MORTALITY
None of the characters in Waiting for Godot shy away from the fact that death is inevitable. In fact, death becomes
at times a solution for the inanity (emptiness, pointlessness) of daily life. The main characters contemplate suicide
as though it were as harmless as a walk to the grocery store, probably because there’s nothing in their life worth
sticking around for anyway. They ultimately do not commit suicide because they claim not to have the means, but
also because they are uncertain of the result of their attempt (it may work, it may fail). Because they can’t be sure
of what their action will bring, they decide on no action at all.
Questions About Mortality
1. Why do Estragon and Vladimir want to kill themselves?
2. Why don’t they?
3. If death is inevitable and ever-impending, as Pozzo points out, how do we live our lives with any sense of
purpose? Does Waiting for Godot propose a solution to this problem?
Suffering is a constant and fundamental part of human existence in Waiting for Godot. Every character suffers and
suffers always, with no seeming respite in sight. The hardship ranges from the physical to the mental, the minor to
the extreme. It drives some men to find companionship (so as to weather the storm together), causes others to
abuse their companions (to lessen the suffering of the self), and for still others leads to self-isolation (since
watching people suffer is a kind of anguish on its own).
Chew on This
Try on an opinion or two, start a debate, or play the devil’s advocate.
Estragon and Vladimir put the label of "waiting for Godot" on what is really just a systematic waiting for
death.
Every character in Waiting for Godot seems to live in a prison of his own making. Each is confined to a state
of passivity and stagnancy by his own inability to act. The one character who is literally the slave of another
is no more restricted than those who are technically free; in fact, he may be more free because he is at least
aware of his imprisonment.
Quote
ESTRAGON
What about hanging ourselves?
VLADIMIR
Hmm. It'd give us an erection.
ESTRAGON
(highly excited) An erection!
[…]
ESTRAGON
Let's hang ourselves immediately! (1.170-4)
The appeal of hanging isn’t that it would bring death, but rather that it’s something to do during the eternal wait.
The men are unable to comprehend the consequence of such an action.
FRIENDSHIP
Friendship is tricky in Waiting for Godot, as each character is fundamentally isolated from every other.
Relationships teeter between a fear of loneliness and an essential inability to connect. This tension is central to the
play. The problems that keep characters apart vary from physical disgust to ego to a fear of others’ suffering.
Questions About Friendship
1. What is the best term to describe Vladimir and Estragon’s relationship? Are they friends? Companions?
Master and slave? Mere acquaintances?
2. Vladimir and Estragon constantly ask whether they would be better off without each other. So…would
they?
3. Of Vladimir and Estragon, which man is more eager to draw closer, and which man is more hesitant?
Chew on This
Try on an opinion or two, start a debate, or play the devil’s advocate.
Because Lucky and Pozzo understand and accept the nature of their positions as slave and master, they
have a healthier relationship than Vladimir and Estragon.
Quote
ESTRAGON
(feebly) Help me!
VLADIMIR
It hurts?
ESTRAGON
(angrily) Hurts! He wants to know if it hurts!
VLADIMIR
(angrily) No one ever suffers but you. I don't count. I'd like to hear what you'd say if you had what I have.
ESTRAGON
It hurts?
VLADIMIR
(angrily) Hurts! He wants to know if it hurts! (1.23-28)
One of the barriers preventing an authentic friendship between these two men is that neither can truly understand
what it means for the other to suffer. This sounds a lot like the primary thesis of The Plague, the existentialist work
of fiction published just one year before Beckett wroteWaiting for Godot.
RELIGION
Religion is incompatible with reason in Waiting for Godot. Characters who attempt to understand religion logically
are left in the dark, and the system is compared to such absurd banalities as switching bowler hats or taking a boot
on and off. Religion is also tied to uncertainty, since there is no way of knowing what is objectively true in the
realm of faith.
Questions About Religion
1. Who has a better understanding of religion, Vladimir or Estragon?
2. We’ve said that in Waiting for Godot, religion is incompatible with logic. If this is true, what’s the next step?
Does the play argue that we should accept religion despite its lack of rationality, or that we should reject it
for the same reasons?
