Teaching Literature - Analysis of the Play "Waiting for Godot" by Samuel Beckett

Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot is probably the most famous of the enigmatic, nontraditional absurdist dramas. 

It is about two tramps who meet each day on a barren plain, hoping that an unknown figure named Godot will come. They have a vague expectation that somehow Godot if he ever comes will be able to help them; and while they wait for him, they try to break up the painful monotony of their lives with bickering and occasional vaudeville routines. The play is filled with literary and religious references. 

The setting is "A country road. A tree." The tree is leafless in Act I, but in Act II, four or five leaves appear on it. The two central characters, Vladimir and Estragon- also known as Didi and Gogo are tramplike clowns. They are waiting for Godot, but Godot's identity is never revealed, nor does he ever appear. Instead, a young messenger appears toward the end of each act and promises that Godot will arrive tomorrow. Godot may be God, or he may not even exist. Two additional characters, Lucky and Pozzo, switch roles as master and slave in their two appearances. 

Waiting for Godot epitomizes the absurdist form. The characters are absurd, clownlike figures who have problems communicating and dealing with their environment. They contemplate suicide, for example, as a means of relieving their perpetual boredom. The setting represents everywhere and nowhere. Some critics have remarked that this barren, sterile world conjures up an image of the aftermath of a nuclear holocaust. The language is stichomythic that is, written in brief, alternating lines-and frequently ludicrous. Lucky, in Act II, gives a three-page speech of seemingly unrelated ideas. As in many absurdist dramas, the plot is cyclical: the action appears to start over with nothing having changed.

The closing lines and stage direction suggest the absurdity of the universe:
Vladimir: Well? Shall we go?
Estragon: Yes, let's go. (They do not move.)

This final moment of Waiting for Godot underlines its absurdist philosophy of futility. Vladimir and Estragon have spent their time waiting; they accomplish nothing, showing only their inability to take control of their existence. Lucky and Pozzo have no control over their destiny; fate reverses their roles, transforming one from master into servant and the other from servant into master.

Some critics suggest that Waiting for Godot is a modern allegory, much like the medieval Everyman. The playwright suggests that we spend our lives waiting for the unknowable. Godot may represent God; more generally, though, Godot is anything and everything that human beings wait for during their lives-and our lives are thus defined by absurd waiting rather than by our actions. Beckett himself described Waiting for Godot as a "tragicomedy in two acts," revealing his own view of the human condition: human inaction is comical but has tragic consequences.

REFERENCES:

ACKERLEY, C. J.; GONTARSKI, S. E., (Eds.) The Faber Companion to Samuel Beckett. London: Faber and Faber, 2006. p. 620. 
BECKETT, S., Waiting for Godot. London: Faber and Faber,1988. p 91.
BROCKETT, Oscar G.; HILDY, Franklin J. History of the Theatre. Allyn & Bacon; 10. ed., 2007.
COHN, R. From Desire to Godot. London: Calder Publications; New York: Riverrun Press, 1998.

KNOWLSON, J. Damned to Fame: The Life of Samuel Beckett. London: Bloomsbury, 1996. p. 567.