Waiting of Godot as an absurd play with reference to the two characters.

                                             Modern Drama

                                                Assignment

 

Name: Rabia Khan                       

Class: MA 3C

NUML

 

Question:

                 Waiting of Godot as an absurd play with reference to the two characters.

 

Answer:  

The play “Waiting for Godot” written by “Samuel Beckett” represents the theme of absurdity throughout the drama. Samuel Beckett has pictured or presented an image of absurdity in life, that the element of absurdness surrounds our lives.

             Now the play starts with the conversation of two people who are waiting for someone named Godot and the whole play focuses on these characters who are waiting and waiting. The characters (Vladimir and Estragon) in the play symbolize us, the humans who are just living a life full of absurdity.

Vladimir and Estragon are wanderers on the bare country road that symbolizes life. They wait for Godot symbolizing God or anything that is awaited with anticipation, under the dead tree as barren as the lives they lead. But instead of Godot, every day a messenger boy arrives to inform them that the Godot will come the next day. The boy is a messenger of hope that sustains Vladimir and Estragon. In the boring situation, they pass the time with endless and useless philosophical and repetitive conversation.

      The absurdity of circular dialogue is humorous yet tragic. Both have just wasted their entire lives in this false and hopeless wait of Godot. No sense of confirmation and no sense of vitality is there in their dialogues throughout the novel. It’s like they are trapped in the same situation every day. They have ceased to move on their journey through life.

           Another important aspect is that they never realize they need to change because they never remember the daily mistakes they make. Both resolve to hang themselves but always delay. In spite of all there waiting they never met Godot. It seems like all their waiting has gone to waste. Tragically, they do not realize that Godot’s elusiveness is a result of their own inactivity. As Vladimir himself says:

                    “There’s man for you, blaming on his

                      Boots the fault of his feet”.

 

 

So we can say that the drama is basically an allegory of modern man’s wait for personal salvation. Instead of just waiting people should take action in order to achieve their goals.