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［摘 要］Waiting for Godot is the stage classic of the theatre of the absurd written by Beckett and first produced in 1953 in Paris.It is regarded as one of the most successful statements about the condition of human kind with existentialism as its philosophical basis.This essay is first about some opinions of the existentialists then the discussion of the influence of existentialism on Waiting for Godot and some thoughts about the play.

［關(guān)鍵詞］Existentialism meaning meaningless absurdity

［中圖分類號］I106 ［文獻(xiàn)標(biāo)識碼］A ［文章編號］1009－5489(2008)10－0133－02

Many people have tried to find out the meaning of life.Especially after the two world wars，the destruction and horrors produced a widespread sense of the utter meaninglessness of human existence.Why am I born？Who am I？What should I do about my life？Is there a manager who is responsible for my life and all the others'？A number of philosophers have put forward different theories trying to answer those questions，among which came out existentialism as a movement in twentieth-century philosophy and literature.In literature，Writers and playwrights have also been fascinated by those questions of life.An Irish playwright Smuel Beckett found his voice in his modernist play Waiting for Godot which is regarded as one of the most successful statements about the condition of human kind with existentialism as its philosophical basis.The play makes a clear demonstration of the conceptions picked up by the existentialists.Waiting for Godot demonstrates the ideas of existentialism delicately and clearly.Both the play and the philosophical theory make a powerful and strikingly sophisticated statement about the living condition of humankind.

Existentialism is a philosophical movement that posits that individuals create the meaning and essence of their lives，as opposed to deities or authorities creating it for them and tends to view human beings as subjects in an indifferent，objective，often ambiguous and\"absurd\"universe，in which meaning is not provided by the natural order，but rather can be created，however provisionally and unstablly，by human beings' actions and interpretations.It holds the opinion that human beings are thrown upon this absurd world and deprived of the right to choose certain conditions in their life which is totally meaningless and hopeless.But，humans can make choices.Although we all have to face our final death，we can choose what kind of life we want to live and we are totally responsible for what we do and who we are.

Waiting for Godot has often been viewed as fundamentally existentialist in its take on life.In the play，two educated tramps wait by a sick tree for Godot who never come.During the waiting，Gogo and Didi meet two other men，the tyrant Pozzo and his slave lucky.A lot of dialogues are made between them with comparatively little actions.This play is just like a condensed and abstracted version of human life.Based on the theory of existentialism，life is meaningless and there is no God in the world.Just like Gogo and Didi's waiting for the never appearing Godot who is the symbolized death.Death will come tomorrow，this Monday or next year，and no one can escape，thus suggesting that the waiting is totally meaningless.Jean Paul Sartre，the leading figure of French existentialism declared that human beings require a rational basis for their lives but are unable to achieve one，and thus human life is a futile passion.The uneventful plot and the minimal setting tend to give out a sense of emptiness cooperating with the atmosphere that can be found throughout the play.The confusion of time appears several times in the nonsensical talk between Gogo and Didi，which also hints about he absurdity of life.All those points echoing the existentialists' theory that men are brought into existence with no free will and there is no purpose，indeed nothing，at the core of existence，which is full of absurdity.The boy who consistently fails to remember either of the two protagonists casts doubt on their very existence.This is why Didi demands to know that the boy will in fact remember them the next day，which shows the ultimate innate fear and humanbeings'desperate need to prove their existence.The play consists of two acts which represent two cycles of time or two mirrors reflecting endlessly.The pattern of time appears to be circular or cyclic，as opposed to linear.Linear time seems to have broken down，as events do not develop with inevitable climaxes historically.The boy returns with the same message，Godot never comes and tomorrow never seems to arrive.The fact that none of the characters retain a clear mental history indicates that they are constantly struggling to prove their existence.The two unemployed tramps have no career and money：the two things most people are pursuing in the materialized world，which shows the existentialists' points that life is very difficult and that it doesn't have an\"objective\"or universally known value，but that the individual must create value by affirming it and living it，not by talking about it.

Satre believed that others are hell.Satre thinks that human beings always want the attention from others and they have the intendancy to persuade others to think of them as they think of themselves.In the play，the relationships between Gogo and Didi，Pozzo and Lucky are weird and complicated，also echoing Satre's theory.Gogo and Didi depend on each other in spite of the fact that they tried to leave each other several times.They try to communicate，but most of the time they can not reach to a compromise with the reason that they have strongly and clearly different personalities and the main reason of their nonsensical talk is that they want to kill time since they have nothing to do but wait.That they controlled each other to some extent makes the two individuals end up with the same decision and take the major move in their life together.In the highly technical and civilized society，man are suffering from solitude and alienation.Men are physically close but mentally apart，but still men need each other and the attention from each other to make the meaningless and empty life have a rich and colorful cover and to make it seem less boring and tedious.

The play is one of the most fascinating and mysterious，on which many people have tried to impose meanings.Beckett has never given out an explanation about those hints puzzling and even misleading.Maybe he himself dosen't know the answers to those questions，and he himself had been asking what is the meaning of human life and tried to acquire the answer to it through the composition of his play.He chose existentialism as his philosophical belief and background，meeting the psychological needs of the people at that time.And together Waiting for Godot and the existentialism have made a clear point that human beings have to suffer the pain and absurdity of their life but still they are given choices to decide what they will do and what they will be.Like what Albert Camus try to state in his classic essay The Myth of Sisyphus，Gogo and Didi choose to wait as Sisyphus choose to move the rocks regardless of the hard conditons around him.Through this play one can get enormous feelings and different thoughts every time reading it and the ever changing world has been adding new understandings to it so that one can never claim that he has understood it，which is also thought not objective and not comprehensive.

［參考文獻(xiàn)］

［1］李鈞：《存在主義文論》，山東教育出版社2000年版。

［2］Esslin，Martin.The Theatre of the Absurd.London：Penguin Books，1986.

［3］Beckett，Samuel.Waiting for Godot.1952.