Waiting for Godot

Hello everyone, 

My today's blog is about the novel 'Waiting for Godot' written by Smauel Beckett. We watched movie in class and now we have to write blog about our understanding of the movie as part of the thinking activity.

Samuel Beckett :-

Samuel Barclay Beckett  was an Irish novelist, playwright, short story writer, theatre director, poet, and literary translator. A resident of Paris for most of his adult life, he wrote in both languages French and English.

Beckett was awarded the 1969 Nobel Prize in Literature "for his writing, which—in new forms for the novel and drama—in the destitution of modern man acquires its elevation". To know more about Smauel Beckett click here.

Waiting for Godot :-

'Waiting for Godot' tragicomedy in two acts by Irish writer Samuel Beckett, published in 1952 in French as En attendant Godot and first produced in 1953. Waiting for Godot was a true innovation in drama and the Theatre of the Absurd’s first theatrical success.

The play consists of conversations between Vladimir and Estragon, who are waiting for the arrival of the mysterious Godot.

Godot can be :- God , success, hope , death and happiness.

Waiting for Godot is only about four characters name Vladimir, Estragon, Pozzo and Lucky. They waiting for somebody in entire movie name Godot but they don't know them.

The play begins with a line,

“Nothing can be done”

Nothingness is prevalent throughout the play. Vladimir and Estragon are eagerly waiting for Godot, and they feel like doing nothing. Still they do many different things to kill the time. Similarly we also do many things in our life. So in this play neither a beginning nor a end, it seems like broken image of mirror and it's like nightmare.

1) In both Acts, evening falls into night and moon rises. How would you like to interpret this ‘coming of night and moon’ when actually they are waiting for Godot?

As archetype says that night is symbol of negativity and sun is symbol of positivity. In this movie  both are waiting for Godot but he didn't come. Both are try to kill time anyhow and when evening falls into night they start to waiting for next day and for them night is became symbol for hope of next day. And we can also interpret it like coming of night symbolised that now Godot will not come.

One can also interpret it like moon's brightness in the night means through the darkness of the night there is somewhere hope like the brightness of the moon. So, we should not lost our hope, every day is new day. 

Moon - Hope 

Darkness - negativity

But in Archetype light is signed of positivity and night is negativity. But here Beckett use it  in paradoxical way.

2) The director feels the setting with some debris. Can you read any meaning in the contours of debris in the setting of the play?

Debris is something which can not rebuilt again. And it is also symbolised disaster and lost. In this movie i want to interpret it like materialistic garbage and waste which can not stand again but natural elements can do. We can also connect debris with some denger and bad memory which happened in past , but in this novel the garbage described inner mental condition of both the character and debris itself represents nothingness, uselessness of the activities they are doing. 

3) Do you agree: “The play (Waiting for Godot), we agreed, was a positive play, not negative, not pessimistic. As I saw it, with my blood and skin and eyes, the philosophy is: 'No matter what— atom bombs, hydrogen bombs, anything—life goes on. You can kill yourself, but you can't kill life." (E.G. Marshal who played Vladimir in original Broadway production 1950s)?

I don't think that play is about positive or negative idea because it's only about perspective and which is individual. If it is positive for me , might be it is negative for somebody.

 Waiting for Godot is positive play :-

One can question that how it is positive because both the character is waiting for Godot in entire play but Godot didn't come so how is it positive but it is because their wait is pessimistic both are live in the hope of next day. They both represents human life, every human is living in will power and in hope that out future will be bright and happy and for that they keep doing hardwork and wait for that day.

In play also both the character try to kill time by doing so many activities. At one point they decide to go but they can't. Because they are hoping to be saved.

Let's go." "We can't." "Why not?" "We're waiting for Godot.

We know that many people came into world and many goes but nothing is permanent though we have to do hard work and live life that is the philosophy of the life. This philosophy is indirectly discussed by Beckett in this novel that nobody know about God and what happened after death though we are doing hard work and before doing any sin we thought that God will punishe us if we do this and we stop doing this. In case of karma also before doing any good work we always think about reward and good fortune.

4) Do you think that the obedience of Lucky is extremely irritating and nauseatic? Even when the master Pozzo is blind, he obediently hands the whip in his hand. Do you think that such a capacity of slavishness is unbelievable?

For us behaviour of Lucky is like irritating but somewhere we all are Lucky in one or another way. In our childhood we learn many things and we can't able to get rid out of it. Somewhere we are slave of God and we can say religion. If someone allow us to ask questions though we never ask anything to anybody. In case of Lucky he can run away and escape from slavery, live his life happily when Pozzo became blind but he didn't go anywhere but he himself give rope to Pozzo. Lucky himself give his remote to Pozzo and indirectly told him to control him.

 He symbolised thinkers, smartness and intelligent but he don't know his own value so he happy to live as slave. In this play when Estragon tries to help Lucky then he kicks him badly. Similar things happening in society also, when someone tries to help us or tries to make us aware we started blaming them and hates to listen any advice, even if that advise was beneficial for us. We never allow ourself to come out from the bond of relations, whether it is with relatives or whether it it with God. We know that we are not tied by anyone but still we can't escape or can't think of living our ideas, beliefs, or we can say superstitions also. 

So we can say behaviour of Lucky is like more relatable rather than irritating.

5)  Do you think that plays like this can better be ‘read’ than ‘viewed’ as it requires a lot of thinking on the part of readers, while viewing, the torrent of dialogues does not give ample time and space to ‘think’? Or is it that the audio-visuals help in better understanding of the play?

According to me it is better to read rather than watch because when I saw this movie in this dialogues are to speedy and pronounciation was also difficult to understand. And play like absurd is better to read because one can not understand it only through visual and audio because there is we have to think a lot. There is required deep thinking to understand because each dialogue has deep meaning.

Without reading original novel one can not understand the dialogue and action of the actors. Before watch movie we read some of the important part of the novel so for us it became easy to understand it. After reading when you watch movie it became easy to understand it.

6) Which of the following sequence you liked the most:

1) Vladimir – Estragon killing time in questions and conversations while waiting

2)Pozzo – Lucky episode in both acts

3) Converstion of Vladimir with the boy

In this movie i like the scene of Lucky's speech , how he work like Machine follow every command of his master and when he say him to do think he start thinking but we can not understand what is he said and Vladimir and Estragon both are trying to listen him but they can't and behaviour of both the character create laughter but after passing of the time his thinking became irritating for other three characters and they try to run and avoid him. And when Pozzo say stop and one remove hat from head he stopped thinking hear,

Hat = thinking

Whoever wear hat they able to think

Thinking is not worst but

Having thought is  terrible 

 I also like the scene of time killing of both character because during that time they talked about reality of human being and give us message about our existence and abusurdity of life. 

Thank you for visiting :)