Cover Letter

Dear Reader,

I was hoping to prove that Estragon and Vladimir’s wait itself was a metaphor to life as a whole and the characters used were just actors that were playing a scene. Literally speaking, you would think Gogo and Didi were being conned by a kid in the forrest but when taken figuratively, they are described in a purgatory like state with other characters even acting differently on certain days. They don’t even know him, know what to ask, know why they are asking what they are, every imaginable question and yet they are waiting for Godot upon a child’s message. My idea developed through this lenses of each act another restart in the time of purgatory and how the meaning of Godot is to what the outcome is after this state. It’s interesting to note how suicide was thrown in jokingly as if that’s the way to the answers so I tried to allude to that aspect in the essay. What I need to work on as I revise is how I am able to better flow all these thoughts as to express my ideas more coherently

Essay #2 Waiting for an Unfathomable Question

In the play, Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett, the two precarious characters, Vladamir and Estragon, also referred to as Didi and Gogo, are waiting for a figure named Godot, who they presume will be able to guide them or have answers to what they should do in life. Every night they are told by a young boy who appears in the forest that the Godot figure would be waiting for them the following night and because of this absolute belief, they persist on coming back and are obliged to remain. In the end, there is no certainty if this figure Godot even exists or will even take care of both of them. Although these tramps are living diurnally, they both have the sense to take care of themselves with food and shelter in addition to each other’s rational sanity. However, both of the two grown men live with the uncertain disposition of an existential crisis and want answers beyond human transcendental reasoning. All that is known is that there is a boy that continues to deliver this message of Godot’s coming but instead of Godot appearance, it is the boy who comes to relay the same message. It is the notion that there is something greater than the circumstance Gogo and Didi are already in that compels them both to keep waiting.

From Didi’s and Gogo’s dialogues, we can infer that both of them are unsatisfied with their life given situation and are trying to do something about it by waiting for Godot. Gogo’s and Didi’s decision to wait for Godot began with Didi saying, “let’s wait and see what he says” to which Gogo responds with “on the other hand it might be better to strike the iron before it freezes.” Throughout the play, Didi’s and Gogo’s inability to answer their own existential questions brings about the necessity to turn to Godot. The dialogue between then continues and eventually Didi says “let’s wait until we know exactly how we stand” with Gogo even rebutting with “what exactly did we ask him for?” This exclamation can imply many things ranging from if they even know what to ask of Godot and if they even know what or who Godot is.

The contrast between the first and second act give the audience much to question about the validity of what is actually literary true. We are presented the characters Pozzo and Lucky that portray different characteristics between the first day they were introduced from the second day. Aware of who these two were, Gogo and Didi did not find it strange they were acting differently and even eventually accepting these new personas wholeheartedly as new characters. From the audience’s perspective, all this juxtaposition between the first scene act and the second act gives a sense of disillusion. The change in dispositions between Pozzo and Lucky gives a dreamlife sensation that the characters are metaphorical actors that play their next script. Even Didi and Gogo seem the accept the fact that the boy was not the same one who came the previous day simply because that’s all that is given through the literary text. Without even taking notice, Didi ask the boy general questions about Godot and even may have gotten a truth when asking “What does he do, Mr. Godot? Do you hear me?” To which the boy replies as if caught in the lie, “well…he does nothing, Sir.” The should’ve brought awareness to the epistemology of the circumstance, however, Didi continues to ask trivial question to which ends with Gogo asking him “what was wrong with you.”

These two are so lost in their ideology search that there are instances where Didi and Gogo are inclined to hang themselves, but because of their situation, are obstructed to do so. The mention of contemplating suicide with such subtle matter-of-fact undertone can even bring about a suggestion a theme of purgatory. Two characters are living a life day to day with reoccurring altered circumstances and they both are accepting it for what it is. The Boy passes the message that Godot will be there tomorrow, “surely,” but when the following day comes, this literary fact seems to have been forgotten. These precarious characters are in this state of limbo seemed to be facilitated by the boy who comes every night. Both characters should have the sense to ask the boy for answers to their questions but they continue to wait for Godot as the boy dictates “Mr. Godot told me to tell you he won’t come this evening but surely tomorrow.” This delusion to the significance of the boy is shown in the second act when he references Didi as Albert as if this trick was played on someone else. This also brings up the point if Mr. Godot is even waiting for these two or if in fact he is looking for someone else. Because of their perceived limbo like situation, as the audience we can make the metaphorical comparisons that wanting to meet Godot is like knowing what is after limbo; essentially meeting god. This allusion to wanting to know what is after life, can be shown in the nonchalant literary syntax when Didi and Gogo speak about hanging themselves. There is always the comical twist that they both never manage to be able to hang themselves and this can also symbolize not being able to escape fate. Bearing this in mind, Didi’s and Gogo’s waiting for Godot may in itself be the reason for why they are waiting for Godot; to know why they are waiting for him.

The play ends with Gogo and Didi represented again in a comical way messing around with the clothes they always wore as an ode to how the play started. Nothing lost, nothing gained. The day ends and tomorrow the repeated hope to see Godot just like the day passed. Although Didi and Gogo may not know that the boy is the same character, our audience tidbit presents the boy character playing as the same person even if he literary spoke he was not. This minimalistic work can be examined in multiple lenses embodying meanings of life in a whole. From literal perspective, both mundane characters are capable of handling not only social constructs but also as knowledgeable well versed in biblical stories. It’s this desire for an answer to a question unfathomable that they are willing to wait for Godot; and even spontaneously commit suicide.