Silence As A Technique To Show Time English Literature Essay

Literary silence can be used to function several intents. Silence can be used to make a tragic ambiance, to convey out unhappiness, surprise or daze, to stress the lines before and after it and it can besides be used to construct up suspense and emotion. This essay will research the relationship between clip and silence in The Outsider and Waiting for Godot.

“ Silence fills this hollow universe,

Silence is the pick we make,

Silence is the decease of this all,

Silence is our destiny. ”

This infusion from Okami Kamikaze ‘s verse form, ‘Eternal silence ‘ seems to suit Beckett ‘s drama absolutely.

The silence is contributed to the drama by the intermissions mentioned in the phase waies. In fact there is no logical idea procedure in the drama as it is interrupted by the intermissions. The intermissions and silences in the drama make a unfertile and tragic ambiance that the characters seem to fear. “ Silence is pouring into the drama like H2O into a sinking ship ” , to cite Beckett.

The silence, crisp, echoing and resonating seems to make much torment in the supporters. It is this upseting silence that the characters try to avoid through useless babbling, throughout the drama. The silence is a consequence of the decomposition of the establishment of linguistic communication, therefore we see short duologues, nervous laughter and long drawn intermissions. The intermissions and silences besides help in making an air of uncertainness that like the echoing silence envelops the full drama. This is evidenced by the fact that the characters, Vladimir and Estragon are diffident about everything from the day of the month, clip, twenty-four hours, to their intent and the individuality of Godot.

“ VLADIMIR: He said Saturday. ( Pause. ) I think.

Tarragon: ( really insidious ) . But what Saturday? And is it Saturday? Is it non instead Sunday?

( Pause. ) Or Monday? ( Pause. ) Or Friday? ”

Time in waiting for Godot behaves in a funny manner, it is cloudy. Time assumes an intangible quality and lacks definition. It seems to stand still as if it were waiting for Godot excessively. This inactive consequence is created through the insistent actions of characters like looking in their chapeau, taking off boots and the similar. The drama with the deficiency of any background music is enshrouded in silence, making a inactive medium for clip.

The tree in the background appears wastes in Act I and is covered with leaves the following. The carrot in the first act becomes a radish in the 2nd. A alteration usually taking hebdomads or likely months happens in a individual dark. This is besides the lone manner the readers are made cognizant of the transition of clip. The couple of besides undergo a enormous alteration all in the p of one dark. Lucky becomes deaf-and-dumb person and Pozzo, blind. The reaching of the courier male child signals the terminal of a twenty-four hours. The reaching of Lucky and Pozzo brings with it one-dimensionality to clip, the minute they leave, clip becomes cloudy once more. The characters Lucky and Pozzo have hence been dubbed the ‘Champions of Time ‘ by some critics. It is as if clip is frozen in silence, merely when the silence interruptions, is clip able to travel, merely to go frozen when the steely silence returns. Gunther Andres compactly summarizes clip stating, “ Although a ‘stream of clip ‘ does n’t be any longer, the ‘time stuff ‘ is non petrified yet ; alternatively of a traveling watercourse, clip here has become something like a dead pulp. ”

I feel that the characters exemplify the phrase, ‘Killing Time ‘ . The ceaseless waiting, the humdrum repeat and the decomposition of linguistic communication completes this activity. Even Lucky and Pozzo who in the beginning are gifted with consciousness of clip after a few proceedingss in the inactive clip of the supporters, lose clip. In the beginning, we find Pozzo look intoing his ticker, so the ticker stops working and eventually he loses his ticker.

“ POZZO: aˆ¦ . Thank you, dear chap. ( He consults his ticker. ) But I must truly be acquiring along, if I am to detect my agenda.

VLADIMIR: Time has stopped.

POZZO: ( snuggling his ticker to his ear ) . Do n’t you believe it, Sir, do n’t you believe it. ( He puts his ticker back in his pocket. ) Whatever you like, but non that. ”

Time is so dead in the frame of the supporters. We see Lucky and Pozzo, whom the supporters look up to as privileged existences due to their consciousness of clip, besides pervert and lose their consciousness, going one with the stagnation that is clip.

The Outsider is a fresh dealing with the experiential crisis of disaffection and self-alienation by Gallic writer, Albert Camus. In this book, the usage of silence is elusive unlike Waiting for Godot, with its glaring silences and intermissions. Unlike Waiting for Godot, silence here offers a infinite to believe, to concentrate and wait.

The narrative manner itself suits the absence of sound. It should be noted that The Outsider has really few cases of direct duologue. Most of the book is written in indirect address that creates an uneven feeling of withdrawal of Meursalt with the secret plan of the book. As a consequence, the full book seems to be encased in silence. However this remains unnoticed by the readers except when the writer draws attending to the silence. Any little, bantam sound makes us recognize the absence of it. This is particularly seen during the imprisonment of Meursalt.

In many parts of the book, Meursalt seems to exhibit a stony silence without responding or answering to inquiries and even take parting in conversations. This is possibly because of a deficiency of things to state. Meursalt is, as Camus describes him, “ in love with a Sun that leaves no shadows. ” He does non lie but stands for truth. He does non even utter the harmless white prevarications to delight society and to carry through its meaningless imposts. As a consequence most of Meursalt ‘s silence are “ because he does n’t play the game. ” to cite Camus.

Unlike Waiting for Godot, the characters appear to be really cognizant of clip. Time here is a additive entity with definite boundaries.The book has really specific inside informations about clip, forenoon, eventide, hebdomad etc. and that suggests that Meursalt is really cognizant of what is traveling on around him.

In The Outsider there is calculated usage of silence is to in two chief cases to demo motion. One is the period of captivity of Meursalt and the other during the test. We find Meursalt tidal bore to acquire it over with. He does non pay any attending to the test and longs to be back in his cell. At the terminal of Meursalt ‘s life, he seems to detest the silence of the audience that comes to watch his executing. They seem to stand still with bated breath while he wants them to clap and hoot handling him like a hero. Silence Kills ; it intensifies his limited clip before his executing conveying into crisp focal point the brevity of his life.

Even during his captivity, we find him sitting in silence watching the skies change from twenty-four hours to dark, his senses more crisp and ague than of all time.

“ ne’er earlier had my ears picked up so many noises or detected such bantam sounds. ”

The silence creates a crisp concentration to Meursalt ‘s senses. He waits for something to go on. He waits for person to come. He seems to cognize his destiny at the custodies of a society that does n’t cognize and understand him. He seems impatient for this clip to go through into action, an action that might even direct him to his decease.

The writer draws our attending to the silence by adverting the bantam noises.

“ like a Canis familiaris ‘s death-rattle, my bosom would n’t split after all and I ‘d hold gained another 20 four hours. ”

This line shows that the deathlike silence reflects the long hours of captivity. The silence is possibly to demo the apparently slow passing of clip. Even during the vigil, the silence is about tangible, broken merely by shortness of breaths and oinks. This apart from what Meursalt considers to be an unneeded rite besides serves to show the slow transition of clip.

Although we see silence in both books, used to function the same intent, the consequence created is drastically different. Silence and the consciousness of the characters to the transition of clip have successfully created affecting minutes in the texts. They have revealed to us non merely the heads of the characters, but have besides put into perspective life and decease itself. We as readers have been drawn into the whirl of these silences and clip sections with expectancy and we have ne’er been disappointed.