Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot: A Theravada Buddhist Reading

Abstract

This paper seeks to understand and interpret Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot through employing the themes in Theravada Buddhism especially the cannon with regard to the ‘three marks of existence’. In a sense, this paper also establishes that the occidental existential strains that are projected by Samuel Beckett are not new to the eastern spirituality and life world and have been existing even before the times of Christ.  Therefore, the comparative reading of occidental and eastern thoughts are profitable and enriching like similar to James G. Frazer’s Golden Bough.  This comparative study is undertaken as a qualitative study by deeply analyzing the selected quotations with the Theravada Buddhist Philosophy mainly Three Marks of Existence in order to interpret the similarities that can be observed in the respective plot.