Waiting For Godot:A Historical Cognitive Narratological Analysis

This dissertation aims to identify Waiting for Godot 's story themes and to disentangle theoretical confusion within this play,then to get the theoretical inspirations from case study research.This academic goal is achieved by reconstructing a Historical Cognitive Narratology,a highly interdisciplinary research area that forges connections between Cognitive Narratology and Historical Poetics(a comparative poetics).The main content of this study is divided into 4 chapters.The first chapter describes briefly 5 main interpretations,and details the causes of these 5 interpretations getting into wrangles with one another.The necessity of reconstructing Historical Cognitive Narratology has been put forward through interpreting the unsolved problem of the previous studies:Cognitive Narratology shows an advantage in dealing with narrative sequences,related cognitive frames and story dynamics.And Historical Poetics opens the door to the diachronic system of the text with the historical comparison method.These two methods both have the unmet potential of interdisciplinary research.Based on the above reasons,we put forward a revised model of resolving disputes over this play,in other words,revise the religious interpretation of Waiting for Godot,establish a relation with the Messianic Hope,reset the script of Waiting for Godot.On the narrative sequence level,through close reading,the second chapter reveals events in Waiting for Godot is partially deconstructed,but is not wholly deconstructed.Being conditional upon the acceptance of deterministic event,that is,waiting for being reconfirmed,It puts forward clearly that "making an appointment"is the cause of "waiting for",which is confirmed by Godot's boy."Hope deferred" is the result of "waiting for",which reason why it is difficult to find is because of its religious logic.And on this basis,the script" making an appointment-waiting for-Hope deferred" in Waiting for Godot is reset and compared with the narrative sequence in the Messianic Hope,such both are judged to belong to the same type.The third chapter reexamine the system of characters and space-time locations with a new perspective,which are matched with the narrative sequence.This chapter not only comprehensively divides characters and space-time locations systems into four types,but also focuses on solving the Beckett's riddle "Who is Godot?" First of all,four types of characters and space-time locations systems are proposed,that are"System of expecting people"," System of expected people","System of Substitutes and skewed oppositions" and "System of space-time locations".Such are isomorphic in Waiting for Godot and the Messianic Hope.Next,with an application of an inter-disciplinary and mixed-method approach,Beckett's riddle is solved emphatically,that is The Messiah itself has complex hierarchies,multiple names and multiple identities,Which is the historical cause of the Beckett's riddle "Who is Godot?" And "Godot" should be identified in a system,not just be identified by itself.In the other word,in Waiting for Godot,Godot and Godot's boy should be identified as a system.The fourth chapter outlines the emotional dynamic system which has not been discovered before.Such is just discovered through introducing Affective Narratology,and through extending to the horizon of one branch in Historical Cognitive Narratology,namely Soci-Psychology Cognitive Narratology.It can be argued that in Waiting for Godot,it is an affection-hope that works at the crucial turning point to push events forward,at the same time disappointment and despair in Waiting for Godot is an impending reverse thrust,which through the accumulation and release of mental energy,drives the narrative progression faster in the reverse direction.The conclusion thinks that narrative structure of Waiting for Godot is isomorphic to narrative structure of the Messianic Hope.And this isomorphic principle runs consistently.It is important to point out that the biggest difference from the previous religious studies,which is achieved trough constructing new methods and discovering new branches of Historical Cognitive Narratology,namely Soci-Psychology Cognitive Narratology.These methods and new branches of Historical Cognitive Narratology offer outstanding advantages for dealing with the narrative literature,especially in the narrative works with social psychological meaning.