CHARACTER

INVESTIGATION

BY: SHEELA CRUZ & EVELYN CHRUSCIAK

Samuel Beckett’s waiting for Godot is about two men who are

waiting by a sick looking tree. They wait for the arrival of Mr. Godot.

They argue, make up, contemplate suicide, try to sleep, eat a carrot and

chew on some chicken bones. Two other characters arrive, a master

and a slave. A young boy arrives to say that Godot will not come today,

but that he will come tomorrow. The play is basically what the title

states. Waiting for Godot ,which is what the main characters do.

Godot does not show up and the two men resume their vigil by the

tree. In between the first and second day the tree sprouts two leaves,

which shows the only symbol of a possible order in their alienated

world.

Overview

Samuel Beckett’s dramatic works don’t follow the

traditional elements of drama. His plays are known for the

concern of human suffering and survival which is evident

in Waiting for Godot. Basically, Beckett’s theory is that

having an aim in life is pointless because it wont make a

lasting effect on the world and we’re all going to die

anyway. He incorporates this theory in the play within the

attitude of the characters Vladimir and Estragon. He

portrays the two characters struggling with meaningless

and the world of nothing. (Cordeiro, 2011)

Beckett’s Theory

VLADIMIRVladimir represents the intellect, which provides for the body (represented by Estragon)

• retains a memory of most events• has an elevated perception• pragmatic• the conscience of mankind

Vladimir’s Inability to Cope with the Suffering of Others

For example: • He refuses to hear about Estragon’s

nightmaresESTRAGON: I had a dream. VLADIMIR: Don't tell me! ESTRAGON: I dreamt that— VLADIMIR: Don’t tell me!ESTRAGON: This one is enough for you?It's not nice of you, Didi. Who am

I to tell my private nightmares to if I can't tell them to you? VLADIMIR: Let them remain private. You know I can't bear that.

• Feels ashamed he has done nothing to improve the miseries of others

VLADIMIR: Was I sleeping, while the others suffered? Am I sleeping now? Tomorrow, when I wake, or think I do, what shall I say of today? That with Estragon my friend, at this place, until the fall of night, I waited for Godot? That Pozzo passed, with his carrier, and that he spoke to us?

ESTRAGON

Estragon has been compared to a body without

an intellect, which therefore needs Vladimir to

provide the intellect. • has no memory beyond what is

immediately said to him• needs to be told what to do (perhaps even

craves such instruction)• Misanthropic view of humanity (considers

people to be “ignorant apes”

Gogo is the French word for a person who is easy to deceive (Cummings, 2006).

For example: • He is first seen complaining of a sore foot. • His hunger and thirst never seem to stop or

end. • He is always tired and falling asleep

His corporeal suffering seems unending and he is trapped in the

moment, with no memory of yesterday and no hope for

tomorrow. He is only kept going by the fact that Vladimir

remembers yesterday and hopes for tomorrow.

Estragon is a portrait of physical pain and need

VLADIMIR & ESTRAGON’S RELATIONSHIP

If it is true that Vladimir represents the soul and Estragon, the body, then it is clear that the two men are truly inseparable. Hence they embrace warmly after their periods of separation.

• They could separate but chose not to because they are dependent on each other for comfort, support and most of all, meaning

The nature of their friendship is ambiguous• Didi gives up his jacket to Gogo and shivers in the

cold while singing him a lullaby• They abuse each other by calling each other namesThey spend half their time asking if they should really be

friends or if they’d bebetter off without each other but they never really come to

any sort of conclusion. Vladimir and Estragon desperately need one

another in order to avoid living a lonely and meaningless life. The two together

function as a metaphor for survival. Their inability to leave each other is

just another example of the uncertainty and frustration they feel as they wait for

an explanation of their existence. For them and for us, death seems forever on

the horizon, and therefore ending becomes "an endless process"(Kennedy

48).

END OF ACT ONEESTRAGON: Wait! I

sometimes wonder if we wouldn't have been better off alone, each one for himself. We weren't made for the same road.

VLADIMIR: (without anger). It's not certain.

ESTRAGON: No, nothing is certain.

VLADIMIR: We can still part if you think it would be better.

ESTRAGON: No, it's not worth while now.

END OF ACT TWOESTRAGON: Didi. VLADIMIR: Yes. ESTRAGON: I can't go on

like this. VLADIMIR: That's what you

think. ESTRAGON: If we parted

that might be better for us.

VLADIMIR: We'll hang ourselves to-morrow. (Pause). Unless Godot comes.

ESTRAGON: And if he comes?

VLADIMIR: We'll be saved.

POZZO

• dependent on the presence of others for any sort of function ("I cannot go long without the society of my likes," he says).

• accustomed to materialistic ways of wealth

• thinks highly of himself• self centered“if we all speak at once we should never get anywhere…don’t interrupt me…is everyone listening”

The name Pozzo is similar in spelling and pronunciation to the Italian word, pazzo Adj. insanse, crazy, mad, irrational Noun. Wild man, mad dog (Cummings, 2006).

• asserts that he is forced to be a part of this society, because he has no society of his "likes"

LUCKY• stripped of dignity• doesn’t like strangers, and is averse to their

help and compassion• he is a humble slave to Pozzo, in total

submission to his master's will and pleasure.

His speech is full of oddly unfinished phrases repeated with no general purpose or design. It’s easy to dismiss these lines as "gibberish.“ Although he sounds authoritative and intelligent his speech lacks any actual substance.It is said that "lucky" receives this name because

he is "lucky in the context of the play. He doesn’t have to search for things to occupy his time, unlike the other characters. Pozzo tells him what to do, he does it so his actions are determined absolutely.

