I can't go on! (Waiting for Godot - Samuel Beckett)

Member Name: cyberem78

Product:	Waiting for Godot - Samuel Beckett
Date:	21/11/08 (233 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: A great, thought provoking play.

Disadvantages: Can seem like nothing is happening, but most of the action is in the mind.

This the only work by Samuel Beckett that I can relate to. Everything else I've ever read of his left me scratching my head or had me blanking out due to boredom and/or my own ignorance and inability to connect. Beckett's work is abstract, absurd and minimalist but this play captivates me and is a milder example of his style and accessible to students. Also to those wanting to discover Beckett for the first time it would be wise and not too scary to begin with this play!

I read the play before I ever saw it performed. I was a teenager at the time and into the strain of literature that deals with existential themes. I have since seen a televised version of it starring Barry McGovern and Johnny Murphy - I highly recommend seeing this if you need to study this play or have trouble bringing the characters to life.

The play introduces us to two tramp like old(ish) men who are waiting on a dirt road in the countryside for someone they refer to as 'Godot'. Didi, or Vladimir is the penisve, intelligent half of the duo concerned with philosophy and manners whilst Gogo or Estragon is more simple-minded, vulgar and silly. Forced into a semi-amicable companionship the pair spend their time bickering and engaging in slapdash.

A lot of people who read the play regard the behaviour of Didi and Gogo and exclaim: "Well, nothing is happening!". The fact is, the men are going through the motions of life just as we all do. They talk about smelly boots, they moan about their ill health and problems caused by getting older. They sleep and dream and think about analysing the dreams. They muse about the past and their glory days. They sing daft songs to pass the time and amuse themselves. They argue about religion and all the while and most important of all, they are waiting for this Godot character to appear.

There is a notion that Godot will somehow save this pair from their poverty and difficult way of life. The men are cold, hungry and dressed in rags. They can't sleep in comfort or even physically function anymore. When they think of Godot they reveal that they have asked him for "a kind of prayer" and "a vague supplication". Whilst Godot is at first seen as a svaiour type figure later Estragon asks if they are "tied down" to him. This suggests some inner desire to break free from the long wait for Godot and whatever influence he exerts.

Pozzo and Lucky are two characters who turn up at the roadside. In the first act Pozzo is a pompous, rich man who has his servent Lucky, tied to a rope and carrying his bags. Pozzo is supercilious and is a man who sees himself as a God like creature. He trys to deliver meaningful, poetic speeches or delivers speech in a punctual, polite manner - discussing the weather for instance. He sneers at Didi and Gogo but agrees they are "of the same species as Pozzo! Made in God's image!".

Lucky appears to be a slave who doesn't want to lose his job. He therefore endures the abuse Pozzo gives him. Lucky behaves like a performing monkey - firstly by dancing and then thinking as a kind of entertainment. Lucky has one long speech at the end of act one where he delivers a diatribe of nonsensical phrases and terms.

In the second act, Didi and Gogo go on as before. The nothingness is alluded to in phrases such as "Will night never come?" and "This is getting alarming". Pozzo and Lucky return but this time Pozzo is blind and in ailing health. Pozzo's brilliant last speech is an important one in the play: "...one day I went blind, one day we'll go deaf, one day we were born, one day we shall die...they give birth astride of a grave, the light gleams an instant and then it's night once more."

The most obvious reading of the play is to assume that Godot is God. It does make sense and this idea seems to be supported by the fact that the allusions to Godot are frequently followed by religious language and ideas. In one interaction Didi says: "We are not saints but we have kept our appointment. How many people can boast as much?" Estragon replies: "Billions."

Vladimir then muses on the apparant trivial nature of their lives as they wait for Godot: "the hours are long, under these conditions, and constrain us to beguile them with precedings which - how shall I say - which may at first sight seem reasonable, until they become a habit."

What's clear is that this play can be read and analysed in a number of ways, all of them legitamite. What I take from this play may be something entirely different to what you take from it. I feel that, if you are a thinker, then this play will enthrall you. If you prefer clear cut plot, action and drama this is possibly not for you.

Some advice for students reading this for the first time is to try a neat trick which I do with everything I read. Imagine the characters as your favourite actors as you read. This helps you to relate to the figures and makes them real in your mind. It will definately make you fall in love with Didi and Gogo.

The play is available by Faber and Faber priced at £7.99.

The last word goes to Estragon and perhaps sums up the play and its themes: "We are all born mad. Some remain so."

Summary: A brilliant thought provoking play by Samuel Backett.