Waiting for Godot - Key Ideas and Analysis

hat scene - P. 63

* the hats are closely associated with thinking - Lucky is unable to perform his thinking without his hat on his head in Act 1
* Vladimir frequently takes off his hat when he is trying to think of something, peering into it as if he will find what he’s looking for hidden in the lining
* the hat exchange is an example of physical comedy, as the continuous changing of their hats seems unusual and unnecessary, leading the audience to question why the characters are repeatedly switching their hats amongst each other
* reflects the fluidity and instability of individual identities within the play, suggesting they are not unique themselves, and are merely ‘tramps’ - links to Charlie Chaplin’s 1915 film ‘The Tramp’

what do the characters’ comments about the carrot (P. 13) and Pozzo’s reaction to the second pipe (P. 21) suggest?

* Estragon says ‘the more you eat the worse it gets’ about the carrot
* Vladimir says he gets ‘used to the muck’ as he goes ‘along’
* Pozzo also says about his second pipe that ‘the second is never so sweet… but it’s sweet just the same’
* these varying reactions make larger statements about their attitudes towards life and existence
* E’s reaction indicates his increasing disillusionment with his existence as it goes along
* Pozzo experiences a similar disillusionment towards his repetitive life experiences, but he still holds onto some degree of satisfaction with it
* V expects ‘the muck’ of existence - seeking meaning is bound to lead to disappointment

significance of Pozzo’s vaporizer (P. 23)

* the repeated action of spraying his throat with a vaporizer lends to a feeling of almost ceremonial preparation, calling attention to himself and creating the impression that he is going to say something of great importance
* when he does speak, the words don’t live up to the expectations he has created, pointing out the absurdity of his social pretensions
* significantly, the vaporizer does not appear in Act 2 after Pozzo’s social status has been reduced by his blindness

significance of Pozzo’s references to Greek gods (P. 24)

* Pozzo exclaims ‘Atlas, son of Jupiter!’
* instead of referencing Christian religious traditions like V&E, Pozzo references classical greece
* the study of ancient greece was seen as the height of learning, so Pozzo tries to establish that he is a learned man
* however, he gets his Greek mythology wrong - Jupiter is not the son of Atlas, emphasising the absurdity of his social posturing
* the greek references have no meaning for V&E, suggesting the uselessness of religion to provide meaning in life

lucky’s speech in critiquing academia (P. 36-38)

* Lucky says ‘given the existence… of a personal God’ and ‘considering… that as a result of the labors left unfinished’
* the conclusions to these statements never appear, implying the lack of meaningful conclusions in academic speech
* ‘quaquaquaqua’ - ‘qua’ is a preposition originating from Latin and used in both French and English to mean ‘which way’ or ‘as’, again signalling a logical direction or conclusion that is never fulfilled
* he also repeats syllables in words ‘acacacademy of anthropopopometry’ - words associated with learning - the repeated syllables call to mind slang terms for feces

lucky’s speech and the meaning of existence

* ‘given the existence… of a personal God’ seems to indicate he is arguing for religion, which traditionally provides meaning in people’s lives
* however he reaches no conclusion - perhaps a reflection of the meaningless of religion
* he attributes to God the characteristics of ‘apathia’ (apathy or indifference) and ‘athambia’ (inability to be bothered), showing that if there is a God, he apparently doesn’t much care to help people
* ‘waste and pine’ suggests humanity has failed - WW2, Holocaust would have led to this view of the decline of humanity and the world
* the final word of Lucky’s speech ‘unfinished’ refers both to Lucky’s unfinished speech and the continuing decline of mankind

significance of V&E’s names

* Estragon tells Pozzo his name is ‘Adam’ (P. 30) - his choice of the name of the biblical first men reinforces the impression that he is an Everyman, representing all of humanity
* raises questions of whether their names are even Estragon and Vladimir
* they never volunteer their names to other characters and only address each other by childish nicknames, Gogo and Didi
* vladimir says his own name just once
* the boy refers to V as ‘Mister Albert’ in both A1 and A2
* reflects meaningless and instability of identities and existence

