હુ કલાકાર છું, પણ કલા ની જાણકાર નહિ. કલાને નહિ, જાતને પણ નહિ, મારા મનપસંદ કામ ની શોધ મા છું. કશુક કરવાની શોધ મા છું. ડર પણ છે કે આ જિંદગી કદાચ આ ખોજ અને ડર મા જ ન નીકળી જાય. પણ પ્રયાસો જ એવી ચાવી છે કે જેનાથી કશુક પ્રાપ્ત ન થાય એમ છતાં શીખી શકાય! કારણકે માત્ર અંત અને પરિણામ નહિ, ભાગ લેવું જ સૌથી વધુ અગત્યનું બને છે. અમે બધા આવી રહ્યાં છીએ આવા કોરોના ના સમયગાળા મા પણ અવનવી કલાના પ્રદર્શન સાથે. આપ સૌ તૈયાર રહેજો, અમને નિહાળવા માટે. આશા છે કે આપ સૌ તૈયાર જ હશો. હા, આપનો કીમતી સમય માત્ર કલાને નિહાળવામાં જ નહિ પરંતુ અમને વોટ આપવા માટે પણ ફાળવવા માટેનું નમ્ર નિવેદન છે.
હા, મને મત આપજો એવું ચોક્કસ નહિ કહું કારણ કે વિજેતા કોઈ પણ બને આખરે આ વિજય કલાનો છે, અને કલાનો વિજય કોઈ નો પરાજય હોય જ ન શકે.
અમે તૈયાર છીએ, તમે તૈયાર છો ને મિત્રો!
ખુબ મજા કરીશું, સાથે મળીને. નવું શીખીશું, સમજીશું, જાણીશું અને ખેખરા આપણા આભારી રહીશું અમારો સાથ અને સહકાર આપવા બદલ.
તૈયાર રહેજો મિત્રો એક પછી એક સ્પર્ધાઓ જોવા માટે, તમારો કિંમતી અભિપ્રાય મત તરીકે આપવા માટે. અચૂક મળીએ. અચૂક શીખીએ આવા ઘરમા પુરીને રહેવું પડે એવા કોરોના કાળમાં પણ!
(1) Singing Competition
નોર્થપોલ ના ગોપાલ ની જેમ કોણ જાણે ક્યાં ક્યાં પોતાનું ગમતું કામ શોધવાની કોશિશ કરેલી. શરૂઆત જાણે અજાણતા જ થઇ ગઈ. છંદ અને સુરો નું એટલું ઊંડું જ્ઞાન નથી છતાં સંગીત ના ક્ષેત્ર મા સફર ખેડવાની શરુ કરેલી. કોલેજ મા મિત્રો એ અમુક ચોક્કસ પ્રકારના ગીત ગાવા મા મારું ધ્યાન વધુ કેળવાય છે એટલું જ નહિ પણ કર્ણ-કર્કશ તો નથી જ એ વાત ની ખાતરી મારા મનને છે! ઘરનું વાતાવરણ જ એવું રહ્યું છે, બાં ની સાથે રહેતા રહેતા તે મને કેટ-કેટલી વાર ગીતાજી, શિવજી નો મહિમ્નસ્તોત્ર, તાંડવસ્ત્રોત અને આવા તો કેટ-કેટલા સંસ્કૃત ના પાઠો કંઠસ્થ થઇ ગયાં. અહિયાં આ સ્પર્ધા મા ગીતાજીનો પંદરમો અધ્યાય આપ સમક્ષ પ્રસ્તુત કરતા હર્ષની લાગણી અનુભવું છુ.
જો આપણે આ પસંદ પડે તો વોટ કરવાનું ચૂકશો નહિ.
(2)Book Review
પુસ્તક ના રિવ્યુઝ કેટલો અગત્યનો ભાગ ભજવે છે એ મારે કહેવાની જરૂર નથી જ! આ સ્પર્ધામાં રીવ્યુ માટે મારી પસંદ કરાયેલ નવલકથા છે “અતરાપી”.
