Waiting for Godot, by Samuel Beckett
Session 11: Waiting for Godot- Contextual Introduction
Social, cultural and historical context: Post WWII Europe
Students need to have a comprehensive understanding of the emotional and psychological impact of WWII in Europe, and its influence perspective and values.
Social, cultural and historical context: Post WWII Europe
Students need to have a comprehensive understanding of the emotional and psychological impact of WWII in Europe, and its influence perspective and values.
- Students to watch Khan Academy’s video ‘Origins of the Cold War’ available on youtube. As students watch, they are to create a timeline of events. Origins of the Cold War:
- Working individually or in pairs, students are to conduct further research into Europe post WWII. They are to find a significant photograph taken between 1945-1955 that shows the experiences and lives of individuals in this time period. They are to caption the photo with the date, photographer, source and a brief description that outlines how the photo reflects the post war context.
See: What are the noticeable elements of this image? What captures your attention and why? Think: What understanding and ideas does this generate about post war experiences in Europe? Wonder: What questions or wonderings does this raise about the nature of humanity and society? |
Session 12: Engaging with Post WWII Text
The purpose of this activity is to allow students to understand and appreciated the value of texts in representing and navigating periods of upheaval. Through the study of a number of short post WWII texts, students should come to identify common elements in the ways texts represent individual experiences of upheaval and relationship between the individual and society
Depending on the number of students in the class and their ability, this can be run as an expert group activity, where the class is split into a number of expert groups that focus on one text OR the class might focus on one or two texts together.
Questions:
Discuss how the post WWII period was characterised by an intense shift in ideologies and values?
In your response, make detailed reference to at least two of the texts studied.
The purpose of this activity is to allow students to understand and appreciated the value of texts in representing and navigating periods of upheaval. Through the study of a number of short post WWII texts, students should come to identify common elements in the ways texts represent individual experiences of upheaval and relationship between the individual and society
Depending on the number of students in the class and their ability, this can be run as an expert group activity, where the class is split into a number of expert groups that focus on one text OR the class might focus on one or two texts together.
- Texts:
- Metamorphoses, Kafka (Short Story)
- Hard Rain’s Gonna Fall, Bob Dylan (Song)
- Nineteen Eighty- Four, George Orwell
- Subway, by George Tooker
- The Lottery, Shirley Jackson
Questions:
- What perspective of humanity and society does the text offer?
- In what way does the text reflect the values, experiences and perspectives of the Post WWII context?
- What is the author’s purpose in composing the text?
- Discuss the language, style and form of the text. Is it conventional? Why has the author chosen to construct the text in this manner?
Discuss how the post WWII period was characterised by an intense shift in ideologies and values?
In your response, make detailed reference to at least two of the texts studied.
Session 13: Existentialism and Theatre of the Absurd
Introduction to Existentialism:
Read and highlight the literature online article on Existentialism. After reading, create a mind map that outlines the key aspects of the Existentialist movement.
Look back over Metamorphoses, and discuss identifiable Existentialist ideologies within the text.
Theatre of the Absurd
Read either the following summary ‘Absurd drama- Martin Esslin’ or the chapter on Samuel Beckett in Martin Esslin’s, Theatre of the Absurd. Students are encouraged to develop open ended discussion questions during their reading of the text, which can then be used for a classroom debate.
Introduction to Existentialism:
Read and highlight the literature online article on Existentialism. After reading, create a mind map that outlines the key aspects of the Existentialist movement.
Look back over Metamorphoses, and discuss identifiable Existentialist ideologies within the text.
Theatre of the Absurd
Read either the following summary ‘Absurd drama- Martin Esslin’ or the chapter on Samuel Beckett in Martin Esslin’s, Theatre of the Absurd. Students are encouraged to develop open ended discussion questions during their reading of the text, which can then be used for a classroom debate.
Session 14: Responding to the text
Whilst watching the video of the play, youshould follow allow in their play scripts. We will pause regularly to discuss and record annotations on the text.
Whilst watching the video of the play, youshould follow allow in their play scripts. We will pause regularly to discuss and record annotations on the text.
Waiting for Godot (Full Play)
Session 15: Deepening understanding of the text
A significant proportion of class time is allocated to the close study of the play. This will be conducted through a range of differing teaching and learning activities, which enable students to critically deconstruct the play and explore how language forms and features represent worlds of social and political change and challenge literary convention.
Setting:
As class, read the opening stage directions of the play. Discuss and respond to the following:
Character
We will spend some time deconstructing the portrayal of characters in the play and the ways in which they represent the experiences and perspectives of individuals in times of upheaval.
Prepare a presentation and handout on your prescribed character that addresses the following:
Form and Style
A significant proportion of class time is allocated to the close study of the play. This will be conducted through a range of differing teaching and learning activities, which enable students to critically deconstruct the play and explore how language forms and features represent worlds of social and political change and challenge literary convention.
Setting:
As class, read the opening stage directions of the play. Discuss and respond to the following:
- Why do you think Beckett chose to use a single setting throughout the play?
- What is the significance of the setting of the play?