Estragon’s comparison of himself to Christ (P. 46)

* Vladimir protests that he can’t compare himself to Christ
* He focuses on the practical differences, pointing out that Christ lives in a place where feet didn’t need so much protection from cold and wet
* Estragon replies ‘and they crucified quick’ therefore focusing on the suffering of Christ’s death, drawing a parallel to his own suffering, caused by his ill-fitting boots and the mysterious nightly beatings
* the comparison is absurd because it applies only at a surface level; whilst it is viewed that Christ suffered to save mankind, it is difficult to see meaning/purpose in Estragon’s suffering
* that may be Beckett’s point; if there is no God or higher meaning, then Christ’s suffering does not mean any more than Estragon’s

elements of metafiction within the play (could link to Brechtian theatre)

* Estragon directs Vladimir to the ‘end of the corridor, on the left’ to go to the bathroom (P. 28) - these directions are more consistent with a building, such as a theatre, than the outdoor setting of the play
* V strengthens the impression they are in a theatre by replying ‘keep my seat’ yet there are no seats on stage
* also ‘turning towards the auditorium’ V says ‘that bog’ (P. 7) perhaps breaking the 4th wall?
* these comments reveal the fictional nature of the characters’ existence, emphasising the absurdity of their ‘reality’ and by extension, all of humanity’s as well

negative reactions that follow acts of affection

* V wants to embrace E (P. 1) but E responds ‘not now, not now’
* P. 9 ‘They embrace. Estragon recoils’ then says ‘you stink of garlic!’
* P. 25 ‘Estragon approaches Lucky and makes to wipe his eyes. Lucky kicks him violently in the shins. Estragon drops the handkerchief, recoils, staggers about the stage howling with pain)
* Compassion and affection serve to connect people to one another, but these negative reactions in the play serve to immediately cut off those connections, again keeping the characters isolated from one another emotionally, reinforcing the impression of an uncaring, meaningless existence
* later in the play, these negative reactions are lessened - 'P. 49 - ‘They look long at each other, then suddenly embrace, clapping each other on the back. End of the embrace.’ - moment of connection?
* their embrace on P. 68 is even more positive, not awkward - ‘they embrace. They separate)
* increasingly evident emotional connection between V&E is a small, positive, counteraction of the torture of their endless waiting

estragon’s nightly beatings

* physical reminder of his suffering
* source of them remains undefined; Estragon only says that there were ten of them’ (P. 50)
* lack of a clear cause for the beatings suggests that suffering is simply an unavoidable part of existence
* furthermore, the suffering is entirely without any purpose or meaning, emphasising the purposelessness of life itself

shortening of Lucky’s rope (P. 69)

* ‘Rope as before, but much shorter, so that Pozzo may follow more easily’
* whilst this is a practical change, it also symbolises the increased dependence between the two characters
* the rope is now only partly an instrument of control over Lucky; Pozzo is also dependent on it to navigate himself
* the shorter rope perhaps suggests that the inequality between them has lessened; now that they are both afflicted with physical limitations, Pozzo is no longer Lucky’s superior

pozzo & time

* begins quite certain about the time
* he often consults his watch whenever he mentions a period of time, saying explicitly that they had been on the road for 6 hours
* P. 26 - ‘That was nearly sixty years ago… (He consults his watch)… yes, nearly sixty’ - absurd as he cannot tell past years from a 24 hour watch - seems to use it more as an elaborate symbol of his higher status over V&E - but the meaninglessness of the watch therefore perhaps suggests the pointlessness of his higher status
* His blindness is tied to his concept of time because he says ‘the blind have no notion of time’ - yet he still tries to cling onto it as he asks what time it is and gets anxious when V&E have trouble answering - P. 78 - ‘why don’t you answer me?’

