Godot? Samuel Beckett\'s Play \"Waiting

¶ … Godot?

Samuel Beckett's play "Waiting for Godot," one of the illustrious pieces of writing in the category theatre of the absurd, presents the audience with elements characteristic of this genre: characters bearing names originating form different parts of the world, an undefined time, a vaguely delimited space (only a tree), illogical dialogues and meaningless words. The main characters in the play, Vladimir and Estragon, appear to have been waiting for the ever absent character, Godot, not only for the duration of the play, but for most of their lives. Godot's identity remains unveiled throughout the end of the story, although the author is frequently placing hints related to this. Considering that most of them are in relation to the philosophy of existentialism, Godot is highly likely to be a superior being like God who never shows himself, but may be always watching.

The question the play raises revolves around the significance of this absent character, Godot and of the two men's perpetual waiting for him. The way the play is constructed - two slightly different acts, two main characters and two secondary ones, along with a boy claiming to bring messages from and to Godot, whose counterpart is a brother he mentions in his dialogue with Vladimir and Estragon -- as well as recurring references to the Bible, the authors of the four Gospels and Jesus Christ, suggest that the play might be about the relationship between humanity and a higher authority.

Although the dialogues often elude the understanding of the audience, they resonate quite strongly in people's hearts. The very meaning of one's existence which constantly preoccupies the human being is questioned on stage in Beckett's play. The answer to the question regarding Godot's true identity is, in fact, the very answer to the question regarding the purpose of humanity. The reader realizes very early in the play that the struggle of the two main characters waiting for a third to appear, although leaving many questions unanswered, is going to be revolving around the reason they are waiting for Godot.

The question "who is Godot" is rather a question of his meaning. This question triggers a succession of related questions such as: "What is Godot's appearance going to mean for Vladimir and Estragon?," "How is it going to change their lives?," "Why are they waiting for Godot even if he seems to constantly delay his appearance instead of finding an alternative?"

If Godot is God, regardless of the religion that praises Him, then he is going to bring "meaning." This is what the two characters are first and foremost looking for: meaning for their very lives, meaning for this king of existence above al others. Vladimir and Estragon are two characters in a very strange but utterly human relationship. They are a pair, a symbol of our humanity, the pair required to make a whole. While it is obvious that they are not making a whole entity together, they are bound in this relationship by their very condition as human being who cannot live without each other.

The social character of the human existence requires these two characters to live as a pair. The fact that the author chose to create all the characters as male merely suggests that the absurd in this play is taken to the extreme. Going further in analyzing the duality in this presentation of the characters, the reader can also think of the duality of one person. Vladimir and Estragon may be the two sides of the same person. This one person made of Vladimir and Estragon may be waiting for Godot to put an end to otherwise endless and meaningless questions.

The fact that Estragon takes his boots off in the first act, leaving his sore feet to breath and being reminded by the wiser Vladimir that he should have done it every day, alludes to a state of humility the human being is supposed to assume when willing to come closer to God. It is entirely up to Godot, which could be God, to choose to come or not to.

The two characters are not entirely passive, looking for ways to prepare themselves for his arrival. Vladimir comes with an idea: "Suppose we repented" and Estragon, who this time answers as the wiser one, replies with a very meaningful and almost heartbreaking question: "Our being born?"(p.19). In this answer their lies the whole essence of a religion based on the concept of the original sin. Why is Godot going to be more sensible to a man's repentance for the very fact that the former exists in this world? One hypothesis, according to the Christian doctrine, for example is: because as God, he could offer forgiveness.

Godot's lack of presence appears to be more painful for Vladimir than it is for Estragon because the former "suffers" from a good memory. He is constantly aware of all his thoughts and acts and of those around him. It is only Godot that escapes him by his lack of presence. The waiting, on the other hand is very well embedded in his soul.

Estragon, his apparently weaker alter ego, is also playing the role of the doubt: the natural doubt deeply imbedded in human behavior. In Estragon's presence, Vladimir is reminded that he cannot be sure of anything, not even of Godot's arrival. There is always doubt when it comes to religious beliefs and two men like them are trapped in the vicious circle of not being able to move form a petrified mold they modeled with their very thoughts, acts and doubts. The immobility is created though their impossibility to be flexible. They can only wait for Godot, who may be God or any other form of life that brings them illumination, deliverance, sets them free form the trap they caught themselves in.

The fact that the author of this play chose to classify his play as a "tragicomedy" suggests that he intended to let the physically absent character, Godot, appear to the audience as this entity that kept itself hidden only to amuse itself on the credit of the poor souls who are craving to meet him and are in the meantime fighting with their own thoughts. The border between tragedy and comedy is very thin and the situation the characters find themselves in is oscillating between the two.

Vladimir, Estragon, Pozzo and Lucky, may be these players who play their whole life on a stage, in God's mind, for his sole amusement. This possibility is suggested in the scene where Pozzo offers to have Lucky, his slave, to entertain the three of them:

"POZZO: What do you prefer? Shall we have him dance, or sing, or recite, or think, or -- " "POZZO: Certainly. Aloud. He even used to think very prettily once, I could listen to him for hours. Now . . . (he shudders). So much the worse for me. Well, would you like him to think something for us? ESTRAGON: I'd rather he dance, it'd be more fun" (Wating for Godot).

Lucky plays the role of the entertainer for the other human beings, but they all could be in the same situation for a higher being like God.

Considering the hypothesis that Godot may be God, there are countless references in the play that could support such a conclusion. At some point, when Estragon claims his name was Adam, Lucky is all of a sudden reminded that he wanted to tell them about real character of the night in those parts, which could mean anything:

"POZZO: Ah yes! The night. (He raises his head.) (All look at the sky except Lucky who is dozing off again. Pozzo jerks the rope.) What is there so extraordinary about it? Qua sky. It is pale and luminous like any sky at this hour of the day. (Pause.) in these latitudes. (Pause.) & #8230;but -- (hand raised in admonition) -- but behind this veil of gentleness and peace, night is charging (vibrantly) and will burst upon us (snaps his fingers) pop! like that! (his inspiration leaves him) just when we least expect it. (Silence. Gloomily.) That's how it is on this bitch of an earth" (Wating for Godot)

The reference to "night" and Adam suggests that it could be about the beginning as well as it may be about the end of the world. God is expected to be related to both ends and Adam is the tie between him and humanity.