Analysis Of Wating For Godot Essay, Research Paper

ANALYSIS OF WAITING FOR GODOT

From the surface, Waiting for Godot, by Samuel Beckett, is just sixty pages of gibberish and disorganization centered around two men that waiting for someone to show up. But when the story is analyzed, and is looked at piece by piece, this two act play begins to take shape and illustrate many different truths of the everyday world. Under the fragmented information left by Beckett, the theme that one cant just sit around and wait, emerges to the surface. Another theme, which is free to be taken when this play is dissected, is the mockery made of religion. Through the disorganized rubbish left by Samuel Beckett, the themes that one can not just sit around and wait, and the idea that religion is a joke, emerge in Waiting for Godot.

The main theme that is uncovered under the ambiguous dialogue of the play, is that one can just sit around and wait, one has to become self sufficient. Throughout the play Vladimir and Estragon are awaiting, “with nothing to do,” for the arrival of a person with the name Godot, so he can give them the answers to the “reasons unknown,” as Lucky puts it. Vladimir and Estragon do not go out looking for Godot at all nor will they do anything that will relocate them, in fear that they might miss Godot’s answers and their world would stay “unfinished.” Evidently this “person,” does not show up at all, even though Godot’s messenger, the boy, tells Vladimir and Estragon that Godot will show up tomorrow. This just goes to show that one goes no where, as Vladimir and Estragon do, when one just sits around and waits. Vladimir and Estragon are left, just like they are in the beginning of the play, with their questions still unanswered, and still waiting for these answers to come. In other words, the time spent by Vladimir and Estragon is a waste because they have made no progress from their original starting point. Even though they are given the help, facts, and the answers they need during this time, Vladimir and Estragon do not even take or uncover the meaning of this information, that is free for them to take and better themselves with. For example, Lucky gives Vladimir and Estragon all the of these answers that they are waiting for from Godot, in his oration, but the information is dismissed as gibberish because they do not uncover the meaning. And the most subtle, but one of the most obvious of examples, is the simple action of Estragon finally getting his boot off in the beginning of the play, which shows the two that they can complete tasks on their own and do not need other “people’s” help to do succeed. But Vladimir and Estragon do not read between the lines, like one must do to understand the play, or even do anything for their own good and they continue to “wait at the starting line,” with there bags packed for them, going no where, on a road they do not understand even though they have a map for it.

Throughout the play Samuel Beckett makes fun of the concept of religion, through Vladimir and Estragon. As stated Vladimir and Estragon center their whole life around the arrival of “Godot,” so he can save them. But Vladimir and Estragon do not know what Godot looks like, when he is coming, or even what Godot is, they just have vague pictures and ideas of who or what “Godot” is. Godot is said to represent God, by Lucky, in his long oration, in which he reveals all the answers of the play. In other words, Vladimir and Estragon have centered their entire lives around something no more than a whim, just like some humans have centered their lives around this mythical figure called God. Similar to when someone builds a building, they need a strong concrete foundation to support the levels above it, a human needs a strong concrete foundation to base their lives on. Therefore, this structure can not be found in religion, for there are no “concrete” facts of religion, it is just a bunch of myths that are not definitely true. Ultimately in Waiting for Godot these myths do not come true, for Godot never shows up, and Vladimir and Estragon are left with the false sense of security that someone is going to come and save them, when in fact he is not. Basically this shows that people who do base their lives on religion, like Vladimir and Estragon, go nowhere.

Through the disorganized rubbish left by Samuel Beckett, the themes that one can not just sit around and wait, and the idea that religion is a joke, emerge in Waiting for Godot. As the play progresses on, and Vladimir and Estragon do not, these “orphans” continue to ride this broken dream, of a person which they do not know what he or she looks like, or even when he or she will come, in hope that he or she will save them. Unfortunately, Vladimir and Estragon do not uncover that they can be self sufficient and stop centering their lives around a whim, and are left wasting their eternity of time away. This shows that one can not just sit around and wait, and base one’s entire life around something that is merely a myth like religion, for it will put oneself on this same road to no where as these two idiots, Vladimir and Estragon.