• IRIN SULTANA

  Author

Waiting for Godot was a unique outburst on the literary world that changed the face of twentieth century drama.
Samuel Beckett is a peculiar brand of the era. His weird ideas expounded within the framework of a few acts
certainly allow him a stature quite distinct from his contemporaries whose work is an expression of their personal
experience, which Albert Camus characterized as absurdity. One might feel that Beckett has made the feelings of
absurdity yet uncertain, more philosophic and therefore distinctly obscure, it is difficult to pin point and
pronounce a last word. I consider Beckett’s dramatic art to be expressions of his most intimate visions on the
fundamental philosophical question about the place of the human being in the surrounding world. His characters
are perceived not as distinct individuals rather as grossly generalized images of all ‘mankind’ who have become
the slave of an uncaring and cruel world. So, they need a Godot to give a meaning to their existence. It is true that
character flaws are exaggerated and characters appear to be dull and boring yet Beckett’s characters are
stereotype and represent mankind in general. This article is an attempt to study Beckett’s Godot as an enigmatic
representation of human life as well as to show why there is no escape from Godot to live the human life.

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