એક ઝલક મારા રીવ્યુની:
“માણસ અવિરત પણે બંધાતો જાય છે એણે જ રચેલા ચક્રવૃહમાં. જે થાય છે એનો સહર્ષ સ્વીકાર કરવો જોઈએ. આપણે જે હોઈએ તે જ થવા માટે બીજા પાસે કઇ શીખવું શા માટે પડે ? અને કોઇના શીખવવાથી પણ આવડી જાય તેવું હોતું પણ નથી. આપણે સતત કંઈ પામવાની હોડમાં કેટકેલુંય નેવે મૂકીને ચલતા હોઈએ છીએ અથવા તો એ આપણી આદત બની ગઈ હોય છે, જેમ રોટલાનો ટુકડો આપતા માલિકની આગળ કૂતરાની પૂંછડી જાતે જ હલવા માંડે છે.”
જો આપને પસંદ પડે તો વોટ કરવાનું ચુકતા નહિ.
(૩)Microfiction
વાર્તાઓ સાહિત્યમાં અનન્ય સ્થાન ધરાવે છે. નજીકના થોડા વર્ષો મા નવલકથાના સ્થાને નવલિકા, ત્યારબાદ લઘુકથા અને હમણાં હમણાં microfiction ખુબ પ્રચલિત છે. આ VLF 2020 મા સાંભળો મારું microfiction મારી પાસેથી. જો પસંદ પડે તો વોટ આપવાનું ચૂકશો નહિ.
(૪)Poetry writing and Recitation
काव्यशास्त्रविनोदेन कालो गच्छति धीमताम् ।
व्यसनेन च मूर्खाणां निद्रया कलहेन वा ।।
કવિતા આહલાદક જ નહિ પણ જાતને જાણવાની તક આપે છે. કવિતા એ માત્ર લખનાર ની કળા નથી. કવિતા ખરા અર્થમાં તો કાનની કળા છે. કવિતા એટલે તો હૃદયસ્થ સ્થિતિ. ઉજ્જડ વનમાં થયેલી તૃપ્તિ. કુહાડીથી થતા લાકડા ઉપરના ઘા. કવિતા તો ખરેખર ચેતનાનો વિસામો છે. અર્થાત કવિતા એ પીડાની પ્રસુતિ છે, પ્રસુતિની પીડા નહિ!
સાંભળો મારી કવિતા અને પસંદ પડે તો વોટ આપવાનું ચુકતા નહિ.
(૫)વાચીકમ (Narrative Art Competition)
કેટલાક લોકો કવિતા કે કોઈ ચોક્કસ સાહિત્યનું નિર્માણ ણ કરી શકે એમ છતાં અમુક લોકો પાસેથી વાર્તાઓ, લઘુ કથાઓ અને નવલ કથાના અંશો સાંભળવાની મજા આપડી જાય. આવી જ એક ટૂંકી વાર્તાઆ ના અંશ ‘છકડો’ ના વાચીકમ સાથે હુ આવી રહી છું, નિહાળવાનું ચૂકશો નહિ!
Though accurate information about the exact
origin of society is not known still it is an accepted fact that man has been
living in society since time immemorial. Man has to live in society for his
existence and welfare. In almost all aspect of his life he feels the need of
society. Biologically and psychologically he is compelled to live in society.
This is yet another reason for which man
is a social animal. Society not only fulfils his physical needs and determines
his social nature but also determines his personality and guides the course of
development of human mind.
According to Role of Language
In Human Life,Language is an abstract
system of symbol and meanings. This system includes grammar that relates
meaning so that we can communicate with each other. As language plays very
important role in the development of a person personality. Not only in
personality but by learning more than one language it can develop person’s
cognitive skills, learning more than one language also important in social
development of person. As language is not the creation of one person or of one
period but it is an institution, on which hundreds of generations and countless
individual workers have worked.
The
principal method of human communication, consisting of words used in a
structured and conventional way and conveyed by speech, writing, or gesture.
A language is a structured system of
communication. Language, in a broader sense, is the method of communication
that involves the use of – particularly human – languages. The scientific study
of language is called linguistics.Language is a vital part of human connection.
Although all species have their ways of communicating, humans are the only ones
that have mastered cognitive language communication. Language allows
us to share our ideas, thoughts, and feelings with others. It has the power to
build societies, but also tear them down.
Is there a difference
between bilingual , trilingual and multilingual education?
I hope these aims ,
goals and examples of effectiveness of each programme help in gaining of a
better understanding of their difference.The difference between
bilingual trilingual and multi-lingual education is how the ‘minority’
language. The language that is not dominant within the community.
