Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett - Research Paper Example

“Waiting for Godot” The play ‘Waiting for Godot’ by Samuel Beckett is a ic piece of literature – the very reason why the play was accredited with a lot of praise. The genre of the play is that of absurdist theatre and Samuel Beckett is known as one of the best known absurdist play writers. A characteristic of the absurdist theatre is the lack of proper communication which is evident in this play as well with the presence of many sentences that do not seem to be making a lot of sense. The play starts off with a conversation between the two central characters of the play, Estragon and Vladimir while the reader/ audience is left wondering what the conversation is all about. As the play progresses one finds out that Vladimir and Estragon are waiting for someone named Godot who they have never seen. The entire play proceeds without so much as an appearance of Godot, therefore in a nutshell the plot of the story revolves around waiting for a character that does not appear in the play. Apart from the two central characters, there appear Pozzo (a rich man) and Lucky (Pozzo’s slave). The interactions between Pozzo and Lucky, particularly Pozzo’s treatment of Lucky actually makes one wonder whether Lucky was a human being or an animal. It is the monologue of Pozzo with Lucky which is extremely thought provoking and forces one to actually think about the realities which shape these characters and the social stigmas that are attached to poverty, intellect, freedom and so forth. There exists a distinct naivety in Estragon, he seems to be dependent on Vladimir, this aspect is more evident in Act II of the play when after Estragon gets beaten by a few people and returns to Vlamidir, Vladimir says “…It’s because you don’t know how to defend yourself. I wouldn’t have let them beat you” (Beckett , 52). Estragon is sensitive and does not appear to be very intellectual while Vladimir seems to be more sensible of the two. The themes of the play are said to be inspired by Beckett’s personal life since he had seen both the idolization and degradation humans in front of his eyes (Gordon , 3). What Godot represents in the play is a question asked by many and answered by many. The popular belief is that Godot represents God and that his absence represents salvation for which Estragon and Vladimir are waiting (Atkinson , 1). Another interpretation is that Godot represents compassion which makes a commitment of coming everyday and yet fails to show up. This depicts the misery of life in general which lacks compassion. Another interpretation of Godot’s identity is that Godot represents the never-ending search for fulfillment and satisfaction - a search that is dynamic and is tied to an optimism which people have pertaining to what the future holds for them (Markham , 1). It is this element of waiting that connects very well with how we identify ourselves and is a strong connection between individuals. Since by and large, everyone on earth is waiting for something, this ‘wait’ forms a connection between people since this is something we can relate to when trying to identify ourselves with others. Vladimir and Estragon are waiting for a man named Godot in the play but Godot can represent anything such as fulfillment, satisfaction, compassion and so forth (Destiny's Embrace , 15). The Irish critic Declan Kiberd in his work “Inventing Ireland” takes a closer look at the works of many of the popular Irish writers including Samuel Beckett. Inventing Ireland elevates the status of the work of the Irish writers and the neglected issues highlighted by the writers. Since Waiting for Godot is a very subjective play and is open to the interpretation of the viewer/ reader. Kiberd saw in the play Beckett’s representation of his Irish nationality and certain aspects of the Irish history. In Vladimir’s speech Kiberd saw a censure to Ireland’s refusal to take sides in the war (Kiberd , 542). In Kiberd’s point of view, “Waiting for Godot” represents the essence of humanity the way the Irish see it, which seems an assumption on his part owing to the fact that the author of the play is Irish. “Waiting for Godot” does depict many of the issues of our society and the beauty of it all is that Beckett manages to do it with as minimal characters as possible. Apart from the two central characters, Pozzo and Lucky play an integral part in manifesting how the society and community shape our relationships and distort our perception of reality. The element of power is adequately displayed along with the power that money brings with it. On Pozzo’s entry when he introduces himself to Estragon and Vladimir, his pride and arrogance is evident when he says “I am Pozzo. Pozzo. Does that name mean nothing to you? (Beckett , 16)” Later in the play Pozzo states that he is the