Waiting For Godot Character Studies

Description:
'Character Studies' aims to promote sophisticated literary analysis through the concept of character. It demonstrates the necessity of linking character analysis to texts, themes, issues and ideas, and encourages students to embrace the complexity of literary characters and the texts in which they appear. The series thus fosters close critical reading and evidence-based discussion, as well as an engagement with historical context, and with literary criticism and theory.This book provides an introductory study of Beckett's most famous play, dealing not just with the four main characters but with the pairings that they form, and the implications of these pairings for the very idea of character in the play. After locating Godot within the context of Beckett's work, Lawley discusses some of the play's puzzles and difficulties - including the absent 'fifth character', Godot himself - he examines character-in-action in particular episodes and passages, drawing frequently on Beckett's revised text and paying consistent attention to the problems and possibilities of the text in performance.

Review:
''Brilliantly conceived, and crafted with his usual verve and wit, Paul Lawley's introduction to Beckett's play is a critical tour de force, with pleasures in store for both novice and experienced Godot audiences.' Professor Angela Moorjani'

Table of Contents:
Series Editor's Preface; 1. Introduction: An Overview of Waiting for Godot; 2. Puzzles and Difficulties; 3. Pseudocouples and Character; 4. Alone Together: Vladimir and Estragon; 5. In Company: Pozzo and Lucky; 6. Humour and Seriousness; 7. Conclusion: Through the Characters to the Themes and Issues Guide to Further Reading; Bibliography; Index.

Author Biography:
Paul Lawley is Lecturer in English at the University of Plymouth, UK. He has published widely, in books and scholarly journals, on the drama and fiction of Samuel Beckett.