Waiting For Godot And Beowulf: Fate Essay, Research Paper

Waiting for godot and Beowulf: Fate

Reading a work of literature often makes a reader experience certain feelings.

These feeling differ with the content of the work, and are usually needed to

perceive the author’s ideas in the work. For example, Samuel Beckett augments a

reader’s understanding of Waiting For Godot by conveying a mood, (one which the

characters in the play experience), to the reader. Similarly, a dominant mood is

thrust upon a reader in Beowulf. These moods which are conveyed aid the author

in conveying ideas to a reader.

In Waiting for Godot, Beckett uses many pauses, silences, and ellipses (three

dots (…) used to create a break in speech) to express a feeling of waiting and

unsureness. There is a twofold purpose behind this technique. For one, it shows

that Vladimir and Estragon, the two main characters who are waiting for Godot,

are unsure of why they are waiting for him. This also foreshadows that they will

be waiting a very long time.

In some cases in literature, an idea can only be conveyed properly if those on

the receiving end of the idea are able to experience the feelings that a

character is experiencing in the work. For example, in order for a reader to

feel how and understand why Vladimir and Estragon feel as though they do while

they wait, it is essential for that reader to either understand or experience

the same feelings that Vladimir and Estragon are experiencing. Vladimir and

Estragon are waiting; waiting for Godot, to be exact; and Beckett wants the

reader to feel as if he or she were waiting also. Along with the feeling of

waiting that a reader may experience, he or she might also understand how

Vladimir and Estragon feel at times: Unsure, not very anxious to move on, and

constantly having to wait. A feeling of timelessness is even evoked, allowing

almost anyone from nearly any time to understand Vladimir and Estragon’s

predicament.

Many times people may feel overwhelmed by a higher force unalterable to them.

This force may control something such as their fate. In the Anglo-Saxon culture,

a popular belief was that of fate. The writers of Beowulf may have known that

not all people believe in the power of fate. Therefore, to properly convey such

an idea as the inevitability of fate in the epic, the writers included events

which, when read, are also “experienced” by the reader. For example, the

narrator of Beowulf states how fate is not on Beowulf’s side. After many years

of winning countless battles, Beowulf was killed by a dragon in a fierce fight.

While he was fighting, and because the narrator had stated that fate was not on

his side, the reader could identify with Beowulf and feel how he may have at the

time: Overwhelmed, overpowered, and as if a force greater than he was

controlling him (his fate).

Moods that are created, such as that of longing or waiting, and fear or

inevitability, in Waiting for Godot and Beowulf, respectively, hold a distinct

purpose. The moods presented usually serve the purpose of helping the author

express more fully an the idea or ideas that he or she wishes to convey. Also,

by conveying a universal mood, or one that nearly everyone is able to comprehend

and interpret, the work of literature’s longevity is augmented. This will

further help the reader to interpret the work and understand more fully the

moods presented.