Nothingness and meaninglessness of life in ’Waiting For Godot’

Nothingness and meaninglessness of life in ’Waiting For Godot’

Name: Vanita P. Tadha

Class: MA SEM-3

Roll No.: 30        Year: 2015

Enrolment No.: pg14101029

Email ID: tadhavanita90@gmail.com

Paper No.: 9[The Modernist Literature]

Submitted to: Department of English

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Nothingness and meaninglessness of life in ’Waiting For Godot’

Samuel Beckett

Samuel Beckett was born I Dublin in 1906. He befriended the famous Irish novelist James Joyce, and his first published work was an essay on Joyce. In 1951 and 1953, Beckett wrote his most famous novels, the trilogy Molloy, Malone Dies, and The Unnamable.

Waiting for Godot Beckett’s first play, was written originally in French in 1948. Beckett himself translated in to English. This play began Beckett’s association with the Theater of the Absurd, which influenced later playwrights like Harold Pinter and Tom Stoppard. The most famous Beckett’s play are Endgame (1958) and Krapp’s Last Tape (1959), Breath (1969), a thirty-second play. He was awarded the noble prize in 1969 and died in 1989 in Paris. (Beckett, 1950)

Nothingness and meaninglessness of life in ’Waiting For Godot’

‘Nothing to be done’

The play starts with negative connotation. A country road.  A tree Evening is the setting of the play. This setting is lifeless and ambiguous in term of religion. There are two tramp characters that cover the whole society. Their personality is totally different.

Two tramps have were a different prop which signifies the mentality of people. Vladimir wore hate which symbolizes the mastership, intellectuality and philosophy. Estragon has wear boots, which indicates the slavishness, and physical body structure. These both are different aspect of life but there is nothingness in life. If you go on searching knowledge or provide everything to body like food, sex and live happy but what it makes different?

Life is endless and we go on adding. One side play is insignificant and on other side it gives the root of life. They are passing their time by doing such things. These things is goes on repeating and it is meaningless.

 Waiting is a meaningless act. We all are waiting for such things. Our expectation is endless. If one thing get then we wait for next one but which is the ultimate thing for we wait?

In the play two characters Vladimir and Estragon are waiting for Mr. Godot. They do not aware about Mr. Godot like who is? How he looks? What he is doing? What will happen if Mr. Godot come?  They have only a kind of acquaintances.

Godot is a kind of desire, desire for death or success. It is a unfulfilled wish. It can be a subject of the play. It is an invisible and significant character of the play.

Estragon and Vladimir wants to go but they don’t move an inch because they are waiting for Godot.  They just are passing their time for waiting. They thought Godot will come tomorrow but tomorrow never comes. They want to suicide but they expect that he will come.  Their expectation makes them waiting.

Vladimir – Estragon - killing time in questions and conversation while waiting. It is an interesting sequence.

They try to go away but they can’t escape. They are representing human life. Vladimir is searching answer and remembering where as Estragon forget everything and busy to maintain his physical body. The central theme is killing time for unusual things.

In the middle end of the play Lucky and Pozzo comes. They are on behalf of master slave mentality. The obedience of Lucky is extremely irritating and nauseate.  Lucky’s behavior is abnormal. He is treating as pig by his master. He seems as wooden toy. When master Pozzo ordering to such things to do than he do and when he says stop than he stops. He is living like lifeless. He has nothing meaning for his life. Entering of Lucy and Pozzo is insignificant and meaningless. Why they come? What is the purpose of coming is uncertain.

At the end of first act a little boy cone to pass message of Mr. Godot. He speaks

 Mr. Godot told me to tell you he won't come this evening but surely tomorrow.

It signifies the endless tomorrow.  He gives very narrow answer to Vladimir. Then he runs away from there.  These represent as something hope is come in between and then it becomes a kind of glimpse for living life.

Act – 2

The beginning of both act is same, evening falls in to night and moon rises. It indicates the representation of nature. A few leaves grows it suggest the change of nature. Everything is goes on changing. It is for desire. In nothingness there is a meaning. Night indicates darkness of life but behind the darkness there is light. Sometimes waiting is nothing but sometimes it is reality of life.

