Subject: # 14227 Teatro Inglés Siglos XIX y XX Grupo A

Student´s name: Cristóbal Borillo, Pablo

Title of the paper: Theatre of the absurd: the complaint of the intelligence

Author or topic: theatre of the absurd

Abstract : 550 words exactly

Although the absurdist theatre arose in France, other playwrights who were attuned with it in other countries also appeared. This happened because after the Second World War, human existence seemed worthless, life seemed not to have meaning, nor direction and very hard to live. All of them wanted to express this, they wanted to complain about the lie that social progress was, about how the masses were completely directed either by the Church or the State, because in a way, all this made much more difficult the life of the intelectual person. (Guardian Education Interactive Ltd.)

In order to analyze the evolution of the absurdist theatre, we are going to examine the differences between Samuel Beckett and Tom Stoppard. We are going to base the evolution on the plays “Waiting for Godot” and “Endgame”, by Beckett, and on “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead”, by Tom Stoppard. As there are many features we can point out and little space to talk about it, we will describe them very briefly. Three of the features where we can clearly see this evolution in the absurdist theatre is how the storyline, the end and the concept of the death is shown in each play. In Godot, the storyline is cyclical, it is based on two days which are almost the same, the same events happens each day and therefore, there is no definite end, but a continuum of days which always are the same days; the concept of death in this play is treated funnily, with no importance, as this part of the play shows:

“VLADIMIR: What do we do now?

ESTRAGON: Wait.

VLADIMIR: Yes, but while waiting.

ESTRAGON: What about hanging ourselves?

VLADIMIR: Hmm. It'd give us an erection.

ESTRAGON: (highly excited). An erection!” (12)

Regarding the play Endgame, it is not as cyclical as Godot, and it has a more definite ending, but it is not displayed at the play, we can only foretell it. The idea of death is shown more seriously, although there is some comedy related to it, it is not the same case as with Godot. Finally, concerning Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead, the storyline is rather conventional, no cycles, but a beginning and an ending. The end is much clearer because it has been embodied with the death of the two main characters and therefore, the notion of death is more definite than ever: it has come and it has been expressed.

Another characteristic is the distance between the actors and the audience: whereas in Godot Estragon and Vladimir are completely detached from the audience as we have no information about them, in Endgame we feel a bit nearer to Hamm and Clov, because it is less amusing to see how a blind man really needs another person to live, instead of the fictitious need there was between Vladimir and Estragon, who could leave the other. Hamm’s need is real. In Rosencrantz, we have previous information of the characters, because they are placed in a story we already know and we have more information about them. (Samuel Beckett Resources and Links, From Beckett to Stoppard: Existentialism, Death, and Absurdity, Ryan Petty)

Bibliography:

Samuel Beckett Resources and Links, From Beckett to Stoppard: Existentialism, Death, and Absurdity, Ryan Petty, http://home.sprintmail.com/~lifeform/beckstop.html, 11/01/2006

Guardian Education Interactive Ltd., http://web.archive.org/web/2004020614311/http://www.learn.co.uk/default.asp?WCI=Unit&WCU=2010 , 11/01/2006

Academic year 2005/2006
© a.r.e.a./Dr. Vicente Forés López
© Pablo Cristóbal Borillo
pacrisbo@alumni.uv.es
Universitat de València Press