Becca

Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett · Setting o On a country road near a tree · Characters o Vladimir § Called Didi § Poor § Leads the conversations § Wears a bowler § Always has to remind estragon of things § Heavier than estragon § intellectual o Estragon § Called Gogo § Poor § Extremely forgetful § Reliant on Vladimir <span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings; msobidifontfamily: Wingdings; msofareastfontfamily: Wingdings; msolist: Ignore;">§ Lacks conversation skills <span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings; msobidifontfamily: Wingdings; msofareastfontfamily: Wingdings; msolist: Ignore;">§ Wears a bowler <span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings; msobidifontfamily: Wingdings; msofareastfontfamily: Wingdings; msolist: Ignore;">§ Wants to sit around and sleep all the time <span style="font-family: 'Courier New'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Courier New'; msofareastfontfamily: 'Courier New'; msolist: Ignore;">o Pozzo <span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings; msobidifontfamily: Wingdings; msofareastfontfamily: Wingdings; msolist: Ignore;">§ Controlling <span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings; msobidifontfamily: Wingdings; msofareastfontfamily: Wingdings; msolist: Ignore;">§ Conceited, likes to hear himself talk <span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings; msobidifontfamily: Wingdings; msofareastfontfamily: Wingdings; msolist: Ignore;">§ Wears a bowler <span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings; msobidifontfamily: Wingdings; msofareastfontfamily: Wingdings; msolist: Ignore;">§ Goes blind in Act II <span style="font-family: 'Courier New'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Courier New'; msofareastfontfamily: 'Courier New'; msolist: Ignore;">o  Lucky <span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings; msobidifontfamily: Wingdings; msofareastfontfamily: Wingdings; msolist: Ignore;">§ Subservient <span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings; msobidifontfamily: Wingdings; msofareastfontfamily: Wingdings; msolist: Ignore;">§ Doesn’t speak until asked to “think” out loud <span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings; msobidifontfamily: Wingdings; msofareastfontfamily: Wingdings; msolist: Ignore;">§ Wears a bowler <span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings; msobidifontfamily: Wingdings; msofareastfontfamily: Wingdings; msolist: Ignore;">§ Walks on a leash, carries all of Pozzo’s bags <span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings; msobidifontfamily: Wingdings; msofareastfontfamily: Wingdings; msolist: Ignore;">§ Tries to impress Pozzo by doing more work than he has to so Pozzo won’t get rid of him <span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings; msobidifontfamily: Wingdings; msofareastfontfamily: Wingdings; msolist: Ignore;">§ Goes dumb in Act II <span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; msobidifontfamily: Symbol; msofareastfontfamily: Symbol; msolist: Ignore;">·  Plot Summary <span style="font-family: 'Courier New'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Courier New'; msofareastfontfamily: 'Courier New'; msolist: Ignore;">o Vladimir and Estragon are sitting by a tree. Estragon is struggling to take off his boot, while Vladimir continuously takes off and puts on his hat, expecting there to be something inside. They sit there for the entirety of the day waiting for a mysterious person they call “Godot” for a reason that is unknown to them. The dialogue between the two seems to center around the lack of meaning in life. They discuss suicide and how it doesn’t matter whether if they killed themselves or not. They are unsure of what day it is, or whether anything has truly happened. Pozzo and Lucky enter. Lucky is on a leash and is holding all of Pozzo’s bags. Pozzo, Vladimir, and Estragon speak to each other, but no one seems to be listening as they all have to repeat themselves. Vladimir and Estragon switch back and forth between which they sympathize with. Vladimir announces that he has to go to the bathroom, and estragon and pozzo look out onto where the audience would be, acting like they see the audience. Pozzo asks them if there is anything he can do for them before departing, Estragon asks for money, but Vladimir refuses, saying they aren’t beggars. They agree to have Lucky dance for them, then “think.” Lucky shuffles awkwardly (as if “entangled in a net”), and then thinks out loud. He erupts into a lengthy speech which is a disjoint stream of consciousness which starts out relatively coherent, but ends in him blabbering. At the end