3. If Godot is a representation of God, what do Vladimir and Estragon expect will happen if he does finally
show up?
Chew on This
Try on an opinion or two, start a debate, or play the devil’s advocate.
Waiting for Godot operates on one damning, principal contradiction: the men can only be saved if their
personal god, Godot, were to appear. However, since a commonly accepted interpretation of God is that he
is without extension (meaning he doesn’t occupy space), Godot’s presence would mean that he is not God.
This renders Vladimir and Estragon’s waiting absurdly futile (fails to deliver a result).
Quote
ESTRAGON
What exactly did we ask him [Godot] for?
VLADIMIR
Were you not there?
ESTRAGON
I can't have been listening.
VLADIMIR
Oh . . . Nothing very definite.
ESTRAGON
A kind of prayer.
VLADIMIR
Precisely.
ESTRAGON
A vague supplication. (1.202-8)
Godot could represent faith or religion. Case in point, this line here, where Estragon says they have offered a prayer
to Godot. The problem is, they don’t seem to know exactly what they’ve prayed for. In a way, this exchange mocks
religion for its inherent uncertainty.
TIME
Time presents a slew of problems in Waiting for Godot. The very title of the play reveals its central action: waiting.
The two main characters are forced to whittle away their days while anticipating the arrival of a man who never
comes. Because they have nothing to do in the meantime, time is a dreaded barrier, a test of their ability to endure.
Because they repeat the same actions every day, time is cyclical. That every character seems to have a faulty
memory further complicates matters; time loses meaning when the actions of one day have no relevance or
certainty on the next.
Questions About Time
1. Characters in Waiting for Godot repeatedly forget the events of yesterday. If memory is faulty and one
cannot remember past actions, do these actions have any meaning?
2. Can we trust Vladimir and Estragon’s memories of events that have supposedly occurred before the start of
the play?
3. Does time pass any differently in Act II than it does in Act I?
Chew on This
Try on an opinion or two, start a debate, or play the devil’s advocate.
Pozzo chooses to go blind because he has lost his watch.
Quote
VLADIMIR
Hand in hand from the top of the Eiffel Tower, among the first. We were respectable in those days. Now it's too late.
They wouldn't even let us up. (Estragon tears at his boot.)What are you doing?
ESTRAGON
Taking off my boot. Did that never happen to you?
VLADIMIR
Boots must be taken off every day, I'm tired telling you that. (1.20-22)
VLADIMIR
He said Saturday. (Pause.) I think.
ESTRAGON
You think.
VLADIMIR
I must have made a note of it. (He fumbles in his pockets, bursting with miscellaneous rubbish.)
ESTRAGON
(very insidious) But what Saturday? And is it Saturday? Is it not rather Sunday? (Pause.) Or Monday? (Pause.) Or
Friday?
VLADIMIR
(looking wildly about him, as though the date was inscribed in the landscape) It's not possible!
ESTRAGON
Or Thursday? (1.135-40)
We are introduced to what appears to be a repeating, cyclical routine for these two men. The more we realize the
extent of the repetition, the more horrifying their predicament seems.
Waiting for Godot reminds us that our labeling of time is ultimately arbitrary. Words like "Saturday" or "Thursday"
are made-up anyway, so we have no way of knowing what day it really is.
EXISTENTIALISM
The portrait of daily life painted by Waiting for Godot is a dismal one. It is repetitive and stagnant. It lacks meaning
and purpose and entails perpetual suffering. The solution (which none of the characters take) would seem to be
action and choicedespite the ever-presence of uncertainty, and an awareness of one’s surroundings and past
actions. As one character says, "habit is a great deadener" – our actions should stem from conscious choice rather
than apathy.
Questions About Life, Consciousness, and Existence
1. What is the value of life in Waiting for Godot?
2. Pozzo claims that life has no meaning because it is fleeting; Vladimir counters that life has no meaning
because we deadened it with habit. Which statement, if either, does the play support?
3. Vladimir wonders towards the end of Act II whether or not he is even awake. Why does it take him until
now to ask this question? What has happened over the course of the play that might have led him to this
doubt? Does asking this question symbolize any sort of transition for him?
