Waiting for Godot
Waiting for Godot is an absurdist play by Samuel Beckett, written in the late 1940s and first published in 1952. Beckett originally wrote Godot in French (En Attendant Godot), his second language, and the simplicity of the dialogue reflects this. An English translation by Beckett himself was published in 1955.
The play is in two acts. The plot, such as it is, concerns Vladimir and Estragon, who await the arrival of the eponymous Godot, who never arrives. Once in each act they are joined by Pozzo and Lucky. Vladimir and Estragon appear to be tramps: their clothes are ragged and do not fit. Towards the end of each act, a boy arrives with a message he says is from Godot that he will not be coming today, but will come tomorrow. The much quoted ending of the play might be said to sum up the whole work:
- Vladimir: Well, shall we go?
- Estragon: Yes, let's go.
- They do not move.
Beckett uses the characters' interaction to symbolise the tedium and meaninglessness of modern life, both major themes of the existentialists. The critic Vivian Mercier summed up the two act play with the words "nothing happens, twice." Despite its essential bleakness, however, it has many moments of comedy, some of it recalling the deadpan slapstick of Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton. Near the end of the play, for example, Estragon removes the cord holding his trousers up so he can hang himself with it, and his trousers fall down.
Many readers of this play have understood the character "Godot" as a symbolic representation of God. They see Godot's persistent failure to appear and Vladimir and Estragon's aimless waiting as representations of the masses hoping for a being who will never appear. This is a common — but certainly not the only — interpretation of the play.
This was Beckett's second attempt at drama after the considerably more conventional Eleutheria, but the first to be performed. It was a big step back towards normal human experience, after his novel The Unnamable. Subtitled "a tragicomedy," the play has little indication of setting or costume (but for Beckett's note that all four of the major characters wear bowler hats); the only indication for decor is the typically succinct "A country road. A tree. Evening" prior to Act I. As such, Godot is capable of sustaining a wide range of interpretation, including who, or what, Godot is.
It is perhaps worthwhile to note the proper pronunciation of the name "Godot". While it is commonly pronounced with an emphasis on the second syllable (i.e. "guh-DOH"), this is in fact incorrect. According to Beckett, the emphasis is on the first syllable (i.e. "GOD-oh"). The incorrect pronunciation is apparently (also according to Beckett) North American in origin.
Skilled comedians, like Robin Williams and Steve Martin in one production (also Bert Lahr in the 1950s), have had the most success with the characters in popular esteem, and there is a heartfeltness about the dialogue and situation that is not always completely aligned with despair, along with dream-like, poetic passages; perhaps this is why the play is loved by its fans.
Beckett went on to resume his march towards the void in his new medium, and his later plays have had much less popular success, though they continue to be produced, and are generally accepted as important works.
Quotations
Vladimir: Astride of a grave and a difficult birth. Down in the hole, lingeringly, the grave digger puts on the forceps. We have time to grow old. The air is full of our cries. (He listens.) But habit is a great deadener. (He looks again at Estragon.) At me too someone is looking, of me too someone is saying, He is sleeping, he knows nothing, let him sleep on.
Estragon: Let's go.
Vladimir: We can't.
Estragon: Why not?
Vladimir: We're waiting for Godot.
Estragon: (despairingly). Ah!
