-
Finished your HSC? Check out our University Discussion, Non-School forums or help out next year's HSC students! -
YOU can help the next generation of students in the community! Share your trial papers and notes on our Notes & Resources page
Existentialism - After the Bomb (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter zarlaya11
- Start date
jet
Banned
- Joined
- Jan 4, 2007
- Messages
- 3,148
- Gender
- Male
- HSC
- 2009
I would be careful about saying that there is no God. Some existentialists believe that God created us, just without purpose. Kind of like a really cool science experiment. lol.
In waiting for Godot you're looking at Sartrean existentialism, based on his famous dictum 'existence precedes essence' i.e that we were created without meaning or any fundamental core being (i.e essence) and so, by our existence, and our actions, we define our essence for ourselves.
Linking this to Godot, you would say that the minimalist set implies that the actors have to create the meaning, whilst each character is at a loss to define themselves in the meaningless void they live their lives in. Didi, who comes off as more intellectual, has a much harder time with this knowledge than Gogo, who really doesnt care. That shouldn't be hard to find quotes on.
The thing you want to read is Sartre's lecture 'Existentialism is a Humanism'. It really lays out the facts albeit in a very verbose manner which takes time to get used to.
Hope that helps.
In waiting for Godot you're looking at Sartrean existentialism, based on his famous dictum 'existence precedes essence' i.e that we were created without meaning or any fundamental core being (i.e essence) and so, by our existence, and our actions, we define our essence for ourselves.
Linking this to Godot, you would say that the minimalist set implies that the actors have to create the meaning, whilst each character is at a loss to define themselves in the meaningless void they live their lives in. Didi, who comes off as more intellectual, has a much harder time with this knowledge than Gogo, who really doesnt care. That shouldn't be hard to find quotes on.
The thing you want to read is Sartre's lecture 'Existentialism is a Humanism'. It really lays out the facts albeit in a very verbose manner which takes time to get used to.
Hope that helps.
__moonriver
Member
- Joined
- Mar 2, 2009
- Messages
- 41
- Gender
- Male
- HSC
- 2009
Waiting for Godot is more about Absurdism. Absurdism highlights the monotony of human labour and questions the irrational nature of fate. It branched out of Existentialism, but isn't quite the same.
I'm not studying 'After the Bomb' for EE1, but when you think about Existentialism in relation to 'After the Bomb' it's important to make the distinction between Existentialism and Essentialism. An Existentialist believes that meaning doesn't pre-exist (there is no such thing as fate), and that you have to create your own meaning in life. An Essentialist believes that there is no purpose in life at all; not before, during, or after it.
I'm not studying 'After the Bomb' for EE1, but when you think about Existentialism in relation to 'After the Bomb' it's important to make the distinction between Existentialism and Essentialism. An Existentialist believes that meaning doesn't pre-exist (there is no such thing as fate), and that you have to create your own meaning in life. An Essentialist believes that there is no purpose in life at all; not before, during, or after it.
Last edited:
afterthebomb-er
New Member
- Joined
- Mar 14, 2009
- Messages
- 6
- Gender
- Male
- HSC
- 2009
I agree with '__moonriver'.
Waiting For Godot is essentially Absurdist. Now, I'm not saying it doesn't have existentialist content, but it's not the focus of it. You have to remember that Waiting For Godot IS a play, it's a dramatic piece, it's got dramatic context, and there hasn't really been an existentialist movement in theatre, the closest thing to it is Absurdist theatre.
Waiting For Godot is essentially Absurdist. Now, I'm not saying it doesn't have existentialist content, but it's not the focus of it. You have to remember that Waiting For Godot IS a play, it's a dramatic piece, it's got dramatic context, and there hasn't really been an existentialist movement in theatre, the closest thing to it is Absurdist theatre.