Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett

Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett

Waiting for Godot

“Waiting for Godot,” a play by Samuel Beckett, begins with two men on a desolate road by a dry tree. The two men, Vladimir and Estragon, also called Didi and Gogo, are characterized as “tramps,” and the audience soon realizes that the world of this play operates with its own set rules and standards. In this world, very little happens, everything is uncertain, and there is never something to do. The two main characters have nothing to do.

The two men Didi and Gogo, are both waiting for Godot, a man who seems to be of divine status. The two men aren’t sure if they ever met Godot, whether they are waiting in the right place, the right day, they are also not sure whether Godot was going to appear at all. As they wait for Godot, Didi and Gogo spend their entire time involving themselves with a series of boring activities like taking off boots and insignificant conversations with a mix of serious reflection like asking whether they should repent for them being born.

The two men Didi and Gogo, are interrupted by the arrival of a man and Lucky his servant. The servant is tied to a long rope on his neck, and his master holds the long rope like that of a pet. At first, they think of the man being Godot, but he introduces himself as Pozzo. They seem disappointed, and Pozzo asks whether he meant nothing to them. The two men continue to do what they were doing, which is actually nothing and start chanting the name Pozzo. The four men continue with doing nothing and wait for Godot. Lucky and Pozzo then leave the two men, after which Vladimir suggests he had men Lucky and Pozzo before, which is questionable as they had acted like strangers upon Lucky and Pozzo’s arrival.

Their idleness is interrupted by the arrival of a boy who says that Mr. Godot would be coming tomorrow. Didi asks the boy about the nature of Godot and a series of questions. Didi and Gogo continue talking about suicide until its nightfall; they both decide to leave as they cannot continue waiting for Godot. This is the part where Act I ends.

Act II begins just as Act I started. The two men still idle around to wait for Godot. Lucky and Pozzo appear on the scene again, Pozzo says that life is short and that habit moved time. Vladimir poetically questions himself whether he was asleep. Pozzo and his servant leave, and the boy reappears and says Godot would not be coming on that day. The two men are frustrated and think of committing suicide on the dry tree, but they have no rope. They decide to leave as it is already nightfall and can no longer wait for Godot, but they do not move.

The two characters dramatize how life can be boring and hopeless, Didi and Gogo discuss how they can improve their situation in life and their happiness. They are both bored by Godot, who promises to meet them twice but doesn’t meet, and they take two days to wait for him. The play also shows how people try to amuse themselves in life to make it more enjoyable than wait for death. Gogo leaves his shoes so that someone they could fit can exchange them for those that fit, which actually happens.

Works Cited

Beckett, Samuel. Waiting for Godot: Tragicomedy in 2 acts. Grove Press, 1954.