“Waiting for Godot”

Beckett – utterly boring.

A suggestion: read Pinter, if you have time.

Today, we will focus on Vladimir and Estragon, but Pozzo and Lucky are as important . Albert Camus, “The Myth of Sisyphus” – read both of these.Sartre, “Existentialism and Human Emotions”

Absurd – it does not mean absurd in a common sense. In a theatre of absurd, it is a philosophical concept,

Sisyphus work – it is something that defines a character. Camus writes about an absurd man, the silence of the universe (isolation, solitude – very important). – so we talk about isolation, timelessness and spacelessness.

Next: Sisyphus, returning towards the rock, chooses his faith, created by him – and it defines him. But, what is extremely important in the definition of an absurd man: awareness. We cannot have a concept of an absurd man without awareness.

So, that was the absurd hero.

Awareness – also of the futility of his actions. He is aware, but yet he chooses to continue pushing up his rock.

The absurd itself is born from this confrontation, discrepancy between the human desire for God, sense, greatness, logic - and the lack of purpose of the world.

So we do not say that because they sit and wait, it is absurd. We have to look for it somewhere else:in their desire of a goal, and then awareness that there is no goal.

Sartre:

He represents atheistic existentialism. So if we read Waiting for Godot through it, we assume that they are not waiting for any god.

The existence precedes essence. In case of faith in god, essence precedes existence.

First, this is connected to the concept of facticity of throwness. – we just are, thrown into the world. And that is existence. As we exist, we must find a purpose, construct our identity, purpose, knowing that we can have no identity, there is no purpose, which would cause nausea, despair.

If there is god, essence precedes existence. First, there is a God’s plan, and then we come.

Another thing from Sartre:

Responsibility: since we just exist, we know that all is futile, and there is no purpose, it does not mean that we can do whatever we want, just any essence. By choosing for myself, I decide for all other people, and I bear responsibility. By choosing myself, I choose humanity. The essence for me will become the essence for the whole mankind.

If we look at Estragon and Vladimir,

- How do they look like?

Vladimir has to be tall and slim, and Estragon has to be short and plump. So the author wanted them to be opposites. But when regarding their costumes, they were to wear mixed costumes: complementary – so they are opposites, and yet they complement each other.

Vladimir is referred to as Mister Albert by a boy. Another nicknames: Gogo, Vidi.This signifies problematic identity, there is a confusion of their identity, which is not stable. They have to look like some sort of vagabonds.The tramp is a convention established by a stage convention. Estragon is a herb increasing appetite.What is Estragon doing on stage? He sits. He usually takes off his boots. He is more biological, connected with the ground.

Vladimir:

From Slavonic, ruling over the world, it seems quite the opposite. He takes his hat, he often stands and walks. So he is more metaphysical, he belongs to the tree.

So they are opposites, but yet complement each other. They do the same thing with different things. What is interesting is that they repeat the same thing like “nothing to be done”

They are of course anticharacters. They do not develop. In terms of understanding characters...

Congruent awareness: - theatre implies interaction of what happens on the stage and on the stage.... and here the audience knows as much about the proceedings as the characters.

For instance, superior audience awareness: in Hamlet, when the audience knows that Claudius is a villain before he does.

Inferior audience awareness: typical of criminal plots.

The audience is also made to wait for Godot, thrust into the waiting itself. There is no possibility of feeling any empathy, also waiting for something to happen.

We do not know how old they are. 11? 50 years they are together?

They do have a certain past, but a past can only exist if you have a memory of it.

So when they say “DO you remember the day when I threw myself..” – a past exists.

But when asked about yesterday, they do not remember that, even though they know some obscure facts.

They have no a stable memory, so their present identity is not stable as well. Pozzo becomes blind: it is very Miltonic, he can possibly see the future.

Pozzo, talking about memory: he will not remember talking to anyone the next day.

If they do not remember, when they talk about their past, they do not seem to agree on things, which makes them even less reliable. It connects to the concept of timelessness, (they have no past that would define them, we have no background information, and when they talk about it, it is not reliable), ... and so they themselves deny their own past, and as they appear without their essence, they also represent “throwness”.

They have only existence, and no essence, because they are not introduced with their past, and later they cannot easily construct the essence – because they have no past, which might be non-existent.

Any attempt to define anything is futile, because no one will remember that. Pozzo also undermines them ,because he will not remember.

Let's go.VLADIMIR:

We can't.ESTRAGON:

Why not?VLADIMIR:

We're waiting for Godot.- They appear on the stage without any past, with problematic memory – on an empty stage,

they are alone, no one else there, (they are isolated), we do not know the place and time. – timelessness and spacelessness. We have existence preceding essence, and now we have choice and commitment towards acting. They have freedom to choose, and if they choose to do nothing, this is still a choice. If they wait, this is a choice of inaction – a paradox.

It is our choice to wait. – still, waiting, is a way of acting, by not acting. So they try to construct their essence, by waiting.

We create our human nature by these choices.

Pozzo and Lucky represent social nature (oppression, Marxism), whereas Estragon and Vladimir represent human nature.

Aspect of responsibility: Vladimir:Let us not waste our time in idle discourse! (Pause. Vehemently.) Let us do something, while wehave the chance! It is not every day that we are needed. Not indeed that we personally are needed. Others would meet the case equally well, if not better. To all mankind they were addressed, those cries for help still ringing in our ears! But at this place, at this moment of time, all mankind is us, whether we like it or not. Let us make the most of it, before it is too late!

Within this waiting, they make smaller choices, whether to help Pozzo or not.

When they decide about that, they choose for the whole mankind. It shows responsibility, they are not only themselves.

