Waiting for Godot: Essays and Questions

1. Discuss the idea of pairing throughout Waiting for Godot.

 Throughout Waiting for Godot Beckett utilizes pairing or doubling to emphasize his theme of
human dependency.  With the exception of Godot, all the characters in the play are paired.
Indeed, the main characters Vladimir and Estragon, who are at times difficult to tell apart
because of their identical dialog, seem like twins. For instance, in the opening line of the play
Estragon announces “nothing to be done,” and a short while later, Vladimir recites the exact
same line (1).  Although we know at times they do part, they are never seen apart by the
reader or audience for more than an instant.  Vladimir and Estragon are two men entirely
dependent upon each other.  Although they argue nonstop, and threaten over and again to part
from each other, they nevertheless depend upon each other entirely for shelter, food, company
and, most of all, for the reassurance that, indeed, Godot will appear and save them.

In addition, Pozzo and Lucky are so closely paired that they are connected with a rope. Pozzo
suggests how Estragon should control Lucky:  “well to begin with he should pull on the rope,
as hard as he likes so long as he doesn't strangle him. He usually responds to that. If not he
should give him a taste of his boot, in the face and the privates as far as possible (57).” 
Despite Pozzo’s cruelty, Lucky has become so dependent upon Pozzo that he is willing to
subjugate himself as a slave, indeed an animal, over fear of the idea of parting from Pozzo. In
addition the pair of boys who come at the end of each act to announce that Godot will yet
again fail to show up are interchangeable brothers whom Vladimir cannot distinguish
between.

2. In Act II, Vladimir sings a song about a dog who “stole a crust of bread” (34).  Discuss
how Beckett utilizes this song to emphasize his idea of repetitiveness in Waiting for
Godot.

Vladimir's song at the beginning of Act II underlines the repetitiveness of life. In the song, a
dog comes into the kitchen and steals a crust of bed. The cook beats him with a ladle until he
is dead. Subsequently other dogs bury their canine friend, with an epitaph warning “for the
eyes of dogs to come,” after which the ditty begins immediately again in circular fashion. The
song can be repeated without change forever.

Although it could be argued that the dog in Vladimir’s dog song is analogous to Lucky, who
after all “might run amuck any minute,” who eats bones and whom Vladimir and Estragon
contemplate giving “a good beating,” Beckett would have us believe that this song is
representative, first, of the repetitive nature of the play and, second, of Vladimir and
Estragon's circular lives (51).

Like the dogs in the song, the individual events in the men’s lives follow each other endlessly
while they wait for Godot who never comes. They are caught in a never ending cycle unable
to do anything else or go anywhere else because of this incessant waiting for a man who never
appears.  The sun will go down, the moon will rise and they will continue, unable to break out
of their circular lives.

3. Discuss the idea of the meaningless of time in Waiting for Godot.

In Waiting for Godot, time is elusive and difficult to pin down. Both Act I and Act II, which
have the same beginning and the same ending, occur in the same place at the same time of
day. At the end of each act a boy arrives to inform the men that Godot will not arrive but will
surely come tomorrow. In this repetitive pattern, everything has happened many times and
chances are the pattern will repeat itself, perhaps endlessly, unless Godot ever does in fact
arrive and save them. For Vladimir and Estragon, this repetition demonstrates the meaningless
of time. Just like the day before, each day has the same purpose—to wait for an unknown
someone who never comes. The men cannot tell one day from another: “I don't remember
having met anyone yesterday. But tomorrow I won't remember having met anyone today. So
don't count on me to enlighten you” (58). When Vladimir questions Estragon, “so, what did
we do last night,” Estragon replies “yesterday evening we spent blathering about nothing in
particular. That's been going on now for half a century” (41).

Thus, because of this remarkable lack of change, time has no meaning, and if yesterday was
meaningless, and the days before yesterday were also meaningless, then time itself must
indeed be meaningless. The meaningless of time, Beckett would argue, can be applied to the
plight of all of humankind.

4. Beckett denied a religious interpretation of Waiting for Godot and stated instead that
the play’s many ambiguities hold the meaning. Discuss the possible religious significance
of the play.

Some scholars maintain that the title character Godot stands for God—indeed, the name
Godot sounds and looks like God—and that Vladimir and Estragon are waiting for a Messiah
to come and grant them salvation.  It has also been suggested that Vladimir and Estragon
represent hope in a chaotic world in their unwavering faith in Godot, a savior who never
comes. Early on Vladimir and Estragon appeal to Godot in "a kind of prayer . . . a vague
supplication," which they maintain the invisible Godot is still considering (7). So, despite
Beckett’s denial, readers and audience members cannot but help posit Godot as representing,
or at least paralleling, God and/or Christ.

