Abstract
This study identifies and interprets the “absurd†from a Camusian perspective in the aesthetics of “Waiting for Godot†and, particularly, its compositional form as the means for the realisation of the aesthetic act. The absurd is a term coined by French philosopher Albert Camus and used by critics to classify some works of art that explore, through the embodiment of concrete images, man’s reaction to the meaninglessness of existence. Different critics interpreted “Waiting for Godot†as absurd but from a philosophical point of view as it has many allusions to philosophy, but Beckett categorically refused these interpretations and instead, motivated people to see the play as it is. In this sense, this study argues that “Waiting for Godot†does not intend to explain the absurd but it uses the absurd as a principle of formal construction. It is through the shape of the absurd that the aesthetic act is fulfilled. The absurd—depicted as silence—takes the shape of the confrontation between human nostalgia—represented through the routines and constant wondering—and the irrational world—represented through the language failures and contradictions. This silence becomes the great revelation, it reveals that ultimately, we are all tied to the waiting.
Keywords
Compositional form, aesthetic act, nostalgia, irrational, silence
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