ECHOES OF ABSURDITY: WAITING FOR GODOT AND THE QUEST FOR MEANING IN A POST-PANDEMIC WORLD

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic heightened global existential concerns about meaning and isolation, which are also two of the issues central to Beckett’s Waiting for Godot. The play’s depiction of endless waiting and futility of quest for meaning offers a profound commentary on human condition, which in a way is reflective of the collective sense of uncertainty and despair that people experienced during the pandemic.

This paper reads Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot in the context of a post-pandemic world, and focuses on how existentialism and absurdism echo the contemporary experiences of uncertainty and isolation today.

Using a qualitative literary analysis, this study applies existentialist philosophy, particularly insights from Jean-Paul Sartre and Albert Camus, to draw parallels between the play’s themes and the pandemic experience. The analysis incorporates contemporary psychological and philosophical literature on the impact of isolation and existential anxiety with reference to Waiting for Godot. The analysis finds that Waiting for Godot effectively mirrors absurdity, waiting, and meaninglessness that resonate with modern experiences of isolation and uncertainty the world faced due to the pandemic, and that the play continues to provide relevant insights into the human condition in times of global crisis.

Further research should explore how absurdist literature can address contemporary existential issues and mental health challenges, and that works like Waiting for Godot can offer valuable frameworks for understanding and coping with existential anxiety in the 21st Century.