Entrapment in Waiting for Godot and Existence and Existents Essay

Entrapment in Waiting for Godot and Existence and Existents Samuel Becketts revive Waiting for Godot has been criticized as a play in which nothing happens-twice. Not only are Vladimir and estragon, the two primary char puzzle outers, unable to change their circumstances in the first act, the second act seems to be a replay of this existential impotence. Vladimirs remark vigor to be done, at the opening of the play, may be said to characterize the whole. Estragon complains that Nothing happens, nobody comes, nobody goes, its awful (Beckett 27). Ostensibly, the play is a series of meaningless conversations on subjects of no importance. One wonders, then, if it isnt true that nothing happens in this play and, hence, if the play has my real artistic merit. But something is happening. The characters are struggling to free themselves from a treadmill of an existence in which they are trapped-a struggle that is, perhaps, significantly like our own. let us first consider the rol e of time in the play. Vladimir and Estragon want time to pass but are forced to acknowledge that tear down when it does, nothing changes. In other words, the time they recognize offers them no genuine future. On the contrary, it promises them more of the same Estragon We came too soon. Vladimir Its always at nightfall. Estragon But night doesnt fall. Vladimir Itll fall all of a sudden, like yesterday. Estragon Then itll be night. Vladimir And we can go. Estragon Then itll be day again. (Pause. Despairing.) Whatll we do, whatll we do (Beckett 45- 46) If night would only come there would be an end to this day. But that is no hope since another day ... ...h, Colin. Angels of Darkness free reintic Effect in Beckett and Ionesco. New York Barnes and Noble Books, 1792. Fletcher, Beryl S., and John Fletcher. A Students Guide to the Plays of Samuel Beckett. Boston Faber and Faber, 1985. Fletcher, J. Action and Play in Becketts Theater. Modern Drama 9 (1966/67) 242-246. Iser, W. Becketts Dramatic Language. Modern Drama 9 (1966/67) 251-259. Kenner, Hugh. A Readers Guide to Samuel Beckett. New York Farar, Straus, and Giroux, 1983. Lamont, Rosette. Becketts Metaphysics of Choiceless Awareness. Samuel Beckett Now. Ed. Melvin J. Friedman. Chicago U of Chicago Press, 1975. Lyons, Charles R. Samuel Beckett. New York Grove Press, 1983. Metman, Eva. Reflections on Samuel Becketts Plays. Samuel Beckett A Collection of Critical Essays. Ed. Martin Esslin. New island of Jersey Prentice-Hall, 1965.