Jamie Pond - Ms Pickles - 12Hg - English

Explore how Beckett keeps an audience interested and amused in a play in which "nothing happens, nobody comes, nobody goes".

Beckett amuses and attains the interest of the audience in Waiting for Godot with the use of comic devices and the movement and development of the characters, in spite of the title quotation denoting the contrary.

Beckett adopts the device of the comic duo between Estragon and Vladimir which is a staple in the formation of comedy in the play, creating a platform for the stichomythia between the characters, which prevalent throughout the play, forming the comedy through mockery and insults, such as 'Imbecile!' this device therefore amuses and entertains the audience. Similarly, Beckett's use of Lucky's soliloquy amuse the audience as a result of the verbal chaos, which could be Beckett's reflection of how he considers society is broken, leaving people with a sense of no belonging or security in the way that the speech is broken and has no 'belonging', clear reason or resolution, entertaining the audience through the chaos and madness of the speech.

Therefore, it is clear to see how Beckett has amused and entertained the audience.

In support of the idea that 'nothing happens, nobody comes, nobody goes' there is the stage directions at the start of the second act -"Same Time. Same Place.". This highlights the idea that nothing happens due to the fact the midpoint of the production has been reached and nothing of any significance (in terms of a plot) has occurred. This could be a reflection of how Beckett believes that hoping for change is futile, delineated further by the refrain of the phrase "Nothing to be done" indicating Beckett's idea that change is not within mankind's reach and therefore connoting ideas...