In addition, biblical references abound. In Act II, Pozzo is compared to Adam and Eve’s sons
Cain and Abel, thus suggesting that the characters are representative of the human race.
Vladimir states that "hope deferred make something sick," a reference to the biblical Proverbs
[Link] "hope deferred maketh the heart sick” (2). When Estragon desires to go barefoot
Vladimir tells him not to compare himself to Christ, but Estragon tells him that "all my life
I've compared myself to him."  Beckett also mentions the irregularities in the story of the two
thieves who were crucified next to Jesus. So, despite the author’s denial of a religious
interpretation of the play, the numerous references to religion remain significant even if they
are simply used by the author to illustrate the folly of religious faith and to help him argue his
idea of textual uncertainty.

5.  In Waiting for Godot, what would Samuel Beckett determine is the meaning of human
life?

In Waiting for Godot, Beckett argues that questions regarding the purpose of human life are
unanswerable.  And, since there is no apparent meaning to life, as humans we are left
miserable in an indifferent universe.  This dark but absurd existentialist stance forces us then
to impose meaning and purpose on our actions and events, not only to soothe our distress and
overwhelming sense of helplessness, but also to provide distractions while we await death.
Life, the play insists, is determined by chance. Pozzo responds to Vladimir:  "I woke up one
fine day as blind as Fortune (56)." Vladimir and Estragon discuss the parable of the two
thieves who were crucified next to Jesus: “one of the thieves was saved,” he says, “it's a
reasonable percentage" (2). The notion that the thief was saved by chance suggests a random
universe where life is arbitrary and just a matter of unpredictable chance.

After all is said and done, there is no meaning to Vladimir and Estragon’s lives. They live
without predictable patterns of time and action.  The tree in Act I is “black and bare” and then
in Act II it is covered with leaves.  How much time has elapsed, days, seasons, years, is
anyone’s guess (41).  Despite Vladimir and Estragon’s prayers, pleadings, threats and
supplications for Godot to come and save them, an outcome which would give meaning to all
that incessant waiting, day after day, Godot fails to show. Indeed, the plot seems to be, like
Beckett’s idea of life, “without form and void,” or if you will, absolutely meaningless.

Waiting for Godot Discussion Questions

We will finish Act II of Waiting for Godot today.  After we are finished, please answer the following
questions that will guide our discussion.  Also, please consider your responses to the Act I discussion
questions.

1.    What do Vladimir and Estragon represent/symbolize?  Are they interchangeable, or are
there important differences?
2.    What does Pozzo represent/symbolize?  (the pipe, the chicken, the bones, the vaporizer,
his eventual blindness)

3.    What does Lucky represent/symbolize?  (the rope/leash, the picnic basket, the stool?)

4.    What does Godot represent/symbolize?  What are they waiting for?  Why do they continue
to wait?

5.    Why do the boys appear?  What function do they serve?  (think about the things they say)

6.    What does the tree represent/symbolize?  What about the few leaves that appear in the
second act?

7.    What do the hats represent/symbolize?

8.    What do the boots represent/symbolize?

9.    What does the play mean?  What is Beckett trying to say?

1.  Do you think this play would make more sense with subsequent readings?  What about a live
viewing?

1.   Did you like it?  Did you hate it?  Why?  Think about your answer.
1.   Did you find it interesting?

1.   Like it or not, what did you gain from reading it?

1.   Imagine you had to write an essay about this play in which you had to address the theme. 
What would you write?

Important Short Questions : Waiting For Godot by Samuel Beckett

9/09/2012 [Link] AM

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Waiting For Godot

1. Vladimir moves with” short, stiff strides, with legs apart” – What does it signify?

 Ans: - Vladimir suffers from the enlargement of the prostate gland- a complaint common in
old age. His gait reminds us of the king of comedy, Charlie Chaplin.

2. “Certainly they beat me”- Who is beaten by and by whom?

Ans: - Estragon informs that he had been beaten by some people whom he identifies only as
‘they’. What ‘they’ refers to remain a mystery, much like the malevolent cosmic forces, the
tormenters of humanity. ‘They’ are as mysterious as ‘Godot’ is to be later.

3. Who planned to commit suicide by jumping off the Eiffel Tower?

Ans: - Estragon and Vladimir had, during their younger days, together planned to commit
suicide by jumping off the Eiffel Tower. But, Vladimir thinks, in their present condition, they
would not be allowed to go up the Eiffel Tower and will thus be denied even the most
despairing choice (of committing suicide).

