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Estragon
Estragon (affectionately Gogo; he tells Pozzo his name is Adam) is one of the two main characters from Samuel Beckett's '' Waiting for Godot''. His name is the French word for tarragon. Personality The impulsive misanthrope Estragon represents the impulsive, simplistic side of the two main characters, much in contrast to his companion Vladimir's careful intellectualism and verbosity. He cares little for appearances, and is mostly concerned with eating and sleeping (much to Vladimir's chagrin). Due to his pessimistic outlook on life, he has abandoned all hope of any alleviation from their suffering, and regards "Godot" suspiciously. This is perhaps because Estragon has far more to worry about. Of the two, Estragon suffers the most physically. He is kicked by Lucky, takes numerous pratfalls, and is beaten by a gang of thugs every night. He also has great difficulty with his boots. In the first act, they do not fit and cause him pain. At the end of the act, he leaves them on th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vladimir (Waiting For Godot)
Vladimir (affectionately known as Didi; a small boy calls him Mr. Albert) is one of the two main characters from Samuel Beckett's '' Waiting for Godot''. Personality The "optimist" (and, as Beckett put it, "the major character") of ''Godot'', he represents the intellectual side of the two main characters (in contrast to his companion Estragon's earthy simplicity). One explanation of this intellectualism is that he was once a philosopher. This would explain his constant references and his attempts to engage Estragon in philosophical/religious debate. Vladimir is deeply concerned with appearances and goes to great lengths to make sure Estragon behaves so that his own dignity is preserved. He is something of a pack rat: he carries all the food the tramps have (though he never eats himself), and has other (to quote the play) "miscellaneous" junk in various pockets. Another important prop is his bowler hat. He claims that it "hurts" him, and is eventually driven to appropriate Lu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pozzo (Waiting For Godot)
Pozzo is a character from Samuel Beckett's play '' Waiting for Godot''.Fletcher, J., "The Arrival of Godot" in ''The Modern Language Review'', Vol. 64, No. 1 (Jan., 1969), pp. 34–38 His name is Italian for "well" (as in "oil well"). On the surface he is a pompous, sometimes foppish, aristocrat (he claims to live in a manor, own many slaves and a Steinway piano), cruelly using and exploiting those around him (specifically his slave, Lucky and, to a lesser extent, Estragon). He wears similar clothes to Vladimir and Estragon (i.e. a bowler and suit), but they are not in the dire condition theirs are. ''Godot'''s antagonist While by no means a villain in a conventional sense of the word, Pozzo is sometimes considered (nominally) the " antagonist" of ''Waiting for Godot''. Although he is not technically in opposition to the so-called heroes of the play (Vladimir and Estragon) he does bring chaos into their sheltered world. Upon his first entrance, he immediately goes about at ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lucky (Waiting For Godot)
Lucky is a character from Samuel Beckett's '' Waiting for Godot''. He is a slave to the character Pozzo. Lucky is unique in a play where most of the characters talk incessantly: he only utters two sentences, one of which is more than seven hundred words long (the monologue). Lucky suffers at the hands of Pozzo willingly and without hesitation. He is "tied" (a favourite theme in ''Godot'') to Pozzo by a ridiculously long rope in the first act, and then a similarly ridiculous short rope in the second act. Both tie around his neck. When he is not serving Pozzo, he usually stands in one spot drooling, or sleeping if he stands there long enough. His props include a picnic basket, a coat, and a suitcase full of sand. Interpretation Lucky's place in ''Waiting for Godot'' has been heavily debated. Even his name is somewhat elusive. Some have marked him as "lucky" because he is "lucky in the context of the play." He does not have to search for things to occupy his time, which is a ma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Samuel Beckett
Samuel Barclay Beckett (; 13 April 1906 – 22 December 1989) was an Irish novelist, dramatist, short story writer, theatre director, poet, and literary translator. His literary and theatrical work features bleak, impersonal and tragicomic experiences of life, often coupled with black comedy and nonsense. It became increasingly minimalist as his career progressed, involving more aesthetic and linguistic experimentation, with techniques of repetition and self-reference. He is considered one of the last modernist writers, and one of the key figures in what Martin Esslin called the Theatre of the Absurd. A resident of Paris for most of his adult life, Beckett wrote in both French and English. During the Second World War, Beckett was a member of the French Resistance group Gloria SMH (Réseau Gloria). Beckett was awarded the 1969 Nobel Prize in Literature "for his writing, which—in new forms for the novel and drama—in the destitution of modern man acquires its elevatio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rosencrantz (character)
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are characters in William Shakespeare's tragedy ''Hamlet''. They are childhood friends of Hamlet, summoned by King Claudius to distract the prince from his apparent madness and if possible to ascertain the cause of it. The characters were revived in W. S. Gilbert's satire, ''Rosencrantz and Guildenstern'', and as the alienated heroes of Tom Stoppard's absurdist play, ''Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead'', which was adapted into a film. '' Rosencrantz'' ("rose wreath") and '' Gyldenstjerne/Gyllenstierna'' ("golden star") were names of Danish (and Norwegian, and Swedish) noble families of the 16th century; records of the Danish royal coronation of 1596 show that one tenth of the aristocrats participating bore one or the other name. James Voelkel suggests that the characters were named after Frederik Rosenkrantz and Knud Gyldenstierne, cousins of Tycho Brahe who had visited England in 1592. Shakespeare's ''Hamlet'' The majority of characters in ' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Steve Martin
