Many interchanges have an amusing comic aspect to them, but with a more serious subtext. In considering why he uses them we must look at the effect they have on the audience, and the contribution they make to the play as a whole.Ī dualism is apparent in the dialogue of Beckett’s plays as well as in the nature of the characters. These elements, such as clown-like characters, slapstick action and cross-talk are a basic part of many of Beckett’s plays.
Yet Beckett’s plays have many elements which are in effect, or by traditional association, comic. He is concerned at a more basic level with man as a rational animal, or with an individual’s isolated existence in time. Aspirations, financial, social, or psychological are conditioned by the social group, and this perspective is not relevant to Beckett’s subject matter. The norms of social conduct dealt with in the comedy of manners for example, or the mistaken identities and misunderstandings of farce do not occur in Beckett’s world because they are grounded in the individual’s involvement in society. This is not the kind of response Beckett tries to elicit. Often our laughter at a comedy involves a feeling of release in response to the transgression of some rule of social conduct acted out by the performer. Samuel Beckett’s plays contain many comic features but are not comedies in the usual sense, and it is unlikely that an audience would actually laugh at them. Throughout waiting for Godot we witness these structural associations which reflect “theater of absurd”. Farce is such dramatic work in which highly improbable plot situations, exaggerated characters and often slapstick elements are utilized to create humor and mocking themes. Burlesque by definition is “A literary or dramatic work that ridicules a subject either by presenting a solemn subject in an undignified style or an inconsequential subject in a dignified style” and it is marvelously depicted in waiting for Godot. Waiting for Godot is indeed a traditional farce and burlesque.
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