Samuel Beckett
Waiting for Godot, A tragicomedy in two acts
Faber and Faber, 1956, London
Characters:
Vladimir: He acts like an all-knowing person, trying to convince himself about the truth of what he says. He feels sure of his memory and pays attention to details; but people’s bad memory make him doubt of what he remembers. He treats Estragon like a father, because he thinks Estragon wouldn’t survive without him. He is a very faithful person, because he is sure that Godot will help them when he arrives. Vladimir usually talks just to pass the time. He may not stand dying of boredom.
Estragon: He has an emotional and short-term memory. Usually there’s a contradiction between what he says and what he does. He has a realistic-pessimistic personality which contrasts with Vladimir’s blind faith in Godot. He is tired of waiting for Godot and even doubts he exists. Both, Vladimir and Estragon seem to expect Godot to save their lives, but at the same time they have a suicide tendency; as if they’ve lost everything in life.
Pozzo: He is a very dramatic person, who likes to catch everyone’s attention and says to enjoy people’s company. He has the need of knowing what people think about him and to be accepted by them. On the other hand, he treats really bad his servant and even feels himself as a victim of him.
Lucky: He is a servant, who has lost all his dignity and feels himself captured in a net.
Boy: The boy has bad memory and seems to be easily frightened of unknown people.
Plot:
The play begins with Estragon trying to take off his foot unsuccessfully. Then Vladimir arrives. Vladimir begins to talk trying to maintain a conversation but he is continuously interrupted by Estragon who wants to leave. Vladimir doesn’t let him leave because they have to wait for Godot. They try several things for passing the time and even think about hanging themselves from a tree, but finally decide to wait. After a while, appear Pozzo and his servant, Lucky carrying some bags. They spend some time with Vladimir and Stragon talking about themselves and later Lucky amuses them dancing and thinking. When they leave; comes a little boy with a message from Godot which says he will go the next day. On the second act Vladimir finds Estragon again and they admit they had a good time separated but they go on together. They pass the time playing with Lucky’s hat until Pozzo and Lucky come again but this time the first one is blind and the second one is dumb. They don’t remember meeting the day before Vladimir or Estragon. Estragon and Vladimir help them to get up from the ground and Pozzo and his servant leave. The boy comes again with the same message and he says he doesn’t remember them. Vladimir and Estragon try to hang themselves from a tree but they can’t so they decide to try again tomorrow unless Godot arrives and saves them.
Space and Time
The author says the space is a country road, near a tree; and that’s all we need to know.
Everything begins in the evening and develops in two consecutive days. As all the elements on this play are so uncertain, we have completely freedom to place the action wherever and whenever we want. There story runs continuously except when Estragon or Vladimir remember when they were young “in the nineties”. The only jump in time we find is what happens with their lives during the morning because we know from them again the next evening; when many things are changed (like Pozzo’s and Lucky’s blindness and dumbness).
Literary and stylistic sources:
The language they use is colloquial and sometimes even a bit vulgar. Their conversations sometimes are senseless but they understand and even complement each other ideas.
Beckett makes us imagine a muddy and deserted land with his few indications, that how language can be used as a stylistic source.
Personal point of view:
This play situates us in an uncertain moment of these characters, Estragon and Vladimir, lives; but we don’t know anything of their past or future. In this way, we build our own symbolic comparisons to try to understand the finality of it; but we must understand that it is simply senseless and it’s impossible to understand everything because there will always be doubts about its meaning. We must simply enjoy it, because everything we say about it would be mere divagation.
Academic year 2005/2006
© a.r.e.a./Dr.Vicente Forés López
© Ivonne Pamela Landázuri
ilanbe@alumni.uv.es
Universitat de Valčncia Press