Student: José Martínez Hernández e-mail: jomarhe5@alumni.uv.es

English Philology. First cicle, first course.

English Theatre XIX & XX Centuries Group B ( evenings ).

Paper

Author: Samuel Beckett

Title: Waiting for Godot ( translated by the author from " En attendant Godot ", written originally in French language )

Subtitle: A tragicomedy in two acts

Black Cat Publishing. Printed in 1999 in Genoa ( Italy ) by Litoprint. Cideb editrice. First published in France ( 1952 ) by Les Editions de Minuit.

Dramatis personae.

Estragon

He is basically a beggar, and the character feels really comfortable in his role. He is the one that is always questioning things, why are the waiting, why they have to wait, who on earth is Godot, will he come, do we like him to, etc... He is a bit the counterpoint to Vladimir, although in truth they are the two faces of the same coin.

Vladimir

He is the one that takes for granted that Godot exists ( although he is also subject to doubt ), that will appear, and so on. Both of them are the main characters, althoug the other two are as necessary.

Pozzo

The master with a slave. Owner of a the territory at least as long as six hours walk ( what gives even more significance to the idea of isolation of Vladimir and Estragon ). Cruel. Represents evil, and later on suffers a lot during the play, as he gets blind. The message seems to be that today you are on top of everyone, but tomorrow you may be absolutely hopeless.

Lucky

Ironic name for a slave. He does what he cans as a slave in order to impress Pozzo and thus avoiding him selling away Lucky. Probably represents many people that do nothing to get rid of their own slavery.

The boy

A minor but also important character. Could represent innocence although in the play is portrayed as Cain, the biblical killer of his brother Abel.

Plot

Vladimir and Pozzo are waiting in a very plain setting ( a country road with a nearby tree ) for Godot. They talk and discuss about it, until Pozzo and Lucky enter. An interesting conversation takes place, later they go. Later on they come back, but this time Pozzo is blind and in trouble. After a lot of tribulations Vladimir and Estragon, lacking a rope and having only a belt, decide not to hang themselves, just in case Godot finally comes. Irony is shown throughout the play, like in this bit where decided that it would be safer not to hang themselves.

The hat and the boots are symbols as well. The boots are down to earth, the real things, and a source of pain, too. And the hat is where the eyes are always looking for an answer, that never comes. "Nothing to be done". It is a universal play that can be represented anywhere, since its base is just the conversation ( mostly ) between the two most important characters in a setting that could be anywhere, in the middle of nowhere, it contains merely a tree. It is an interesting play, with more content that thought, good theatre of the absurd, although difficult for the non expert.

The use of the humour is absolutely different, the humour comes most of the times from the typical nonsense that the author sees in the comedians, or rather clowns, that he liked ( Chaplin, Harold LLoyd, Buster Keaton, Marx Brothers...)

Personal Opinion:

I tried my best, but I did not get it at all. Although something seems clear to me; they are waiting for God, and one character questions the other about faith, the sense of right and wrong, etc..