Various Interpretations in play ‘waiting For Godot’
Name :
Ravi Bhaliya
Roll
No : 24
Paper : The Modernist Literature
M.A : Sem
-3
Enrollment
No : 14101004
Year :
2015-16
Submitted To :
Smt S.B Gardi Department of English
Maharaja
krishnakumarsinhji Bhavnagar University
Abstract
Samuel Beckett was an Irish playwright, poet and
novelist best known for his play ‘Waiting for Godot’. Strongly influenced by
fellow Irish writer, James Joyce, Beckett is sometimes considered the last of
the Modernists. Though the play commonly interpreted within the context of the
theatre of absurd, existentialist literature, it is also Christian allegory and
also interpreted with religious interpretations. We can also find other aspects
in this paly like Political and Psychoanalytical it provides better understanding.
Here we can discuss that nothingness in Waiting for Godot it shows some deep meaning in life in different way. ‘Waiting for Godot’ gives a message that while doing nothing there is something.
Here we can discuss that nothingness in Waiting for Godot it shows some deep meaning in life in different way. ‘Waiting for Godot’ gives a message that while doing nothing there is something.
“Nothing
is also better than something” .
Key Words - ( Existentialism , Nothingness, Modernism, Absurdity, meaningless,political )
Existentialism
“Waiting for Godot ” is an existentialist
play because it has clear hints of existentialism in it. If we study the term
existentialism we would come to know that it is a philosophical doctrine which
lays stress on the existence with his concrete experience and hardness.
However, “Waiting for Godot” is an existentialist play for it embodies
Christian existentialism.
For Christian,
existentialism religious leads to God, whereas according to the Atheistic
Existentialism, it is based on the idea of Jean Paul Sartre and Martin
Heidegger who state that:
Man
is alone in a godless universe.
The comparative study
of both philosophies helps us to prove “Waiting for Godot” as a Christian
existentialistic play.
We know that man is
confronting the problem of his existence as a being. He is striving for his
survival and to control the bridle of the pacing time. He is struggling to save
his “individuality” and this very idea leads to the philosophy of
existentialism.
The word “Existentialism” stands for one’s “awareness” of one’s “beingness”. It stands for a vital principal of life. “Waiting for Godot” resembles the existentialist literature because it deals not only with existence or identity but also with the momentary and the internal time. The time mentioned in “Waiting for Godot” is related to man’s mental condition. For instance, the major problem for the tramps is to make time pass in such a way that they are least bothered by it. Vladimir and Estragon constantly complain of the slowness of time passing and do their best to hurry it with their futile diversions.
Estragon says:
Nothing
happens, nobody comes, nobody goes, it’s awful.
But we know that
outside the natural time, its consequences flow on. For example, the tree has
grown five or six leaves. Pozzo has grown blind and Lucky dumb.
Here Estragon remarks:
They
all change, only we not.
The play “Waiting for
Godot” has all the traits of existentialism both Vladimir and Estragon
represent the man in general who is facing the problems of his existence in
this world. They are interdependent like all other man. Hope for salvation is
the subject of play and is the problem faced by the whole human race.
Representing the man in general, the two tramps realize the futility of their
exercise and we note that they are merely filling up the hours with the
pointless activity. Hence their ‘waiting’ is mechanical and deals with problem
of existentialism.
Religious Reading
God and man
In Waiting for Godot, both Vladimir and
Estragon on stage, and Godot, who is away from the vision of the audience, bear
a certain symbolic significance. Relationship between them suggests that of God
and man.
Needless to say, Godot
is similar with God in pronunciation, which is enough to trigger the audience's
association with God. Of course, other descriptions of Godot in the play can
also make the readers consider him to be God of Christianity.
From the description of
appearance, Godot has similarities with God. The boy, a messenger, in the play
is from Godot’s place and he is the only one who has seen Godot. The two tramps
once asked him what color Godot’s beard is. There is a conversation between
them.
Vladimir: Has he a
beard, Mr. Godot?
Boy: Yes, sir.
Vladimir: Fair or… or
black?
Boy: I think it’s white, sir.
Vladimir: Christ have
mercy on us!
