The Frontier of Existence in Beckett’s Waiting for Godot and Ionesco’s Rhinoceros
‘I feel that I had been at the frontier of existence, close to the place where they lose their names, their definition, the place where time stops, almost outside History’ (E Ionesco).
This essay will explore the frontier of existence in Beckett’s Waiting for Godot and Ionesco’s Rhinoceros
The title Rhinoceros is formed from the ancient Greek Rhino meaning nose and Keros meaning horn. However, in this play I take rhinoceros to mean an animal that is thick-skinned and ugly. The people who become rhinoceroses become as thick skinned as the rhinoceroses they turn into. On first viewing of Rhinoceros one journeys with the characters on what appears to be something of a mystery tour. One cannot be sure if a rhinoceros really exists. It is this sense of unknowing that makes for a lack of definition in the characters themselves. There is Jean’s first announcement of ‘Oh a rhinoceros’ (Act I:I P.14) as he points off stage is tantalising as one can only hear noises. One tries to define the situation and the characters by questioning their imagination and sanity. Much that one might expect to be told about the characters and their situation is denied to us. One only gets little snippets of information about their society for example a couple of revelations from Jean to Berenger: ‘there’s been no zoo in our town since the animals were destroyed in the plague…ages ago…’ (I:I P.20) and ‘You know perfectly well that the Council banned all travelling performers from the district…There haven’t been any since we were children.’ (I:I P.20). Council has a capital ‘c’ and there is no mention of God anywhere which is a striking opposite from Waiting f...
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...ific tyranny or exile; perhaps the Nazi occupation of France or separation from one’s homeland. But one does have choices as definition does not have to be of a single entity. Emphasis could be put on defining what happens while Vladimir and Estragon are waiting rather than notions of termination
Works Cited
Beckett, Samuel, Waiting for Godot
Cohen, R., Back to Beckett
Coe, Richard N., Eugène Ionesco: A Study of His Work
Hayman, Ronald, Eugène Ionesco
Ionesco, Eugène, Rhinoceros, The Chairs and The Lesson
Lamont, Rosette C., Ionesco: A Collection of Critical Essays
Lamont, Rosette C. and Friedman, M.J., The two faces of Ionesco
Lazar, Moshe., The Dream and the Play: Ionesco’s Theatrical Quest
Lyons, C., Samuel Becket
Lewis, Allan, Ionesco
Pronko, Leonard C., Eugène Ionesco
Worth, K., Beckett the Shape Changer
Transcendentalists Thoreau and Emerson conveyed strong, specific viewpoints on the world through their writing. The transcendentalist ideals differ vastly with the lives lived by most of the modern world today. Firstly, the two differ on views of self-reliance. Secondly, they have different outlooks on the government and organized groups. Lastly, transcendentalist and modern American views vary by the way they view nature. These differences between transcendentalism and life today are essential in understanding life then, as well as life now.
While Emerson never truly factored his transcendentalist ideals into his daily life, Thoreau made a point out of living out his days as a man free from society and connected to nature. In 1846, he refused to pay his poll tax to the government because he believed the war was unjust and did not want to support the government. In doing this, he showed that he remains strong in his own beliefs and will not agree with something just to conform to society. He also showcases Emerson’s philosophy on learning by forming beliefs based on his own life and morals, which were based in nature, receiving instruction from Emerson’s ideas on self-reliance, and taking action against something he believes is unjust. In an excerpt from one of Thoreau’s books, he says, “I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived” (Thoreau 16). What he is saying through this is that he wants to evaluate himself in the context of nature and understand what life is like in its purest and fundamental form. He hoped to gain a knowledge of the world and explore what nature had to offer and learn from his experience. Also, Thoreau is letting his readers know that connecting with nature is essential in finding yourself and
In the 1800s, a philosophy known as transcendentalism arose in early America. This philosophy soon developed into the transcendentalist movement. Followers of this movement sought a spiritual and individualistic lifestyle. Two of the most recognized and influential believers of this movement, or transcendentalists, were Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau. Emerson and Thoreau held significant values about transcendentalism, and believed in questioning the government and politics, assessing nature and its qualities, and focusing on the importance of the individual.
