Analysis of the Portrayal of the Major Characters in Samuel Beckettâs Waiting For Godot and Tom Stoppardâs Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead.

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Maranatha Christian University

ABSTRACT

Skripsi ini berisi analisis terhadap dua buah drama berjudul Waiting for Godot karya Samuel Beckett dan Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead karya Tom Stoppard. Kedua drama ini beraliran absurd, yang erat kaitannya dengan filosofi eksistensialisme. Karena itulah para tokoh utama pada masing-masing drama diceritakan mempertanyakan arti hidup mereka.

Analisis dalam skripsi ini berfokus pada penggambaran sifat-sifat dari para tokoh utama yang mempengaruhi usaha mereka dalam memperoleh jawaban akan arti hidup mereka. Dua tokoh utama di Waiting for Godot memilih untuk menunggu seorang sosok bernama Godot untuk memberi arti pada hidup mereka. Sedangkan dua tokoh utama di Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead memilih untuk mencari tahu sendiri arti hidup mereka melalui kejadian-kejadian yang menimpa mereka.

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CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Background of the Study

Theatre of the absurd is “a literary movement in drama popular throughout

European countries from the 1940s to approximately 1989” (Marinaro). The term “theatre of the absurd” was created by American Critic Martin Esslin in 1960,

referring to particular plays that convey “the absurdity of human condition; it

merely presents it in being—that is, in terms of concrete stage images of the absurdity of existence” (Esslin xx).

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its reach; in that sense, the world must ultimately be seen as absurd” (Crabb).

Absurd playwrights share the same idea with existentialists in the way they “question the nature of existing” (Bolick). That is why their stories usually revolve

around characters who are trying to figure out the meaning of their lives and since absurd playwrights believe human existence does not have any meaning or purpose; in their plays, “characters are caught in hopeless situations forced to do repetitive or meaningless actions; dialogue full of clichés, wordplay, and nonsense; plots that are cyclical or absurdly expansive; either a parody or dismissal of realism and the concept of the ‘well-made play’” (Cash). Two of the significant playwrights that belong to this movement are Samuel Beckett and Tom Stoppard.

Samuel Beckett was a prominent writer in the 20th century. He was a novelist, a poet, and a playwright. His first published work was a poem titled Whoroscope (1929) which is based on the biography of Rene Descartes, a French philosopher. Some of his famous novels are entitled Molloy, Malone Dies, and The Unnamable, which is a trilogy written between 1946-1950. He was later best known for his plays, such as Waiting for Godot (1953), Endgame (1957), Krapp’s Last Tape (1958), and Happy Days (1961). Beckett’s works are known

for being “stark, fundamentally minimalist, and deeply pessimistic about human nature and the human condition, although the pessimism is mitigated by a great and often wicked sense of humor”(“Samuel Beckett”). Beckett was awarded The

Nobel Prize in Literature in 1969 “for his writing, which – in new forms for novel and drama –in the destitution of modern man acquires its elevation” (“The Nobel Prize in Literature 1969”).

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Maranatha Christian University When Waiting for Godot was first performed in 1953 in Paris, France, it received a positive impression from the audiences due to its new convention with “no plot, no climax, no denouement; no beginning, no middle and no end,” according to the English theatre critic Kenneth Tynan (Dickstein). It was also chosen as “the most significant English language play of the 20th century” (Berlin). Beckett’s Waiting for Godot is probably the most well-known absurd play among the others and has influenced other writers in writing similar plays, such as Harold Pinter in The Dumb Waiter, Edward Albee in The Zoo Story, and even Tom Stoppard in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead.

Tom Stoppard is considered one of the most successful British playwrights and screenwriters. He is the man behind many great plays; some of them are Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead (1966), The Real Inspector Hound (1968), Arcadia (1993), and The Coast of Utopia (2002). He is also the co-writer of some famous films, such as Empire of the Sun (1987), Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989), and Shakespeare in Love (1998). Stoppard is known for “creating what have been termed ‘serious comedies’– funny plays that deal with important ideas” (Opitz), as depicted in his works. He has received

much praise and many awards for playwriting, including Academy Awards and Tony Awards. He has also received numerous honorary degrees and was knighted in 1997 (“Tom Stoppard”).

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead is one of Stoppard’s masterpieces. It is also different from Stoppard’s other works because the play is structured in a form of metatheatre. The term “metatheatre” was mentioned by

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Shakespeare’s Hamlet, focusing on the offstage lives of two minor characters in

Hamlet, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, and what the events mean to them. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead received good critical reviews and achieved a huge success when it was first released because it was “a very funny play about death. Very funny, very brilliant, very chilling; it has the dust of thought about it and particles glitter excitingly in the theatrical air” (Barnes), making

Stoppard widely known ever since.

Waiting for Godot and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead are absurd plays with similar pairs of major characters. Both plays present two men who are thrown into the world trying to figure out the meaning of their lives in their own ways. The characterization and the relationship between the major characters in these two plays are striking, which is why I would like to discuss the portrayal of the major characters of the plays. Harry Shaw in Dictionary of Literary Terms states that portrayal “refers to the portrait (*characterization) of individuals presented in literary selections” (295), while character in literature is defined as “a personage in a narrative or dramatic work” (“Character”).

