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Article In:
Translating Power Distance
Edited by Maria Sidiropoulou
[Translation and Translanguaging in Multilingual Contexts 10:3] 2024
► pp. 388–399

Disillusionment and impoverishment in a Greek version of Waiting for Godot

| National and Kapodistrian University of Athens
The study examines how impoverishment and disillusionment in Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot (1949) have been rendered on the Greek stage (transl. Papathanassopoulou 1984). Ιt examines the use of impoliteness which renders the protagonists’ outcast identity and frustration, as Godot is not showing up. Findings show that respondents appreciated both foul language (impoliteness) and humour (low-power distance) in the Greek version of the play. 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 codes manifesting intended attitudes.
Keywords: disillusionment, frustration, humour, irony, vulgar language, offensiveness, character identity
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Literature review
  • 3.Methodology
  • 4.Data analysis
    • 4.1Swear words and vulgar language signalling social indignation
    • 4.2Idioms and metaphors lowering power distance between interlocutors
  • 5.Discussion, significance of the research and limitations
  • Notes
  • Author queries
  • References
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References (22)
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