Decoding Beckett’s ‘Waiting for Godot’: Absurdity and Meaning
Decoding ‘Waiting for Godot’: Absurdity and Meaning
Discuss the main characteristics of Waiting for Godot, with clear references to examples from the text.
Samuel Beckett’s most famous work, Waiting for Godot, was first written in French and translated into English in 1955. The play centers on waiting, in the eternal hope of a better tomorrow. This work is a prime example of the Theatre of the Absurd, expressing a sensibility and attitude toward the world shaped by the times in which Beckett lived. Writers reacted strongly against Realism while absorbing the experimental techniques of the Surrealists. They shared an attitude towards the world and life, highlighting the inability to understand life’s meaning. Albert Camus and Jean-Paul Sartre are literary examples of this, both main representatives of Existentialism.
The acceptance of our limitations allows us to recognize ourselves as isolated individuals, making communication difficult, if not impossible. Reality is simply what we experience, and we can never be sure whether our experience is a dream, hallucination, or wishful fantasy; this alludes to Freud’s ideas. Ionesco called this theatre “the theatre of dream”; the plays of the Theatre of the Absurd thus tend to hover on the borderline between dream and reality. Furthermore, they focus on the self, which is a mystery, as well as language, which is characterized by the impossibility of representation, and thus, the impossibility of life. In this theatre, the plot is secondary; there is no real communication among the characters. We must consider that it tries to analyze who we are and how we behave in society. The Theatre of the Absurd is a theatre of images and metaphors, which are more important than the plot, which is as rigid as the identities of the characters. In Waiting for Godot, the repetition of the first act in the second act creates an image of “senseless repetition of existence.”
Beckett takes his drama to new extremes, pushing his characters to the limits of solitude, non-communication, and hopelessness.
Characters and Their Significance
Waiting for Godot is divided into two acts featuring the principal characters: Vladimir and Estragon, two tramps who spend their time in the same place, day after day, waiting for things to happen. There are three other characters: Pozzo, Lucky, and the boy. They all represent a mosaic of cultural references. Estragon: French; Lucky: English; Pozzo: Italian; Vladimir: Russian. Furthermore, every character has a weakness which makes them depend on and complement each other. Estragon says: “the more you eat, the worse it gets.” Vladimir disagrees: “just the opposite.”
Estragon and Vladimir, described as tramps, could represent displaced soldiers of the Second World War. It should be borne in mind that Beckett was interested in post-war issues.
Freudian Influences
As mentioned earlier, we can find references to Freudian ideas, for instance, with Estragon, who represents the body. He dreams, representing the unconscious. He is weak, daydreaming, and forgetful, and he is always threatening to go his own way, however, he never does. We can see him as the one who supports the world’s sorrows. On the other hand, Vladimir is always looking for physical rewards, for instance, when he wants to take off his worn-out boots, when he wants a carrot, or when he wants to sleep.