Chew on This
Try on an opinion or two, start a debate, or play the devil’s advocate.
The barren setting of Waiting for Godot is proof that Vladimir and Estragon will never be able to break their
cycle of inactive waiting; it negates the possibility of life or creation.
Suffering is a necessary and constant state for all men in the world of Waiting for Godot.
Quote
Estragon, sitting on a low mound, is trying to take off his boot. He pulls at it with both hands, panting.
He gives up, exhausted, rests, tries again.
As before.
Enter Vladimir.
ESTRAGON
(giving up again) Nothing to be done.
VLADIMIR
(advancing with short, stiff strides, legs wide apart) I'm beginning to come round to that opinion. All my life I've
tried to put it from me, saying Vladimir, be reasonable, you haven't yet tried everything. And I resumed the
struggle.(He broods, musing on the struggle.) (1.1-2)
Estragon’s opening lines define the tone of the play and the plight of its players, but they establish the view of the
world that Waiting for Godot presents: there is nothing to be done for Estragon and Vladimir, and, perhaps, for the
rest of us.
TRUTH
Waiting for Godot is a play driven by a lack of truth – in other words, uncertainty. Characters are unable to act in
any meaningful way and claim this is so because they are uncertain of the consequences. Without the presence of
objective truth, every statement is brought to question, and even common labels (color, time, names) become
arbitrary and subjective.
Questions About Truth
1. After the debate over whether or not to attempt suicide, Estragon concludes in Act I, "Don’t let’s do
anything. It’s safer." Is doing nothing safer?
2. Vladimir and Estragon are constantly faced with uncertainty of consequence, and as such choose not to
choose. But what is the consequence of not choosing in this play? Can we even be certain of this?
Chew on This
Try on an opinion or two, start a debate, or play the devil’s advocate.
In Waiting for Godot, Beckett espouses the Existentialist tenet that the world is without meaning, but
disagrees with the belief that one can give the world meaning and purpose through action.
Quote
VLADIMIR
We're waiting for Godot.
ESTRAGON
(despairingly) Ah! (Pause.) You're sure it was here?
VLADIMIR
What?
ESTRAGON
That we were to wait.
VLADIMIR
He said by the tree. (They look at the tree.) Do you see any others?
[…]
ESTRAGON
Looks to me more like a bush.
VLADIMIR
A shrub.
ESTRAGON
A bush.
VLADIMIR
A—. What are you insinuating? That we've come to the wrong place? (1.94-109)
The torturous nature of this endless wait for Godot derives from the uncertainty surrounding the act. If Vladimir
and Estragon can’t be certain as to the right location, the central action of their daily lives (the waiting) may be
moot.
THEATRE OF THE ABSURD
Waiting for Godot is hailed as a classic example of "Theatre of the Absurd," dramatic works that promote the
philosophy of its name. This particular play presents a world in which daily actions are without meaning, language
fails to effectively communicate, and the characters at time reflect a sense of artifice, even wondering aloud
whether perhaps they are on a stage.
Questions About Philosophical Viewpoints: The Absurd
1. Vladimir and Estragon’s situation is so absurd that it doesn’t resemble any reality we’re familiar with. How
is it possible, then, that the play can comment on our own lives? Does Beckett suggest a level of absurdity in
the real world?
2. Do Estragon and Vladimir recognize that their actions are absurd? Or does everything seem "normal" to
them?
3. How do the absurd characters of Pozzo and Lucky comment on Gogo and Didi? Who seems more rational?
4. At one moment is the play meta-fictional? In other words, where do the characters seem to reveal an
understanding (or at least a suspicion) that they are part of a contrived reality? How does this affect the
way we see the play?
Chew on This
Try on an opinion or two, start a debate, or play the devil’s advocate.
Lucky is the only character in Waiting for Godot whose actions are rational, rather than absurd.
Quote
VLADIMIR
I thought it was he.
ESTRAGON
Who?
VLADIMIR
Godot.
ESTRAGON
Pah! The wind in the reeds.
