Waiting For Godot Waiting For God Essay

Waiting For Godot, Waiting For God. Essay, Research Paper

WAITING FOR GODOT, WAITING FOR GOD. By Michael Cunningham

Samuel Beckett was born on April 13, 1906 near Dublin Ireland. He was the second son of William and Mary Beckett. The Beckett family lived comfortably in Ireland, and Samuel received a quality education. He eventually graduated from Trinity College of Dublin in 1927. While attending Trinity, Samuel directed his focus toward foreign languages, majoring in French and Italian. During his tenure at Trinity, Beckett made several trips to Paris and immediately became enamored with the city. Upon graduation, Beckett was assigned by his advisor to teach from 1928 to1930 at the Ecole Normale Superieure in Paris. Here Beckett would meet the men to change his life forever (Bair 1-56).

Beckett became involved with literature and writing full time in 1930. All of Beckett.s works contain his pessimistic and negative tone combined with his eccentrics. This dubious attitude earned Beckett few friends to study with, which suited Beckett just fine. Of the few friends Beckett had, the biggest influences were his best friends Thomas McGreevy and James Joyce. McGreevy and Joyce shared Beckett.s anti-social tendencies and encouraged his eccentrics. Along with these cultural influences, Beckett found literary and prose influences in works such as Inferno and Tempest. Upon completion of internship, Beckett focused on writing, and the bad boy of modern literature made himself known (Bair 62-67).

Beckett began his professional writing in the summer of 1930 with the publication of Whoreoscope, and later that same year Proust (Bloom 263). Beckett.s work went unnoticed until 1934 when More Pricks than Kicks was published to favorable review (Bair 179). Shortly thereafter, Beckett split his time between writing and working in the French resistance movement against the Germans. Beckett was forced to flee the Gestapo as he was writing Watt in 1942. Beckett returned to France permanently in 1945 to begin his period of all French writings, most notably En Attendant Godot or Waiting for Godot. Beckett lived out the rest of his days in France, leaving only for deaths or production openings. Samuel Beckett died in 1989 (Bloom 263).

Beckett began writing Waiting for Godot in 1948. He was bored and irritated by rules and guidelines to writing thrust upon by others; this anger is obvious to the reader of Godot. Four producers declined Beckett to put the play on-stage. Finally Waiting for Godot was performed in 1953 at the Theatre de Baylone in Paris (Bair 399-430). Waiting for Godot is a complex tale, built around a simple theme “Nothing to be done” (Beckett 7). The principle characters are two tramps waiting for a man dubbed Godot. Vladimir and Estragon do not know why they wait, they do not even remember their initial encounter with Godot, but they know they must wait, or be punished when Godot does arrive. During the wait, the character traits of the tramps are evident. Vladimir and Estragon, the two main characters of the drama, reveal specific personality traits through their dialogue, actions, and their physical characteristics.

Vladimir has the most socially redeeming qualities of the two tramps. Where Estragon concerns himself with the tangible and physical, Vladimir tends to be concerned with the metaphysical. The first example of this trait is early in Act one. Estragon is struggling to remove his boot, while Vladimir attempts to tell the story of two thieves from the Bible. The focal point of the tale is “. . . one is supposed to be saved and the other . . . damned” (Beckett 9). Vladimir is greatly concerned by only one apostle making account of the thieves salvation (Barnard 92). This entire exchange shows just how different in at least one aspect the two are. Vladimir searches for meaning and purpose in one of the greatest mysteries in history, and all Estragon can add is a statement concerning the ignorance of man.

The example of metaphysical thoughts through action, or rather inaction, occurs in Act two. Pozzo and his slave Lucky are travelers that the reader is introduced to in Act one. In Act two, the duo returns, but they are unexplainably blind. Pozzo falls and cries for someone to help him up. As Pozzo screams and cries, Vladimir begins to examine the situation, and decides “. . . it is not everyday that we are needed. . .” (Beckett 51). This statement only emphasizes the tramps need for Godot, for Godot would tell them to either help Pozzo up or let him lie. Without Godot present however, the philosophies of Vladimir are a hindrance as they allow him to return to his lack of purpose as Pozzo lay crying (Barnard 98).

Vladimir displays his focus on the metaphysical through his physical characteristics during the exchange about hanging themselves. Vladimir is the heavier of the two tramps, but overlooks his weight in the hanging. Estragon.s simplicity points out the obvious “Gogo light-bough not break-Gogo dead. Didi heavy-bough break-Didi alone” (Beckett 12). Vladimir concentrates more on the deeper significance of the hanging, that it would “. give us an erection” (Beckett 12). The erection is significant in hanging because it would shortly be followed by an ejaculation. Vladimir further expands on this logic by saying, “Where it falls, mandrakes grow. . .” (Beckett 12). Though neither of the tramps acknowledge it, this q