Waiting For Godot - Summary

Waiting for Godot - A Tragic Comedy in Two Acts

Playwright: Samuel Beckett

Important Dates:

1948 - First written in French titled 'En attendant Godot'

1952 - French version first published

1953 - English version published titled 'Waiting for Godot'

1954 - First performance at the Theatre de Babylone in Paris

1955 - English language premiere at the Arts Theatre London

1956 - Performed in the United States

Characters:

Vladimir (Didi) - A beggar like man who wears ill-fitting boots and is concerned with bodily matters such as hunger and sleep. Always wants to leave Vladimir, has a notoriously poor memory and tendency to fall asleep and dream.

Estragon (Gogo) - A beggar like man who has intellectual concerns, serves as the mouthpiece for the pair and is terrified of being left alone.

Pozzo - A bossy figure who passes by Estragon and Vladimir accompanied by his slave Lucky, who Pozzo plans to sell at the markets. He meets the Estragon and Vladimir on his way to the market in the first act. In the second act, a blind Pozzo meets the pair again on his way back from the fair not remembering meeting Vladimir and Estragon the night before.

Lucky - Pozzo's slave who is always weighed down with Pozzo's many possessions. Lucky provides entertainment with dancing and 'thinking' in Act I. In Act II he is dumb. Despite his apparently miserable condition, he desperately wants to remain Pozzo's slave.

Boy - A messenger that appears at the end of each act to tell Vladimir and Estragon that Godot will not come today, but surely tomorrow. The boy always says his brother came yesterday to deliver the message, not him.

Godot - The man Vladimir and Estragon