“Waiting for Godot” – Samuel Beckett
“Waiting for
Godot” is a play by Samuel Beckett published in 1949. This play is regarded as “Theatre
of Absurd”, a term coined by Martin Esslin (a drama critic).
It is one of
the famous plays of the Modernist Literature.
Before going
further, let’s first understand what is Existentialism?
What does it
mean to exist?
We say to
exist means to walk down predetermined paths.
Existentialists
believed the other way. According to them there is no meaning in life and it is
futile attempt to search meaning of life.
It is
believed that existentialism started with Sorien KierKegaard. Later many
thinkers like Jean Sartre, Albert Camus and many others developed this
philosophical movement. The existentialists are not pessimistic. They ask to
enjoy life in spite of being aware of the meaninglessness.
“Existentialism counters the
nothingness of existence
By embracing existence itself”
This play
presents the existential philosophy by two main characters Vladimir and
Estragon.
As such
there is no story, no beginning or end in this play. One evening on a
countryside road two tramps are waiting for someone named Godot. They are not
sure who Godot is? Whether he will come or not? Are they really at the same
place where they were waiting yesterday? The play is full of such unanswerable
questions.
Whether you
read Act 1 first or Act 2 first, doesn’t matter. Both the acts are similar. But
there is something in this nothingness also.
The play
begins with a line,
“Nothing can be done”
Nothingness is prevalent throughout the play. Vladimir and
Estragon are eagerly waiting for Godot, and they feel like doing nothing. Still
they do many different things to kill the time. Similarly we also do many
things in our life.
Vladimir and Estragon also does many things like…
- Swapping the hats
- Doing exercise
- Passing time by talking with Lucky and Pozzo (fellow passengers)
Vladimir and Estragon also gets tired of waiting for Godot,
but still they go on doing different things.
Estragon:- Let’s go
Vladimir:- But we are waiting for Godot
Albert
Camus in his book “The Myth of Sisyphus” talks about hope and suicide. Suicide
is not easy as we are habituated of living. Hope gives us a reason to live for
meaningless life.
In the play
we see that the characters decided to commit suicide, but are unable to do so
as living is a habit. They are in a hope that Godot will come soon.
Vladimir:- Where is Godot?
Boy:- Godot will not come today, but
he will surely come tomorrow
GODOT
What can Godot
be ?
1. God
2. Desire
3. Death
Godot can be
anything,
But if we
say that waiting is the main theme of the play. Then we can say that in Act 1
and Act 2 what major characters do is to wait for Godot (God,Death,Desire).
Thus, their
act of waiting represent of all the human beings waiting for some or the other
thing.
Characteristics
of modernist literature in the play:-
v) Protagonists – Two tramps
v) Language- simple yet has many layers
of meaning
v )Unusual setting:- “A countryroad, A
tree, An evening”
v) Absurdity
v)Nothingness
Thus , it is
an outstanding play of 20th century.
ReplyDeleteReally useful one, compact yet packed with important points.Thank You very much for the effort to make the hard one looks so simple. Further, you can access this site to read "Waiting for Godot" as a Play Belonging to the Theater of the Absurd