In closing: Emerson wanted to inspire the people who sat in the room that day, he felt that Americans needed to develop their own cultural tradition instead of depending on Europe. These men were the leaders of tomorrow but they possessed stagnant ideas, he wanted them to look inwards and be more than a Scholar more than a teacher. Emerson wanted them to start a revolutionary of inspirational proportions. This conclusion is reflective in respects to the way I want to live my life, I am one of those people who rarely take an opportunity and run with it. I do much better when I have a motivator, in a sense Emerson's speech was just that, motivation.
abandoned the conventions of the classical play to concentrate on his important message to humanity. Using his pathetic characters, Estragon and Vladimir, Beckett illustrates the importance of human free will in a land ruled by science and technology. He understood the terrors of progress as he witnessed first hand the destruction caused by technologically-improved weapons working as a spy during WWII. In his tragicomedy, Estragon and Vladimir spend the entire time futilely waiting for Godot to arrive. They believe that this mysterious Godot will help them solve their problems and merely sit and wait for their solution to arrive. Beckett utilizes these characters to warn the reader of the dangers of depending on fate and others to improve one's existence. He supports this idea when Estragon blames his boots and not himself for the pain in his feet, and Vladimir responds, "There'...
The play Rhinoceros follows a single day as experienced by a few different people as they are to a conversion of sorts. They were convinced to convert to leaving the human life and becoming a rhinoceros. In all aspects of themselves, they did become rhinoceroses. In mind, emotion, physicality, demeanor, and communication, the characters of the play became a rhinoceros. They actually left their human body and were going to turn into a rhinoceros . Sounds absurd, and that is basically the whole point. The play was interpreted as a reaction to the fascism post - World War II. Rhinoceroses arrive in France, and of course the people of the French town want nothing to do with them. But as the day goes on, the
To conclude we say that the whole picture shows a pretty hopelessness. Neither time nor existence, neither reality nor memory or the past have any meaning or significance. Acts are meaningless, time does not flow consecutively, memory seems deceptive, existence is an impression or perhaps a dream and happiness is extremely and affliction is crystal clear through the situation of two tramps. They are on the point of becoming hollow philosophies of existence but demand no other equipment in an audience than the bond of common
Life is made up of different routines and schedules that are followed by the ordinary human being daily. In ‘Waiting for Godot’, Samuel Beckett uses time and repetition consistently throughout the play to demonstrate how these routines and habits are key elements in the course of life itself. The three main devices Beckett uses are the illogical pass of time, the lack of a past or a future and the absurdity of repetition in both dialogue and actions within the main characters and their surroundings.
Beckett, Samuel. Waiting for Godot: tragicomedy in 2 acts. New York: Grove Press, 1982. Print.
“It was a new discovery to find that these stories were, after all, about our own lives, were not distant, that there was no past or future that all time is now-time, centred in the being.” (Pp39.)
The setting is the next day at the same time. Estragon's boots and Lucky's hat are still on the stage. Vladimir enters and starts to sing until Estragon shows up barefoot. Estragon is upset that Vladimir was singing and happy even though he was not there. Both admit that they feel better when alone but convince themselves they are happy when together. They are still waiting for Godot.
Thoreau and Emerson both believe that to transcend and achieve this oneness with nature, man must educate himself mentally and spiritually. While both writers recognize the importance of books and reading as a precursor to spiritual growth, they also both feel that one ca...
The relationship between man and nature is immeasurable because man and nature are interdependent on each other. Nature is everything that supports life on earth and man enjoys the beauty of nature. Ralph Waldo Emerson was born in 1803 in Boston and he was teacher by profession and also a naturalist (Semihatopal, n.d). Henry David Thoreau was born in Concord in July 12th 1817 and he was an ecological prophet and also naturalist who was the student of Emerson. (Rickett, 1916). Emerson and Thoreau are the two transcendentalists in nineteenth century who inspired and encourage people to love nature. Since Thoreau was Emerson’s student, they shared ideas and knowledge about the American transcendentalism because Thoreau was affected by Emerson’s ideas about individualism and society. They encourage Individualism and self-reliance; the theories of Emerson and Thoreau had not only influenced the nature lovers but also the dominant part of political and social people as a whole, sensitising the people that their ideas are the most important than everything. Therefore, Emerson and Thoreau followed the same theory about the relationship between man and nature as both were transcendentalist; they also have different ideas and views such as writing essay on Government, nature as a teacher, relationship between man and nature, understanding the nature as it provides basic living to a man.
Kern, Edith. “Drama Stripped for Inaction: Beckett’s Godot.” Yale French Studies. Vol. 14. Yale University Press, 1954. 41-47. JSTOR. 22 Mar. 2004. http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0044-0078%281954>.
Samuel Beckett’s most popular absurdist drama, Waiting for Godot, is one of those dramas which critics point while discussing about the theatre of absurd. Waiting for Godot was written and first performed in the year 1954. Waiting for Godot is amongst those drams which had an enormous effect on the audiences due to its strange and new conventions. The drama has challenged the audiences to make sense of a world which is unintelligible. The heart of the play is basically “getting through the day” which means that when tomorrow comes we have the strength to continue with full enthusiasm.