Defamiliarization through modality of discourse: Waiting for Godot

Abstract

Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot (1954) is a parody of the world following World War II. The play exemplifies the spirit of the age by using defamiliarization as a textual strategy by means of which the characters utilize epistemic modals leading their conversational exchanges to never-ending voidness and uncertainty. Therefore, this study analyses discoursal features of Waiting for Godot by focusing on modality as the primary means for a void and indecisive attitude that is created through defamiliarization. The study further exemplifies how Beckett’s use of defamiliarization foregrounds epistemic modality to create a discourse unique in his authorial path.