Month: December 2008

Why is it different from reality? Time…

By Eric Houdek

As Alejandro and Mary Beth have stated, Waiting For Godot is different from reality because there is immense ambiguity in the perception of time.  I feel that Beckett has presented this ambiguity for a number of reasons.  First, the inibility of the characters to grasp the true concept of time helps to invoke a sense of hopelessness and cluelessness upon the audience.  When looking at the title, the concept of time is expressed in the word waiting.  The characters spend all of their time waiting for Godot, which turns out to be fruitless.  Perhaps because the audience cannot identify the time that is parallell with the play, Waiting For Godot suggests that the hopeless struggle presented in the play applies to man as a whole.   

More Differences from Reality

BY ALEJANDRO (I think this was written by me)

We do not experience the confusion about nature, time, and the seasons that Vladimir and Estragon have. At different points in the play they argue about when the tree did or did not have leaves, whether the sun is rising or setting, and the like.
We rarely casually contemplate suicide as an entertaining diversion or “something to do”.
We do not constantly repeat phrases physical acts/tics, e.g. Pozzo’s vaporizer, the fixing of hats, various points throughout the play in which Vladimir and Estragon repeat the same lines over and over, changing them slightly each time.
We certainly do not have as much free time to sit and wait for someone who will never come.

Different from actuality

Actuality

Better Memory

-We know what we did yesterday

-We know what day of the week it is

-We would know if we went to the same place two days in a row

-We don’t talk about hanging ourselves in a careless manner

-We don’t find people treated like a horse (Pozzo and Lucky) or have slaves.

-We don’t sell people at fairs (unlike Pozzo and Lucky)

-We would notice (unlike Estragon) if someone was being treated cruelly. Estragon prefers to chew his bones.

-We tend to speak with sentences that are more descriptive, pertinent, and meaningful.

-We don’t listen to people think for entertainment (I don’t at least…)

Mary Beth says:
“The indefinite arrival of Godot is the largest evidence of the play's purposeful absence of measured time.”

Very valid argument. Time is normally conceived by hours and minutes which seem irrelevant in this play.
But it doesn’t mean time doesn’t pass. Every day there is a new day, the twilight indicates a shift from day to night, the tree is alive then dead, meaning that time passes. It passes because there are changes, and different actions. These actions, might not be perceived as meaningful.

We, for I include myself, question the “existing (or non-existing) action of the play”, when it is clear that things do happen.

When Pozzo’s watch suddenly disappears during twilight, for example, something happens –an action. The fact that it directly contributes to ‘distort’ the perception of time, while generating a sense of confusion, speaks of an action but not of an actor!

“but behind this veil of gentleness and peace, night is charging (vibrantly) and will burst upon us (he snaps his fingers) pop! Like that! …just when we less expect it.

That’s how it is on this bitch of an earth.”

Nobody to blame!

This is definitely different from reality, and it is so because things don’t just disappear.