Hello ! Everyone. Here I am sharing my presentation on The Modernist English Literature on the topic, " Circular Nature of the Play " Waiting for Godot. " I hope you will like and get something useful from this. Thank you...

1. ● Name :- Nirali Makvana
● Sem :- 3
● Roll no. :- 14
● Paper :- The Modernist Literature
● Topic :- Circular Nature of the play, “ Waiting
for Godot”
● Submitted to :- Department of English,
MKBU
● Email ID :- niralimakvana9599@gmail.com

2. Brief introduction about author
♧ Samuel Barclay Beckett was an
Irish novelist, playwright, short
story writer, theatre director, poet
and literary translator.
♧ He is consider one of the last
modernist writers and one of the key
figure in what Martin Esslin called “
Theatre of the Absurd.”

3. ♧ He wrote in both French and English.
♧ His best known work is his 1953 play, “ Waiting for
Godot”
♧ Beckett was awarded 1969 “ Nobel Prize in Literature” for
his writing which in new forms for the novel and drama in
the destitution of modern man acquires its elevation.
Beckett's idiosyncratic work offers a bleak tragi comic
outlook on existence and experience, often coupled with black
comedy, nonsense and gallows humour.

4. “ Waiting for Godot” as an Absurd Drama
The phrase “ Absurd
Drama” or “ The Theatre of
Absurd” gained currency
after Martin Esslin's book “
The Theatre of Absurd” was
published in 1961. Esslin
points out that there is no
such thing as a regular
movement of Absurd
dramatist.

5. By “ Absurd” Camus
meant a life lived solely
for its sake in a
universe which no
longer made sense
because there was no
God to resolve the
contradiction. In other
words what Camus
called “ Absurd”
Kierkegaard called “
Despair.”
Before the Genre of
Absurd Drama
gained popular in the
hands of Beckett
Adamov, Ionesco and
Gennet Plays were
characterized by
clearly constructed
story and subtlety of
characterisation and
motivation.

6. Circular Nature of the play, “ Waiting for Godot ”
♧ Vladimir and Estragon Alone
♧ Arrival of Pozzo and Lucky: Lucky’s
speech
♧ Departure of Pozzo and Lucky:
Vladimir and Estragon alone
♧ Arrival of Boy as a messenger
♧ Departure of Boy : Vladimir and
Estragon alone
ACT
1

7. ♧ Vladimir and Estragon alone
♧ Arrival of Pozzo and Lucky
♧ Departure of Pozzo and
Lucky: Vladimir and Estragon
alone
♧ Arrival of Boy as a messenger
♧ Departure of Boy : Vladimir
and Estragon alone
ACT 2

8. But What does it all mean ?
Is the most frequent statement or
question after one has seen or
finished reading a play from the
theatre of the Absurd movement

9. Both acts end with the same words, voiced
differently,
Act 1
Estragon : Well, Shall
we go ?
Vladimir : Let's go.
Act 2
Vladimir : Well, Shall
we go ?
Estragon : Yes, Let's go.

10. ♧ In both acts the arrival of Pozzo and Lucky, we notice that
even though their physical appearance has theoretically
changed.
♧ Likewise the Boy, messenger, theoretically different, brings
the exact same message,
“ Mr. Godot will not come today, but he will surely come
tomorrow.”

11. References
[1] Beckett, Samuel. Waiting for Godot: A Tragicomedy
in Two Acts. Faber & amp; Faber, 2015.
[2] Esslin, Martin. Theatre of Absurd. Penguin
Books,1968.
[3] Hussain, Tazir. “Theatre of Absurd and Samuel
Beckett's Waiting for Godot as an Absurd Drama .” IJSR,
vol. 3, no. 11, 2014.
.