When you are bilingual
in two languages you are able to speak in two separates languages.
When you are
multilingual you are able to communicate
and interact
within two separate cultural societies.
Bilingual Education
(Aims, goals and examples)
1. Assimilate
2. Unify
3. Communicate
4. Employ
5. Create identity
6. Maintain
privileged position
7. Status
8. Understanding
Bilingual education has
varying and conflicting philosophies rooted in difference thought process and
politics. These programs all view the students as a minority in the learning
structure.
Multilingual Education
(Aims, goals and examples)
“very
strong mode of bilingual education have bilingualism, multiteracies and
multiculturalism.
In other words…
Incorporating the
students native language as well as cultural background in their new learning
environment.
Dual Language
Education
The
integration of native speakers of two different language, provides speakers of
two different language, provides allthentic, meaningful communication between
children from the two different language groups, native speakers.
Heritage Language
Education
Language
minority children use their native ethnic, home or heritage language in the
school as medium of instructions with the goal of full bilingualism.
More specifically,
Bilingual and trilingual people are those in comparable situations involving
two or three languages, respectively.
A multilingual person is generally referred to
as a polyglot a team that may also refer to people who learn multiple Languages
as a hobby.
1. Monolingual
A person knowing only one language 40% of world population.
Bilingual
A person using or able
to use two languages especially with equal-fluency 43% of world population.
Trilingual
A person speaking three
languages fluently are 13% of world population.
Cognitive consequences
of Trilingualism
How
learning a third language affects the cognitive abilities that are modified by
bilingual experience.
Language is more than a
means of communication. It is used all over the world and every single minute.
Not only when we talk, read, and write even when we socialize, we drive, we
trade everywhere we use language in one form or other. Every aspect of our life
involves language. The language also plays an important role in the
development of a person personality, because communication is the one which
drives our lives and makes ourselves better. Basically, language distinguishes
humans from other animal species.
It is a common myth that language is the medium through
which people communicate. But if we broaden our minds and dig a little
deeper, it is more than its typical definition.
‘Speaking’ is art through
which one can express their emotions and views on this world it is surrounded
with. It is actually a medium through which one can paint a masterpiece on
others’ minds. Language is merely a medium, which enables a person to speak. Think
of this: How can we express our needs and opinions by yelling or
screaming? A speech, without proper language, is similar to a car
without engine; useless. A person with speaking abilities, but
without any knowledge of language, is similar of having a heart which does not
beat.
Harold Pinter´s separation of the human condition is artfully embodied in his plays. His ability to bring on stage controversial issues as identity, absurdity of human actions and chaos of life along with the implementation of new theatrical techniques distinguish him from his contemporaries.
This blog tries to explore into and analyze one of Pinter´s twentieth century leading plays, The Birth Day Party and its film version. This takes an effort to study the ontological dilemma that has compelled these humans to resort to absolute isolation, dragging their life toward chaos, anxiety, distress, fear, threat and absurdism.
The play “The Birthday Party” delineates the predicaments faced by the people in the second half of the 20th century. It represents the existential problems among the post-war generations who have given up life and stuck in utter seclusion. The elderly class has been living life by a normal means; however, they are made to suffer by younger class in ample ways. Life in post-war period is seen as a dark-phase in the history of England. The circumstances were completely unfavorable to sustain and lead a life in the certain optimistic mood. Pinter has portrayed this sense of being and existence in dramatic approach through his narratives giving the image of menace and suffering in post-war period.
It represents the youth who have given up the external hostile world. So, the characters presented in the play are idle, sleepy, and dirty most of the time. Stanley, the protagonist is given refuge by the elderly couple in the boarding house. He usually wakes up late in the day and reflects upon the post-war young London generation. Such individuals are filthy, messy and a blot on family and society. These individuals have dragged families towards terror and anxiety. The personal and family dignity of such individuals is devalued and lost. The play portrays the hard work done by elder generation in society, who leave their homes at dawn and work throughout the day until dusk. Such individuals strive a lot to keep their house running. The elderly couple Petey and Meg give the impression of being firmly moored in their daily life. Their poor meals represent the turmoil in their day-to-day life.
This blog consequently highlights the following as contained in the play: Pinter’s bird-eye view, a mystery play, paranoiac protagonist, hopelessness and weirdness, aggression—an existential tool, identity and isolation, existential lingo, and strive to survive.
