The Portrayal of the Theatre of the Absurd

The Portrayal of the Theatre of the Absurd

Throughout literature, much has been assumed and gathered about the state of man and his purpose in life. Different poets, novelists, and playwrights have employed the powerful tools of language to broadcast their respective statement to the literate world. Many authors stand out for their overly romanticized or horribly pessimistic notations on life, but only Samuel Beckett stands out for his portrayal of absence. As Democritus, a Greek philosopher, noted, “nothing is more real than nothing,” a quote which became one of Beckett’s favorites and an inspiration for his masterful plays (Hughes 1). Beckett’s works have astounded many through their utter divergence from the typical basis of a play. His blatant discount for the traditional concepts of character development, setting, time, and sequence of events distinguish Beckett’s plays from a myriad of themed dramas. Because of such breaks from the standard, the message of Beckett’s plays rings clearly. In his ground breaking play Waiting for Godot, Beckett describes two men, Estragon and Vladimir, who come to a rock and a tree beside a road and wait for an unknown “Godot” in vain day after day, idly making frivolous