The concept of "time" and "nothingness" in Shakespeare's Hamlet, Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot and Sufism

This thesis seeks to understand the concept of "time" and "nothingness" in William Shakespeare's Hamlet, and Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot by adopting a comparative approach between these plays and Mawlana Jalal Din Rumi's Masnawi. No matter in which period these works of literature were written, they all reflect two important elements of life – time and nothingness- from Eastern or Western Literature. This study focuses on these writers and these two concepts in the framework of absurdity. The Theatre of the Absurd is a kind that was used post-World War II for particular plays in the 1950s. It is especially used by Samuel Beckett and its elements can be observed in almost all of his plays. Absurdist pieces of work concentrated on the idea of existentialism and stated what happens when human existence has no meaning or destination, so, all communication breaks down and it gives way to illogical speech and its inescapable conclusion, silence. Before 1950s, this "silence" also takes place in William Shakespeare's tragic play Hamlet as the tragic hero Hamlet wants to restore the order and finds peace in life. Even his last sentence in the play is "…the rest is silence". Likewise, in Sufism, Sufist dervishes were always looking for divine peace in "silence". The worldwide known Mawlana Jalal Din Rumi emphasized that "Silence is the language of God. All else is poor translation". How absurd experiences and speeches in the life of Man is covered by "silence" in Masnawi, Hamlet and Waiting for Godot is examined in this study. Key words: the Theatre of the Absurd, time, nothingness, Masnawi, Hamlet, Waiting for Godot