ENG140Y1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Irony
Document Summary
Unity of action, of place, of time. Takes place in a single setting, could be anywhere. Follows unity of action in a play without action, unity of time in a play without time, unity of place without place. Godot: ends the same way, time has passed but nothing has changed. More happens in between acts than happens in the play. Beckett wrote exclusively in france, changed literatures. Changing the past by writing in a different language. Godot = god, his absence represents disappearance from the war. Godot = actually a more general symbol. Waiting for godot: maybe just means what it says, not an allegory, not interested in art or metaphors. Comedy: begins badly, ends happily (often with a marriage) Existential angst: no god or answers for audience or characters.
