Samuel Beckett, “Waiting for Godot”, a tragicomedy in two acts, Faber and Faber,
1956, London
“Waiting for Godot” is a play about two characters, Vladimir
and Estragon who don’t anything, they only are all the time waiting for Godot
(pag.38: Estragon: “Simply wait”)
however they don’t know him, they don’t know why they are waiting for him and
they don’t know what day of the week they have to wait for him (pag.14-15:
Estragon: “We came here yesterday”;
Vladimir: “He said Saturday”; Estragon: “But what Saturday?”).They know neither what day they are living in
(pag.15: Estragon: “And is it Saturday? Is it not rather Sunday? Or Monday?”).
The play is in the present. It’s the present moment what only exists. All in the play happens at that moment, at present.
The play shows us a
absurd theatre .The first sentence is “Nothing to be done” (pag.9) which
is going to be repeated from the beginning to the end of the play.
It is a tragic-comedy that
starts in two different stages which will be only one after the first dialogue.
This only place is emptiness. There is only a tree.
Five characters appear
in the play:
-Vladimir:
He is a bum. He is unsure. His memory is playing
tricks on him (pag.62: “To every
man his little cross. Tili he die. And is forgotten”).
-Estragon:
He is a bum too. He is impatient and constantly wants
to leave Vladimir, but is restrained from leaving by the fact that he needs
him.
-Lucky: Lucky is the slave of Pozzo. He is tied to Pozzo via a rope
around his neck and he carries Pozzo's bags (pag21). Lucky is only allowed to
speak twice during the entire play(pags.42-43), but his long monologue is
filled with incomplete ideas( pags.42-44). He is submissive.
-Pozzo: Pozzo is the master who rules over Lucky. In the second act
Pozzo is blind (pag.77). His transformation between the two acts may represent
the passage of time. He is violent and aggressive.
-A boy: He
is a secondary character whose function is give a message from outside world to
inside the scene. The boy is a servant of Mr. Godot.
He has a brother who is mentioned but who never appears. He is a frightened boy.
Through their dialogues,
Vladimir and Estragon are constantly struggling to prove their
existence.
Along the play there are
three phrases that are repeated looking for a certain musicality: Vladimir: “We can’t”; Estragon: “Why not?”; Vladimir: “We’re waiting for Godot” (pags.14,
48,...).This last sentence is the title of the play. It is the hope in the
life.
Godot only appears in
the conversations and monologues of the characters. He doesn’t appears
physically. He means the illusion that the characters have and
which is faded at the end of the play when a boy announces Godot won’t come
that day. (pag.14: Vladimir: “We are
waiting for Godot”; Estragon: “And if he doesn’t come?...-And then the day
after tomorrow.; Vladimir: “Possibly” ; Estargon: “And so
on” ; Vladimir: “The point is-“; Estragon: “Until he
comes”; pag.50: boy: “Mr Godot told
me to tell you he won’t come this evening but surely tomorrow”). Vladimir
and Estragon are continually dreaming.
When Pozo and Lucky
appear in scene (pag.21), Pozzo “drives Lucky by means of a passed round his
neck”. They are the image about the violence (pag.37: Pozzo: “(…Pozzo
jerks the rope). Will you look at the sky, pig!”; pag.77: “…Lucky burdened as before. Rope as before”;
“Pozzo, continuing on his way, bunps into
him”; pag.88: Pozzo: “Enough. Up pig!”) and the resignation.
(pag.37: Pozzo: “…(Lucky looks at the
sky)”)
The reference to the memory
with the disappointment (pag.62) is another important aspect. I think
that the author also want to tell the reader that the characters quickly forget
the things that make suffer them.
I have specially loved “Waiting
for Godot” because the absurd
situations have made me laugh or feel sadness. For example, when
Vladimir and Estragon starts to do their exercises (pag. ) or when Lucky is all the time without
put down his bags ( pag.29: Estragon: “Why
doesn’t he put down his bags?”)