Choose one of the following questions to write a detailed and considered response to
Samuel Beckett’s play Waiting for Godot.
1. ‘Nothing is random in the world created by the author.’
How does Samuel Beckett use the features of theatrical stagecraft to explore ideas in his
play Waiting for Godot?
The quotation is designed as an introduction to the question and reinforces the central notion of the curriculum
statement that texts are deliberate constructions on the part of the author. The question has two aspects, which must be
addressed. You need to specify the features of the text type (the text type in this case being a play), and acknowledge
that a play has features peculiar to that genre, which the question classifies more specifically as “theatrical
stagecraft”. The best answers would show how Beckett uses such features in an integrated way to explore specific ideas
in his play. Less successful responses might overlook the phrase, ‘features of theatrical stagecraft’ and write about
techniques too generally (characterisation, language, etc.). Equally, especially when writing about the play’s response
to the absurdity of modern life, some may focus too exclusively on the ideas.
2. How does Samuel Beckett use repetition as a technique to emphasise ideas in his play
Waiting for Godot?
The stem of the question and the emphasis on ‘technique’ as a key word should highlight that repetition should be
analysed as a device utilised to convey ideas rather than just as a particular quality of the text. Repetition should be
interpreted broadly (the use of motifs, settings, symbolism, characterisation and structure, etc.) and should be linked to
the establishment and emphasis of ideas. Of course in Waiting for Godot, a play structured around two almost
symmetrical cycles of action, repetition goes beyond a simple device into a central theme of the play.
3. ‘The dialogue is studded with words that have no meaning for normal ears’ (Harold
Hobson). What techniques does Samuel Beckett use in Waiting for Godot to explore the
role that language plays in the human condition?
This question’s focus is on evaluating the author’s methods of exploring the theme of language. The quotation and the
reference to the human condition draw attention to the way Beckett highlights language as a problem rather than a
solution to making sense of our place in this world of absurdity, where meaning either vanishes or multiplies beyond
understanding. Language is the only instrument with which the characters can hope to know or control the world
outside them but it can offer no true knowledge at all. Whatever they say about the world makes no difference. Reality
remains outside the grasp of the language they have learned. And yet they go on speaking, for words are all they have.
4. Show how Samuel Beckett uses the parallels and contrasts between the relationships of
Vladimir with Estragon and Pozzo with Lucky to explore ideas in his play Waiting for
Godot.
The response to this topic must link an analysis of these paired characters to the ideas explored by their similarities and
contrasts. Pozzo and Lucky, (politically master and slave), are joined artificially and by force, with their rope, while the
partnership of Vladimir and Estragon, though not a voluntary one (philosophically representing mind and body), seems
to be based on genuine mutual need and relative equality. Even so, all the relationships between characters are to
different degrees based on the exploitation and abuse that Beckett observed in a Europe occupied by Hitler and an
Ireland occupied by Britain and the Churches. This topic does limit you to Beckett’s characterisation of the four in
terms of their parallel relationships, and therefore should not digress too far into a detailed analysis of the central pair
of Vladimir and Estragon on their own.
5. In what ways does Samuel Beckett’s use of comedy reinforce the central ideas of his play
Waiting for Godot?
This question asks you to consider the link(s) between central ideas and comedy and the ways in which comedy is used
as a means of presenting and developing, or at least enhancing, ideas. The comedy is not incidental; rather, it must
have some relation to the ideas in the play, particularly when Beckett gave it the subtitle ‘a Tragicomedy in Two Acts’.
The question assumes this and asks you to consider ‘in what ways’. The plural also directs you away from a simple
description. While an evaluative response would determine whether Beckett’s comedy distracts us from the idea at
hand, or calls more attention to it, establishing a connection between comedy and the central ideas is nevertheless
essential to answering the question successfully. Less successful answers are likely to refer to comedy without
discussing the ideas or refer to the comedy at the start of the essay, and then discuss ideas without referring to comedy
until the end of the essay. Writing in response to a drama text, comedy can even have a more specifically technical role
to play in stagecraft. This should effectively lead to an examination of Beckett’s exploration of ideas through absurdist
theatre and his use of clowning and vaudeville traditions.
6. How does Samuel Beckett use the natural environment to emphasise the central ideas in
Waiting for Godot?
‘The natural environment’ may be given a wide interpretation within the context of the play. However, the emphasis
within this response must be upon the use of that ‘natural environment’ as a device to highlight ideas within the play.
You must focus upon natural elements of the setting, rather than use a broader interpretation of what constitutes the
location of the story. The use of the physical landscape as a device may be straightforward (e.g. the tree, the bog, etc.).
However, more effective responses would interpret more subtle and metaphorical applications of the setting (including
the language of the characters). While so many of the play’s ideas seem to examine absurdist theories of the human
condition, the play’s theatrical strength lies in its physical expression of these ideas.
Criteria for Judging Performance
Your performance in this response to our final shared text, written under supervision during a
double lesson, will be judged by the extent to which you demonstrate:
understanding
 How well do you show an understanding of the ideas in Waiting for Godot?
 How clearly do you explain Beckett’s use of textual features to communicate
ideas and influence the reader’s response?
 To what extent do you recognise the characteristics of a play?
 How well do you understand the role of audience, purpose, and form in a play?
analysis and application
 How well do you clarify the role of the author in constructing the play?
 How aware are you of the role of the reader in making meaning of the play?
 How precise is your response to the meaning and intention of the set question?
 How effectively and appropriately do you use evidence from the play to
support an argument?
 How effectively do you integrate quotations into the line of discussion?
communication
 How accurate and fluent is your written expression?
 How appropriate are its form and register for the audience and purpose?