Towards Excellence

(ISSN No. 0974-035X)
(An indexed refereed & peer-reviewed journal of higher education)
UGC-MALAVIYA MISSION TEACHER TRAINING CENTRE GUJARAT UNIVERSITY

PORTRAITURE OF HUMAN EMOTIONS IN THE MIDST OF COVID-19 WITH REFERENCE TO SAMUEL BECKETT’S WAITING FOR GODOT

Authors:

Rajesh Bharvad, Enakshi Chakraborty

Abstract:

The ongoing Covid-19 pandemic has created an existential crisis among people. It has applied what Nietzsche once said, “to live is to suffer, to survive is to find some meaning in the suffering.” Many people are being down and out all over the world. The lockdown period has increased the struggle to find genuine meaning for existence. Why are we here? How can we make a difference? How should we really live?

 

Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot is a search for a way of relief. The characters here reflect the meaninglessness of life. The acts of Vladimir and Estragon resemble the boredom and monotony of lockdown. In act I, Estragon says, “nothing happens, nobody comes, nobody goes, it’s awful.” Godot is the unknown. Godot never turns up, but keeps on procrastinating his visit to the end.

 

The paper is an effort to shed light on human emotions in the wake of Covid – 19 and how it has thrown humans to confront with the basic situation of their existence and undergo through dilemma of choices and expectations. 

Keywords:

Covid-19, meaninglessness, existentialism, and despair and hope

Vol & Issue:

VOL.12, ISSUE No.2, March 2020