Act II of Waiting For Godot sparked many interest in me, from the interchangeable characters from act I to act II, and the fact that time has no real value in the play. Throughout the book, Vladimir and Estragon, continue to lay waste their day waiting for Godot who never comes, recalling on the days in the past and not remembering when or if they actually ever occurred. For example, in the beginning of Act II on page 51, Vladimir tries to make Estragon remember Pozzo and Lucky from the day before with no relief. Estragon only vaguely remembers a person kicking him, and someone giving him bones to eat, but cannot recall if it had just happened the day before. Vladimir and Estragon live each day almost eactly the same, throwing off their sense of time. Because of this, it is hard to know if the events in the play actually occurred the day before, or a few days or even weeks before.
Another interest of mine was how in the beginning of Act II, Estragon was went from being helpless without Vladimir, to being the person with power for a short time near the end. Estragon states more than once that Vladimir and him would be better off without each other. For example the bottom of page 49, Estragon states “You see, you feel worst when I am with you. I feel better alone too.” Although Estragon was trying to get away from Vladimir, he relied mostly on him to survive, such as for food and sanity. Without Vladimir around to feed him, or talk him out of suicide, Estragon would not have survived as alone as he has. Near the ending of the play, on page 72, Vladimir who once was in control was now in need of help from Estragon to get up, while Estragon now how the power to assist. This was interesting to me because Estragon made many assumption through the play that he would be of no help to Vladimir, and to be alone would be best for both of them. In reality, the both of them needed each other to survive physically, mental, and emotionally.
Estragon and Vladimir’s dynamic is quite interesting.
It reminds me of a dysfunctional marriage…one minute they’re curious to see how they would do without one another and the next they know one cannot survive without the other. When one is down, the other is strong enough to pull them out of their rut and vise versa.