ENGL 110 Clay   Tags: clay, english, waiting for godot  

Papers vs. Research Papers

A paper about Waiting for Godot would include your own ideas and analysis of the play.

A research paper about Waiting for Godot includes your own ideas and analysis + books, articles, and websites about the play, the author (Samuel Beckett) and perhaps the literary movements he was associated with (for example, the Theatre of the Absurd).   

We can help you find books, articles, and websites about Samuel Beckett!

Cañada College English 110 Clay  Spring 2011

Waiting For Godot:  Paper Due May 17 (or 18th for MW class)

Waiting for Godot is usually considered the prime example of the Theater of the Absurd.  But how absurd is it?  It is a play of ideas, and a description of the intellectual helplessness of the Post World War II era.  It is without a doubt the most influential play of the 20^th century, and it has been the object of much discussion and controversy. 

For this paper please explore some of the criticism and discussion of the play and Beckett’s ideas.  Use the Cañada library’s databases and the Samuel Beckett page: < http://www.samuel-beckett.net/ > to find one or more critical comments that you find interesting and important to the play.

Discuss these sources in some detail and write about how they illuminate the play.  You may want to think about such topics as Beckett and existentialism, Beckett and the theater of the absurd, or his consideration of religious ideas.  You must be careful to use MLA style as you document your sources.

Your paper should be 1000 to 1500 words long.  And don’t forget to do a complete reading of the play!

Here is Harold Pinter on Beckett:

The farther he goes the more good it does me. I don’t want philosophies, tracts, dogmas, creeds, ways out, truths, answers, nothing from the bargain basement. He is the most courageous, remorseless writer going and the more he grinds my nose in the s… the more I am grateful to him.

….

His work is beautiful.

(http://www.samuel-beckett.net/)