Thinking Activity: Waiting for Godot

Hello Friends!

I am Daya Vaghani,Student of the Department of English ,MKBU.This blog is part of our thinking activity given by our teacher Heena Ma’am.In this blog I am going to answer some of the questions of the play “Waiting For Godot”.To know more about this play Click here .

1)What do you think about the character of the play?

I found absurdity in the characters of 'Waiting for Godot..  In order to prove it,  if  we consider the  main characters  of “Waiting for Godot'' for example, Estragon  and  Vladimir,  we  can  see that  they  are waiting  without knowing the purpose they are  waiting for. Furthermore,  they are  not making  sense of  the lives  and existence and that is  why they think about suicide.  In  the  same  way,  they also indicate  the  carelessness  of  Godot towards  them.  This relationship is  represented  in  the  shape of a master  slave dichotomy named Pozzo,  the  master and  Lucky,  the  slave,  where no importance  is  given to the  slave  and is  overburdened without any  care.  This  is  to make Estragon  and Vladimir realize that though  you  are  waiting for  Godot  but this  could be  your situation in  the end.  Another thing which  is  also associated  with  the absurdity in  the  characters  of  “Waiting for  Godot” is  their  trust  on each  other for  holding up  and  support. Each of  them  believes to get  some sort  of  help from  the other one and thus  tries to put a seal to  his  chaotic  life. Therefore,  we can say that it is  this meaninglessness,  this  detachment,  this  strangeness  and finally this  spiritual  and  physical  isolation  in  the characters  of the  text that  make  them  absurd characters.

2. What do you say about their activities and its significance?

In this play all characters do nothing.Their activities are meaningless and absurd.

For example

In Waiting for  Godot”,  the  very  first  page  and  in  fact the  very first dialogue between Estragon  and Vladimir  has  absurdity  and purposelessness  of life.  Estragon  while pulling off  his  shoes, panting  and  quite  exhausted rests  for some time when Vladimir enters Estragon says,

ESTRAGON: (giving up  again).  Nothing to  be done. 

VLADIMIR: (advancing with  short,  stiff  strides,  legs  wide apart). I'm  beginning  to come round  to  that opinion.  All  my life  I've  tried to  put  it  from  me,  saying  Vladimir,  be reasonable,  you  haven't  yet tried everything.  And I  resumed the struggle.  (He  brood s,  musing on the  struggle.  Turning to Estragon.)  So, there  you are again. (P-1)

When Pozzo asks time and again  that  his  name  is  Pozzo but then too Estragon  and  Vladimir are indifferent  and  call  him with  wrong name. If  somebody loses  his  identity and  name,  the  situation becomes unbearable and  absurd.  This  gives  the  sense that  like Pozzo, everybody  will  lose  his  or  her iden tity  in  this  chaotic  world where  people become so indifferent that  they cannot  even recognize you  by  your  name. Absurdity is  not only in  the meaninglessness  of the  world  we live in  but  also in  the time  when we become blind  to  it  and  cannot  realize  its  effects  or functions.

Symbolically,  this means  that  we all  are blind without  the  notion  of  time.  In  fact,  this is  the  situation  of  all human  beings.  The  meaninglessness  of  time is  in  fact the meaninglessness  of  life and this  meaninglessness cannot  be changed if  one  makes efforts as  Vladimir  says that “one is  what one  is…the essentials  doesn’t change  (p.15).  It  means  that the  absurdity of  the world  is  not to  be changed but it  is  you  who is supposed  to  undergo  change and that is  death.

3. Is there any similarity between the situations in the play and the lockdown period of 2020?

Yes ,there were so many similarities among the play and Lockdown period of 2020.We all felt like the character of the play. We waiting for the Godot it means we are waiting for the normal time.Still we are in that situation,we also fill absurdity in our life.

4.  Did you feel like existential crisis?

Yes,I felt existential crisis during Lockdown.Around the world, many people have found that the Covid-19 crisis has helped them realise what is truly important in their lives. The basics: like health, relationships, a safe and warm place you can call home, dignity, freedom from persecution and discrimination. Being able to feed yourself and pay the bills.

Meanwhile, the virus will continue to travel across the world, and within communities, exploiting any gaps in protection measures. We don’t yet know how this will play out, but we can be certain of the uncertainty the pandemic will continue to create, and of our need to live with and adapt to it safely, while taking measures to protect both health and livelihoods.

Nowadays I am facing the same.Online classes is going on.And I have lots of network problem at my home.I am attending all my lectures from terrace even in the summer.I feel absurdity in my life.

5)What did you do to pass time?

I was spending more time with my family.I used to  watched lots of T.V serials,movies,webseries,reading books during lockdown.I was attending Online session for Tet-Tat exams.And during lockdown there were two little baby at my home so it became very easy to passed time with them.It was kind of very long vacation for all of us.

6) How was your psychological condition?

It was very very danger psychological condition during Lockdown. Sometimes i felt my life is meaningless.There was no hope for anything. Life was disturbed.I was getting angry on anybody at my home because of that quarantined period.I didn’t like to sat 24 hour in home.