of the act, a boy arrives to tell Vladimir and Estragon that Godot will not be coming. The second act takes places in the same place, at the same time, but the next day. Vladimir reminds Estragon of the past day’s events. They mess with their hats/boots again, exchange meaningless dialogue, and do anything they possibly can to pass the time. They find Pozzo on the ground, calling for help. They all end up on the ground trying to help him up. They eventually get him up, and they find out that Pozzo is blind and Lucky is dumb. When they prompt Pozzo if he remembers who they are, or what happened the day before, he says “Have you not done tormenting me with your accursed time? It’s abominable! When! When! One day, is that not enough for you, one day he went dumb, one day I went blind, one day we’ll go deaf, one day we were born, one day we shall die, the same day, the same second, it that not enough? They give birth astride of a grave. The light gleams an instant, then it’s night once more. On!” (103.) Pozzo is basically telling them that he can no longer tell the passing of time and life is meaningless and fleeting. After they leave, a boy enters to tell them that Godot won’t be coming. He doesn’t remember them, and it’s uncertain if it’s the same boy as in Act I. <span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; msobidifontfamily: Symbol; msofareastfontfamily: Symbol; msolist: Ignore;">· Motifs/Symbols/Literary Devices <span style="font-family: 'Courier New'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Courier New'; msofareastfontfamily: 'Courier New'; msolist: Ignore;">o Acknowledgement of the theater <span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings; msobidifontfamily: Wingdings; msofareastfontfamily: Wingdings; msolist: Ignore;">§ Vladimir going to the bathroom and Pozzo and estragon noticing the audience was Beckett’s way of making the play seem absurd: they’re in a play, but they’re watching a play. When they find Pozzo on the ground and he crawls away, they call for him, but Estragon can’t remember his name, so he calls him Abel, then Cain. Vladimir says, “I begin to weary of this motif,” acknowledging that there is someone who is writing their story and incorporating motifs. <span style="font-family: 'Courier New'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Courier New'; msofareastfontfamily: 'Courier New'; msolist: Ignore;">o Biblical References <span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings; msobidifontfamily: Wingdings; msofareastfontfamily: Wingdings; msolist: Ignore;">§ Vladimir tells the story of the four thieves crucified with Jesus and how only one of them was saved. Almost every time they think Godot is coming they say “we’re saved!” They also call Pozzo Cain and Abel. <span style="font-family: 'Courier New'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Courier New'; msofareastfontfamily: 'Courier New'; msolist: Ignore;">o Lack of setting, action and passage of time <span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings; msobidifontfamily: Wingdings; msofareastfontfamily: Wingdings; msolist: Ignore;">§ The fact that nothing is happening shows Didi and Gogo’s (and the reader’s) struggle with finding the meaning of life. the repetition of everything points out that life is repetitive, and their pointless dialogue shows that people talk just to fill up time. “We always find something, eh Didi, to give us the impression we exist?” (77) <span style="font-family: 'Courier New'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Courier New'; msofareastfontfamily: 'Courier New'; msolist: Ignore;">o Split between the body and the intellectual <span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings; msobidifontfamily: Wingdings; msofareastfontfamily: Wingdings; msolist: Ignore;">§ Vladimir = intellectual, Estragon = Body. Neither can exist without the other. <span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; msobidifontfamily: Symbol; msofareastfontfamily: Symbol; msolist: Ignore;">· Themes <span style="font-family: 'Courier New'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Courier New'; msofareastfontfamily: 'Courier New'; msolist: Ignore;">o What is the meaning of life? <span style="font-family: 'Courier New'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Courier New'; msofareastfontfamily: 'Courier New'; msolist: Ignore;">o Is there a god? Critical Article http://go.galegroup.com/ps/retrieve.do?sgHitCountType=None&sort=RELEVANCE&inPS=true&prodId=LitRC&userGroupName=abin93897&tabID=T001&searchId=R1&resultListType=RESULT_LIST&contentSegment=&searchType=BasicSearchForm&currentPosition=1&contentSet=GALE%7CA162184430&&docId=GALE|A162184430&docType=GALE&role=LitRC