- How does the setting of the play reflect the psychological and cultural context of the play?
- What is the symbolic significance of the tree?
- It has been suggested that the setting of the play reflects purgatory, however in “Beckett’s purgatory, we face something worse than pain or penalty: the meaninglessness of a kitten chasing its tail.” (Vivian Mercier)
- In what ways does the setting of the play embody a purgatory?
Character
We will spend some time deconstructing the portrayal of characters in the play and the ways in which they represent the experiences and perspectives of individuals in times of upheaval.
Prepare a presentation and handout on your prescribed character that addresses the following:
- Define the qualities and values of the character.
- How does the character respond to and interact with events and others within the play? What does this reveal about individual experiences of upheaval?
- How does the character embody and reflect the shifting attitudes and values within the context?
Form and Style
- The play is structured into two acts, create a venn diagram that compares and contrasts the plot of the two acts. Then, compose a response to the following:
- How does the structure of the play serve to reflect and critique the nature of human existence itself?
- "A world that can be explained by reasoning, however faulty, is a familiar world. But in a universe that is suddenly deprived of illusions and of light, man feels a stranger. His is an irremediable exile, because he is deprived of memories of a lost homeland as much as he lacks the hope of a promised land to come. This divorce between man and his life, the actor and his setting, truly constitutes the feeling of Absurdity." (Albert Camus) How is this reflected in the structure and language of Waiting for Godot?
- To what extent does Waiting for Godot offer an existentialist view of the human existence? (refer back to notes on Existentialism)
- How does Beckett challenge literary conventions to offer a new perspective of society and humanity?
Session 16: Research and Academic Readings
Conduct some further research into Waiting for Godot using google scholar, or the free access to academic databases (such as Jstor) via the NSW Library’s webpage. View at least one scholarly article and write some points of interest in your workbooks to facilitate discussion in class.
The following resources are excellent starting places:
Conduct some further research into Waiting for Godot using google scholar, or the free access to academic databases (such as Jstor) via the NSW Library’s webpage. View at least one scholarly article and write some points of interest in your workbooks to facilitate discussion in class.
The following resources are excellent starting places:
- "Waiting for Godot:" A Beckettian Counterfoil to Kierkegaardian Existentialism, Anurag Sharma
- Nick Mount Lecture on Godot:
Session 17: Developing extended responses
Conceptual engagement with the Rubric
Students should develop their understanding of the text and its representation of the experience of individuals in times of upheaval by re-reading the prescription rubric and turning it into questions. These questions can then be placed into a box. Students can draw out questions and compose timed mini extended response
Making Connections with Frankenstein
Create a Venn diagram in which you use keywords or phrases from the prescription rubric in the centre of the diagram and make connections between Frankenstein and Waiting for Godot.
You could do this on an A3 paper, or use an online Venn Diagram Generator, such as metacharat.com.
Mini Extended response
In periods of upheaval, texts have the potential to prompt reflection and challenge social values and structures.
To what extent does this statement align with your study of Shelley’s Frankenstein and Beckett’s Waiting for Godot?
Conceptual engagement with the Rubric
Students should develop their understanding of the text and its representation of the experience of individuals in times of upheaval by re-reading the prescription rubric and turning it into questions. These questions can then be placed into a box. Students can draw out questions and compose timed mini extended response
Making Connections with Frankenstein
Create a Venn diagram in which you use keywords or phrases from the prescription rubric in the centre of the diagram and make connections between Frankenstein and Waiting for Godot.
You could do this on an A3 paper, or use an online Venn Diagram Generator, such as metacharat.com.
Mini Extended response
In periods of upheaval, texts have the potential to prompt reflection and challenge social values and structures.
To what extent does this statement align with your study of Shelley’s Frankenstein and Beckett’s Waiting for Godot?
Historical Context of Waiting for GodotThe play is set in a strange, unspecified time, and does not take place in the context of any historical events, but many have seen the widespread suffering and disillusionment caused by World War II in the background of the play's pessimistic, nihilistic conception of the world.
Key Facts about Waiting for Godot
Follow the embedded hyperlink to Lit Charts for detailed summaries of the plot, characterisation and themes within the play.
Key Facts about Waiting for Godot
- Full Title: Waiting for Godot: A Tragicomedy in Two Acts
- When Written: 1948-1949
- Where Written: Paris
- When Published: 1954
- Literary Period: Modernism, Postmodernism
- Genre: Drama, Tragicomedy (a mixture of tragedy and comedy), Theater of the Absurd
- Setting: The side of an unidentified road, near a tree, at an unspecified time.
- Climax: Beckett's play essentially lacks a climax. Vladimir and Estragon spend both acts waiting for the arrival of Godot, but Godot never comes.
- Antagonist: While Vladimir and Estragon speak of an anonymous "they" who threaten to beat them and from whom they must hide, there is no real antagonist in the play. Part of the characters' predicament is that there is no precise cause or origin of the suffering and alienation they feel.
Follow the embedded hyperlink to Lit Charts for detailed summaries of the plot, characterisation and themes within the play.