Usually, when two literary works are to be compared, one would think of the similarities. However, when it comes to Mrs Warren’s Profession and Waiting for Godot by George Bernard Shaw and Samuel Beckett respectively, it is more so the dissimilarities that become interesting. Not so much merely because both are influential plays, but because they were written within only decades apart of one another. Though they share the obvious genre of a play, that seems to be the only common characteristic – at least at the first glance. This creates a sense of almost ‘plays of opposites’ is interesting, as they represent completely different mind-sets that are temporally separated by the crucial events of the World Wars.
Before delving too deep into an analysis of the plot, one should take care to know exactly what is meant by the term. Cuddon defines it as ‘the plan, design, scheme of pattern of event in a play, poem or work of fiction; and, further, the organization of incident and character in such as way as to induce curiosity and suspense’ (Cuddon, 2013, p. 540). Mrs Warren’s Profession has a very deep and linear plot that has several crucial moments such as the climax of Mrs Warren telling Vivie that she had to resort to prostitution to make a living when she was young. Events such as this one each serve to create suspense and curiosity as intended with the expected resolution also arriving eventually. Much thought has clearly been placed in the narrative’s progression and though