IGNOU Questions and Answers: MEG-2

Que: What is the role of chorus in Murder in the cathedral?

Ans:

The Chorus: an unspecified number of Canterbury's women, is a corporate character serving the same purposes as does the chorus in Greek drama: to develop and, more importantly, to comment on the action of the play. The women's initial speech fairly defines their dramaturgic role: "We are forced to bear witness." And yet this chorus, like its ancient Greek predecessors, is no mere, dispassionate, objective "eyewitness"; rather, it is a witness bearing testimony to truth-almost as in a legal proceeding, but that analogy fails to capture the nature of the testimony the chorus offers. In commenting upon the action of Thomas Becket's murder, the women are voicing insights into, reflections on, and conclusions about time, destiny, and life and death. In the end, they emerge as representatives of ordinary people-such as those who make up the audience of the play, or its readership-people who, mired in and having settled for an existence of "living and partly living," are unable to greet transcendence when it is offered to them. As they state in the play's final moments, not everyone can bear the "loneliness. Surrender. Deprivation" necessary to become a saint. Not all can be saints-but all can pray for their intercession.

Essay on the Four Temptations in Eliot's "Murder in the Cathedral"

The four temptations faced by Thomas Becket in T.S. Eliot's Murder in the Cathedral are meant to resemble the temptations of Christ in St. Matthew's Gospel. As He was fasting in the desert, Jesus was visited by the devil, which tempted him three times. First, Satan asked Jesus to feed himself by turning stones into bread. Second, he told Jesus to throw himself down from the temple, so that, when He was rescued by angels, He could be glorified by the people. Christ's last temptation was to worship the devil in return for great worldly power. Jesus rejected all three temptations, saying, "Be gone, Satan, for it is written, 'you shall worship the Lord, your God, and Him only shall you serve.'" At these words, the devil vanished, and angels came to minister to Jesus.

The first temptation to Thomas Becket was to forgive King Henry his sins and make peace with him. "You were not used to be so hard upon sinners," the Tempter reminds Thomas. He also recalls Becket's long friendship with King Henry. "Remember the good times when you and Henry were friends." He even goes so far as to threaten the Archbishop if he does not allow the King to do what he wants. "Leave well alone or your goose may be cooked and eaten to the bone." Thomas resists this temptation to sacrifice his principles for the sake of King Henry, or his own safety, but a second visitor soon arrives.

"Power obtained grows to glory, life lasting, a permanent possession," says the Second Tempter. This visitor tempts Thomas with earthly power, telling him that he, the Archbishop, can be more powerful than the King, if he is willing to use his spiritual power

The playboy of the western world as an extravagant comedy and bildungsroman in dream

Playboy of the Western World by Synge can be termed as a tragi-comedy. A tragic-comedy is a play which claims a plot apt for tragedy but which ends happily like a comedy. The action seems to end in a tragic catastrophe until an unexpected turn in events brings out the happy ending. In such a play tragic and comic elements are mixed up together. The play Playboy of the Western World ends in comedy though it might have well ended as a tragedy.

In one mood we may suggest that Playboy of the Western World is sheer extravagant comedy, with elements of strong farce in the resurrection of Christy’s father, and in the deflation of a boastful man. As such, it embodies the classic elements of reversal and recognition. And yet it is a comedy which ends unhappily for Pegeen who is unable to marry Christy, the Playboy. Another way of looking at this play is to regard it as a satirical comedy. It is a satire on the proverbial willingness of the West to give shelter to the criminal and murderer. In that case Christy, the Playboy, becomes a comic Oedipus, the man who killed his father.

A tragedy

But again we may see the play, if we wish, as a tragedy, with Pegeen as the heroine-victim. Pegeen found her man, made him, won him in the teeth of opposition from her own sex, and then lost him. Pegeen’s loss at the end is absolute and beyond comfort, because she has lost his body too; while the complacent Shawn sees the obstacle to his marriage with she removed.

Funny Situations

Some of the situations in the play are uproariously funny. For instance, Shawn slipping away from Michael’s hold and leaving his coat in Michael’s hands cannot fail to make the audience in a theatre roar with laughter. Other funny situations are Pegeen and Widow Quin each pulling Christy’s boots; Christ’s holding a mirror behind his back; Christy hiding himself behind the dooe when he sees his father alive and coming towards the she been; Philly searching for some more liquor when he is already semi-drunk; and above all, Christy’s biting Shawn on the leg and Shawn’s screaming with pain.

