A Psychoanalytic Reading of Vladimir and Estragon in Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot

Much has been written about Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot, but as far as I am aware no one has compared the two characters of Vladimir and Estragon in order to analyse what makes Vladimir more willing to wait than Estragon. This essay claims that Vladimir is more willing to wait because he cannot deal with the fact that they might be waiting in vain and he involves himself more in his surrounding than Estragon. It is Vladimir who waits for Godot, not Estragon, and Vladimir believes that Godot will have all the answers. This will be explored by examining four topics, all of which will be dealt with from a psychoanalytical point of view and in relation to waiting. Consciousness in relation to the decision to wait; Uncertainty in relation to the unknown outcome of waiting; Coping mechanisms in relation to ways of dealing with waiting; Ways of waiting in relation to waiting-time and two kinds of waiting-characters.

Nykter bildning : En undersökning över IOGT, NTO och TO:s folkbildningsverksamhet i Dalarna 1921-1939

This study contents a research of the Swedish temperance movements IOGT, NTO and TO:s adult education in Dalarna between 1921 and 1939. A theory that is used in this essay is the publicity theory of Jürgen Habermas. A theory in this essay is that the adult educational work of the temperance movements could bee seen as an alternative publicity because the courses that the temperance movement held in general contents a great part of the movements own literature, the participants in the courses held their own lectures to each other and it was mostly only members of the temperance movements who could join the courses. The main subject of the courses was history in literature, English, Esperanto, and knowledge about local democracy. Not many courses content the drinking issue in Sweden at this time, even thought a national referendum was held in the issue during the research period of this essay. The lack of courses in the drinking issue illustrates of the fact that the courses only was held for the members of the temperance movement, and they don’t drink alcohol in any case. It was not a big difference in the contents of the course between the organisation in the temperance movements and between different years in this research.

Att välja döden : en komparativ självmordsundersökning för Kyrkefalla och Linköping under åren 1800-1921

Syftet med den här studien är att studera självmordet komparativt mellan Kyrkefalla i Västra Götaland och staden Linköping mellan åren 1800-1921. Den här tidsperioden var en mist sagt händelserik period i svensk historia. Man gick mot en allt högre sekularisering, demokratisering samt en folkökning. Självmordet kom dessutom att avkriminaliseras 1864 vilket kan vara en av annledningarna till att allt fler självmord uppmärksammas i kyrkböckerna. Vidae visar den här studien att självmordens frekvens tenderar att öka under tidens gång, både i Kyrkefalla och i Linköping. Det är under den här tidsperioden mestadels män som självaväljer att avsluta sina liv. För Kyrkefallas del 94% medan det för Linköping handlar om 86,5%. Majoriteten av de som väljer den här vägen för sig själva tillhörde den så kallade arbetarklassen och de vanligaste metoderna för detta ändamål var at antingen hänga sig eller dränka sig. Män valde oftast det första alternativet medan kvinnor föredrog det andra.