHN" by Samuel Taylor

Poetry contains many hidden elements that we can discover if we analize and discuss each stanza. Every poem has a meaning and a reason that allow us to enter to a beautiful world of feelings and thoughts.

The poem Kubla Kahn, brings up significant symbols that we can recognize.
As it is said in the following extract, "Poetry is an art…of representing, in words, external nature and human thoughts and affections". If we have to make a comparison between the what poetry is and the poem Kubla Kahn we can assure that it is very related. Because it represents many elements from nature, like river, hills, sea, garden, etc. They are named in order to show what they mean for the author and his own perception of nature.

"Poetry should be impassioned, and be able to move our feelings and awaken affection”. The previous extract it is directly related with the poem Kubla Kahn. First of all every poem
represents something to us. Samuel Taylor´s poem moves our feelings because the author gives some spedicif adejectives elements of nature that are not the common one when we talk about nature. He makes a contrast between nature and the dark part of it, creating a very ambiguous poem. For example, "sunny pleasure-dome with caves of ice".

The following extract it is very useful to understand Romanticisim. “It was agreed that my endevour should be directed to persons and characters supernatural, or at least romantic." Romanticism is pleasure, a very pleasant feeling that everybody look for it and want to have it. In Kubla Kahn´s poem we can find pleasure when the author refers to music. Music is pleasure for our ears and for our soul.

The late expression explain us pretty clear what poetry is and what elements are necessary to create poetry.