VLADIMIR
I could have sworn I heard shouts.
ESTRAGON
And why would he shout?
VLADIMIR
At his horse.
Silence.
ESTRAGON
(violently) I'm hungry!
VLADIMIR
Do you want a carrot? (1.245-53)
Notice how Vladimir and Estragon switch rapidly from serious subject matter (whether or not Godot has arrived)
to absurdly inane details (that would be carrots). This is part of the play’s attempt at "tragicomedy," but also the
reason why Vladimir and Estragon can’t take part in anything meaningful: they are too distracted by the petty
habits of everyday life.
CHOICES
Waiting for Godot consists of two men unable to act, move, or think in any significant way while they kill time
waiting for a mysterious man, Godot. The characters fail to realize that this very act of waiting is a choice; instead,
they view it as a mandatory part of their daily routine. Even when these men manage to make a conscious decision,
they can’t translate that mental choice into a physical act. They often "decide" to leave the stage, only to find that
they are unable to move. Such inaction leads to stagnancy and repetition in the seemingly endless cycle of their
lives.
Questions About Choices
1. What is the barrier between the decision to act and action itself in Waiting for Godot? Why are the men
unable to move after they’ve decided to do so?
2. Are Vladimir and Estragon condemned to wait for Godot, or is the act of waiting a choice itself?
3. Does Lucky’s position as a servant seem to be a choice on his part?
Chew on This
Try on an opinion or two, start a debate, or play the devil’s advocate.
If Vladimir and Estragon realized they had the freedom of choice, they could break their daily cycle of habit
and inaction. The problem is one of consciousness.
Vladimir and Estragon are fully aware of their situation and of their ability to choose, but the uncertainty
surrounding the result of any potential action prevents them from breaking the stagnant cycle of their
waiting.
Quote
ESTRAGON
Let's go.
VLADIMIR
We can't.
ESTRAGON
Why not?
VLADIMIR
We're waiting for Godot. (1.91-94)
For Vladimir, the act of waiting for Godot prevents him from choosing any other course of action. Yet his decision
to wait for Godot at all is a choice in itself; if he realized the radical personal freedom afforded to him by choice, he
could decide to leave the stage.
FREEDOM & CONFINEMENT
Questions About Freedom and Confinement
1. Does Lucky choose to be a slave?
2. Why does Vladimir want to play the part of Lucky when he’s pretending with Estragon?
3. Between Estragon and Vladimir, who has more freedom?
Chew on This
Try on an opinion or two, start a debate, or play the devil’s advocate.
Lucky’s position is the most enviable in Waiting for Godot since he has the security of being told what to do.
Vladimir and Estragon are slaves to their concept of Godot just as Lucky is a slave to Pozzo.
ESTRAGON
Charming spot. (He turns, advances to front, halts facing auditorium.) Inspiring prospects. (He turns to
Vladimir.)Let's go.
VLADIMIR
We can't.
ESTRAGON
Why not?
VLADIMIR
We're waiting for Godot.
ESTRAGON
(despairingly) Ah! (1.91-5)
Vladimir and Estragon are confined by their waiting just as Lucky is confined by the rope around his neck. In this
comparison, Godot is compared to Pozzo as the being that governs such confinement. But do the "prisoners"
Vladimir and Estragon choose to be imprisoned?
SUFFERING
Questions About Suffering
1. What is the worst kind of suffering we see in Waiting for Godot?
2. Have Estragon and Vladimir ever been happy? How do they define "happy?"
3. Is there any purpose served by Gogo and Didi’s suffering? Do they learn from it?
Chew on This
Try on an opinion or two, start a debate, or play the devil’s advocate.
Vladimir and Estragon suffer not for lack of happiness, but for lack of certainty. It is worse to not know
whether or not they are miserable than to be certain of their anguish.
VLADIMIR
And they didn't beat you?
ESTRAGON
Beat me? Certainly they beat me.
VLADIMIR
The same lot as usual?
ESTRAGON
The same? I don't know. (1.12-15)
Waiting for Godot presents suffering as a regular, expected part of daily life.