Inefficacy of language : a study in beckett's play–waiting for godot

Abstract EN

Language is what determines the regulated world, the signification of which provides the foundation of our culture, our activities and our relations.

It defines our identity as a form of reassurance.

It deals not only with the impossibilities of knowing the motivation of human beings, but also presents the problem of communication between human beings.

Speech is, undoubtedly, the proof of existence as well as a manner of contending silence, solitude and death, and it is man’s unique heritage.

Absurd dramatists’ use of language probes the limitations of language both as a means of communication and as an instrument of thought as there can be no definite meanings in a world deprived of values, principles and virtues.

They have chosen to write in a language devoid of content to become the adequate representation of stagnant life; they present language as an inefficient tool to express one’s thought, to comprehend the world, or to define one’s self.

So Samuel Beckett metalized the absurdity of modern life and human condition in his play.

He displayed that with the advent of the twentieth century and its idiosyncrasies, the already taken-for-granted defined character has turn to the most passive of all, bewildered, disillusioned, alienated, dislocated, and purposeless.

This creature may provide a new language, new ideas, new approaches, and a new vitalized philosophy to transform the modes of thought and feeling of the public at large in a not too distant future.

The present paper aims to reveal the labyrinth of language since it is the symbol of human existence.

So it is used here as a symbol of absurdity.

Key words: absurdity, existence, communication, inefficient, deterioration, gestures.