Category: CLOSED Longman Group Two- Why is it different?

IN RESUME

BY ALE

In ‘Waiting for Godot’, things are different from reality in the way that mundane actions are exacerbated; thus, loosing importance and transcendence –like suicide (as prominent example).

Passing time is the main objective given  a lack of taste for life resumed to conformity. This conformity is not an aspect of the will, nor a matter of preference, ratther something which appears to be the only salvation from ‘nothingness’ and lack of meaning.

Life, in this bubble, moves relentlessly forward. Invariably, no decision is taken which is consequently translated into action. Every action is minimal and useless in terms of progress hence everything goes back to the beginning. ‘They don’t move’.

Didi and Gogo are stuck in time for they do nothing but wait.

(3) Lucky treated as a dog/slave on a leash.

Well, this is different from reality in the way that law forbids slavery. Also, the norms by which society abides, or claims to function by, are against a practice of the sort.

Moreover, this character’s leashing indicates his position in terms of power relations to the rest.

Subjugated by Pozzo, Lucky’s ‘automatization’ is clearly another factor that makes the play different from reality. It does so by exposing the extension of Lucky’s lack of self determination. His dependence to act on command make him an ‘automat’. Then, when he is left to his own device, as proof of what has been previously stated, he rambles nonsense.

In conclusion, life in in this limbo-like world degenerates character.

About that hanging…

Hey Eric–

I think you picked out a great piece here.

The fact that the characters casually contemplate suicide also puts the audience’s attention in the moment. At this point, it is really possible that anything could happen. During the play, it is difficult to avoid thinking about the sum of the play while the action is in progress. The sum of the play’s action cannot be assessed until every moment has concluded. Rather than focusing on the the “result” before the play has ended, the audience is forced to focus on the individual moments because they cannot predict when the play will end.

Why Is It Different From Reality- Hanging

By Eric Houdek 

In Waiting For Godot, the character Estragon casually proposes hanging himself.  A dialogue insues, as follows

ESTRAGON:
What about hanging ourselves?
VLADIMIR:
Hmm. It’d give us an erection.
ESTRAGON:
(highly excited). An erection!
VLADIMIR:
With all that follows. Where it falls mandrakes grow. That’s why they shriek when
you pull them up. Did you not know that?
ESTRAGON:
Let’s hang ourselves immediately!
VLADIMIR:
From a bough? (They go towards the tree.) I wouldn’t trust it.
ESTRAGON:
We can always try.
VLADIMIR:
Go ahead.
ESTRAGON:
After you.
VLADIMIR:
No no, you first.
ESTRAGON:
Why me?

VLADIMIR:
You’re lighter than I am.

ESTRAGON:
Just so!

VLADIMIR:
I don’t understand.

ESTRAGON:
Use your intelligence, can’t you?
Vladimir uses his intelligence.

VLADIMIR:
(finally). I remain in the dark.

ESTRAGON:
This is how it is. (He reflects.) The bough . . . the bough . . . (Angrily.) Use your
head, can’t you?

VLADIMIR:
You’re my only hope.

ESTRAGON:
(with effort). Gogo light€”bough not break€”Gogo dead. Didi heavy€”bough
break€”Didi alone. Whereas€”

VLADIMIR:
I hadn’t thought of that.

ESTRAGON:
If it hangs you it’ll hang anything.

VLADIMIR:
But am I heavier than you?

ESTRAGON:
So you tell me. I don’t know. There’s an even chance. Or nearly.

VLADIMIR:
Well? What do we do?

ESTRAGON:
Don’t let’s do anything. It’s safer.

 In this dialogue, hanging, which would certainly lead to their death, is viewed as a way to just pass the time.  The implications of death, and ending their own lives, are presented in a minimalistic, non-important light.  By presenting the end of one’s life as unimportant, life itself is shed in a non-crucial light. 

Quote

by Adam B. Ferguson

An interesting quote that continues to stick in my mind as I read through the play each time —

POZZO:
He’s stopped crying. (To Estragon.) You have replaced him as it were. (Lyrically.)
The tears of the world are a constant quantity. For each one who begins to weep,
somewhere else another stops. The same is true of the laugh. (He laughs.) Let us
not then speak ill of our generation, it is not any unhappier than its predecessors.
(Pause.) Let us not speak well of it either. (Pause.) Let us not speak of it at all.

This quote is very philosophical and profound in its approach.   I feel this quote and others like it made by Pozzo are contrasting to the rest of the text.  A majority of the text is very simple and short wording, however, this is a stark opposite to all of that.  It also speaks to the greater world around the characters instead of the immediate setting surrounding them.  It makes it seem as if things like this encounter, this meeting, this constant waiting, happen on a continuous basis.  The past present and future seem to be blurred together to create something much bigger and greater – life.