It can be concluded
that Godot wears a long white beard, which is in line with what God is like in
the Holy Bible. There are descriptions about Godot similar in God in spirit. In
the play, Godot can save, or punish, or try or take care of man. The tramps in
the play think that as long as Godot comes, they will be saved. If they do not
waiting for Godot, they would be punished by him.
Waiting for salvation
Waiting is the theme throughout the play.
Although Godot breaks his promise, the two tramps have shown perseverance.
Despite the heavy blow of painfulness, frustration and disappointment, they
still keeps on waiting because that is their only hope for they believe only
Godot can save them.
Samuel Beckett’s play
Waiting for Godot is commonly
interpreted within the context of the Theater of the Absurd, existentialist
literature, or Christian allegory. This thesis recognizes the validity of all
such readings while attempting to merge these seemingly contradictory
perspectives. By reading the play within the context of Christian
Existentialism, new insights are uncovered as to what the play may be saying
about the existential dilemma. (Jing Wang)
Political
Reading
Political reading
mainly concern with the French resistance to Germany. It was an interesting Political movement of
Cold war .Here in this Context we may find Autobiographical things in this
play. Smauel was the Disciple of James. And James who was don’t like the
England. Here in the play relationship of Pozzo and lucky it presents master slave relationship , Pozzo-Italian
name and Lucky – English name .on the
other hand sadistic relationship of
England and Ireland .
Ethical
In this interpretation, there is the irony
that only by changing their hearts to be compassionate can the characters fixed
to the tree move on and cease to have to wait for Godot.
Estragon: [Feebly.]
Help me!
Vladimir: It hurts?
Estragon: 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: Hurts! He wants to know if it hurts!
The play begins with
these two men on a barren road by a leafless tree. These men, Vladimir and
Estragon, are often characterized as "tramps," and the world of this
play is operating on its own set of rules, its own system where nothing
happens, nothing is certain, and there’s never anything to do. The tramps are
soon interrupted by the arrival of Lucky, a man/servant/pet with a rope tied around
his neck, and Pozzo, his master, holding the other end of the long rope. The
four men proceed to do together what Vladimir and Estragon did earlier by
themselves: namely, nothing.
As the title suggests,
the two tramps were waiting for Godot. To them, Godot stands for betterment or
to be precise a ray of hope.
Vladimir: Let’s wait
and see what he says?
Estragon: Who? Vladimir: Godot.
Estragon: Good idea.
Vladimir: Let’s wait till we know exactly how
we stand.
Estragon: On the other hand it might be better
to strike the iron before it freezes.
Vladimir: I am curious
to hear what he has to offer.
Then we’ll take it or leave it. Estragon: What
exactly did we ask him for?
Vladimir: Were you not there? Estragon: I
can’t have been listening.
Vladimir: Oh…nothing very definite. Estragon:
A kind of prayer.
Throughout the play,
the tramps cannot be sure if they have met Godot, if they are waiting in the
right place, if this is the right day, or even whether Godot is going to show
up at all. While they wait, Vladimir and Estragon fill their time with a series
of mundane activities and trivial conversations interspersed with more serious
reflection. The desire to meet Godot was so intense among them, they would not mind
if they have to wait for an entire lifetime.
Psychoanalytical
Life is occupied by
waiting. In Waiting for Godot, Samuel Beckett presents the suffering of the
human condition; the two characters exemplify this condition of suffering
through the juxtaposition of inaction and complaining. The term ‘waiting’
definitely well describes the nature of this play, taking part in every
component of the play. In the play, the characters work collectively as a mind
of their own in proceeding to contradict yet balance out one another’s actions
as the course of the play goes on. Waiting for Godot is a mere
interpretation of Sigmund Freud’s ideology of the mind.
Here Role of Estragon:
Gogo is the ego in the play
Estragon: I may be
mistaken. Let’s stop talking for a minute, do you mind?
Vladimir: All right.
Gogo! . . . Gogo! . . . GOGO!
Estragon: I was asleep!
Why will you never let me sleep?
Vladimir: I felt
lonely.
Role of Vladimir:
“Di-di (id-id) – who is more instinctual and irrational – is seen as the
backward id or subversion of the rational principle.”