Humor of character

Most of the characters in the play make us laugh because of their absurdities or weakness. Drunkenness is most often amusing and we here have four heavy drunkards-Michael James, Philly, Jimmy, and Old Mahon. Michael and his friends make it a point to go to a wake in order to drink the free liquor that is served there. Old Mahon once drank himself almost to a state of paralysis when he was in the company of Limerick girls. Cowardice is another comic trait. Shawn Keogh of Killakeen amuses us not only by his refusal to fight Christy but by refusing even to feel jealous of “a man did slay his da.”

A Boisterous Rollicking Comedy on the Whole

In spite of all this, The Playboy is a comedy, and a boisterous, rollicking comedy at that. A play which amuses us at every step and makes us laugh again and again cannot be called a tragedy just because it ends in the frustration of the hopes of the heroine. The heroine’s frustration at the end is almost neutralized by Christy’s departing speech in which he thanks the people of Mayo for having transformed him into a hero.

Que: What is the significance of the title of the play waiting for Godot?

Ans: In Waiting for Godot, the two main characters, Vladimir and Estragon, spend days waiting for someone named Godot. A boy comes with a message that Godot is not coming and they continue to wait. The waiting itself is an exercise in futility. Godot is never going to show up and the two characters discuss options such as suicide (which they fail in the attempt), keep waiting, and leaving. They try to leave multiple times, but they can't. So, they keep waiting. The repetition and redundancy express the characters steadfast desire for resolution despite becoming totally frustrated in the lack of results for their time spent.

Godot, as if he were a savior or someone who can give those answers, represents certainty and meaningfulness. Since he never arrives, Vladimir and Estragon are faced with living in a world where certainty and meaning never present themselves. To continue to wait for certainty and meaning, knowing they don't exist, is absurd. Absurdism, in literature and drama, is usually presented in this way: humans searching for meaning in a world where meaning is either always elusive or nonexistent. 

Que: What changes have Pozzo and Lucky undergone during the course of Waiting for Godot?

Ans:

In Act I of Waiting for Godot, Pozzo is travelling to the market to sell Lucky, his slave. Pozzo is healthy, possessed of a good appetite and cruel and there seems to be nothing physically wrong with him. He treats Lucky in a despicable way. Lucky, he claims, used to be such a pleasant slave to have around, but he has become quite annoying, and so he is going to get rid of him. This is their position the first time they meet Vladimir and Estragon.

On their second appearance the following day everything has changed. Pozzo is blind, and Lucky is mute. Pozzo has no recollection of the previous meeting, and even claims that Lucky has always been unable to speak, oblivious, it would seem to the fact that just the day before he gave a long philosophical discourse when bidden to "think." Asked by Vladimir when he became blind, Pozzo responds "I woke up one fine day as blind as Fortune” Didi, finding this incomprehensible continues asking him for details. Pozzo responds to this in a peremptory manner "Don't question me! The blind have no notion of time.” His situation represents the effects of time on people. The meaninglessness and absurdity of a world based on chance means human life is at the mercy of Fortune. Beckett uses this change in the situation of Pozzo and Lucky to show that human life is meaningless because time is meaningless. Remember, if like many, you find this view nihilistic and difficult that this play falls into the genre of the “absurd”

Que: Remarkable about structure of waiting for godot?

Ans:

“Waiting for Godot” is not a play to which traditional ideas of plot; action, structure etc. do apply. To a certain extent, Beckett has deliberately discarded or parodied such conventions. There is double-structure in “Waiting for Godot” linear and cynical. The structural devices can be seen in dialogues, characterization and bringing out of the themes. In cyclical structure, there is no change, no movement, development, nothing happens but linear things have their ways of changing.

The major structural devices are parallels. The two acts are bold experiments in use of parallelism, which is saved from the monotony by an admixture of contrast in it. Repetition or paradigm is primarily dominant in the play. In each act Vladimir asks Estragon how he spent the night, in each act Vladimir offers to embrace Estragon and latter does not, at first, kindly take this gesture. Every now and then, Estragon says:

“Let’s go.”

Vladimir patiently says:

“We can’t.”

Estragon wants to know why not, and Vladimir replies that:

“We’re waiting for Godot.”

This is followed every time by a sigh of Estragon. In each act Estragon wants to be allowed to sleep. In each act when they were at the ends of their wit, they indulge in meaningless trivialities. By the arrival of Lucky and Pozzo, in both the acts the tramps are helped at a particularly tedious moment. When they feel that their situation is absolutely unbearable, they toy with the idea of committing suicide, but in each case there is a major hurdle in their way. Each time they console themselves with a thought that they will bring a piece of rope next day with which they would commit suicide.

Recognition and forgetfulness also act as structural principles in both the acts. In both the acts the tramps take the arrival of somebody else to be that of Godot. The wait is terminated in both the acts by the arrival of a messenger. Before going away, they together think of suicide. In each act, they say that they are leaving and do not leave the place.

