Alex Nicolson
THE FIRST READING
Title: Waiting for Godot
Cast of characters: Vladimir, Estragon, Pozzo, Lucky, Boy
Set description: A country road. A tree.
Time & place: Evening.
Where is the crux moment, the climax when all tension snapped?
Act II when Godot does not come again, and Vladimir confirms that the boy saw him.
What are the two sides of the tension that snapped?
Will Godot come today, will we wait another day?
Has it operated throughout the play? (If not, may have mistaken the climax)
Yes, always waiting for Godot, but always sure he will not come.
At what point in the early stage of the play did the driving force emerge to work against resistance?
Opening, when it is clear Godot has not come again.
Are the climax moments of the formal segments (acts & scenes) related to the overall tension?
In Act I when Lucky thinks and everyone stops him, sets up tension with Lucky, somewhat unrelated to Godot.
Does the play have a protagonist, and if so, who is it?
No
What tensions emerge in relation to the context of the play: between the present and past? or between the place of the action and places beyond our view?
Complete lack of order, place and time vs. our real perception of time and place, i.e. the theatre itself and the time spent watching the performance. Tension between place of action and wherever Godot is.
What is the nature of the audience's involvement?
Observers, but also strongly involved with the waiting and inanity of the whole affair and of our lives.
How does the play open to us?
Involves us with the issue of Estragon's boots, and Vladimir's struggle for reason and order and struggle with nihilism, coming around to idea of "nothing to be done"
What is asked of us in terms of emotional involvement and critical assessment?
We become very involved in the constant rising and releasing of tension, a constant dull cycle of boom and bust, gearing up and exploding and winding down.
Note any questions that you may have€¦.
What the hell is going on here?
Is it possible that the protagonist in this play is Godot himself? Although he is never actually seen and the audience knows very little about who he is and what he represents, the characters in the play are waiting for him to come. The audience is also waiting and is eager to see him succeed in appearing.
But then again, if there is a protagonist, then there would probably need to be an antagonist, and I definitely don’t think there’s one of those, so I probably agree with Alex – but I just wanted to bring it up for discussion.
Clutch Analysis Alex!
Nice use of the word inanity