Study of “Anti-play” Techniques on Waiting for Godot from the Perspectives of Postmodernism.docVIP

Study of “Anti-play” Techniques on Waiting for Godot from the Perspectives of Postmodernism A Thesis Submitted to the Department of Foreign Languages Zengcheng College of South China Normal University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Bachelor of Arts By Li Dongxian Tutor：John Smith May 5, 2007  学位论文原创性声明 本人郑重声明：所呈交的学位论文，是本人在导师的指导下，独立进行研究工作所取得的成果。除文中已经注明引用的内容外，本论文不含任何其他个人或集体已经发表或撰写过的作品或成果。对本文的研究做出重要贡献的个人和集体，均已在文中以明确方式标明。本声明的法律结果由本人承担。 论文作者签名： 日期： 年 月 日 Table of Contents Abstract i 中文摘要 ii 1. Introduction 1 2. The Theoretical Premises 6 2.1 The dissolution of the topic 10 2.2 Depth-less-ness 11 2.3 Indeterminacy 12 2.3.1 Indeterminacy of the theme 12 2.3.2 Indeterminacy of characters 12 2.3.3 Indeterminacy of the plot 13 2.3.4 Indeterminacy of the language 13 2.4 Parody and irony 14 3. Dehumanized Characters and Pairing Relationships in Waiting for Godot 15 4. Direct Expression in Waiting for Godot 23 4.1 Empty stage and muddle-headed characters 24 4.2 Disordered temporal structure 26 4.3 Devalued language and silence aesthetics 28 5. The “Indeterminacy” in Waiting for Godot 33 5.1 Indeterminacy of the characters 33 5.2 Indeterminacy of the theme 38 5.3 Indeterminacy of the plot 40 6. Waiting for Godot: Juxtaposition of Comedy and Tragedy 44 7. Conclusion 50 Bibliography 53 Acknowledgement 54 Abstract T Samuel Barclay Beckett (1906-1989) was an Irish-born poet, novelist and playwright, and is admittedly regarded as one of the greatest masters in the literary world of 20th century. His masterpiece Waiting for Godot, is widely regarded as a classic of the Theatre of the Absurd. The writer of this thesis tries to understand those anti-play techniques from the perspectives of postmodernism and perceive the spirit of postmodernism that the play owns. Here, this thesis focuses on four typical features of postmodernism: the dissolution of the subject; depth-less-ness; indeterminacy; parody and iron