owner of the land where Estragon and Vladimir are standing and waiting for Godot, this strengthens the realization of the fact that Pozzo is a rich and powerful man. However, the most significant proof of Pozzo’s strength and power is given by his treatment of Lucky (his servant). Pozzo uses words like “Pig” and “Hog” to address Lucky and attributes not the least shreds of intellect to Lucky. The way Pozzo treats Lucky also shows the communal acceptance of such behavior and the fact that money can bring one the power to command someone’s life and thus the most powerful tool of the society is money. Those who possess it are the ones who rule. Pozzo gives the bones of the chicken he eats to Lucky; such treatment of a human being is only comparable to the treatment of pets in the society who are also treated with a lot more affection than the way Lucky is treated by Pozzo (Beckett , 20). By casting a perfunctory glance at the play it appears that the role of the community and the society is portrayed as being that of a silent observer. This appears so because Estragon and Vladimir see the way Pozzo treats Lucky and yet they only make a futile effort to make Pozzo realize the importance of Lucky and that he too is human. Yet when it comes to Lucky entertaining Pozzo and Estragon by either thinking or by dancing; in Pozzo’s words “…Shall we have him dance, or sing, or recite or think, or?” Vladimir and Estragon are happy to be entertained rather than being repulsed by the thought of such an insult of a human being (Beckett , 32). Later in the play Vladimir says “Was I sleeping, while the others suffered? Am I sleeping now? Tomorrow, when I wake, or think I do, what shall I say of today?” this again reflects the fact that even though we feel that we belong to a community, do we really belong to a community in its true essence? (Valentine , 136) Another element of identity is the props used in the play such as the vaporizer, the hats, the boots and so forth. Pozzo seems to be dependent on his vaporizer or rather obsessed with it, Lucky; it appears is unable to think without the hat on his head and Estragon seems to be forever taking his boots on/ off. This shows us that instead of identifying with living things and humans we are dependent on non-living things and those are what we identify ourselves with. This dependence of ours is what inhibits us from seeing and feeling the plight of our situations and our community. Another important aspect, which also forms one of the themes of the play, is the sense of time. Throughout the play it appears that the characters are indifferent to time: what happened the day before, the number of days since they have been waiting and so forth. This aspect also adds to the sense of identity that the characters have in the play. It appears that the play is written in a state of nothingness, with no particular location, time, purpose which is what makes the play a part of the theatre of the absurdist (Hooti and Torkamaneh , 42). On the whole, as the arguments stated above portray that in terms of defining a relationship between community and identity, there does not appear to be any concrete correlation between the fact that the characters in the play identify themselves with the community. However, the community does shape the identity of the characters in a way for example, the fact that money is accompanied with power is a norm established by the community, the fact that a servant can be treated harshly by his master and yet no one will raise a voice against the master is another practice which the community ignores. These prevalent practices move on to shape the identity of the characters such as the tolerance to injustice as in the case of the latter example. Works Cited Atkinson, Brooks. "Beckett's 'Waiting for Godot'." The New York Times. 20 April 1956: 1. Print. 16 September 2011 Beckett, Samuel. "Waiting For Godot." Babylon, Paris: Grove Press, 1953. Print. 16 September 2011 Destiny's Embrace. "Waiting for Godot: A Study Guide." A Noise Within. Repertory Season 2007/2008: 1 - 19. Print. 18 September 2011 Gordon, Lois. "Reading Godot." Analytical. 2002. Print. 17 September 2011 Hooti, Noorbakhsh and Pouria Torkamaneh. "Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot: A Postmodernist Study." English Language and Literature Studies (Vol. 1, No. 1; June 2011): 40 - 49. Print. 18 September 2011 Kiberd, Declan. "Inventing Ireland." London, United Kingdom: Jonathan Cape, 1995. Print. 16 September 2011 Markham, Samantha. "Analysis of Beckett's Waiting for Godot." Modern World Theatre. 27 July 2010: 1. Print. 18 September 2011 Valentine, John. "Nihilism and the Eschaton in Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot." Florida Philosophical Review (Volume IX, Issue 2, Winter 2009 ): 136 - 147. 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