Customer Reviews

Beckett's Waiting for Godot and Other Plays (Cliffs Notes)

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When the play begins great is our hope to see Godot appearing on the satge.The latter never comes.Not only Vladimir and Estragon are trapped by the process of waiting but we also we are equally trapped for nearly three hours.Nevertheless we leave the theatre wiser.Waiting contitutes an important part of our existence-at all times we are waiting for somet1hing or somebody.At different times we are waiting for something different-sometimes waiting is pleasurable but often it is painful.We can empathise with the two tramps who have nothing else to do than wait for a certain Godot who keeps postponing his arrival.Waiting becomes an important metaphor of life in the play-to wait is to exist and to exist means to wait.In post second world war Europe life is less attractive than ever-the two tramps will never go up the eiffel tower,they have been marginalised by a cruel and inhumane society.Centuries of European cultural, economic and scientific developments have produced a void in man's life.The two tramps have to live by the side of a country road or in a ditch or eat the bone thrown away by an arrogant Pozzo. What is Lucky waiting for-why doesn't he leave his master?Why don't we leave the theatre after the first act-aren't we bored enough? The play is an introspection in the remote corners of our subconsciousness-we are waiting for something-you are waiting for this essay to end to think about it.Beckett superbly got all of us into the formidable act of thinking but we do not think like the hog or pig Known as LUCKY.The play may be regarded as absurd-well it hardly matters because our own existence is absurd-unknowingly we are all waiting for something in common-it is our death.It is a harsh reality to swallow,yet this is the truth-some expect the Santa claus will come others expect Jesus will come as a messiah-well nobody comes, we have been too busy waiting that we have forgotten what we are actually waiting for.