full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Iseult Gillespie: Why should you read "Waiting for Godot"?


Unscramble the Blue Letters


Estragon: Don’t let's do anything. It's safer.

Vladimir: Let’s wait and see what he says.

Estragon: Who?

Vladimir: Godot.

Estragon: Good idea.

Such cryptic dgiuaole and cialucrr reasoning are key features of the Theatre of the Absurd, a movement which emerged after the Second World War and found artists struggling to find meaning in devastation. The absurdists deconstructed plot, character and language to question their meaning and share their prnouofd uncrtietnay on stage.

While this may snuod grim, the absurd blends its hopelessness with humor. This is reflected in Beckett’s uinuqe approach to genre in Waiting for Godot, which he branded “a tragicomedy in two acts." Tragically, the characters are locked in an existential conundrum: they wait in vain for an unknown fgiure to give them a sesne of purpose, but their only sense of purpose comes from the act of waiting, While they wait, they sink into boroedm, express rioiluges dread and contemplate siucdie.

Open Cloze


Estragon: Don’t let's do anything. It's safer.

Vladimir: Let’s wait and see what he says.

Estragon: Who?

Vladimir: Godot.

Estragon: Good idea.

Such cryptic ________ and ________ reasoning are key features of the Theatre of the Absurd, a movement which emerged after the Second World War and found artists struggling to find meaning in devastation. The absurdists deconstructed plot, character and language to question their meaning and share their ________ ___________ on stage.

While this may _____ grim, the absurd blends its hopelessness with humor. This is reflected in Beckett’s ______ approach to genre in Waiting for Godot, which he branded “a tragicomedy in two acts." Tragically, the characters are locked in an existential conundrum: they wait in vain for an unknown ______ to give them a _____ of purpose, but their only sense of purpose comes from the act of waiting, While they wait, they sink into _______, express _________ dread and contemplate _______.

Solution


  1. uncertainty
  2. figure
  3. sound
  4. profound
  5. dialogue
  6. suicide
  7. religious
  8. unique
  9. boredom
  10. circular
  11. sense

Original Text


Estragon: Don’t let's do anything. It's safer.

Vladimir: Let’s wait and see what he says.

Estragon: Who?

Vladimir: Godot.

Estragon: Good idea.

Such cryptic dialogue and circular reasoning are key features of the Theatre of the Absurd, a movement which emerged after the Second World War and found artists struggling to find meaning in devastation. The absurdists deconstructed plot, character and language to question their meaning and share their profound uncertainty on stage.

While this may sound grim, the absurd blends its hopelessness with humor. This is reflected in Beckett’s unique approach to genre in Waiting for Godot, which he branded “a tragicomedy in two acts." Tragically, the characters are locked in an existential conundrum: they wait in vain for an unknown figure to give them a sense of purpose, but their only sense of purpose comes from the act of waiting, While they wait, they sink into boredom, express religious dread and contemplate suicide.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations





Important Words


  1. absurd
  2. absurdists
  3. act
  4. acts
  5. approach
  6. artists
  7. blends
  8. boredom
  9. branded
  10. character
  11. characters
  12. circular
  13. contemplate
  14. cryptic
  15. deconstructed
  16. devastation
  17. dialogue
  18. dread
  19. emerged
  20. existential
  21. express
  22. features
  23. figure
  24. find
  25. genre
  26. give
  27. godot
  28. good
  29. grim
  30. hopelessness
  31. humor
  32. idea
  33. key
  34. language
  35. locked
  36. meaning
  37. movement
  38. plot
  39. profound
  40. purpose
  41. question
  42. reasoning
  43. reflected
  44. religious
  45. safer
  46. sense
  47. share
  48. sink
  49. sound
  50. stage
  51. struggling
  52. suicide
  53. theatre
  54. tragically
  55. tragicomedy
  56. uncertainty
  57. unique
  58. unknown
  59. vain
  60. wait
  61. waiting
  62. war
  63. world