Stephen Glenn Martin (born August 14, 1945) is an American actor, comedian, writer, producer, and musician. He has won five Grammy Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, and was awarded an Honorary Academy Award in 2013. Additionally, he was nominated for two Tony Awards for his musical '' Bright Star'' in 2016. Among many honors, he has received the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor, the Kennedy Center Honors, and an AFI Life Achievement Award. In 2004, Comedy Central ranked Martin at sixth place in a list of the 100 greatest stand-up comics. ''The Guardian'' named him one of the best actors never to have received an Academy Award nomination. Martin came to public notice in the 1960s as a writer for '' The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour'', for which he won a Primetime Emmy Award in 1969, and later as a frequent host on ''Saturday Night Live''. In the 1970s, Martin performed his offbeat, absurdist comedy routines before sold-out theaters on national tours. Since the 1980s, havi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robin Williams
Robin McLaurin Williams (July 21, 1951August 11, 2014) was an American actor and comedian. Known for his improvisational skills and the wide variety of characters he created on the spur of the moment and portrayed on film, in dramas and comedies alike, he is regarded as one of the greatest comedians of all time. Williams began performing stand-up comedy in San Francisco and Los Angeles during the mid-1970s, and rose to fame playing the alien Mork in the ABC sitcom '' Mork & Mindy'' (1978–1982). After his first leading film role in '' Popeye'' (1980), he starred in several critically and commercially successful films, including '' The World According to Garp'' (1982), '' Moscow on the Hudson'' (1984), '' Good Morning, Vietnam'' (1987), '' Dead Poets Society'' (1989), '' Awakenings'' (1990), '' The Fisher King'' (1991), '' Patch Adams'' (1998), '' One Hour Photo'' (2002), and '' World's Greatest Dad'' (2009). He also starred in box office successes such as ''Hook'' (1991), ' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bert Lahr
Irving Lahrheim (August 13, 1895 – December 4, 1967), known professionally as Bert Lahr, was an American actor. He was best known for his role as the Cowardly Lion, as well as his counterpart Kansas farmworker "Zeke", in the MGM adaptation of ''The Wizard of Oz'' (1939). He was well known for his quick-witted humor and his work in burlesque and vaudeville and on Broadway. Early life, family and education Lahr was born as Irving Lahrheim on August 13, 1895, at First Avenue and 81st Street, in the Yorkville section of Upper East Side of Manhattan, New York City. He was the son of Augusta (1871–1932) and Jacob Lahrheim (1870–1947), an upholsterer. His parents were German-Jewish immigrants. He attended P.S. 77 and Morris High School, although he left school at age 15. Lahr later served in the U.S. Navy during World War I as a seaman second class. Stage career Lahr began performing in minor parts on vaudeville stages at age 14. He quit school at age 15 to join a juve ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tarragon
Tarragon (''Artemisia dracunculus''), also known as estragon, is a species of perennial herb in the family Asteraceae. It is widespread in the wild across much of Eurasia and North America and is cultivated for culinary and medicinal purposes. One subspecies, ''Artemisia dracunculus'' var. ''sativa'', is cultivated to use the leaves as an aromatic culinary herb. In some other subspecies, the characteristic aroma is largely absent. The species is polymorphic. Informal names for distinguishing the variations include "French tarragon" (best for culinary use), "Russian tarragon," and "wild tarragon" (covers various states). Tarragon grows to tall, with slender branches. The leaves are lanceolate, long and broad, glossy green, with an entire margin. The flowers are produced in small capitula diameter, each capitulum containing up to 40 yellow or greenish-yellow florets. French tarragon, however, seldom produces any flowers (or seeds). Some tarragon plants produce seeds that ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Critic
A critic is a person who communicates an assessment and an opinion of various forms of creative works such as art, literature, music, cinema, theater, fashion, architecture, and food. Critics may also take as their subject social or government policy. Critical judgments, whether derived from critical thinking or not, weigh up a range of factors, including an assessment of the extent to which the item under review achieves its purpose and its creator's intention and a knowledge of its context. They may also include a positive or negative personal response. Characteristics of a good critic are articulateness, preferably having the ability to use language with a high level of appeal and skill. Sympathy, sensitivity and insight are important too. Form, style and medium are all considered by the critic. In architecture and food criticism, the item's function, value and cost may be added components. Critics are publicly accepted and, to a significant degree, followed because ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Buster Keaton
Joseph Frank "Buster" Keaton (October 4, 1895 – February 1, 1966) was an American actor, comedian, and filmmaker. He is best known for his silent film work, in which his trademark was physical comedy accompanied by a stoic, deadpan expression that earned him the nickname "The Great Stone Face". Critic Roger Ebert wrote of Keaton's "extraordinary period from 1920 to 1929" when he "worked without interruption" as having made him "the greatest actor-director in the history of the movies". In 1996, '' Entertainment Weekly'' recognized Keaton as the seventh-greatest film director, and in 1999 the American Film Institute ranked him as the 21st-greatest male star of classic Hollywood cinema. Working with independent producer Joseph M. Schenck and filmmaker Edward F. Cline, Keaton made a series of successful two-reel comedies in the early 1920s, including '' One Week'' (1920), '' The Playhouse'' (1921), ''Cops'' (1922), and '' The Electric House'' (1922). He then moved to feature-l ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
