A Comparative Study Of Soyinka's And Beckett's Absurd Plays

Wole Soyinka and Samuel Beckett have occupied an unshakable position in the history of the world of theatre.The former is the most famous playwright in contemporary Nigeria and won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1986,while the latter,awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1969,is one of the most influential novelists and dramatists of British and American literature in the 20 th century.As the playwrights with quite profound attainments in drama creation,the two have many similarities and differences in creating The Road and Waiting for Godot.As an African playwright who experienced the baptism of the western civilization,Soyinka's creation has been influenced by that of western deeply.In his masterpiece The Road,there are a lot of obscure monologues and dialogues and strange stage pictures as well as abrupt plots which are similar to the Theatre of the Absurd.Samuel Beckett,who is one of the founders of genre,also applied some elements of the theatre of the absurd in his masterpiece---Waiting for Godot.It can be seen that Soyinka's The Road and Beckett's Waiting for Godot both reflect the shadow of the Theatre of the Absurd.But after the further analysis on the two masterworks,it is not difficult to find that the philosophical foundation and writing techniques in The Road are different from Waiting for Godot.Previously,many researchers have made all-round and in-depth research on Soyinka's and Beckett's plays respectively and made varied achievements.But few people selected their absurd plays to make a comparative study.Therefore,a comparative study on The Road and Waiting for Godot can provide more perspectives for the research on Soyinka and Beckett.Not only can it help us to clarify the denotation and connotation of the theatre of the absurd,but also it has practical guiding significance to grasp the drama's function of servicing the society.Thus,to some extent,it will fill the gap of the deficiency and blank in the field of comparative literature studies,and provide an available reference for a comparative study.This thesis sets the origin and characteristics of the theatre of the absurd as the breakthrough point,and makes a comparative study of the two plays of the two playwrights.It mainly discusses the similarities and differences beneath the absurd surface between Soyinka's and Beckett's plays through the analysis of the drama language,stage picture and plot arrangement.Therefore,it reveals that The Road cannot be simply classified to the traditional absurd theatre.It is a social reality play with strong social significance in which Soyinka learns from Beckett in the aspect of the language,the stage and the plot,reflects the social reality in Nigeria beneath the absurd surface,and expresses his concern and worry on the destiny of his country and nation.Looking at Beckett's Waiting for Godot,the author of this thesis can strongly feel that the deep concern for the social reality also exists beneath the absurd surface.In brief,the theatre of the absurd is actually a variant of drama but a profound reflection of social reality in essence.