Hello Readers !
Welcome to my blog. This blog is part of my academic writing. In which I am dealing with Samuel Beckett's famous play waiting for Godot.
✍️ What connection do you see in the setting (“A country road. A tree.Evening.”) of the play and these paintings?
Here in this play ' Waiting for Godot' we don't find any particular setting. We can find that it is the country road, and tree. In the painting we can see that the tree, two people and one tree in the night, can also see the moon. This painting is by Casper David Friedrich.
So it seems like the painting is the inspiration of the setting of the waiting for Godot. The 'longing' may be 'waiting' but then there is no further comparison possible. The 'waiting' for Beckett is in the indifference and uncaring universe.
So in the picture we can see the romantic atmosphere. The romantic longing for nature and divine in nature is not at all in the worldy vision of Samuel Beckett.
✍️ The tree is the only important ‘thing’ in the setting. What is the importance of trees in both acts? Why does Beckett grow a few leaves in Act II on the barren tree - The tree has four or five leaves - ?
Leaves on Tree - Waiting for Godot
Here we can see in the first act there are no leaves on the tree and in the second act we can see four and five leaves on the tree.
Maybe Buckett is trying to say that the time is passing away with all the meaningless things. Time is passing but nothing happens, nobody comes.
And also we can say that at the end of the first act the boy comes and gives a message that 'Godot will come tomorrow'. So that news became Hope for Vladimir and Estragon. Maybe the leaf is the symbol of Hope. That is also meaningless.
The willow tree has great religious significance. In the Judeo-Christian tradition it represents, among other things, the promise of new life as well as chastity. The tree stands for the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, the Tree of Life, the Cross, and (when hanging is considered) the Judas Tree.
✍️ In both Acts, evening falls into night and moon rises. How would you like to interpret this ‘coming of night and moon’ when actually they are waiting for Godot?
Night and Moon - Waiting for Godot
Here we can say that Beckett wants to highlight the indifferent nature. As we know that Nature never waits for anyone, it doesn't matter whether a person was sad or happy, nature never cares for them. Here Vladimir and Estragon are waiting for Godot very regressively but that doesn't impact on nature. The cycle of nature is going on.
As we know human beings also remain indifferent towards the suffering of others.
✍️ The director feels the setting with some debris. Can you read any meaning in the contours of debris in the setting of the play?
Yes we can see the meaning in the settings. The setting seems like there is a structure but it collapsed for any reason. That's why we can see only rubbish stones etc. The play was published in 1952 in French as En attendant Godot and first produced in 1953. So the Second World War emerged in 1939. Here we can make a point that maybe the director shows us a tremendous amount of horrific pictures of the world. The house was broken by the bombs.
Buckett used each and every situation and words with meaning and particular interpretation. Here again he used the contour of Debris consisting of rubbish and broken pieces of rocks signifying the meaninglessness of life and how the useless things if put together then create a huge rubbish structure. Similarly the world is full of useless things which create or makes the world. World consists of each and every thing whether it is good, bad or rubbish. Debris also signifies the ups and downs of life.
✍️ The play begins with the dialogue “Nothing to be done”. How does the theme of ‘nothingness’ recurs in the play?
In the whole play we can see the power of nothingness and absurdity. In the dialogue of the characters also we can see that nothingness. At the end of the story nothing happened. The play ends as it was beginning.
We don't find any conclusions
Vladimir and Estragon don't meet Godot.
Whether they were saved by him or not is unknown.
So through the whole play theme of 'nothingness ' recurs in the play.
✍️ Do you agree: “The play (Waiting for Godot), we agreed, was a positive play, not negative, not pessimistic. As I saw it, with my blood and skin and eyes, the philosophy is: 'No matter what— atom bombs, hydrogen bombs, anything—life goes on. You can kill yourself, but you can't kill life." (E.G. Marshall who played Vladimir in the original Broadway production 1950s)?
If we understand the play deeply then yes to some extent we can say the play Waiting for Godot is not a negative or pessimistic play. Because in our life we have do continue with all the problems and circumstances. No matter what happens but we have to continue our life. If we don't want to live the suiside is better option. But here we can see the Bucket also mentioned satire on the act of suiside and you can say the ideas of suiside.
·✍️ How are the props like hat and boots used in the play? What is the symbolic significance of these props ?
The significance of Hat in the play : we can see that all the characters Vladimir, Estragon, Lucky, and Pozzo all wear hats and at times seem oddly preoccupied with them. Lucky, for instance, needs his hat to think, and stops his long monologue once his hat is knocked off. In act two Estragon and Vladimir exchange their hats and Lucky's hat back and forth, trying different ones on. Given the importance of these hats to their individual owners, this scene can be seen as representing the fluidity and instability of individual identities in the play.
Estragon’s boots, instead of symbolizing rational thought processes on the other hand symbolize the fact that there is nothing to be done for the two men in a less pensive and more active way. Estragon, who focuses more on boots than hats, is more earthy and realistic because he is more grounded than Vladimir. Estragon struggling with his boots is a very important image in Beckett's play and this stems from the importance of the boot as a stage-prop and also from Beckett's emphasis on the trivial sufferings of human beings. Estragon's efforts to put on the boots elicit pain since they do not fit him, and it also draws out from Vladimir an important response where he speaks of the fact that man always tends to blame the tools at his disposal for his own failure or pain.
