Waiting For Who?

Confusing would be a pretty accurate adjective when describing the play Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett. Written almost entirely in a dialogue between two characters, I find myself permanently annoyed when reading through pages and pages of endless fights and confusing monologues that lead us back to the same dialogue in this absurdist play.

Estragon and Vladimir, our two main characters, find themselves struggling with hope on the arrival of this strange man they refer as Godot. Since the beginning of Act 1 they mention this almost magical character they're waiting on almost as if they were looking for his approval. He never seems to come and after the second time we clearly understand this figure is really never going to appear.

Once again we're touching on existentialism confronting the human struggle to find some meaning in life. Vladimir and Estragon find themselves wrapped around this lack of purpose and uncertainty finally presenting them with this feeling of anxiety on their own existence. They hold on to the hope of Godot's arrival thinking that at that point they'll be able to take action so they keep on looking for something external to give them a deeper meaning to life. We could even look at Godot as a religious figure comparable to God. The world is full of people searching for their higher calling; reading books and travelling the world searching for the reason of their existence. Existentialism provides us with the quickest and most efficient answer to this dilema: there is no reason for us to be here, we're just here and thats as simple as it gets.

In the end, even though the play is very repetitive and obnoxious in some parts, its a perfect example of existentialism and absurdism. I do look at it as a very interesting piece of literature and it'd definitely be a fun experience to watch the play.