Night – will night never come?

We are craving for salvation but it never comes on right time. When our goal is near to complete than it comes and provides hope for next one.

If we exchange both act than it doesn’t make any difference. Both acts are somewhere similar. Beckett understands the human life deep and then he wrote. The language is very simple and significant. Within a small sentence how message is conveying to audience or reader.

Again Estragon spends his time for sleeping. He does not care about other matter. He is busy with his life. He is forgetting everything. Vladimir was still waiting. When he feels loneliness at that time he wakes up to Estragon. They star quarreling each other and after sometimes the embrace. It means ultimately we have to do such things for permanent goal.

They are killing their time with questioning and moving. They decide to suicide but their body insists to live. Somewhere body is controlling our mind.

Again Pozzo and Lucky comes in second act. This time Pozzo is blind and Lucky is dumb. They are yet master slave. Vladimir ask are you same? But they denies. Their looks and name are same but the only different is that one is blind and another is dumb.

Pozzo asking for raise up and for the sake of humanity they help to rise but unfortunately one by one all falls down. They can rise up but they have not tried to rise up.

This time Pozzo is blind so Lucky has chance to run away but instead of that he gave his rope to master, Pozzo. He is still obeying his master. He has accepted everything.  He is making his master happy. His life has no meaning. He is living for master who is treating him as a pig. Totally the characters are despair.

Vladimir and Estragon want to know about these two but they fail. One way they are insignificant and another side it is a kind of human cycle that one after another man come and goes from life.

Pozzo and Lucky are ready to go away but Vladimir insists them to stay there because he wants to pass his time. Ultimately they go away and here still both are waiting with such expectation.

Same the boy come again for passing message. This boy is also same but refuse that he never comes before. He passed same message and then run away. What is the meaning of message? Hope or realty, message remain message still the end.

Life has no any meaning to live. Such question about life is uncertain. If we try to get answer then end never cone. Life is goes on adding.

Theater of the absurd

Critic Martin Esslin coined the term in hi 1960 essay “Theater of the Absurd”. He related these plays based on a broad theme of the Absurd, similar to the way Albert Camus uses the term in his 1942 essay, “The myth of Sisyphus”. The absurd of this play is man’s relation to world is meaningless. Man is a puppet controlled by invisible outside forces. Characters are caught to do repetitive or meaninglessness actions. The plot is cycle or absurdity.

Vladimir and Estragon control by invisible fear that is Mr. Godot and which itself absurd idea of Beckett to keep him center.

Existentialism in the play

This play is based on existentialism. The character like Vladimir and Estragon; why they are waiting? What is the meaning of time passes for unknown fellow? They can’t know about their life.

They are searching their self. What they are? Why they are here? They are suffering but still they are enjoying. They are accepting everything freely.

Lucky and Pozzo also try to find their self. They are roaming without meaning.

They are not free from fear. When the second time boy comes to pass message of Godot to Vladimir and Estragon at that time Vladimir speaks

Crist  murcy on us.

Still now they have expectation that Godot may come and may he have super natural power through which they can free from life. They are in such kind of ideology.

Search for the self

‘The Search for the Self’ essay by Martin Esslin on waiting for Godot. This play performed in front of arrested people. They are waiting for female character and it will not so then they want escape. The play performed well and audience likes it. They found their self in actor.

The language of play is simple but play was an esoteric. It’s totally on existential struggle. What is the reason behind human existence? In reality we all are searching our self in the world. The subject of the play is not Godot but waiting. This play is concern with the hope of salvation. (Esslin)

Conclusion

Thus the play is full of nothingness and meaninglessness. We can’t find a single point which is totally meaningful. Somehow character thinks that they are living happy life but they are threaten by invisible power structure. Waiting is meaningless and insignificant. They wait but nothing they able to achieve.

Works Cited

Beckett, S. (1950). Waiting for Godot. Amazon: Grove Press.

Esslin, M. (n.d.). The Search for the Self. Penguin Books, 1965 .