Description
Disillusionment and impoverishment in the Greek version of Waiting for Godot (Aliki Kliafa)
The study examines how impoverishment and disillusionment in Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot (1949) have been rendered for the Greek stage. The play is a representative of Theater of the Absurd, premiered in Paris (1953), and was presented to Greek audiences in 1963. The study analyzes the 1984 Greek target version by A. Papathanassopoulou focusing on the portrayal of the protagonists’ impoverishment and disillusionment as Godot was not showing up. Both themes involve humor and foul language which respondents of a questionnaire assumed preferable. Findings show that both translator and respondents enjoyed expression of the protagonists’ outcast identity and frustration through offensiveness. The significance of the study lies in that target audiences may enjoy aspects of characters’ identities perhaps unsuspected in the ST, because local contexts may prioritize expressions which highlight impoverishment and frustration.
