摘　要

文章旨在浅析贝克特的荒诞剧《等待戈多》的主题以及该剧对当世及现世的影响与意义，包括剧中主要人物的性格特点及他们的象征意义。贝克特是20世纪爱尔兰、法国作家，创作的领域包括戏剧、小说和诗歌，尤以戏剧成就最高。他是荒诞派戏剧的重要代表人物。因为受到二战的影响，他对生活失去了憧憬与希望，认为人生就是一场充满艰辛与苦难的漫游，即痛苦又虚无。《等待戈多》里的永不停歇的循环出现的场景充分体现了他的悲观厌世，同时也代表了一代西方人的生活态度以及浓重的幻灭感与虚无感。本文旨在告诉读者等待戈多的意义，活着很难，死亦不易，人生有希望，却也充满了绝望。等待是一种状态，一种态度，戈多是希望，是幸福，也可能是死亡，是苦难。

关键词：荒诞剧; 人生态度; 悲观厌世; 苦难; 希望

Abstract

The paper will not only analyzes the theme and the value of the absurd opera---Waiting for Godot, but also tries to figure out the personalities and symbolisms of the major characters. Samuel Barclay Beckett was an Irish avant-garde novelist, playwright, theatre director, and poet, who lived in Paris for most of his adulthood and wrote in both English and French. His work offers a bleak, tragicomic outlook on human nature, often coupled with black comedy and gallows humor. He was severely affected by the World War II. He thought that there was no longing and hope in his life. And people’s life at that time, he considered, is just an aimless travel. The world is black and white. And life is not only difficult, but empty as well. The endless circulatory plots of the opera fully express Beckett’s pessimistic and world-weary attitude to life. To some extent, the opera represents western’s attitudes to life and the deep feeling of disillusion. What this paper tries to tell the readers is that living is hard but dying is not easy as well. There will always be hope, but despair, too. Waiting is a state, and a kind of attitude. What Estragon and Vladimir are waiting for can be hope, or happiness, whereas, it could be death or misery.

Key words: absurd opera; life attitude; pessimistic; misery; hope

1 Introduction
This paper will illustrate the symbolisms in Waiting for Godot and briefly analyze the meaning of waiting for those people who lived then and those who are living now. As the opera was written during the war time, the creator, Samuel Beckett lived within despair and the same were the westerns. People lived without happiness， and destructive news came to them every day. Life became aimless and hopeless. And there was even no courage to finish the life. People were numb with the war and the twist society. What’s more, they even didn’t have any power to fight against the mournful fate. This paper will not only describe the background and the characters in the opera, but also the theme and influence that are embodied in.