“it’s too late now, let’s go”

- This is this feeling of nausea, anxiety, that there is no goal.

Interestingly, Estragon in the second act says that everything is the same, whereas Vladimir states that everything changed. They represent here the absurd. Vladimir represents desire, change. Estragon represents the lack of purpose.The requirements for performance:

Basically, Beckett wanted not too many props, an empty stage, isolation of the protagonists.

A paradox: experimental playwrights give very specific directions about how to stage sth, whereas Shakespeare for instance is free to interpret in any way. So, experimental plays have only a single interpretation.

Stage directions:

- Of course, there is a discrepancy between the stage directions and what the characters do.They say “let’s go” and we see that “they do not move”.

There is a great demand placed on the actors, who have to play in a very specific way, and also pretend different things.

Also, a prolonged pause: in a specific moments, actors stop to speak and move. And then they cease to exist. And there is a specific upper limit to which the audience can stand this. after some time of waiting, the audience starts chuckling, snorting etc.

That’s why this play is not for reading, because we miss these prolonged pauses.

Harold Pinter:

“the more acute the experience, the less articulate the experience” – silence is awareness of futility. A desire and yet awareness of futility of the desire, and of language. Anguish of experience.

But, there is another aspect of silence: it annihilates the characters on stage. They talk to exist theatrically. Very often what they say is to return to exist. When they become silent, and this is combined with lack of movement, they cease to exist.

In the theatre, the characters do not exist unless the audience sees them.

“how difficult it is to speak when there is nothing to talk about. Therefore, the act of conversation becomes deformed. Man must, by means of the spoken world, reassure himself of his own existence. With every spoken word, a man attempts to be” – trifles they speak about also assert the conditionof absurd. Incoherent things they say signify the desire to exist and the desire of essence.

The stage

The stage must reconstruct that assumption of the isolation of the protagonist and the silence of the universe, the silence of gods.

- First, the emptiness on the stage, and certain gesture of the characters, -- to show the

infinite universe. They must, by looking up at the sky, gesturing towards the empty space, stress timelessness and spacelessness, existence within this silent universe.

- The annihilation of time. In Hamlet, there was specific time; here, dawn is confused withevening. Only the tree changes from one act to another.

- One tree enhances the emptiness.

When they say “nothing to be done”, “I have reassumed the struggle, never neglect the little things of life” “I have resumed the struggle’

“we’ve lost our rights, we’ve waived them” “we are not tied”, “I am asking you if we are tied” “the essential does not change”, “nothing to be done”

- It shows that they have no purpose, and that they chose not to have it. – and they expressthe awareness. It is where the absurd is located. “waiting for Godot” is their choice, the recurring expression that nothing can be done, desire for purpose, and awareness that there is none. .

Pozzo:..... ()

That's how it is on this bitch of an earth.Long silence.

ESTRAGON:So long as one knows.

VLADIMIR:One can bide one's time.

ESTRAGON:One knows what to expect.

VLADIMIR:No further need to worry.

ESTRAGON:Simply wait.

VLADIMIR:We're used to it.

And:

ESTRAGON:Nothing happens, nobody comes, nobody goes, it's awful!

“POZZO:

I don't seem to be able . . . (long hesitation) . . . to depart.ESTRAGON:

Such is life.

- Extremely self-aware characters.

VLADIMIR:

Where else do you think? Do you not recognize the place?ESTRAGON:

(suddenly furious). Recognize! What is there to recognize? All my lousy life I'vecrawled about in the mud! And you talk to me about scenery! (Looking wildly about him.) Look at this muckheap! I've never stirred from it!

VLADIMIR:And where were we yesterday evening according to you?

ESTRAGON:How would I know? In another compartment. There's no lack of void.

- Again, the conscience that there is no purpose. It sums up the absurd.

ESTRAGON:I'll go and get a carrot.He does not move.

There is no point getting a carrot.

- We can create an impression that we exist, by going for a carrot, touching a hat, etc.

ESTRAGON:(calmer). I lost my head. Forgive me. It won't happen again. Tell me what to do.

VLADIMIR:There's nothing to do.

These characters are interchangeable, POzzo and Lucky. In the first act, Pozzo is leading Lucky, in the second, Lucky is leading, and the rope is much shorter. When they appear, they are changed.

VLADIMIR:We are no longer alone, waiting for the night, waiting for Godot, waiting for . . .waiting. All evening we have struggled, unassisted. Now it's over. It's already tomorrow.

VLADIMIR:Time flows again already. The sun will set, the moon rise, and we away . . . from here.

They have a struggle to achieve their essence, to exist... It is where the absurd lies – their awareness.Vladimir:

Yes, in this immense confusion one thing alone is clear. We are waiting for Godot to come—

- They define their purpose.

“we will be alone in the midst of nothingness”

POZZO:

(violently). Don't question me! The blind have no notion of time. The things of time are hidden from them too.

POZZO:(suddenly furious.) Have you not done tormenting me with your accursed time! It'sabominable! When! When! One day, is that not enough for you, one day he went dumb, one day I went blind, one day we'll go deaf, one day we were born, one day we shall die, the same day, the same second, is that not enough for you? (Calmer.) They give birth astride of a grave, the light gleams an instant, then it's night once more. (He jerks the rope.) On!

Why ask “when” – it has no point.

They do not know who Godot is. But it is not important who he is.

They suggest committing a suicide... A suicide would mean what – not existing anymore? They would not be heroic. Sisyphus continued pushing up the rock, triumphing over the gods. They wait, and this is how they triumph over the cruel universe, in which they have no purpose.

You have to know by heart the definition of absurd by Camus.