The Language of Dreams: The Anatomy of the Conglomerative Effect

Abstract

This chapter focuses on the study and analysis of the bizarre, illogical fragments and dialogue exchanges that comprise a major part of Waiting for Godot. The rhetorical devices used in the play can even be likened to the same devices described in The Interpretation of Dreams. If for Freud, these dreams function as outlets for the individual's intrapsychic mechanisms, for Beckett dreams function as unique poetic techniques that can be used to further elaborate and flesh out the conglomerate emotional experience. In Godot this is manifested through the feeling of dangerous survival within the illogical and incomprehensible worlds of the self and the universe. This chapter thus explores the implications of the language of dreams within the context of Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot and looks at the parts that create its conglomerative effect.