"Alone together forever", hope in the desire for companionship in Samuel Beckett's plays

This thesis reconciles the contradiction between the two ways of reading Beckett’s Waiting for Godot, Come and Go, Ohio Impromptu, and Krapp’s Last Tape by proving that hope stems not from the relief of knowing that the world is still familiar. Rather Beckett’s plays are hopeful because they display...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Khoirunnisaa Abdul Ja’afar
Other Authors: Kevin Riordan
Format: Final Year Project (FYP)
Language:English
Published: 2015
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/10356/62761
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author Khoirunnisaa Abdul Ja’afar
author2 Kevin Riordan
author_facet Kevin Riordan
Khoirunnisaa Abdul Ja’afar
author_sort Khoirunnisaa Abdul Ja’afar
collection NTU
description This thesis reconciles the contradiction between the two ways of reading Beckett’s Waiting for Godot, Come and Go, Ohio Impromptu, and Krapp’s Last Tape by proving that hope stems not from the relief of knowing that the world is still familiar. Rather Beckett’s plays are hopeful because they display his characters’ struggle to reach out to one another, which exhibits their desire for companionship. Reading his plays through Abramovic’s performance provides a new perspective to reconsider the notion of hope in his work. By being silent and by freezing time in her performance, Abramovic bridges the gap between herself and her audience. Despite being entrapped in a meaningless and alien world, Beckett’s characters too strive to find a connection with one another. Reading Beckett’s work from this perspective reveals its timelessness as it addresses and provides a kind of consolation for the problem Man is faced with today; which is human beings’ alienation from one another and the problem of loneliness that displays our desire for companionship.
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spelling ntu-10356/627612019-12-10T13:17:11Z "Alone together forever", hope in the desire for companionship in Samuel Beckett's plays Khoirunnisaa Abdul Ja’afar Kevin Riordan School of Humanities and Social Sciences DRNTU::Humanities::Literature::English This thesis reconciles the contradiction between the two ways of reading Beckett’s Waiting for Godot, Come and Go, Ohio Impromptu, and Krapp’s Last Tape by proving that hope stems not from the relief of knowing that the world is still familiar. Rather Beckett’s plays are hopeful because they display his characters’ struggle to reach out to one another, which exhibits their desire for companionship. Reading his plays through Abramovic’s performance provides a new perspective to reconsider the notion of hope in his work. By being silent and by freezing time in her performance, Abramovic bridges the gap between herself and her audience. Despite being entrapped in a meaningless and alien world, Beckett’s characters too strive to find a connection with one another. Reading Beckett’s work from this perspective reveals its timelessness as it addresses and provides a kind of consolation for the problem Man is faced with today; which is human beings’ alienation from one another and the problem of loneliness that displays our desire for companionship. Bachelor of Arts 2015-04-28T08:55:47Z 2015-04-28T08:55:47Z 2015 2015 Final Year Project (FYP) http://hdl.handle.net/10356/62761 en Nanyang Technological University 32 p. application/pdf
spellingShingle DRNTU::Humanities::Literature::English
Khoirunnisaa Abdul Ja’afar
"Alone together forever", hope in the desire for companionship in Samuel Beckett's plays
title "Alone together forever", hope in the desire for companionship in Samuel Beckett's plays
title_full "Alone together forever", hope in the desire for companionship in Samuel Beckett's plays
title_fullStr "Alone together forever", hope in the desire for companionship in Samuel Beckett's plays
title_full_unstemmed "Alone together forever", hope in the desire for companionship in Samuel Beckett's plays
title_short "Alone together forever", hope in the desire for companionship in Samuel Beckett's plays
title_sort alone together forever hope in the desire for companionship in samuel beckett s plays
topic DRNTU::Humanities::Literature::English
url http://hdl.handle.net/10356/62761
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