Waiting for Godot

What was Samuel Beckett thinking!?

Godot. Who is Godot? What mysterious personality is hidden behind this unordinary name? Surely this is not a common name and surely, it provokes questions about its symbolism and thoughts about religion and the Saviour. One explanation about the name might be its close resemblance to the French word "godillot", after all the play is originally in French and was first showed in Paris in 1953. Such an explanation is possible, since the play starts with one of the two characters trying to take off exactly his boot: "Estragon, sitting on a low mound, is trying to take off his boot". The two characters' phatic conversations for a while revolve around the boot and its emptiness. Act 2, also starts with Estragon's boots: "Estragon's boots front centre, heels together, toes splayed". Nothing more, however, happens to or with the boots, so what is their significance in the play? How do they come to be of use to the author or to the two characters for that matter?

The second theory might be able to decipher a little more of Beckett's conveyed message. One of the first images that comes to the reader's mind, after hearing the name "Godot", is that of God. Furthermore, there are many religious references throughout the whole play, relating to the Bible or the Saviour. Vladimir asks Estragon, "Did you ever read the Bible?", and continues to tell him part of the story of the crucifixion: "Two thieves, crucified at the same time as our Saviour". He even shows knowledge of the four Evangelists, "how is it that of the four Evangelists only one speaks of a thief being saved", and minutes later adds his doubt to the story: "Why believe him rather than the others?"

And why do they believe Godot and wait for him every day if he never shows up. The pseudocouple waits for some sort of a solution to their needs and problems, although they have no clue what it is, or what they want. Vladimir is determined, "Let's wait till we know exactly how we stand. [...] I'm curious to hear what he has to offer. Then we'll take it or leave it." Estragon immediately destroys the firmness of "Didi", by countering him, "What exactly did we ask him for?" The whole development of the plot and the absurdity of the situation reminds me of a traditional Bulgarian tale that children in Bulgaria still read. It tells the story of two brothers sent by their father to conduct some business on his behalf. Before they leave with his horses and carriage, the father gives them a piece of wisdom. He tells them that if they come across any problem on their way, they should call Woe and she will help them. The two brothers then set out, and of course, as in any other children's story, they quickly hit problems. Midway, somewhere in the woods, their carriage breaks down and they do not know how to fix it in order to continue. With their dad's advice in mind, they start yelling "Woe!" as loud as they can, hoping that she will come and help them with the carriage. Couple of hours later and after much fruitless shouting, the two brothers decide that Woe is perhaps too busy and won't show up to aid them. The sun starts to set and they decide that it is time to fix the carriage before it gets completely dark. And thus, even without the required knowledge, they manage to fix the carriage out of necessity. The moral teaches us that when we are faced with a problem, we are far better capable of learning how to fix it rather than when just theoretically learning about it. However, what is the moral that Samuel Beckett is implying in "Waiting for Godot"? What do the two characters learn while waiting for their Saviour to come and help them, and what do we, the viewers, learn from them and their interaction with one another?

Could it be possible that Beckett did all this in purpose? Coming up with such a peculiar name so that people can connect it to the boots in the play, and God, and even Honore de Balzac's Godeau, who also does not show up in his play "Mercadet", inserting all the comments about religion, comparing critics to an insult... all this to confuse the viewer. He achieved the desired effect of people analysing every single word of his play, and mocked them and their insights on the "probable" symbols and themes and motifs in the play, without actually including any such inside. Perhaps Beckett's opinion about his readers is stated clearly through the words of Estragon: "People are bloody ignorant apes". The only thing critics and readers can actually find when looking into the image of the boot, is the same thing Estragon found in the boot: "Nothing [...]There's nothing to show." Perhaps the moral of the play is that we shouldn't overanalyse "Waiting for Godot". Perhaps, we should "air it for a bit."

I apologize for the lack of page numbers after the quotations, but I have been using an online copy of the text, where it is all on one page.

http://www.samuel-beckett.net/Waiting_for_Godot_Part1.html