ESTRAGON Excuse me, Mister, the bones, you won't be wanting the bones? Lucky looks long at Estragon.POZZO (in raptures) Mister! (Lucky bows his head.) Reply! Do you want them or don't you? (Silence of Lucky. To Estragon.) They're yours. (Estragon makes a dart at the bones, picks them up and begins to gnaw them.) (1.384-5).Lucky is incapable of making a decision, therefore one is made for him. In a sense, this is what makes Lucky lucky – the burden of responsibility has been taken from his shoulders as a condition of his servitude.

POZZO & LUCKY’S RELATIONSHIP

• Lucky does as Pozzo says to impress him so that he will keep him

• Pozzo wants to get rid of lucky but claims he has a good heart and it waiting for a good price

• Pozzo even credits Lucky with having taught him all he knows.

On a more symbolic level, Pozzo and Lucky represent those with power and those that have power over them.

In the beginning, they are bound together by a rope. In the first

act, the rope is long meaning Pozzo is bound to his slave.

• It is easy to see how the Pozzo has complete power over Lucky by the way he orders him around and refers to him as a pig, not even acknowledging Lucky as a person.

In the second act, however, the rope is shorter. Pozzo has suddenly

fallen into pathetic disarray. He claims that he is blind so we realize

that he is now weak and his greatness is gone.• Pozzo, who commanded Lucky so cruelly before, must

rely on Lucky to lead him• As symbols of power and oppression, these characters

reveal how those in power often rely on those they have power over

ESTRAGON Let's go.

VLADIMIR We can't.

ESTRAGON Why not?

VLADIMIR We're waiting for Godot.

(1.91-94)

For Vladimir, the act of waiting for Godot prevents him from choosing any other course of action. His decision to wait for Godot at all is a choice in itself; if he realized the radical personal freedom afforded to him by choice, he could decide to leave the stage.

SIGNIFICANT QUOTES

ESTRAGONTell me what to do.

VLADIMIRThere's nothing to do.

ESTRAGONYou go and stand there. (2.390-2)

The men, unable to make choices for themselves, resort to making choices for each other – perhaps because they find it "safer" than deciding action that holds personal repercussions.

VLADIMIR Well? What do we do?

ESTRAGON Don't let's do anything. It's safer. (1.194-5).

Basically, Vladimir and Estragon chalk up their inability to choose to act by claiming that doing nothing at all is safer. If you never act, you can never act wrongly, and if you never choose, you can never choose incorrectly. We choose by not choosing. Doing nothing is as unsafe as doing something.

ESTRAGON What exactly did we ask him [Godot] for?

VLADIMIR Oh . . . Nothing very definite.

ESTRAGON A kind of prayer.

ESTRAGON And what did he reply?

VLADIMIR That he'd see.ESTRAGON That he couldn't promise anything.VLADIMIR That he'd have to think it over.

One popular scholarly belief is that Godot is the Christian God – he’s omniscient, uninvolved, and without human form or characteristics.

RECAP CHARACTER CHARACTERISTICS REPRESENT

VLADIMIR • retains a memory of most events• has an elevated perception• pragmatic

• intellect

ESTRAGON • clueless• needs to be told what to do (childlike)• gullible• misanthropic view of humanity

• body• physical pain and need

POZZO • dependent on the presence of others for any sort of function• accustomed to materialistic ways of wealth• thinks highly of himself• self centered

• power• disappointment

LUCKY • stripped of dignity• doesn’t like strangers, and is averse to their help and compassion• humble slave

• those who have no power• humble

Cummings, Michael J. Waiting for Godot. N.p., 2008. Web. 15 Dec. 2011.

Petty, Ryan. From Beckett to Stoppard: Existentialism, Death, and Absurdity. N.p., n.d. Web. 8 Dec. 2011.

Free MonkeyNotes Summary-Waiting For Godot by Samuel Beckett-

BookNotes. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., n.d. Web. 9 Dec. 2011.

Samuel Beckett. N.p., Apr. 2009. Web. 13 Dec. 2011.

Shmoop Editorial Team. "Lucky in Waiting for Godot" Shmoop.com.

Shmoop University, Inc., 11 Nov. 2008. Web. 13 Dec. 2011.

Who is waiting for godot about, anyway?. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Dec. 2011.

Pictures:http://brainstorm-services.com/wcu-2005/art/didi+gogo.jpghttp://seroquelbounty.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/samuel-beckett2_1.jpghttp://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/theatre/2009/05/18/090518crth_theatre_lahr?currentPage=all

WORK CITED

QUIZ TIME

1.What do Vladimir and Estragon represent ?A: Vladimir- the soul , Estragon- Body

2. Estragon in an example of physical pain and need, name a time when he portrays thisA: complaining about sore foot, his hunger and thirst never seem to stop or end.,He is always tired and falling asleep

3. I am accustomed to materialistic ways of wealth, I think highly of myself, and I am self centered, who am I ? A: Pozzo

4. Why is the character Lucky, named Lucky?A: Recieves his name “lucky” because he doesn’t

have to search for things to occupy his time, Pozzo tells him what to do

5. What is Becketts known theory?A: Beckett’s theory is that having an aim in life is

pointless because it wont make a lasting effect on the world and we’re all going to die anyway.

6. What were Vladimir’s and Estragon’s nicknames?A: Gogo, and Didi

7. What is the French translation for Estragon’s nickname “Gogo”A: French for person easy to deceive

8. Complete the sentence, In the beginning of the play Lucky and Pozzo are bound together by a ________A: a long rope

9. The nature of Vladimir and Estragon’s friendship is _____________.

A: Ambiguous

10. Name the three famous phrases in the play that begin with “nothing”

A. Nothing to be done, Nothing is certain, Nothing happens, nobody comes, nobody goes