Metatheatre and Beckett: Waiting for Godot and Endgame

This book examines Samuel Beckett's masterpieces, Waiting for Godot and Endgame, in the light of metatheatre's concept. The main concern of this work concentrates on the fourfold elements of plot, characterization, language and time that break with the conventional principles of theatre in order to promote a new view of dramatic form which Lionel Able coins as metatheatre. Beckett subverts the logical movement of plot and turns it into a circular one in which endings and beginnings are the same. Characterization no longer reveals the inner life of the character because Beckett has created such self-conscious metatheatre in which characters are aware of their own theatricality. Moreover,Beckett challenges the common function of language as a means of communication in order to get beyond the limitations of language. The concept of time in Beckett shows his radical departure from the familiar techniques of theatre. In Waiting for Godot and Endgame, Beckett tries to stop the time by making the passage of time too slow to be felt at all.