A comparative study of Maurice Maeterlinck's play The Blind and Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot, focusing on the theme of waiting and looking at Henri Bergson's theory of time
1
Ministry of Science, Tehran University of Arts, Faculty of Cinema and Theater
2
Ministry of Science, Faculty of Foreign Languages and Literature, University of Tehran
10.30480/dam.2025.5784.1975
Abstract
The concept of waiting has undoubtedly been one of the most important concepts that has occupied the human mind since the beginning. Since the beginning of creation, man has always been waiting for a savior. But sometimes these moments of waiting become so long that death comes. Samuel Beckett and Maurice Maeterlinck are thinkers who have addressed this issue in their works. Their famous plays (The Blind and Waiting for Godot) have addressed this eternal concept approximately half a century apart. In this study, we try to first show how similar these two plays are in terms of dramatic plot and content, and also to what extent the concept of waiting has been common and influential in the works of these two. Time and waiting are intertwined concepts, and in this study, the theory of the modern philosopher Henri Bergson (theory of time) is used to some extent to further understand the subject. Bergson proposes another concept of time - the delay and stretching of time - in which time is no longer just the linear and abstract concept of the hour, and a minute may encompass hours or even years. In this research, we have tried to present a comparison between the two plays above, while using a qualitative analytical method, relying on library and documentary studies, and to some extent applying Bergson's theory of time. The research findings indicate that the theme of waiting is common and frequent in these two plays and even in some other works of these two authors. Also, Beckett's Waiting for Godot was greatly influenced by Maeterlinck's play The Blind.
Ashrafi, M. , zargar, S. and shahverdyani, N. (2025). A comparative study of Maurice Maeterlinck's play The Blind and Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot, focusing on the theme of waiting and looking at Henri Bergson's theory of time. , 16(43), 58-75. doi: 10.30480/dam.2025.5784.1975
MLA
Ashrafi, M. , , zargar, S. , and shahverdyani, N. . "A comparative study of Maurice Maeterlinck's play The Blind and Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot, focusing on the theme of waiting and looking at Henri Bergson's theory of time", , 16, 43, 2025, 58-75. doi: 10.30480/dam.2025.5784.1975
HARVARD
Ashrafi, M., zargar, S., shahverdyani, N. (2025). 'A comparative study of Maurice Maeterlinck's play The Blind and Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot, focusing on the theme of waiting and looking at Henri Bergson's theory of time', , 16(43), pp. 58-75. doi: 10.30480/dam.2025.5784.1975
CHICAGO
M. Ashrafi , S. zargar and N. shahverdyani, "A comparative study of Maurice Maeterlinck's play The Blind and Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot, focusing on the theme of waiting and looking at Henri Bergson's theory of time," , 16 43 (2025): 58-75, doi: 10.30480/dam.2025.5784.1975
VANCOUVER
Ashrafi, M., zargar, S., shahverdyani, N. A comparative study of Maurice Maeterlinck's play The Blind and Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot, focusing on the theme of waiting and looking at Henri Bergson's theory of time. , 2025; 16(43): 58-75. doi: 10.30480/dam.2025.5784.1975
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