Student Question
Are there any examples of inter-textuality in Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot?
Quick answer:
Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot includes intertextual references to Greek mythology and religious themes, particularly the Bible, with parallels to the awaited Messiah or Christ's second coming. The solitary tree in the play can symbolize the Garden of Eden. Additionally, the dynamics between Pozzo and Lucky may allude to Hegelian master-slave dialectics or Marxist ideas, and Lucky's "thinking" potentially parodies contemporary German philosophy or Aristophanes' Clouds.
The explicit examples of intertextuality in Samuel Beckett's Waiting for
Godot are limited to a few references to Greek mythology.
The major intertextual reading is religious. If one considers intertextuality
with respect to the Bible, the Jews are awaiting a Messiah who is always
expected but never arrives, and Christians await the second coming of Christ
and Last Judgement that will appear, like "a thief in the night" at some
unknown time in the future. The tree that is the single piece of scenery for
the play can be related to the tree in the Garden of Eden.
The relationship between Pozzo and Lucky, and its inversion, is sometimes read
as a reference to either Hegelian ideas of master-slaver relations or Karl
Marx. Lucky`s `thinking` seems a parody of German philosophy in Beckett`s
period and may also refer to the Phrontesterion in Aristophanes`
Clouds.
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