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<p>This paper examines the use of laughter as redemption in Samuel Beckett’s <italic>Waiting for Godot</italic> and <italic>Endgame</italic>. By acknowledging the somatic life of characters, Beckett’s humour problematises un-embodied philosophies of life. Challenging Hugh Kenner’s claim that Beckett’s humour is not redemptive because of the dryness and repetitions involved, it is argued that the foregrounding of fragility and vulnerability is a way of expressing deeply humane laughter in <italic>Waiting for Godot</italic> and <italic>Endgame</italic>. While highlighting that the dialectic of lack and excess is one source of Beckettian laughter, the main thrust of the argument emphasises the possibility of transcendence in a comic situation. The play of lack and excess, rather than suspending transcendental redemption, presents the human condition in its existential mundane realities. Accordingly, visceral and repetitive laughter are discussed in the two plays to bring to the fore the ironic and redemptive aspect of the comic, especially in the scenes where some sort of existential humour is implied.</p>
</abstract>

This paper examines the use of laughter as redemption in Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot and Endgame. By acknowledging the somatic life of characters, Beckett’s humour problematises un-embodied philosophies of life. Challenging Hugh Kenner’s claim that Beckett’s humour is not redemptive because of the dryness and repetitions involved, it is argued that the foregrounding of fragility and vulnerability is a way of expressing deeply humane laughter in Waiting for Godot and Endgame. While highlighting that the dialectic of lack and excess is one source of Beckettian laughter, the main thrust of the argument emphasises the possibility of transcendence in a comic situation. The play of lack and excess, rather than suspending transcendental redemption, presents the human condition in its existential mundane realities. Accordingly, visceral and repetitive laughter are discussed in the two plays to bring to the fore the ironic and redemptive aspect of the comic, especially in the scenes where some sort of existential humour is implied.

Laughing with Beckett in <italic>Waiting for Godot</italic> and <italic>Endgame</italic>

Prague Journal of English Studies

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

This paper examines the use of laughter as redemption in Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot and Endgame. By acknowledging the somatic life of characters,...

Laughing with Beckett in Waiting for Godot and Endgame

Publié en ligne: 13 sept. 2022

Pages: 89 - 105

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/pjes-2022-0005

Mots clés
Samuel Beckett, Humour, Redemptive Laughter, Lack/Excess,

© 2022 Mohammad Masoodi Miyanrostaq et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Laughing with Beckett in Waiting for Godot and Endgame

Publié en ligne: 13 sept. 2022

Pages: 89 - 105

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/pjes-2022-0005

Mots clésSamuel Beckett, Humour, Redemptive Laughter, Lack/Excess,

© 2022 Mohammad Masoodi Miyanrostaq et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Mots clés
Samuel Beckett, Humour, Redemptive Laughter, Lack/Excess,