Critique of Samuel Beckett's 'Waiting for Godot' and Albert Camus' 'The Stranger'

The book The Stranger, by Albert Camus, is about a French-Algerian man named Meursault, who is emotionless and psychologically detached. Camus had many philosophical views that he had applied to The Stranger. He believes that most of us in this world commit Philosophical Suicide, which is when one is killing off our inquiring minds by accepting easy, stock answers to life’s fundamental questions by associating ourselves with religion. Our fundamental question include: “what is the meaning of life?” and “what are the effects of good and bad deeds”. Camus states how men constructs religion to create meaning to the uncertain and senseless world we live in. Throughout the Stranger, Camus expresses how the main character, Meursault, is an absurd hero, which implies that he rejects being involved in religion, preventing him to commit philosophical suicide.

The atomic bomb signaled not only the commencement of the Cold War, but also a political divide between the communist ideologies of the Soviet Union and the democracy of the Western world. A fear of communism behind the Iron Curtain and nuclear annihilation spread throughout the US, while existential views regarding the meaning of life arose. Through their texts, composers subverted dominant Cold War paradigms to …….. ATQ……. Samuel Beckett’s modernist existential play ‘Waiting for Godot (Godot) (1953)’ is a philosophical questioning on the purpose of human existence, and the nature of scientific development. In response to the existential angst following WW2, Beckett uses the conventions of Absurdist theatre to examine philosophical

Throughout the Stranger, a Nobel Prize piece of literature written by Albert Camus, we are situated as readers in the place of a first person narrative. The novel explicates Meursault’s role before and after the murder of his mother in very philosophical viewpoints. Camus depicts Meursault through sadness, isolation, passivity, and most importantly his religious disbeliefs.

Sharma 1 Kusum Sharma Mrs. Nash English 10 Gt 3/3/2015 The Stranger Effective Essay In the novel, The Stranger written by Albert Camus, we come across an unusual character named Monsieur Mersault. Camus examines the philosophy of existentialism and absurdism through the voice of his main character. This novel is a journey of Monsieur, an absurdist who believes that life is essentially meaningless and that there is no logic to it, but in the end he comes to accept the indifference of the world. In order to show Monsieur’s view of the world, Camus uses literary devices,

The vogue for Beckett started with the success of Waiting for Godot which was produced in Paris in 1953. It was his first play apart from one, Eleutheria, written in 1947 which was never published or performed. In 1946, Samuel Beckett wrote Mercier et Camier which according to Ronald Hayman in his critic essay entitled Contempory playrights Samuel Beckett 'show how the dialogue of the male couple anticipates the exchanges between Vladimir and Estragon ' in Waiting for Godot.

As children develop into adults they begin to learn the valuable lessons about life that can only be taught through their own experiences. Albert Camus is one author who can uncover those valuable lessons through a character’s experiences in The Stranger. In this novel about a man who is involved in two different deaths, Camus exposes the indifference of men and shows the insignificance of life, through the main character’s actions and personality. Due to Camus’ way of expressing facts of life, he is able to open people’s eyes to see the truth behind his writing. The solemn novel, The Stranger, by Albert Camus expresses the indifference of men and meaninglessness of human life when the main character is charged with murder.

The Stranger was written by the French author Albert Camus, and was first published in 1942 in its indigenous French. It’s described as being the most widely-read French novel of the twentieth century, and has sold millions of copies in Britain and the United States alone. It’s known by two titles; the other being The Outsider. The backstory to this is very interesting but, more importantly, the subtle difference in meaning between titles suggests certain resultant translative idiosyncrasies when reading the texts. The conciseness and terseness of the novel demands a very specific interpretation if one is to understand it correctly, and unless read in French some of the meaning is doubtless “lost in translation”. Even so, the main idea in The Stranger is readily accessible, and that idea is the philosophy behind meaning. Albert Camus tells states in his 1955 Preface to the American Edition of The Stranger: “One would therefore not be much mistaken to read The Stranger as the story of a man who, without any heroics, agrees to die for the truth” (Camus, 1955). The Stranger takes the reader on a journey that simultaneously questions meaning, and utilizes Meursault as a vehicle in finding it. Most analyses seem to define The Stranger as a foray into “the Absurd”, however, by the end of the novel Meursault does indeed, find meaning in his world, and we’ve been led to comprehend that discovery by Camus. To validate this, we need to address how the text guides us to that

