For instance, one of the most frequent topics in both Beckett’s plays and novels is the examination of the human condition and the perception of the suffering “I” in the daily experience of living and dying, that is the Buddhist samsara. The main topic of my paper consists in the analysis of some fundamental Buddhist concepts hosted, so to speak, in the playwrights’ art, concepts that can consequently be employed as helpful tools in order to reach a better understanding of several of Beckett’s artistic issues. Besides the frequent appearance of images and symbol in Beckett’s plays and novels, images and symbols that due to their polysemic nature can easily be ascribed to philosophical, religious and psychoanalytical systems belonging to the western tradition as well, in my opinion it is important to realize that very often Beckett’s thought covers individual paths that are its own, though to some extent similar to those belonging to the Buddhist Zen tradition. For instance, in the scarcely known essay Henry Heyden, homme paintre, the author underlines Siddharta Gautama’s declaration of the simultaneous existence and non-existence of the “I”. Vladimir says 'its the start thats difficult. Active Themes The two struggle to find something to talk about. Estragon says all he remembers are some colored maps of the holy land. Vladimir asks if Estragon has ever read the Bible. 6 Pozzo and Lucky fall down as they arrive. 5 Vladimir and Estragon arrive again to wait for Godot. 4 A boy arrives with a message: Godot will not come tonight. Thus they are compelled to fill their time with absurd, often nonsensical conversation. Waiting for Godot Summary Next Act 1 Vladimir and Estragon wait at the side of a road, near a tree, agreeing that there is 'nothing to be done.' Estragon struggles to take off one of his boots. 2 Pozzo stops to talk to Vladimir and Estragon. Applying Buddhism as a critical approach to Beckett’s works doesn’t mean neither assuming a Beckettian in-depth knowledge of the Buddhist issue, nor stating his precise intention to diffuse Buddhist doctrine in his own works, though there are several instances of Beckett’s explicit statement of the importance of Buddhist principles. Waiting for Godot Summary Waiting for Godot begins with two men on a barren road by a leafless tree. When Estragon and Vladimir stop talking, they must confront the emptiness of their livesthe fact that they have nothing to do but wait for Godot. Steven Rosen, in Samuel Beckett and the Pessimistic Tradition (1976), moves further, by analyzing Beckett’s works and stating that they reproduce a great variety of Buddhist conceptual elements. Set in some kind of strange post-apocalyptic world, the piece employs two elderly homeless men as its protagonists who further propel the theme of isolation. Richard Coes, in his Beckett (1964) infers it with authority, offering several relevant examples of a possible comparative reading. ""The first attempts to apply Buddhist and Zen systems of thought as critical methodologies in the examination of Beckett’s canon can be traced back to the first half of the Sixties.
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