In the play, there are six characters and they constitute a microcosm of society. They mirror the economic division of the society and the division between exploiters and exploited. Goldberg and McCann are exploiters, managers, operators, and control the life as well as decision makers.
The modern individuals struggle for dominance over one another, and initiate their interaction in an aggressive fashion. This we detect in Stanley’s first encounter with Goldberg and McCann where he strives to achieve supremacy.
Thus, the play reflects the ridiculous state of the individuals in the second half of the 20th century. It presents the grimness and despair in man’s life. Pinter’s characters are bewildered. They have put themselves in utter darkness and are unable to recognize their true nature and purpose. The modern life at each and every instance shocked the general folk in the post-war Western society. The play declares the multidimensional chaos, arbitrariness and illogical episodes at their virtual facades. It reinforces the idea of discreet solution to the existing human predicaments that have ailed and crippled the societies. The socio-political factors render the individuals meaningless. Existence is questioned and yearning to seek self-identity remains unsatisfied as the search for identity remains inconclusive and elusive.
Post viewing task
(1)Why are two scenes of Lulu omitted from the movie?
Lulu's character has ambiguity. We can't define her character with particular angle. According to me , it is difficult to justify her character and her behaviour which she did in The Birthday party. We can't say clearly whether she wanted or she was seduced by two strangers because she is consciously enjoy the party and also aware from the atmosphere of the party. The scenes are performed behind the curtain and audiences has been informed what happened with her in the play. If Lulu is complaining , it means something is happened with her and she is not able to raise voice against the power. It looks like the dumbness of the society . It describe that So many things are happened around us and we are not able to stand against it and accept it as it is.
Means we see towards things that There is nothing going wrong .It is also the part of society. Lulu is important character in the play to describe artistic inspiration of Stanley and therefore she gets much space in the play rather than The film. And may be describe the real sense of society / Real mirror of the society two scenes of Lulu omitted from the movie.
(3)What do you read in 'newspaper' in the movie? Petey is reading newspaper to Meg, it torn into pieces by McCain, pieces are hidden by Petey in last scene.
Newspaper is important in our daily life because it provides information from various parts of the world. A newspaper serves as an important medium to control corruption and scandal. The main topics of general interest in the newspaper include politics, social issues, sports, economy, films and the stock market.
Newspaper is the most important symbol of the play.
Through the Newspaper what actually writer wants to indicate?
Why we read Newspaper daily?
To aware about reality. But in the play - writer uses the newspaper to hide the self because Petey can't able to face the reality of life. McCann who tore the newspaper that indicate that he destroys the spirit of Stanley as artist. Newspaper is torn into pieces by McCain and hide by Petey that ascribe that Petey himself broken down through heart by McCain and Goldberg and he is unable to do anything. So, he hides that reality from everyone by hiding the piece of newspaper.
(4) Camera is positioned over the head of McCain when he is playing Blind Man's Buff and is positioned at the top with a view of room like a cage (trap) when Stanley is playing it. What interpretations can you give to these positioning of camera?
Camera coverage is the additional footage the director and director of photography shoot so that later the director can make alternative creative choices in the way the scene is cut, in the way it is paced, and in the way the actor's performance is emphasized. There are a lot of roles on a film set. And, while they all might be important in their own right, none is perhaps more critical than the camera operator. You know, the person who actually handles the camera for every shot and scene.
Camera Speaks with the different set up of scenes. And in the game of “Blind Man's Bluff"- it is used very well. Camera speaks with different angles and that we see clearly in that particular scene. When McCain plays camera is over the head that describes the mental condition and search for something. While Stanley plays the game camera is over the top that indicates that he is bind up with confusion, the narrowness of the space is clearly visible to audiences that describe that as artist is not free and he is unable to escape from the society. His life is in full of danger and his inner aspiration also can't help him in his loneliness.
(4)"Pinter restored theater to its basic elements: an enclosed space and unpredictable dialogue, where people are at the mercy of one another and pretense crumbles." (Pinter, Art, Truth & Politics: Excerpts from the 2005 Nobel Lecture). Does this happen in the movie?
Yes, Certainly we can say that "Pinter restored theatre to its basic elements: an enclosed space and unpredictable dialogue, where people are at the mercy of one another and pretense crumbles" happen in both in movie as well as play also. While watching movie we become thoughtless and have no any link to connect but then even it somehow shows that ' pretense crumbles' is not always for audience.
