Comments On Waiting For Godot

"Waiting for Godot" by Samuel Beckett is a play that captures the fate of human existence. People depend on chaos, hope and chance to provide their lives with purpose as well as meaning while they continue to wait for salvation.

Samuel Beckett's play symbolizes the desire of all human beings to seek for answers regarding the purpose of human existence. Throughout their quest, people are confronted with obstacles and challenges. Some are able to be overcome them and some are not. But, hope, determination and the will to go on help to give some people the strength to carry on. Beckett shows the hopelessness that is present in the lives of Vladimir and Estragon in the way they struggle to pass time. The phrase “Nothing to be done”1 is a recurring saying that adds to this hopelessness. Vladimir and Estragon are also are tied to Godot, who symbolizes salvation. Their daily struggles contain no orderly sequence or memory of any past events that allows the chaos in their lives to encourage them to hope that Godot will come. “Time has stopped”2 shows just how long they have been waiting as well as how bored they are of it. To Vladimir and Estragon, their lives contain no purpose except to wait for Godot; therefore, their lives are meaningless. The worthlessness of their lives combined with the reality that life is based on chance, allows their lives to put in the hands of fate. These two characters have the hope that they will eventually be saved which lets them continue their journey in the search for answers even after many people would have lost faith.

Waiting for Godot has made an entire generation question life in general. The play has also raised issues revolving around wartime struggles faced by Becket himself, as well as millions elsewhere in the world. God and religion are also explored within the play through biblical allusions as well as the idea that Godot may in fact be God himself. Still, Becket may in fact have been making fun of religion. The fact that the allusions and metaphors are so convoluted and scant means that one is able to draw many conclusions from the work. This is an ongoing theme with this piece of literature. Many of the themes and ideas that are explored can be viewed in a variety of ways. The reader or playgoer will come away from the production with his or her own ideas about what this play is really about. Furthermore, for this reason Waiting for Godot is one of the greatest plays of all time. It allows the reader to make their own conclusions and take away with them their own profound ideas on life, death, religion, politics and whatever else the reader may see in the play.

Waiting for Godot has had a major impact on modern literature as well as ideas pertaining to life, war, religion, homosexuality, waiting, death, and human existence in general. Samuel Beckets work has influenced and changed our world for the better.

Sameul Beckett and his work

“Nothing to be done” is one of the many phrases that is repeated again and again throughout Samuel Becketts Waiting For Godot. Godot is an existentialist play that reads like somewhat of a language poem. That is to say, Beckett is not interested in the reader interpreting his words, but simply listening to the words and viewing the actions of his perfectly mismatched characters. Beckett uses the standard Vaudevillian style to present a play that savors of the human condition. He repeats phrases, ideas and actions that has his audience come away with many different ideas about who we are and how beautiful our human existence is even in our desperation.. The structure of Waiting For Godot is determined by Beckett?s use of repetition. This is demonstrated in the progression of dialogue and action in each of the two acts in Godot. The first thing an audience may notice about Waiting For Godot is that they are immediately set up for a comedy. The first two characters to appear on stage are Vladimir and Estragon, dressed in bowler hats and boots. These characters lend themselves to the same body types as Abbot and Costello. Vladimir is usually cast as tall and thin and Estragon just the opposite. Each character is involved in a comedic action from the plays beginning. Estragon is struggling with a tightly fitting boot that he just cannot seem to take off his foot. Vladimir is moving around bowlegged because of a bladder problem. From this beat on the characters move through a what amounts to a comedy routine. A day in the life of two hapless companions on a country road with a single tree.. Beckett accomplishes two things by using this style of comedy. Comedy routines have a beginning and an ending. For Godot the routine begins at the opening of the play and ends at the intermission. Once the routine is over, it cannot continue. The routine must be done again. This creates the second act. The second act, though not an exact replication, is basically the first act repeated. The routine is put on again for the audience. The same chain of events: Estragon sleeps in a ditch, Vladimir meets him at the tree, they are visited by Pozzo and Lucky, and a boy comes to tell them that Godot will not be coming but will surely be there the following day. In this way repetition dictates the structure of the play. There is no climax in the play because the only thing the plot builds to is the coming of Godot. However, after the first act the audience has pretty much decided that Godot will never show up. It is not very long into the second act before one realizes that all they are really doing is wasting time, “Waiting for...waiting” (50) By making the second act another show of the same routine, Beckett instills in us a feeling of our own waiting and daily routines. What is everyday for us but another of the same act. Surely small things will change, but overall we seem to be living out the same day many times over. Another effect of repetition on the structure of Godot is the amount of characters in the play.. As mentioned before, the play is set up like a Vaudeville routine. In order to maintain the integrity of the routine, the play must be based around these two characters. This leaves no room for extra characters that will get in the way of the act. To allow for the repetition of the routine to take place the cast must include only those characters who are necessary it. The idea that the two characters are simply passing time is evident in the dialogue. The aforementioned phrase, “Nothing to be done” is one example of repetition in dialogue. In the first half-dozen pages of the play the phrase is repeated about four times. This emphasizes the phrase so that the audience will pick up on it. It allows the audience to realize that all these two characters have is the hope that Godot will