Instructions:

Answer the following questions as thoughtfully and completely as you can in a couple of typed pages. Restate the questions at the beginning of your answers. Use one inch margins and double-space with 12 point font. Spell-check and proof-read your work. (Remember that titles of full-length plays are italicized.)

Papers may be printed on both sides. If more than one page is used, put your name on all sheets and staple the papers together in the upper left corner. (But try to keep it to two pages.)

Include a typical MLA header with the title of the assignment, the name of the class, your name, and the date at the upper left of the page.

Read the question carefully and be sure to answer all parts of a question completely. Support your assertions with quotes from the play, which may be cited in context, or other research, which should be cited in MLA style. Citatations in support of your answers should be from throughout the text, not just from the beginning. You're going to need to do a little research and support for these.

Be sure to answer all parts of a question.

Questions:

1)     The play's structure makes use of pairs to a great degree. Its themes deal with concepts of suffering and oppression; memory and the unknown; and release (relief) and confinement (status quo), etc. Identify as many pairings/ parallels as you can. What is the significance of the use of pairs/ couples/ parallels/ divisions/ opposites in this context? How would these be expressed in a performance of the play? Discuss this in visual or performative terms as well as textual.

2)     Beckett claimed that Waiting for Godot  had no Christian/ religious message. Why do you think he has said this? Give several examples of why a reader might come to the conclusion that it does.