Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett
Waiting for Godot was written by Samuel Beckett and belongs to tragicomedies. The premiere took place in Paris in 1953. The play was published four years ago in 1949. Originally the play was written in French called En attendant Godot, only then he translated it into his mother language. Samuel Beckett was considered a postmodernist and an innovator of the theatre of the absurd. He was awarded for his contribution to drama and literature by Nobel Prize in Literature in 1969.
Waiting for Godot is my first play I have ever read when I don’t count Romeo and Juliet and probably the last one which I chose accidentally. Next time I am going to ask about a recommendation or read shortly a plot first. It was quiet difficult for me to read it. It took me a long time to go through it. During the reading I even tried to listen to it as an mp3 or watch it on the Internet. None of these options worked for me so in the end I read it up, anyway.
I consider myself as a regular theatre visitor and truly this is not a play I would choose to visit. Waiting for Godot is an absurdist play which I am not a big fan of. I am sometimes confused and don’t know what to feel if I should laugh or take it seriously. Yet I find it as interesting experience to read it. There was attractive vocabulary, some parts were really readable and I like very much the first sentence: „Nothing to be done.“
The plot is divided into two acts. In book there is described the look of the scene. The scene in Act I is almost identical with the scene in Act II. There are two main characters and three other persons passing by but none of them is Godot. The people appearing and disappearing in the play are Pozzo, Lucky and the boy. Vladimir during the play also called Didi or Mr Albert and Estragon called Gogo are the two who are waiting for Godot. The whole story is opening by them being on the road near a leafless tree.
The whole act I takes place on one place. Estragon is busy with his boots which is quiet repeated activity of his and he starts the whole talking with the sentence mentioned above: „Nothing to be done.“ They talks about where Estragon slept that night and that he was beaten. The conversation further goes around religious topics where Vladimir seems to be better in leading the conversation. Then Estragon wants to leave and we finally find out what they are doing there, waiting for Godot. This kind of conversation about the reason why are there where they are, is going to be repeated for a few times. Who is Godot? It is a question which is not going to be answered even at the end. I have read that even the author has no vision about Godot and everything what is in the book about him is everything what he knows about him. Estragon and Vladimir are waiting for Godot, they don’t know why exactly they do so. They don’t know where to wait and when and even they don’t know how he looks like. Meanwhile Estragon is eating carrot very loudly which he got from Vladimir.
On the stage comes the new ones, Lucky and his master, Pozzo. He leads Lucky on the rope which Lucky has tied up around his neck. Here we for sure find out that Estragon and Vladimir has no idea how Godot looks like because at first they mistake Pozzo for Godot. Lucky is a slave of Pozzo and carries baggage. Pozzo calls him sometimes a pig and give him many orders. After the first misunderstanding about the identity, Pozzo starts to eat chicken without any trace of sharing. Even the bones are a problem for him to give them to Estragon. Pozzo confines that he is going to sell Lucky and so Lucky starts crying. Vladimir gives a handkerchief to Estragon who wants to wipe Lucky’s tears but instead Lucky kicks Estragon. Than Pozzo changes his mind and tells how bad Lucky is and that he is Lucky’s victim not the other way round. He wants to give something to them as a compensation so he offers dancing and thinking of Lucky. At first Lucky dances some strange dance and then he starts a monologue but he does so only with his hat on. There are many words and phrases that go on and on and which end after Vladimir takes his hat off. He passes out for a while, then he takes baggage and Pozzo and Lucky leave.
Here comes the boy, the Godot’s messenger, who tells the two of them that Godot is not coming today yet but definitely tomorrow. All the time Vladimir has a suspicion that has happen before. The boy is supposed to tell Godot that he saw them. Estragon leaves his unsuitable boots for somebody else and they mention they have known each other for fifty years and Estragon talks about being separated if it would be a better idea. Finally, they decide to leave but stay still and the curtain falls down.
Act II has an almost identical scenario and stage. Only the tree now has much more leaves. The second part begins with Vladimir being alone at the stage singing a song about a killed dog. Then comes Estragon who at the beginning doesn’t want to have anything in common with Vladimir because they were talking about living their lives on their own and it seems to Estragon that Vladimir is happier without him. Estragon again tells that he was beaten by somebody. After it settles down, they again speak about what to do and there is again Godot phenomena.
Vladimir starts to remember the day before. Unfortunately Estragon has got a bad memory and he doesn’t remember anything from yesterday. Vladimir tries to remind him some things. He shows him his boots that are on the same place as yesterday but after exploring them Estragon finds out that these boots are not his. Somebody switched them for bigger and after trying they suit Estragon better than his old ones. They also find Lucky’s hat and putting all their hats on and off. Probably, they were bored and this activity was kind of a distraction.
On the stage come Lucky and Pozzo but the situation is slightly different the leash is shorter and Lucky leads Pozzo. They fall down on the ground and as Estragon sees it he wants revenge on Lucky for the kick. Pozzo needs help with standing up and offers money for it. They discover that Pozzo is blind and after a little chat they also get to know that Lucky is dumb. Vladimir talks to Pozzo about yesterday but he doesn’t confirm anything. He doesn’t say when exactly it happened to him and Lucky and he doesn’t remember Vladimir and Estragon either. His behaviour has also changed, he is not bossy now. Pozzo and Lucky leave. Estragon reassure if Pozzo really wasn’t Godot and Vladimir is less and less sure.
The boy comes on the stage. He calls Vladimir Mister Albert as the last time. He has got the same message. Vladimir wants to know if he is the same boy but he declares he isn’t. They ask him what Godot does but he doesn’t know. Only thing we learn is that Godot has got a white beard. Vladimir has the same message for Godot as the day before and the boy rans away because Vladimir gets angry. Estragon puts his boots as they were at the beginning and they both start to talk about hanging on the tree but they haven’t got a rope. As they know they have to come back here tomorrow to wait for Godot they are going to take a rope tomorrow and if Godot doesn’t come they hang themselves. They decide to leave but neither of them moves and the curtain fall down again.
Writing this essay gave more time to think about it in detail. I quiet like the character of Vladimir, he seems to me reasonable. Estragon on the other hand is simple and in his own world. The idea of two almost the same acts but at same time oddly different engaged my attention. I am also thinking about time here, did it really happen in two consecutive days. Isn’t it possible that the biggest problem with memory hasn’t got Estragon but Vladimir? That between the two days flew many other days and that’s why everything has changed so much.
Anyway, as I said at the beginning this is not my cup of tea and I wouldn’t go on it to the theatre but I am glad I have read it. It kept me busy and I think about it a lot although I didn’t understand some texts clearly and I really appreciate books which make me think.