(5)How does viewing movie help in better understanding of the play ‘The Birthday Party’ with its typical characteristics (like painteresque, pause, silence, menace, lurking danger)?
Movie is successful in giving us the effect of menace. The Birthday Party is a tragedy with a number of comic elements. it is a comedy, which also produces an overwhelming tragic effect in audience mind. Some indefinable and vague fear keeps our nerves on an edge.
We feel uneasy all the time even when we are laughing or smiling with amusement.
If we talk about setting and atmosphere which is used in the play -it is somehow terrible and fearful but surprisingly we don't know fear for what?
By whom?
And what is the reason behind the fear?
and all such kind of questions always remains as unanswered. In the play it seems like that all characters constantly try to ignore their past with laughter which is frightened and terrible for them. The play is already mention in category of "Comedy of Menace" and I felt the effect of the menace, first in background setting which is described with grey shadow. The game - "Blind Man's Buff’ which is end darkness. The torrent of language/questions of McCann and Goldberg , and dialogues like,...Force to sit Stanley and try to overpower among themselves. Thus, though somehow it is comedy audience feel the effect of menace throughout the play.
With which of the following observations you agree:
"It probably wasn't possible to make a satisfactory film of "The Birthday Party."
“It's impossible to imagine a better film of Pinter's play than this sensitive, disturbing version directed by William Friedkin”
The director takes freedom to direct the film and shows that angle only he wants to show. But when the writer and script writer is one there is only one point of view to describe so it is much faithful to play also.
The visualization gives much impression to our mind and sometime seeing is more important rather than reading. While watching the movie , we see and feel the expression and the background of sound ,and emotions and feelings of characters. We also feel each characteristic like..
Pause, silence and effect of menace during watching the movie which is not possible while reading the play.I agree with the second statement that “It's impossible to imagine a better film of Pinter's play than this sensitive, disturbing version directed by William Friedkin”.
Thank you.
References:
Deer,
Harriet, and Irving Deer. “Pinter's ‘The Birthday Party’: The Film and the
Play.” South Atlantic Bulletin, vol. 45, no. 2,
1980, pp. 26–30. JSTOR,
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We all are very hectic in our day-to-day life. We think that we are doing something very significant in our life.
Not only permanently but even temporarily what we are doing?
Does this really have any kind of meaning?
Waiting! We are just passing our time. We are waiting. We wait for our ultimate destination death as we have nothing to do. We think that we are doing something precious and worthy but life is itself absurd and thus, whatever we are doing becomes meaningless. Here, meaninglessness is itself becomes meaning and so,
‘Nothingness is something.’
Existentialist Samuel Bucket gives ‘Existentialism’, ‘meaninglessness’, and ‘waiting’. Here, what Bucket tries to tell through waiting is not about something which comes to an end but is endless. Samuel Bucket interestingly differentiates the meaning of ‘waiting’ than ordinary meaning of the word- waiting as which comes to an end or gets cannot be define as waiting. Waiting means to stay or remain at one place until something happens and that is the death only.
This blog studies some of the interesting discussions from Bucket’s play “Waiting for Godot”.
Watch Ruchi Joshi's video on waiting in waiting for Godot.
(1)What connection do you see in the setting (“A country road. A tree.Evening.”) of the play and these paintings?
Landscape is something very interesting frame to study. When landscape is portrayed with human and nature both, plays very significant role. Life is absurd. There is journey and this journey is towards the death only. Samuel Bucket is inspired from the Casper David Fredrick’s painting ‘Longing’. This painting suggests longing of life. Waiting and longing both remains throughout the play and it is endless. Trees symbolizes hope and country road suggests that show must go on.
The tree is the only important ‘thing’ in the setting. What is the importance of tree in both acts? Why does Beckett grow a few leaves in Act II on the barren tree - The tree has four or five leaves - ?
Bucket uses trees as symbol and both setting of the play. Nothing happens. This same thing is repeated into the ACT II. It doesn’t make any kind of difference. There is a slight change into ACT II is there is 4 or 5 leaves on the barren tree. Thus, tree plays important role which signifies hope for tomorrow. Valdimir looks at the tree and notice that and says that...."Yesterday evening all bare and black . Now it has leaves on it." Symbols represents that the things are constantly changed in life also. All things are going to change through time and all days are not same .It constantly changed into gloomy or happiness . So, Tree represents both the sides of life - and have hope for tomorrow. Hope is endless and hope is the only thing through which human being is alive today. Hope never going to die. Hope supports us to avoid the meaninglessness of life .