The conversation itself takes a rhythmic course. In Act-I Vladimir asks Estragon about his foot and Estragon in return asks Vladimir about his kidney trouble. Vladimir wants to relate to Estragon an incident in the New Testament and Estragon in return wants to relate an anecdote about an Englishman, but both are not ready to hear each other. Vladimir requests Estragon to take interest in his conversation. Similarly Pozzo asks Vladimir and estragon to give ear to his speech.

In both acts Vladimir asks Estragon whether he recognizes the place, each time Estragon’s memory fails, similar is the case with Pozzo. In Act II Pozzo is unable to collect that he met Estragon and Vladimir on the previous day. Likewise Estragon and Pozzo also disbelieves the common notion of time and place in both the acts Estragon sleeps soundly and meanwhile Vladimir feels boredom. Estragon is waked up by Vladimir. Estragon has nightmare every time to tell to Vladimir but Vladimir is not interested to hear it.

Act I:
Estragon: I had a dream.
Vladimir: Don’t tell me.
Estragon: I dreamt that.
Vladimir: Don’t tell me.

Act II.
Estragon: I was falling …
Vladimir: It’s all over, it’s all over.
Estragon: I was on the top of a …
Vladimir: Don’t tell me.

Both the acts end with the same pair of dialogues:

Estragon: Let’s go.
Vladimir: We can’t.
Estragon: Why not?
Vladimir: We are waiting for Godot.

The play gains a structural cohesion because the rhythmic repetition of certain themes, incidents and situations.

There is a parallelism and contrast even in characters. Estragon and Vladimir are both tramps who are facing a common situation of bored waiting. But Estragon is weaker and more temperamental whereas Vladimir is strong, protective and clear-headed. At crucial times Estragon goes to sleep. Estragon always blames Vladimir for troubles but Vladimir is much tolerated. Vladimir has greater control on himself than Estragon. There are parallels and contrasts in Lucky and Pozzo also.

The structure of “Waiting for Godot” is unique. Nevertheless there are important modifications in Act II which makes us pronounce that the pattern outside Estragon and Vladimir's world is linear. The tree in Act II shows sign of growth as four or five leaves have sprout on the dead branches of it. Lucky and Pozzo do arrive as in act I but now in Act II Pozzo has become blind and Lucky dumb. The messenger boy of Act I look after Godot’s goats whereas the messenger boy of Act II looks after his sheep. In Act II Lucky does not deliver a tirade.

“Waiting for Godot” on philosophical level maintains a close relationship with the philosophy of Hera-Clatus who is of the view that “change is the crux of life”. But Samuel Beckett presents an opposite situation where he depicts “nothing happens twice”. There are anecdotes, incidents, agreements, conversations, contradictions, questions and meaningless answers. The play seems like sympathy of ‘Mozart’.

Que: Waiting for godot characterization?

Ans:

Names: To talk about names is Waiting for Godot is to open one giant can of worms. We’ll just go one worm at a time. "Godot" has the obvious association with "God," a fact that’s been utterly beaten into the ground by now. "Pozzo" sounds like "Godot" and "Bozzo," so it’s a strange mix of God and, well, a clown – that’s tragicomedy for you. The nicknames "Gogo" and "Didi" also remind us of Godot. The name "Lucky" leads us to ask the ever-popular question, "Is Lucky lucky?" Vladimir and Estragon each take on a third name with "Albert" and "Adam" respectively. You can search us to come up with something for Albert other than it’s arbitrary (and therefore irrational and absurd) and makes another dual pairing with the name Adam, which itself is biblical.

Clothing: Costuming is not explicitly stated in the script, other than the use of bowlerhats and boots. However, in stage productions, Vladimir and Estragon are usually dressed like vagrants, reminding one of vaudevillian characters like Laurel and Hardy. In fact, we repeatedly see this slapstick quality to Vladimir and Estragon’s banter (like when they trade bowler hats or play with Estragon’s boots).

Speech and Dialogue (Colloquial Irish dialect): As you’ve probably heard by now, Waiting for Godot was originally written in French and then translated by Samuel Beckett himself into English. Beckett was Irish, so we hear a good deal of colloquial Dublinisms like "your man" and "I’d like well to hear him think." This adds to our vision of Vladimir and Estragon as everyday men, just some random guys on the side of the road, not philosophers or great thinkers.

Lucky’s Pedantic Ivory Tower Lingo: Lucky’s one monologue undeniably represents something other than the everyday, colloquial speech we’ve gotten used to in Waiting for Godot. We talk about this speech to no end in Lucky’s character analysis if you’re interested in the details.