Thinking Activity:- Waiting For Godot

                                                      Waiting For Godot

What connection do you see in the setting (“A country road. A tree.Evening.”) of the play and these paintings?

                                             

This painting by Caspar David Friedrich, suggest the hope with the symbols of country road and tree evening in the play scene is ‘a country road, a tree & evening’ it is symbolical.  “Longing” means “Waiting” & in this play we see that the central theme was “waiting” not “Godot”.

The tree is the only important ‘thing’ in the setting. What is the importance of tree in both acts? Why does Samuel Beckett grow a few leaves in Act II on the barren tree - The tree has four or five leaves - ?

                                                   

In Act one we see the effect of WW ll. The trees suggest hopelessness, sadness & Absurdity. In second Act we see that tree has 4 or 5 leaves it symbolized the “Hope” in second Act we see that Vladimir & Estragon has hope that Godot will come. And one more thing to say Beckett said that nature never affected by human nature.

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?

                                             

Night & Moon both signifies as death & hope. In both act same sequence and repetition of scene. Both scene ends with rising of moon. The last scenes of both Act symbolized night as darkness, death & hopelessness. In this play we see that Vladimir & Estragon both are waiting for Godot but at the end of both Acts both have hopelessness.

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

The play is written around Second world war so we can see the effect of world war ll. here debris used in the sense of destruction how war destroy human life, emotions, & happiness. 

The play begins with the dialogue “Nothing to be done”. How does the theme of ‘nothingness’ recurs in the play? 

In this play we see that both characters Vladimir & Estragon are waiting for Godot but Godot never come. So here Beckett said that we all are waiting for something. 

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’m not agree with this point, why we stop our all work & waiting for someone, why we waiting for someone & think that someone come & solve our problems. At the end we know that no one is coming & solve our problems. In this play Vladimir & Estragon both are waiting for Godot, why they waiting for Godot. Why?

How are the props like hat and boots used in the play? What is the symbolical significance of these props?

In this play boots represent materialistic things & hat represent intellectual sense. Estragon wears boots it represents materialistic things. It represents artificiality of life, Estragon not satisfied with his boots it hurts him. It shows unsatisfied nature of human. We never satisfied with our life we always like or love others life.

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?

Yes, the obedience of Lucky is extremely irritating and Nauseatic. In this play Vladimir & Estragon blindly waiting for Godot. May be they know that Godot never come. We see that Pozzo rule on Lucky every time. Vladimir & Estragon try to help Lucky to broke the prison of Pozzo but Lucky don’t want free from this prison.

    Who according to you is Godot? God? An object of desire? Death? Goal? Success? Or  . . .      “The subject of the play is not Godot but ‘Waiting’” (Esslin, A Search for the Self). Do you agree? How can you justify your answer?

According to me, Godot means “DEATH” because we all live our life but at the end we waiting for Death. According me if we say that Godot means God then it’s unbelievable because God never come to earth to meet human. In this play the 2 character Vladimir & Estragon both are waiting for Godot & think that Godot come and solve their problems & for me Godot means Death.

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?

Yes, I think the play like this can be better understandable. if it will be read first than viewed. Reading of the play helps to understand the things in the better way. If we first see the play without reading you can't understand it properly. If we viewed film first then we can’t not understand the main themes it also requires reading & thinking. In this play we find out so many fast dialogues.

Which of the following sequence you liked the most:

·         Vladimir-Estragon killing time in questions and conversational while waiting Pozzo-Lucky episode in both acts Conversation of  Vladimir with the boy

In this play I liked the most is conversation of Vladimir with the boy. Vladimir asked some questions to the boy. Questions like…..

- Did you meet Anyone?

- What does he do, Mr.Godot?

- How is your brother?

- Has he a beard, Mr. Godot?

- Fair or…. Or black?

Did you feel the effect of existential crisis or meaninglessness of human existence in the irrational and indifference Universe during screening of the movie? Where and when exactly that feeling was felt, if ever it was?

There is effect of existential crisis & meaninglessness. In this play we see that Vladimir & Estragon waiting for Godot but at the end of the both Acts boy said that he will come tomorrow not today so waiting for Godot is meaningless. We all are waiting for Death so our life is Absurd & meaningless.

Vladimir and Estragon talks about ‘hanging’ themselves and commit suicide, but they do not do so. How do you read this idea of suicide in Existentialism?

In existentialism suicide is best Art. We lost everything in our life at that time we thing negatively & think about suicide. In this play Vladimir & Estragon both talk about ‘hanging’ themselves & commit suicide but they never take this step because they have hope that Godot come.

Can we do any political reading of the play if we see European nations represented by the 'names' of the characters (Vladimir -  Russia; Estragon - France; Pozzo - Italy and Lucky - England)? What interpretation can be inferred from the play written just after World War II? Which country stands for 'Godot'?

 If we do the politically reading of the play

Vladimir    - Russia,

Estragon  - France,

Pozzo      - Italy &

Lucky       - England

Godot      - Germany & Hitler

Germany means Hitler & Godot. We can say that Godot control Vladimir & Estragon, Hitler want whole world for control.

 So far as Pozzo and Lucky [master and slave] are concerned, we have to remember that Beckett was a disciple of Joyce and that Joyce hated England. Beckett meant Pozzo to be England, and Lucky to be Ireland." (Bert Lahr who played Estragon in Broadway production). Does this reading make any sense? Why? How? What?

-  Lucky as slave Ireland,

-  Pozzo as England,

 -  Vladimir as Russia,

-  Estragon as France

-  Godot stand as Hitler (Germany) or a psychopathic God. As Pozzo controlled Lucky same way England trying to control Ireland & Italy.

 The more the things change, the more it remains similar. There seems to have no change in Act I and Act II of the play. Even the conversation between Vladimir and the Boy sounds almost similar. But there is one major change. In Act I, in reply to Boy;s question, Vladimir says: 

In act 1 Vladimir said to boy that tell Mr.Godot that he had seen both them & they are waiting for him. In act 2 Vladimir said that tell Mr.Godot that " You saw me". Vladimir not mention Estragon name in 2 Act. may be Vladimir think that he is more intelligent than Estragon.