In both Acts, evening falls into night and moon rises. How would you like to interpret this ‘coming of night and moon’ when actually they are waiting for Godot?
We can say that, ‘Nothing to be done’ is central idea of the play. This is exactly the central idea of the play.
Both the characters are suffering from uncertainties. They are equally afraid of too. It also suggests that things keep on changing in our life. Constant change!
Estragon : Wait! I sometimes wonder if we wouldn't have been better off alone, each one for himself. We weren't made for the same road.
Valdimir : It's not certain.
Estragon : No, nothing is certain.
Evening turns into night. Light always not gives the positive attitude in life. Somehow night is connected to Death. And Valdimir said that ' Will Night never comes?' means they have questions that whether they get salvation or not from the life.
The play begins with the dialogue “Nothing to be done”. How does the theme of ‘nothingness’ recurs in the play?
To which we can call heart? Essence or core? Nothing happens throughout the play. In each and every scene and every action nothing is done!
Vladimir and Estragon both are doing nothing as such which is significant in life. And Nothingness becomes the theme of the play. ' Nothingness' is the central idea of the play.
Both are waiting for "Godot" but they don't know 'Who is Godot? When does he come?,
Where does he show up?, Why does he have to come?,
the most fundamental question: Why do they have to wait for Godot?'
Above all things are not only related to Estragon and Vladimir but through these characters writers represents humankind who are helpless and nothing have to do without killing time. We just pass our time on earth as we have nothing to do . All things are insignificant in life whether you are intelligent or physical strong . As one is master or slave , as one is blind or dumb , there are no any importance of anyone because all has to pass their time with same fate and such way there is no any differences among them . Nothingness is the centre is everything and it becomes something in the play.
Do you agree: “The play (Waiting for Godot), we agreed, was a positive play, not negative, not pessimistic. As I saw it, with my blood and skin and eyes, the philosophy is: 'No matter what— atom bombs, hydrogen bombs, anything—life goes on. You can kill yourself, but you can't kill life." (E.G. Marshal who played Vladimir in original Broadway production 1950s)?
Hold fast to dreams,
For if dreams die,
Life is a broken-winged bird
That cannot fly.
Hold fast to dreams.
For if dreams go,
Life is a barren field
Covered with snow.
Langston Hughes
Existential depression is a depression that arises when an individual confronts certain basic issues of existence. Death is an inevitable occurrence. Freedom, in an existential sense, refers to the absence of external structure. That is, humans do not enter a world which is inherently structured. We must give the world a structure which we ourselves create. Isolation recognizes that no matter how close we become to another person, a gap always remains, and we are nonetheless alone. Meaninglessness stems from the first three.
If we must die, if we construct our own world, and if each of us is ultimately alone, then what meaning does life have?
“Suicide is man's way of telling God, 'You can't fire me - I quit!”
― Bill Maher
How are the props like hat and boots used in the play? What is the symbolical significance of these props?
I have highlighted some symbols throughout the play and will be explored deeply in-short: Tree, Lucky’s Baggage, Pozzo’s Rope, Night Fall, Hat, Names, The Boot, The Bone.
Estragon's boots, instead of symbolizing rational thought processes on the other hand symbolize the fact that there is nothing to be done for the two men in a less pensive and more active way. Estragon, who focuses more on boots than hats, is more earthy and realistic because he is more grounded than Vladimir.
In act two Estragon and Vladimir exchange their hats and Lucky's hat back and forth, trying different ones on. Given the importance of these hats to their individual owners, this scene can be seen as representing the fluidity and instability of individual identities in the play.
At the end of the first act, when Estragon puts his boots aside, this doer-thinker role seems to change for a while. Estragon starts philosophizing. He contemplates about the moon, and then when Vladimir asks him about his boots, he says that he can go barefoot because Christ did as well.
“Vladimir: Christ! What’s Christ got to do with it? You’re not going to compare yourself to Christ! / Estragon: All my life I’ve compared myself to him”
And Vladimir is the one who tries to act at this point. He is the one who wants to leave and find shelter for the night. However, in the second act Estragon takes his boots back and the roles switch back again.
