DEFLATION OF SELF, ALIENATION, NEUROSIS AND ABSURDITY IN BECKETT’S WAITING FOR GODOT AND ENDGAME

Abstract

The evolution of the Absurd Theatre resulted into the deflation of self in the protagonists. From Greeks to Shakespeare and from Shakespeare to Brecht, dramatists portrayed life- like characters and thus what happens to Oedipus and Lear is partly the result of what they are. In epics, the problem of man is linked with the destiny of the nation, for instance, the fate of Oedipus is linked with the destiny of Athens; he himself is a presence making history. Action and limits, violence and organization, the individual and collective norms-these are the polarities that the epic hero has to experience. On the level of ritualistic pattern, his experience culminates in rebirth. He passes from guilt through suffering to purgation and emerges “a new man”but in the modern drama, the myth of rebirth, renewal, and rededication has degenerated into a grotesque parody of their classical versions. The heroes of the quest are tattered and fallen beings suffering from eternal disillusionment and frustration but an absurdist “gives nothing we can envy or admire; no courage, no gallantry, no glamorous lovers, beautiful costumes, handsome settings or desirable furniture” (Hayman 4).