Waiting for Godot PDF

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reading response waiting for Godot...

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“Waiting for Godot” reading response The concept of Theater of the Absurd arose during the second half of the twentieth century. Before then it was considered incomprehensible and ridiculous. Theaimlessness of people who cannot make their presence felt with their actions and their despair is exhibited withtragicomic contrasts. Representatives of the Theater of the Absurd are Beckett and Genet. Samuel Beckett’s(Waiting for Godot) has a cyclical structure. The conception of the absurd unveils reality as a very fragile structure founded upon a merely self- referential concept. The play “Waiting for Godot” is a 20th century play that falls into the tradition of the theater of the absurd. Theplay depicts the psychological condition of people after the second world war when devastation, depression and the loss of any kind of significance was everyday reality. The play is built aroundthe existential problem of the futility and pointlessness of all actions. It is a commentupon the absurdity and the irrationality of a world which has no essence. In this context, the individual is the only one who carries responsibility for his actions. Existence proceeds essence. The individual is born without essence and just exists. However, there is a moment when he has to take a decision that will define the course of his life. In that moment he acquires essence because he takes responsibility for his actions. Beckettmanages to create a play in which nothing happens but at the same timethe audience’s interest is kept alive. Even though the same things are repeated they are different. The second act is a repetition of the first act with just a few changes. The two acts follow the same basic plot line and are almost identical. The form of the play indicates the repetitious nature of life. The cyclical, repetitive nature of the two acts basically shows that life is the repetition of the same events. The action of the play is presented through dialogues that appear devoid of meaning. The plays also seems to manifest its failure to convey either culmination of the action or a specific outcome. The inconsistent conversation of Vladimir and Estragon reveals that they are waiting for someone vaguely named Godot who is supposed to hire them. Bound to an unsatisfiable longing, they wait for Godot, a fantasized other.These two characters are suspended in an almost oppressive inertness expressed by Estragon’s significant statement “Nothing to be done.” \In the first act the main characters of the play, Vladimir and Estragon stand near a tree and discuss about various topics. The setting is an unspecified location. The only thing that the audience can see onstage is a tree, which sheds some leaves in the second act suggesting rebirth. However, the setting emphasizes the sterility of the environment and the impossibility of rebirth. The two characters are waiting for somebody named Godot to arrive without having any clear indication if he is coming or when he is coming. It is never clear whether Godot is real or not. In both first and second act, Vladimir and Estragon make a mistake and suspect that Pozzo is Godot. But even if he was Godot they would not know it because they have never actually seen him. The first act ends with Estragon asking Vladimir whether they shall go and him responding“yes let’s go”. However, they remain stationary.

They wait until Godot’s messenger arrives and tells them that he will not come until the next day. The second act ends with the repetition of the same dialogue but with the speakers switched. The logical thing to do would be to leave because they did not have to wait there, they had a choice. However, they do not make a decision. He does not arrive and yet they still keep waiting for him. It is impossible for them to take responsibility for their actions. In order to pass their time existence which draws out endlessly, they share stories, insult each other, make trivial decisions such as eating carrots and meet new people.Vladimir and Estragon are visited by a master and a slave, Pozzo and Lucky. Pozzo and Lucky appear in the second act discussing what they will say to Godot when they will see him and keep fooling around while making assumptions about him. Lucky is tied with a rope around his neck to Pozzo who manipulates it. Pozzo keeps ordering him to do things and Lucky obeys him because he depends on him. However, Pozzo states that he also depended on Lucky as he learnt from him how to think. Lucky keeps executing commands for Pozzo and performing for him. Even though there is a master-slave dynamic in their relationship they are interdependent. Vladimir and Estragon cannot trust their memory because it is fragmented. They might have met Pozzo and Lucky more than two times, the messenger might have come not only the next day but also the day after it and they might have been waiting for Godot to to happen but it does not. The connection between their very own identity and their memory is frail. Vladimir and Estragon are perpetually worried about whether they are at a right place on the right day. Vladimir poses the rhetorical question “Will night never come?”They are not sure if they have been at that place before. In the depth of their confusion, the only thing that is clear is that they are waiting for Godot.All emphasis is placed on their condition, just being there at the same place. Their very own presence and inability to take action entails decay. They are caught up in a loop, in a fable circle doomed to repeat the same actions over and over again for eternity. They are imprisoned in a seemingly unending existence and try to figure out ways to just pass their time, which often seems never-ending to them. They are certain that they will keep waiting for Godot. The only moment when they try to escape this repetitious cycle of life is when they consider committing suicide but do not manage to do so. They do not go on with it and instead they decide to wait because they do not want to take responsibility for this action. Therefore, they believe that before doing anything they first need to consult Godot. The fact that they believe that their only choices are to commit suicide or wait for Godot and do not consider leaving is poignant. In the second act, there is a moment when Estragon and Vladimir believe that Godot has actually arrived and they shout “We’re saved!”. This has religious connotations as Godot is portrayed as a religious entity. Naming seems interchangeable, as Godot could also be called Godet or Godin. In addition, Pozzo becomes blind and stumbles shouting to Lucky for help. This could be viewed as the cry of humanity for help. Lucky fails to help his master and they both end up falling into the ground. When this happens, Pozzo asks Lucky “Who are you?”. He answers, “We are men.” At that moment it becomes even clearer that they both represent the human kind and its existential struggle.

Vladimir and Estragon are willing to devote their entire lives to the eventual arrival of Godot and unfortunately this is what they end up doing.By the end of the play,theydecide to leave the area they are in. However, the stage direction says that "They do not move." So, they continue seeking meaning by continuing waiting for Godot. Time has moved on but Vladimir and Estragon are locked up in the repetitious cycle of waiting for Godot. This has been and will keep going on for a long time. They will keep waiting for Godot until death’s arrival as a natural process or until death’s arrival as a self-inflicted process. Godot’s arrival is a change beyond their control. Godot will never arrive and they will never get an answer. They are doomed to wait eternally for meaning and die without it. All the actions that take place in the play are futile and pointless. There is no meaning. There is no resolution in the play. Our whole life seems as nothing more but a mere fraction of a moment. The end of the play reveals that an unaccomplished suicide and a never fulfilled decision to leave the place of waiting: VLADIMIR: Well, shall we go? ESTRAGON: Yes, let’s go. [They do not move.] At this point a culmination of action would seem appropriate, to either abandon the place or commit suicide. The action terminates at failure and everything seems ready to repeat itself. There is no release....