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Waiting For Godot

Waiting for Godot is a 1952 play by Samuel Beckett about two tramps, Vladimir and Estragon, who pass time waiting beside a bare tree for the arrival of someone named Godot. The play is divided into two acts that are virtually identical, as the tramps continue to wait without any sign of Godot. They contemplate suicide but are unable to go through with it. The play explores themes of absurdity and meaningless in human existence through its plotless, repetitive structure and lack of resolution or explanation by the end.

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405 views2 pages

Waiting For Godot

Waiting for Godot is a 1952 play by Samuel Beckett about two tramps, Vladimir and Estragon, who pass time waiting beside a bare tree for the arrival of someone named Godot. The play is divided into two acts that are virtually identical, as the tramps continue to wait without any sign of Godot. They contemplate suicide but are unable to go through with it. The play explores themes of absurdity and meaningless in human existence through its plotless, repetitive structure and lack of resolution or explanation by the end.

Uploaded by

Bonocore Anastasia Pia
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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WAITING FOR GODOT-SUMMARY

“Waiting for Godot” is a play written in 1952 by Samuel Beckett, who was
part of the dramatists who developed the “Theatre of the Absurd”,
characterized by the absence of plot, communication and time. The play
is divided into two acts, where we can see the main characters, the
tramps Vladimir(“Didi”) and Estragon(“Gogo”), who are waiting for Mr
Godot, who is thought to be God. They wait for a long time, and in the
meantime, they fight and talk, although there is no real communication.
Then, they meet a boy who tells them that Godot will not come. There
are also other two characters, Pozzo and Lucky, who make purposeless
journeys, just like Estragon and Vladimir. The play ends with the second
act, which doesn’t differ from the first, since the two tramps are still
waiting for Godot. There is no setting, except for a country road and a
bare tree which represents the inner feelings of the characters.
Moreover, the play has no chronological order: there’s no past or future,
only a repetitive present. The structure appears symmetrical because of
different reasons: first of all, the stage is divided in two by the tree, and
also, Vladimir and Estragon are complementary. The latter is a dreamer
and can’t remember anything about his past, meanwhile Vladimir has a
better memory and he’s more practical. About the other characters,
Pozzo and Lucky, they are physically linked by a rope: on one hand, Lucky
represents the power of the mind, since he’s the one who’s weaker and is
actually his friend’s slave, while on the other hand there’s Pozzo, who’s
the symbol for the power of the body and represents the figure of the
master. In the extract “Waiting”, Vladimir meets the boy who tells him
that Mr Godot will not come and then he proceeds to ask some questions
about the mysterious man he’s supposed to meet but the only thing that
he can get to know, is the fact that Mr Godot has a white beard. A few
moments later, Vladimir tells Estragon, who was sleeping, what had
happened and that they had to wait for Godot for another day. The two
characters start to talk about meaningless things, such as the tree on the
road, and they also contemplate the idea of suicide, the only thing that
prevents them from hanging themselves is the fact that they don’t have a
rope, only Estragon’s belt which is too weak. The play has no conclusion,
in the end the two tramps think about going on their own way, but then
decide to stay together and they still wait for Godot, without moving
from the road. The extract represents the absurdity of the entire play,
which represents the meaningless and the absurdity of human life and
Beckett tries to recreate this with his style: there’s no real
communication, only pauses and repetitions(“yes sir”, “no sir”, “pull on
your trousers”), that indicate the senseless of time and of life.

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