In a way these boots portray the struggle with continuing life that the play presents as well as Estragon’s grounded nature and realistic features.
✍️ Do you think that the obedience of Lucky is extremely irritating and nauseated? Even when the master Pozzo is blind, he obediently hands the whip in his hand. Do you think that such a capacity for slavishness is unbelievable?
Pozzo - Lucky: Master-Slave
Lucky who was the extremely irritating and nauseated. Because in his character we can't see a bit of rebel. He was totally submissive to Pozzo. Even in the second act we can see that pozzo became blind so their is chance to escape from Pozzo's slavery. In a way that is the unbelievable.
In a way we also sometimes feel in our lives. That we give our own decisions to others. Like we every time give a vote. And give our lives to the hand of political powers.
✍️ Who according to you is Godot? God? An object of desire? Death? Goal? Success? Or . . .
We can't say surely that Godot is only this or that. Because in each point we find the interpretation regarding a particular topic.
✍️ “The subject of the play is not Godot but ‘Waiting’” (Esslin, A Search for the Self). Do you agree? How can you justify your answer?
( To read easy by Martin Esslin click here )
I think waiting is more important than Godot. Because in our day to day life we have to wait for nothing more. Whatever things we do in our life are a response to waiting for something. Even we don't know why we are waiting ? And For whom we are waiting ? That is also not clear. So the waiting is the important part of the play. And that is more important than Godot.
✍️ Do you think that plays like this can better be ‘read’ than ‘viewed’ as it requires a lot of thinking on the part of readers, while viewing, the torrent of dialogues does not give ample time and space to ‘think’? Or is it that the audio-visuals help in better understanding of the play?
Yes, the play ' waiting for Godot' is better be ‘read’ than ‘viewed’. Because this play is not like any other play. Because normally we can see the play written for it to be performed. But in the case of ' Waiting for Godot' the play is good to read. Because in this play we can find that little setting and also events. So whatever we come to know from that is only dialogue. While viewing, playing the torrent of dialogues does not give ample time and space to ‘think’. So it would be great to read waiting for Godot.
✍️ Vladimir and Estragon talks about ‘hanging’ themselves and commit suicide, but they do not do so. How do you read this idea of suicide in Existentialism?
Maybe this statement is trying to say the harsh reality of life because in our life we cannot escape from the reality of life. We have to wait in our whole life. Here the characters Vladimir and Estragon are talking about Todo suiside but they don't have rope to hang themselves. So maybe the role is in the hands of power. So the situation is like we have to have a permission to do suiside. Albert Camus was talking about the idea of suiside and philosophical suiside.
✍️ Can we do any political reading of the play if we see European nations represented by the 'names' of the characters (Vladimir - Russia; Estragon - France; Pozzo - Italy and Lucky - England)? What interpretation can be inferred from the play written just after World War II? Which country stands for 'Godot'?
In the political reading of the play we can see that various characters are representative of various countries. So here we can see that the Character of Godot will represent the country Germany, Hitler's Nazis.
So far as Pozzo and Lucky [master and slave] are concerned, we have to remember that Beckett was a disciple of Joyce and that Joyce hated England. Beckett meant Pozzo to be England, and Lucky to be Ireland." (Bert Lahr who played Estragon in a Broadway production). Does this reading make any sense? Why? How? What?
In the play ' Waiting for Godot ' we can find that the two characters can be seen as a master slave relationship. It was not exactly that but the character of Lucky is totally submissive to Pozzo.
As Beckett was a disciple of Joyce and that Joyce hated England. So in this play also can be interpreted the character of Pozzo as England and Lucky as Ireland.
The more the things change, the more it remains similar. There seems to have been no change in Act I and Act II of the play. Even the conversation between Vladimir and the Boy sounds almost similar. But there is one major change. In Act I, in reply to Boy;s question, Vladimir says:
"BOY: What am I to tell Mr. Godot, Sir?
VLADIMIR: Tell him . . . (he hesitates) . . . tell him you saw us. (Pause.) You did see us, didn't you?
How does this conversation go in Act II? Is there any change in seeming similar situations and conversation? If so, what is it? What does it signify?
Yes,in the second act we find that the significant change in the dialogue of Vladimir.
Second act :
VLADIMIR:
Tell him . . . (he hesitates) . . . tell him you saw me and that . . . (he hesitates) . . . that you saw me. (Pause. Vladimir advances, the Boy recoils. Vladimir halts, the Boy halts. With sudden violence.) You're sure you saw me, you won't come and tell me tomorrow that you never saw me!
So here we can see how one word changes the context and the situation and significance of character.
It signifies the selfishness of Vladimir. He maybe thinks that if Godot judges by our waiting then I AM better than Estrogen. And also he was trying to empress the Godot. Because he thought that he was the savior of him. That shows us the selfishness of human beings.
References :
https://bu.digication.com/allison_ajemians_theatre_now_portfolio/Final_Paper_Pertinence_of_Props_in_Waiting_for_God
Waiting for Godot. By Samuel Beckett. Dir. Michael Lindsay-Hogg. Perf. Barry McGovern and Johny Murphy. Blue Angels Films, Dublin Gate Theatre, Parallel Film Productions. 2001.
Thank you…...