Vladimir and Estragon in Waiting for Godot and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead have different traits and they are opposite to each other in certain ways; however, they complement each other and depend on each other. Beckett describes Vladimir and Estragon as a pseudo-couple: “they don’t necessarily always want to be in each other’s company, yet they recognise each other as a necessary person in order to survive”(“Waiting For Godot And Companionship English Literature Essay”). On

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Maranatha Christian University other for existence” (Tiedemann). Therefore, the major characters in both plays

should be seen as one entity.

Statement of the Problems

The problems I would like to discuss in this thesis are: 1. How are the major characters portrayed in these two plays?

2. What are the purposes of the authors in portraying the major characters?

Purpose of the Study

Based on the problems above, the purposes of the study are: 1. To show how the major characters are portrayed in these two plays. 2. To show the purposes of the authors in portraying the major characters.

Method of Research

In writing this thesis, I use the library research method. First, I read the primary texts, which are Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godotand Tom Stoppard’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead. Second, I analyze the portrayal of the major characters in both plays by using other references to support my analysis. Lastly, I draw some conclusions based on the analysis.

Organization of the Thesis

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CHAPTER FOUR

CONCLUSION

Based on the analysis of Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot and Tom Stoppard’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead in the previous chapters, I

would like to draw some conclusions. Both of the plays are absurd plays. Since absurd play is highly influenced by the philosophy of existentialism, that is why the major characters in both plays are characters who are trying to figure out the meaning of their lives.

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Estragon waits for Godot with him. On the other hand, Estragon is portrayed as a person who is shallow, helpless, absent-minded, and impatient. Estragon is incapable of thinking, of recalling the events that happened in the past, of taking care of himself, and does not like to wait and do nothing. Estragon keeps forgetting about Godot and keeps suggesting that both he and Vladimir leave, because he is uncertain whether Godot will actually come and he thinks it is better for him and Vladimir to take action on their own. However, he is always reminded by Vladimir about Godot, to prevent him from leaving. Thus, it is clear that the purpose of the author in creating characters like Vladimir and Estragon is to represent humanity, namely, people who passively wait for other people to give meaning of their life.

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Maranatha Christian University portrayed as a person who is simple-minded, carefree, and indecisive. Rosencrantz does not share the same concern as Guildenstern about their existence and he is not bothered about thinking deeply regarding their situation, as long as he is happy. He also cannot make a decision on his own, which is why he lets Guildenstern decide and he supports whatever decision Guildenstern makes. Therefore, it can be concluded that the purpose of the author in creating characters like Guildenstern and Rosencrantz is to represent humanity, namely, people who actively look for the meaning of their life by themselves.

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who leads Rosencrantz to carry out their duty: even though Rosencrantz does not share the same concern as Guildenstern about their existence, in the end Rosencrantz follows Guildenstern’s step because he cannot make a decision on his own.

Waiting for Godot and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead apparently share some similarities and a difference. The first similarity is both of them are absurd plays which deal with the theme of existentialism, as the major characters in the two plays are caught up in a meaningless world and they struggle to figure out the meaning of their lives. The second similarity is the major characters in each play have different traits because they are intended to represent humanity in general; however, in the end they decide to do the same thing. Vladimir and Estragon decide to wait for Godot, while Guildenstern and Rosencrantz decide to carry out the King’s order. Another similarity is at the end

of the plays, when both major characters fail to discover the meaning of their lives. Godot, whom Vladimir and Estragon wait for and believe that he can save them from their meaningless life, does not show up at all, even at the end of the story. Meanwhile, Guildenstern and Rosencrantz still do not get the answer of their existence, even when they are led to their death.

The only difference between the two plays is Vladimir and Estragon in Waiting for Godot passively wait for someone to give meaning to their life, while Rosencrantz and Guildenstern in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead actively look for the meaning of their life by themselves. However, both attempts conducted by the major characters fail because from the absurdist playwrights’ point of view, a human’s life is basically meaningless.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Primary Texts

Beckett, Samuel. Waiting for Godot. London: Faber and Faber Ltd, 1965. Print. Stoppard, Tom. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead. London: Faber and

Faber Ltd, 2013. Google Books. Web. 16 Apr. 2015.

References

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Barnes, Clive. “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead.” The New York Times.

17 Oct. 1967. Web. 27 Apr. 2015.

Berlin, Normand. “Traffic of our Stage: Why Waiting for Godot?” The Massachusetts Review. 1999. Web. 27 Apr. 2015.

“Biography of Tom Stoppard.” GradeSaver.com. N.p, n.d. Web. 19 Apr. 2015.

Bolick, Elizabeth L. “Absurdism in Post-Modern Art: Examining the Interplay

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“Carefree.” Oxford Dictionaries. Web. 29 Apr. 2015.

Cash, Justin. “Theatre of the Absurd.” Theatrelinks.com, n.d. Web. 22 Aug. 2015.

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Crabb, Jerome P. “Theatre of the Absurd.” Theatredatabase.com. 3 Sep. 2006.

Web. 29 Aug. 2015.

Dickstein, Morris. “An Outsider in His Own Life.” The New York Times. 3 Aug.

1997. Web. 27 Apr. 2015.

Esslin, Martin. The Theatre of the Absurd. New York: Anchor Books, 1961. Print.

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Shaw, Harry. Dictionary of Literary Terms. New York: McGraw Hill, 1972. Print.

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Analysis of the Portrayal of the Major Characters in Samuel Beckettâs Waiting For Godot and Tom Stoppardâs Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead.