The play “Waiting for Godot” was written by Samuel Beckett and published in 1952. This play by Beckett presented the life of the modern man in certain ways.
Firstly,
Beckett in this play presented the absurdity in modern man’s life. Absurdity
was the main focus of writers associated with Modernism and post-Modernism.
This play by Beckett was labeled as the play of the twentieth century because
it represented the absurdity of human life. This notion of absurdity was first
presented by Albert Camus in his essay “The Myth of Sisyphus”.
Beckett laid incorporated this notion in several ways. This play “Waiting for
Godot” started with both Estragon and Vladimir struggling with Estragon’s boot.
They were even seen smelling Estragon’s boot in the first act. Similarly, the
repetition of words and actions, and the element of forgetfulness also added to
the meaninglessness of modern man’s life. The phrase “Nothing to
be done” highlighted the main theme of the play. Beckett in this
play rejected all the grand notions and traditions of the past to show the
helplessness and purposelessness of modern life. Estragon and Vladimir are both
waiting for Godot without knowing who he was, when will he becoming and even
oblivious of the fact that what had they asked him for:
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“What
exactly did we ask him for”.
All
the characters in the play are entrapped repeating the same monotonous routine.
The playwright depicts this notion of absurdity at its peak when one of the
main characters, Estragon in the first act suggests hanging themselves:
“Let’s
hang ourselves immediately”.
A question may be asked!
What is the play waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett about? How does it represent the plight of modern man in this world? Elucidate with relevant examples from the text.
Martin
Sealing in his book “The Theatre of Absurd”, presented
the idea that how the plays written between the 1940s and 1960s highlighted the
theme of absurdity. Absurdity in general deals with the sense of being
illogical and unreasonable and is often defined as “out of harmony
with reason and propriety; illogical”. Beckett like the other
writers associated with the Theatre of Absurd presented “a sense
of metaphysical anguish at the absurdity of human life”. He
presented life as an absurd, illogical, and irrational phenomenon in which all
the humans are waiting for their own Godot.
Secondly, alienation and isolation from the rest of the world are also considered as the plights of modern man’s life. The modern man after witnessing the horrors caused by the World War’s became isolated and alienated from the rest of the world. The characters in Becketts’s play “Waiting for Godot” are also alienated from the rest of the world and sometimes from one and another. Both Estragon and Vladimir are waiting for Godot in the outskirts, separated and alienated from the world.
They have absolutely no idea of time, place, and even why they
are waiting for Godot. Similarly, other than being cut out from the rest of the
world, they are isolated from one and others as pointed out by Estragon:
“I
feel better alone too”.
Estragon
sleeps in a ditch every night and is beaten up by mysterious people without
having any recollection of the last night. Though these characters long from
companionship, they are unable to communicate their feelings. As Pozzo pointed
out his belief regarding communication that even meeting the “meanest
creatures” is a blessing as one becomes “wiser,
richer and more conscious of one’s own blessings”. Despite their
longing for company, these characters are unable to communicate. The writer
very beautifully presents a lack of communication through the use of short,
repetitive, colloquial, absurd, and elliptical phrases and sentences. This
inability of the characters to communicate with one another highlights the
inner disorder and disorientation.
Thirdly,
the playwright incorporates existentialist and nihilistic approaches in
presenting the purposelessness of modern man’s life. The theories such as Soren
Kierkegaard and Arthur Schopenhauer in presenting the existential crisis and
nihilism are well depicted in the play in certain ways. The dramatist presents
the notion that how human actions and human life as a whole are suffering. The
writer highlights the basic approach of the nihilistic movement “To
live is to suffer”, in this play to highlight the meaninglessness
and absurdity of human actions. Estragon and Vladimir in the plays are waiting
for Godot throughout the whole play but while waiting for Godot they are
involved in numerous meaningless actions. In fact, their action of waiting for
itself is meaningless as they have no idea why they are waiting for
Godot.
Lastly,
hopelessness forms the basic theme of the play. Both Estragon and Vladimir as a
representative of modern man is hopeless as pointed out by Vladimir:
“Hope
deferred maketh the something sick”
Both
these characters Vladimir and Estragon are waiting for Godot not out of hope
but habit. They just like a modern man are repeating their monotonous routine
which according to the writer is a great deadener:
“Habit
is a great deadener”.
In
conclusion, one may say that the play, “Waiting for Godot” basically represents
the plight of a modern man in this world who longs for companionship, meaning,
and hope in his life but is only given a monotonous life surrounded by
absurdity and nihilism. This complaint against God was presented by Lucky’s speech very artistically by the writer as:
“God
loves us dearly but with few exceptions”.
This piece is written by Syeda Areeba Fatima, one of the staff contributors to the SOL Community. She is a Master student at NUML, Islamabad.
Read Also, Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett Represents the Plight of Modern Man