Do you think that the obedience of Lucky is extremely irritating and nauseatic? Even when the master Pozzo is blind, he obediently hands the whip in his hand. Do you think that such a capacity of slavishness is unbelievable?
What makes slave or master?
Power or position?
This suggests that one is constructed to be happy even in slavery. Lucky has all that chances to run away but he is not going anywhere but lives in that only!
Yes, at first sight, it is seems that the obedience of Lucky is extremely irritating and nausea tic. Writer describes the slavery of Lucky to his Master. His entry is evidence in the play. The treatments of Lucky directly connected to animal - Horse. When Lucky enters into the play, it heard like Horse is coming. How one can to be the slave of others? When Pozzo is blind , Lucky is not able to walk himself without command of his master. Though he has chance to run way from such slavery , he happily accept his slavery and totally dependent on his master.
Who according to you is Godot? God? An object of desire? Death? Goal? Success? Or . . .
Many believe that Godot is really God. I think that Beckett initially wants us to believe he is God simply because of the name, but it's more involved than that. Godot is 'who' we are waiting for, and in the course of the play that can take on many meanings.
We all occasionally feel that something is missing in our lives, and Godot possesses traits of God in both the Old and New Testaments. There are many who 'wait' for God to change their lives and do nothing to change them on their own. Beckett uses parables from the Bible.
"At the end of Act I, when the boy arrives to say that Mr Godot " won’t come this evening but surely tomorrow " and Vladimir proceeds to question him about his "credentials", the boy reveals that he minds the goats and his brother minds the sheep. Placing these two words together is enough to suggest one of Jesus’s best-known parables, frequently used in art and sermon, the parable of the sheep and the goats.”
Godot constitutes the centre of their life though he does not arrive in the end of the play and there is no hint that he will, even after the play ends. So there is an implication that the tramps will go on waiting for this elusive being who is like a mirage in the desert. The title of the French original En attendant Godot meaning ‘while waiting for Godot’ is less ambiguous than the English one. Descriptive as it is, it gives an impression that the play is more about the act of waiting than about the arrival or identity of Godot. However, in a postmodernist context in which the idea of decentering is important, it would be relevant to critique the Godot-centric universe of Estragon and Vladimir.
When asked who or what Godot stands for, Beckett stated ‘If I knew, I would have said so in the play’. This Beckettian statement could be understood with reference to the play-text which does indicate who Godot might be, but only through diverse, unrelated references to Godot, references which do not help one arrive at any ultimate conclusion about the identity of Godot. In other words, when Beckett says ‘If I knew, I would have said so in the play’, this statement might indicate this inconclusiveness, plural connotations or ‘polysemy’ about the identity of Godot. The diverse textual references to the polysemy about the identity of Godot are instrumental in explaining that the idea of centre is an illusion in the Godot-centric universe of Waiting for Godot.
Truth about being is non-being as the goal of every life is death. Life in itself is meaningless; people give meaning to life in their own way. In other words, though life in itself is meaningless, in order for people to exist, life is ascribed diverse meanings. The idea of plurality could be understood also as an absence of any absolute meaning of life. Indeed, this is a point that Derrida himself emphasizes throughout the essay, and most evidently in the epigraph of the essay ‘Structure, Sign and Play in the Discourse of Human Sciences’. The epigraph is taken from the French essayist Montaigne and it reads as ‘One needs to interpret the interpretations more than the things’. In other words, Derrida is indicating the need to interrogate the existing interpretations or philosophical systems (which have, for example, foregrounded the idea of ‘centre’) which is exactly what constitutes Derrida’s philosophy of deconstruction. The idea plurality of centres, absence of any absolute centres, or the notion that centre is a myth are some of the observations that would, for Derrida, constitute the concepts of indeterminacy and inconclusiveness, the hallmarks of postmodernism. The critiquing of the idea of centre would also be the basis of Derrida’s interrogating of logocentrism and phallogocentrism.
Keeping this in mind, one could probably understand Godot not as ‘who’ but as ‘what’.