cain and abel

* Estragon calls Pozzo ‘Abel’ and Lucky ‘Cain’ P. 76
* Abel and Cain refer to the Bible story about the origins of humanity - Cain kills Abel out of envy when God seems to favour Abel over Cain
* For this, Cain is exiled and Abel is remembered as a Saint
* Cain and Abel represent another duality in the human condition - good and bad
* by seeing if Pozzo and Lucky respond to these names, Estragon may be trying to determine which of them is good and which bad
* when Pozzo responds to both names , Estragon concludes ‘he’s all humanity’ - perhaps evil is permanent and inherent within all humanity

hamlet reference P. 72

* V: ‘What are we doing here, that is the question.’
* calls to mind ‘to be or not to be, that is the question’
* beckett changes the question from one of existence to one of purpose
* for Vladimir, the defining question of existence is his purpose in life, and he is proud to have an answer to his question: ‘we are waiting for Godot to come’
* when Godot again fails to arrive, the dramatic irony of this purpose is revealed - it is quite likely Godot is never going to come, making this purpose meaningless

latin phrase *memoria praeteritorum bonorum* P. 79

* means ‘memory of good things having passed’ - linked to the concept of nostalgia, where people tend to remember the good things about the past more than the bad
* V then comments ‘that must be unpleasant’ contradicting the usual understanding that people enjoy remembering the good things about the past
* instead, Vladimir says remembering the past well is unpleasant for Pozzo, perhaps focusing on how unpleasant his blindness must seem in contrast to his past ‘wonderful sight’
* V seems to mean that remembering the past well is generally unpleasant - he has brought up with Estragon their past time in France, and it often seems to reflect badly upon their present situation

lucky’s bag of sand - P. 81

* ‘Vladimir: What is there in the bag?

Pozzo: Sand.’
* Absurd to discover that the heavy bag Lucky has been carrying is full of sand, without purpose
* this unexpectedly absurd revelation that it contains only weight creates humour and serves as a powerful illustration of the purposelessness of life
* Lucky not only carries burdens not his own but does so pointlessly

the boy’s lack of memory in Act 2 (P. 84)

* the boy says he hasn’t seen Pozzo and Lucky despite saying in Act 1 that he ‘was afraid’ of Pozzo and Lucky
* V & the boy also have the same exchange where V asks him if he did not come yesterday
* V had previously been pondering his reality on P. 83 - ‘was I sleeping, while the others suffered? Am I sleeping now?’ - links to the absurd lack of logic in time and memory

sleep/dreaming

* when V refuses to hear his dream, E asks ‘this one is enough for you?’ (P. 8) - stage directions ‘gesture towards the universe’ suggest that E is unsatisfied with the universe that he currently lives in
* V’s concrete idea of time and reality contrasts with E’s more subjective one
* V later wonders ‘was I sleeping, while the others suffered? Am I sleeping now?’ implying that his existence is a dream and wondering what truth there is in the events he remembers
* E calls his dreams ‘private nightmares’ (P. 8)

Lucky’s name

* ironic because he is the most abused character in the play; his situation seems anything but lucky
* even V&E can only muster fleeting sympathy for him
* however, can be argued that Lucky is actually lucky as all decisions are made for him; he doesn’t agonise over his own existtence as the other 3 characters do - he is freed from the fruitless search for meaning that keeps V&E waiting for Godot
* ‘I suppose he is Lucky to have no more expectations’ - Beckett

significance of Godot

* important not to attach too specific an identity to Godot because Beckett himself said he didn’t know who Godot was
* many readers and audience members see similarities between the name Godot and God, and this may have been intentional - although Beckett originally wrote the play in French, he was a native English speaker and would have recognised the similarity
* from his later statements though, it seems the similarity wasn’t meant to be a concrete sign that Godot was God
* it is possible, however, to conclude from the play’s allusions to Christianity, that he represents something about religion/spirituality that people seek outside themselves to try to provide meaning in their lives
* the fact that Godot will probably never come expresses a strong doubt on Beckett’s part about whether such a meaning exists, in which case people are actually seeking nothing