Suppositions of Nietzsche’s Übermensch in Albert Camus’ Caligula (1944) and Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot (1953)
Loading...
Date
2023
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Université Mouloud Mammeri
Abstract
This study was conducted by analyzing the implicit Nietzschean elements in the famous twentieth century plays Caligula (1944) written by Albert Camus and Waiting for Godot (1953) by Samuel Beckett. The purpose of this dissertation was to expound the main echoes of Nietzsche’s morality, Übermensch, Last Man and Higher Man within the scope of the playwrights’ implementation of these notions for the construction of their main characters. In addition this, I have attempted abstracting them in order to get a map of Nietzsche’s kinds of men that rely on his controversial ideas about superior and inferior moralities. The results showcase the intertextual dialogism of the two plays. The first chapter dissected Nietzsche’s representations, mainly that of the Overman, in the play Caligula. Findings after analysis showed that Albert Camus was not only exploring the concept through his main character, but he also caricatured the emperor of Rome by applying the attributes of Nietzsche’s Overman in a literal and rigid manner. Chapter II was dedicated to an analysis of Waiting for Godot’s Vladimir and Estragon as well as a study of Pozzo and Lucky whom were presented as a literal Master/slave dichotomy. This second chapter revealed the failure of Vladimir and Estragon to go beyond themselves as well as Pozzo and Lucky’s oversimplified representation that served as a critique to the duality of dominance and subservience. Therefore, the conclusion that imposed itself was that the playwrights payed double-edged tributes to Friedrich Nietzsche’s philosophy
Description
59 p. ; 30 cm. (+CD-Rom)
Keywords
Absurdism, Higher Man, Last Man, Master morality, Nietzsche, Nihilism, Overman, Slave morality, Übermensch
Citation
Literature and Interdisciplinary Approaches