Closure is a very important aspect of a narrative. Closure or the lack of it accomplishes the goal of a creating a text which readers would want to continue reading to find out the ending, it helps to lead the reader on. The term “closure” according to Abbott is “best understood as something we look for in narrative, as desire that authors understand and often expend art to satisfy or frustrate” (Abbott, 57).In the play Waiting for Godot, the lack of closure is very evident throughout it. This play significantly follows the hermeneutic code, the level of questions or answers. This code has allowed for the author to grasp the attention of the readers, due to the reason people like to find and understand closures, but also allowing the

Desert. Dazzling light (37). A bright barren wasteland of nothing in which there is a man, completely alone trying to decide what to do next, reflecting upon his situation is the beginning of Act Without Words I, the man is in a hopeless setting and all help or comfort he might have is stripped away from him. We see much the same in the tragicomedy Waiting for Godot but with two men who are waiting and trying to decide what to do while they look for the arrival of the mysterious Godot. “Nothing to be done,” says Estragon, to which Vladimir responds, “I’m beginning to come round to that opinion myself” (1). They wait

Given societal notions of disillusionment and ennui associated with the departure from religion and the gravitation towards reality and scientific fact, modern artwork has evolved to reflect a subsequently flattened state of human emotion. William Barrett presents this concept through his discussion of Modern Art in The Irrational Man, depicting the psychological underpinnings of this progression of artistic style. In the tragic comedy of Waiting for Godot, Samuel Beckett demonstrates that literature is no exception to modern art’s capturing of an evolved human spirit – which might itself be flattened more so than its artistic manifestation. Through Estragon and Vladamir, Beckett attempts to reveal how life perpetually challenges

Samuel Beckett's pessimistic attitude about the existence of man lead him to write one of the best contemporary plays known to the twentieth century. Even with its bland unchanging set, clown-like characters, and seemingly meaningless theme, Waiting for Godot, arouses the awareness of human tragedy through the characters' tragic flaws.

Vladimir and Estragon, “the true portrait of every human being . . . [bearing] the agonies of existence”, put their hope on Godot, as he is expected to be responsible for leading them to happiness (Iftikhar). This relationship parallels the postmodern world’s quench for a purpose as taking away any remains of hope results in “nihilism and pointless existence” (Parfitt). Salvation is presumed mandatory from an external entity, whether that would be through a companion, God, institution, or community, or otherwise humanity finds themselves in death induced boredom where no choices are made-- not even the choice to end their life. But with the publication of Waiting for Godot, Beckett warns that this “waiting for Godot” will only end in an apathetic enduring journey to nowhere, hoping to expose the audience to their “denial of its own dysfunction” (Waiting). None of the characters truly find a satisfying reason for their life and purpose, and instead dread on living through ‘necessary existence’. Especially in our contemporary world, with divided unstable countries accompanied by hypocritical ideals creates contemplative thoughts about our own existence; existentialism exists in our generations, hence creating the obligatory realization that we are responsible for our culture evolving to avoid the psychological effects similar to the aftermath

Recently, we read two pieces of literature which had similar ideas. The first piece of literature is a novel called "The Stranger" written by Albert Camus. The second piece of literature is a minimalist play called "Waiting for Godot" by Samuel Beckett. Both pieces of literature explore the meaning of existence. In this essay, I will analyze these two pieces of literature in terms of their differences and similarities.”

In Waiting for Godot, Beckett often focused on the idea of "the suffering of being." Most of the play deals with the fact that Estragon and Vladimir are waiting for something to relieve them from their boredom. Godot can be understood as one of the many things in life that people wait for. Waiting for Godot is part of the ‘Theater of the Absurd’. This implies that it is meant to be irrational and meaningless. Absurd theater does not have the concepts of drama, chronological plot, logical language, themes, and recognizable settings. There is also a split between the intellect and the body within the work. Vladimir represents the intellect and Estragon the body, both cannot exist without the other.

To many people life is a continuous search for purpose and meaning in a chaotic and uncaring world, and to the playwright Samuel Beckett it is no different. In the works Waiting for Godot, Endgame, and Not I, Samuel Beckett uses elements of nihilism, pessimism, and absurdity to find humor in day-to-day existence, as well as the relationships between the self and others. Before one can analyze Beckett’s work, one must first understand the meanings of nihilism, pessimism, and absurdity in regard to Beckett himself.