Godot could be understood as an experience. Godot could be understood as the experience of waiting itself, or even life itself. If Godot has no existence outside the text of Waiting for Godot – as Beckett insisted whatever he had to say about Godot is there in the text- then Godot could be understood as a posited entity, any posited entity that helps one go on waiting, or for that matter, living. To live is to create the purpose of life, and Godot is such a purpose for which the tramps wait and thereby live on.
It is in this context that, in a Derridean sense, Godot can be understood as a required hypothesis. Godot is certainly a hypothesis which is yet to be proved. Even if Godot’s identity cannot be ascertained and there are multiple opinions about his possible identity, still Estragon and Vladimir need to posit Godot. Positing Godot gives a reason for them to wait, assuming the existence of somebody called Godot, gives them a sense of safety and security in an otherwise meaningless and therefore unsettling universe. Even if Godot does not exist, Godot is to be posited because Godot is a necessity in the life of the tramps.
“The subject of the play is not Godot but ‘Waiting’” (Esslin, A Search for the Self). Do you agree? How can you justify your answer?
Do you think that plays like this can better be ‘read’ than ‘viewed’ as it requires a lot of thinking on the part of readers, while viewing, the torrent of dialogues does not give ample time and space to ‘think’? Or is it that the audio-visuals help in better understanding of the play?
Did you feel the effect of existential crisis or meaninglessness of human existence in the irrational and indifference Universe during screening of the movie? Where and when exactly that feeling was felt, if ever it was?
Yes, I feel the effect of existential crisis or meaninglessness of human existence in the irrational and indifference Universe during screening of the movie. Existentialists deals with such subjects like...Death, the meaning of the human existence, the place of God in human existence , the meaning of value , interpersonal relationship, the place of self - reflective conscious knowledge of one's self in existing. They are waiting for 'Godot' and in between they just killing their time. For passing the time they both play with Hat or Boot. Though both things stand for different symbols both Estragon and Vladimir are same place , and same fate also. Means.. there is no difference whether one is intellectual or not. What makes difference in between them 'Nothing'. At the end, there are tried and decide to committee suicide but they can't because our instinct of life is more powerful than the reason of the death.
Vladimir says that " Shall we go? Let's go. but they don't go and readers have question " Where to go?"
Vladimir and Estragon talks about ‘hanging’ themselves and commit suicide, but they do not do so. How do you read this idea of suicide in Existentialism?
The phenomenon of suicide is one of the primary concerns for mental health professions. The health-care literature is dominated by discussions that focus variously on local and national suicide prevention policies, on the assessment of those individuals judged to be at risk of committing suicide as well as the appropriateness and efficacy of interventions for those who express suicidal ideation and display suicidal behaviours. What appear less frequently in the literature, however, are critical analyses of the concept of suicide and, in particular, critical reflections on the manner in which the concept of suicide has been, and continues to be, understood or ‘framed’.
Vladimir and Estragon talks about ‘hanging’ themselves and commit suicide, but they do not do so because we have habit of living life. Our instinct of life is always more powerful than the reason of death. We have a habit of living before we acquire a habit of thinking and reason always goes to thinking. Thus, such instinct is over power over the thinking capacity. Thus, they can't do suicide because they have hope for tomorrow just like ' Act Of Eluding' .
Existentialism is not gloomy term it is an attitude to prove that man is maker of his own fate.Existentialism is positive term to look life with different perspective. Its all about consciousness. It don't driven by sensibility or emotionality or melodrama kind things. It is connected with lived experience.
So far as Pozzo and Lucky [master and slave] are concerned, we have to remember that Beckett was a disciple of Joyce and that Joyce hated England. Beckett meant Pozzo to be England, and Lucky to be Ireland." (Bert Lahr who played Estragon in Broadway production). Does this reading make any sense? Why? How? What?
With the help of historical background, we can read this play with colonial and post colonial aspect. As we know that Irish people are suffering from slavery of English. Lucky himself can't free from this idea. Master - Slave relationship fully described here. After the blindness of his master ( Pozzo) Lucky can't be free because he doesn't want. So, Ireland always be slave of England and we read this with colonial perspective. Master - Pozzo don't like to give the answers to others. With Furiousness Pozzo says that....
" Have you not done tormenting me with your accursed time! It's abominable! When! Whhen! One day , is that not enough for you , one day he went dumb, one day I went blind, one day we'll go deaf, one day we were born, one day we shall die, the same day , the same second , is that not enough for you? " None of My Business"
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