Student Question
Why is "Waiting for Godot" considered a "Comedy of the Absurd"?
Quick answer:
"Waiting for Godot" is considered a "Comedy of the Absurd" because it exemplifies the "Theatre of the Absurd," a movement that challenged traditional drama by discarding conventional plot and structure. This style reflects the chaotic and purposeless nature of the world post-war, as articulated by playwrights like Samuel Beckett. The play's lack of clear narrative or resolution underscores the absurdity of human existence, aligning with the movement's core themes.
One of the key figures in the 1950’s, Samuel Beckett opened the doors for writers and audiences that had never been entered before. His play, “Waiting for Godot,” came to be called by Martin Esslen as an “essential example” of the “Theatre of the Absurd.” Beckett didn’t acknowledge this, but this style of writing still became of the most influential theatre movements of the twentieth century.
These types of plays threw out all conventional ideas for what drama was up until then. Beckett and the other writers of this genre gave their plays seemingly no sense of purpose, and that’s what they wanted to show: after the horrors of all war and its aftermath, the world was no longer a neatly structured place, and neither were the Absurdist plays, especially “Godot.”
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