Waiting for Godot: Inside the play
The theaters of the 20th century witnessed a great number of peculiar experiments. It was, needless to say, an avant-garde era. Of many, however, the one that still thrills and excites me is “Waiting For Godot”. A Beckett masterpiece, it revolutionized the literary world with a series of unusual ones that he brought with ‘silent’ dialogue. I would like to recall the aspects of the work that may interest and benefit readers.
The Pun – Do you remember the words of Voltaire? He said: “If God did not exist, he would have to be invented.” Translating the words into the English language will elicit, “if God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him.” Beckett played all four aces from his allotted part. He called the work of him-Waiting on God (ot). God is everywhere! Talking about God, be it in any sense, has always attracted mass readers. However, Beckett abandons the audience’s delicate hopes of him by leaving no glimpse of God throughout the play. He tries, however, to show a society where there is no faith, a society without God.
The Philosophy – Do you think the work carries out any philosophy? At least for Beckett, the answer is no! In one place, Beckett admitted that this work is for pure pleasure. However, for scholars, this work appears as an instance full of examples of uprooting, existential philosophy and humanity’s dilemma. What ends do you want to extract from the work?
The Message – The message of the work is ambiguous. There can be a thousand interpretations or even more than that! More interesting is the fact that there is no happiness to be drawn from the work. You can force your mind to move in any direction, you will see hopelessness, sadness, confusion and all the other negative aspects of humanity. The work moves… but what it shows is immobile! You must remember:
And they don’t move.
The Godot – What keeps the audience and readers curious? It is Godot’s identity. Once you go through the work, as a reader or as someone watching the work in action, you are curious to find out the truth of Godot. Who is Godot? What is Godot? People keep their minds busy. In other words, Beckett manages to instigate the connection between the audience and the play. However, this connection is juxtaposed with the missing connection of the development of the work.