NYTimes.com: More than 60 years after the debut of “Waiting for Godot,” Beckett’s absurdist drama about two vagabonds anticipating a mysterious savior, there is much disagreement among directors, actors, critics and scholars on how the name of that elusive title figure should be spoken.
5 comments:
The last statement made is a very accurate understanding of the viral capabilities of the human mind. Once enough people start to do something a certain way it will stick and people will adapt to such an understanding of how such a thing is done. The actual pronunciation could god-OT and now that the play has been around for 60 years there is almost no reason to try to change the modern audiences perspective (without the intention to drive attention to such a change). Beckett writes such thought provoking plays as it is, challenging his audiences to think further into the issues in his shows; forcing a new pronunciation upon the audience would only add a new area of contemplation.
I had an argument with my English teacher about this very subject last year- she said it should be GOD-oh, and that proved indisputably that Godot represented God (even though we had found an interview with Samuel Beckett where he said specifically that Godot was not meant as a symbol for God.)I believe we should follow the French pronunciation. In French, there aren't accents on different syllables in words (apparently this is one challenge that French people face when trying to learn English). Since the play was originally written in French, it seems like it would be the best way to resolve this debate. Putting equal emphasis on both syllables might take a bit of training, but it solves the issues discussed in the article that "god-OH" might be wrong but "GOD-ot" sounds awkward and forced.
Although funny and interesting this doesn't seem like a topic worth as much debate as its getting. I always pronounced it "go-doh" stress on the d, but I didn't even know this was done differently. What is much more interesting to me (than the pronunciation) is that this is worth all the effort. It is cool that people can read such a semmingly simple word and have debates about how to pronounce that span decades or longer, just for the sake of academic pursuit.
I had just heard about this debate a few weeks ago. I think it's an arbitrary conversation. There are good reasons to pronounce it either way. The implication that "god" is present in the name usually comes across regardless of how it's pronounced (aside from the fact that most people who would see a production of the play would be aware of this fact any way). The only people to whom the pronunciation should matter are those on any production team for the show.
I like the joke at the beginning (very clever). But anyway, it's true, why are we even thinking who is pronouncing the name right or not. The story is not about the name, sure it might have some importance to understanding this unknown person, Godot. But the play stands well on it's own and would probably be just as great if his name was Frank! (okay, I don't necessarily believe that, but you get the point) The idea of God is obvious in the name no matter how people pronounce it!
Post a Comment