Waiting for Godot Response- Laura Glucksman
Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett is an extremely confusing play because everything about it is abstract and requires lots of interpretation from the audience.
First, the setting provided by Beckett is not specific. He describes the scene as “A country road. A tree. Evening.” This could be just about anywhere. Also, the characters do not have any descriptions, except it is assumed the characters are odd, especially the characters Lucky and Pozzo. Pozzo treats Lucky like a “pet.” He is an odd character because he does not answer any of Estragon’s or Vladimir’s questions. Lucky has a long speech that sounds profound. The speech feels out of context of the play. Also, Pozzo never explains to Estragon and Vladimir why he keeps a man on a rope and makes him carry his belongings. It is also strange that Lucky never puts down any of Pozzo’s belongings. He seems scared of his “owner.” Estragon and Vladimir are prototypical best friends. They are very loyal to each other. Their lives are extremely uninteresting. For example, their conversation about boots lasts for pages. It is obvious they consider their lives extremely boring because they think about committing suicide. Also, they do not even know why they are waiting for Godot. They just know they want to meet him.
The audience learns that the men repeat the same dull pattern everyday and never leave because the boy comes back the next day and does not remember telling them the same thing, except there is a little twist the second day.
I presume that Godot represents God. Also, Godot is two letters away from God so it could be Samuel Beckett’s way of saying God without saying it. Also, Vladimir and Estragon probably represent the human race waiting for God to do something to take humanity away from pitiful, boring lives.