4. What are the nicknames of Estragon and Vladimir?

 Ans:- It is interesting to note that only in the list of characters are the tramps named
Estragon and Vladimir. Right through the plays the two address each other by their Gogo and
Didi.
5. What is ‘mandrakes’? What is its symbolic reference?

 Ans:- The two tramps by mentioning ‘mandrakes’ give an evidence of their love for
knowledge. An ancient fertility symbols, mandrake, is believed to grow below the gallows.
Notably there, death and birth being two facts of the same coin, Gallows, a symbol of death, is
put side by side with mandrakes, fertility symbol.

6. Where were the Vladimir and Estragon Waiting for Godot?

 Ans: - it was a willow tree having scarcely a leave on it or it was a shrub or a bush, under
which they were waiting.

7. Estragon: I’m asking you it we’re tied:- How are the two tramps tied and to whom?

Ans:- Here Estragon asks Vladimir whether they are tied. They are tide to waiting for Godot.
They can not get away from it was doing so would mean giving up hope, how so ever illusory
that hope may be?

8. “Why doesn’t he put down his bags?” – Who is having the bag? Why don’t he put
down it?

Ans:- There is complementarity in the master- slave relationship in Pazzo- Lucky

relationship. While they enter on the stage lucky has a bag on the back. Pazzo’s treatment of
Lucky as a beast of burden underscores human tragedy. ‘Lucky’ in order to impress Pazzo,
doesn’t put down his bags.

9. Why is lucky given such a name?

 Ans:- There might be two suggestions about the source of his name – (i) lucky is ‘Lucky’
because he gets the bones or (ii) he is ‘Lucky’ because he has no expectations, hence he will
not be disappointed further in his existence . “Blessed are those who do not hope, for they
shall not be disappointed.”

10. What does it symbolize by Pazzo’s baldness?

Ans:- The intellectual barrenness of Pazzo is symbolized by his baldness, in contrast to

Lucky’s abundant white hair. Pazzo’s baldness fits well in the scheme of things – as then
there is all round barrenness.

11. What is thinking hat? Who wears it and why?

 Ans: - it is Lucky who can’t think without his hat on. And in order to terminate Lucky’s
thinking someone has to remove his hat, as if an energizer has been removed from a machine.
Thinking, thus, becomes mechanical.

12. Why which name the boy address Vladimir?

 Ans: - The boy address Vladimir as Mr. Albert and Vladimir responds to it.

13. What is the different do you find the Willow tree in act ii?

Ans:- In act. I we see that the tree, which was leafless in the first act, has four or five leaves.

14. What the tree stands for in the play?

 Ans: - The tree is associated with the central theme of barrenness, nothingness and death. As
the two tramps wish to hang themselves on the bough, it reminds us for Christ’s    crucifixion.
Further in act ii when few leaves are seen, it stands for spring, hope and renewals also.

15. How did the two tramps pass their line of waiting in act- ii?

 Ans: - The two tramps as a means of passing time propose different things: to sing, to think
or to contradict each other, or ask each other questions.

16. What was Lucky carrying in his bag? What is the symbolic in it?

 Ans:- Lucky in his bag carries sand, a symbol of burden and of time (in hour glass) , in his
bag.

17. What is the profit of Pazzo’s blindness?

Ans:- Owning  to Pazzo’s blindness, he has acquired a new might into the meaning of life. Life
is a mere serious of meaningless repetitions activities. Journey from womb to tomb is full of
miseries. 

18. What does the song about the dog signify in Waiting for Godot?
 Ans:- In the beginning of act ii Vladimir moves about feverishly on the stage and suddenly
begins to sing a dog song – an old German Balled. It is a circular song. It is emblematic of the
circularity and repetitiveness of the play as a whole.

19. What does Lucky’s ‘Dance in a Net’ symbolize?

 Ans:- Lucky’s dance amplifies the agony, strain and entanglement in life to magnify the
ultimate suffering of human existence.

Let's Find the Answers:

20. What does the bare landscape in Waiting for Godot signify?
21. There’s man all over for you, blaming on his boot the faults of his feet – refer to the
speaker and elucidate the statement.
22. Mention the speakers who Visualize life as a moment between the womb and the
tomb, in Waiting for Godot.
23. Give two examples of the stage images of waiting as enacted in Waiting for
Godot?
24. It’s a remarkable percentage – mention the speaker and explain the concept.