One thing in the play
is obvious, Godot is the superego. He has the two characters, Estragon and
Vladimir, chagrined by the very thought of him. The two return to the same spot
multiple days and wait for Godot to come, as they do all the way through the
entire play. Godot keeps the characters in check throughout the play.
The Freudian ideology
of id, superego and ego all correspond to the functions of the mind; these
aspects can all be comparative to the mindset of the characters in Beckett’s
novel. Thus bringing the characters in waiting for Godot together,
all being part of one psyche.
Postmodernist
Study
Post
Modernism in the play
In postmodernism
nothing is based on logical reasoning. Nothing is framed within a presupposed
universal truth. In the 21st century everyone has lost faith in a perfectly
ordered, rational universe. The world is a place where things happen randomly.
You live or you die by chance. The conditions you endure, you endure by chance.
There is no well-crafted plan, no scheme of justice in most parts of the world
by which the universe operates.
“Actually
postmodernism is a dramatic deviation of man’s thought line; it is a
renaissance towards breaking the fossilized shackles of the prescribed norms
and notions…”
“Waiting for
Godot” is Beckett’s very well-known and well discussed play. It has two acts.
The main theme of the play is ‘nothingness’ or ‘meaninglessness’ of life and
world. The play was originally published in French in 1948. So, the effect of
World Wars we can see here, not by action, but by absence of action in the
play. This play though it has not action, is multi-layered play. Here ‘nothing’
itself is ‘something’. Beckett’s one remark is very much related with the
play that each word seemed to him “an unnecessary stain on silence and
nothingness”. Such absurdity we can find in this play.
Fragmentation
Noorbakhsh Hooti says:
“Postmodernism
relies heavily on fragmentation, paradox and questionable narrators.”
In this aspect, various
elements, plot, characters, themes, imagery and factual references are
fragmented. Fragmentation can be seen in language, sentence structure,
characters and plot also .Here in this play we see too much short sentences and
in that way conversation goes on. We do not find embellished language here.
This is the example of fragmented language and mind also of one character from
the play.
Uncertainty
Another symbol of
uncertainty is the lightening. The only lightening effect is when days turn
rapidly to night and the moon rises. The surrealistic effect of this heightened
change from day to night amplifies the theme of uncertainty. It should also be
mentioned that, this play was written after the Second World War, when the
insecurity about the Soviet Union was the order of the day as the arms race
gave rise to the possibility of nuclear war.
Helpless
hope
Although it has been
asserted in many interpretations of the play that there is not even a shade of
hope in it, but in certain parts of the play we can feel that the existence of
hope is oscillating in it. As Vladimir puts it “I am glad to see you back. I
thought you were gone forever”.
However hope is
sometimes felt substantially from the play, but hopelessness or deep gloom can
be felt as well. When Pozzo’s autocratic style or behavior toward his
submissive slave, Lucky, especially when his arrival is displayed in act 1,
indeed causes this sympathetic feeling in the onlooker’s heart when he ties a
person to neck and adjures him in the cruelest way. Moreover, this despairing
feeling is intensified when Estragon and Vladimir take this tyrannical person
for somebody else, as the person who is going to help them or save them,
although that savior is called Godot.
Nihilism
Nihilism is a radical philosophy of
meaninglessness. The world and the people in it exist without meaning, purpose,
truth and value. Any system of belief, or artistic expression, which denies or
drains away meaning can be described as “nihilistic” (Noorbakhsh
Hooti) .
According to
Baudrillard,
‘‘today’s nihilism is one of transparency, a nihilism that is a major
source of indifference’’
To
Wind up
A new day will come with new desire that something
fruitful will come for somebody in life. One or two ways it may be God, a
fruitful desire will come for somebody who is eagerly waiting that has no any
end. A person who always has desire for any achievement till birth to death his
list of desire will never come to end. In the same way for Godot there is
‘waiting’ which has no any end or meaning.
Works Cited
Jing Wang. "The Religious Meaning in Waiting for
Godot." English Language Teaching Vol 4 (n.d.): 197 - 200.
Noorbakhsh Hooti. "Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for
Godot: A Postmodernist Study." English Laguage and Literature Study
Vol.No 1 .june 2011 (n.d.): 40 - 49.
