Waiting for Godot - Samuel Beckett

“Vladimir: What do they say?
Estragon: They talk about their lives.
Vladimir: To have lived is not enough for them.
Estragon: They have to talk about it.”

Considered an existential classic, I read the script for this play, with the aim either watching a dramatized version or a cinema version ( at the time of writing this, am yet undecided on which - but cinema versions seems to be more easy to find). Although it has made a name for a existential theme, upon reading it one finds that themes of Absurdism is equally present in it - if not more so. It is minimalist in nature, and just as the reader wonders if the absurd is going too far, the script throws in a gem of a dialogue. The two tramps live out their days, and Godot is possibly a representation of a hope of a better thing that will change their days - that may never come to pass. Maybe, on the first part, Pozzo is their godot for the day. Pozzo obviously represents a class that has no penitence about living off the faculties and strength of others. Pozzo's following comment proves it, I felt.

"Is there anything I can do, that's what I ask myself, to cheer them up? I have given them bones, I have talked to them about this and that, I have explained the twilight, admittedly. But is it enough, that's what tortures me, is it enough? "

This to me represents in parody, the thinking of a rich man, living off the blood and sweat of  others - the used,  represented by Lucky - what a choice of a name ?

 And those who live out their days ? What of them ? To me, the following comes closest to an approximation of us assuming Sisyphus being happy with his lot - true that Estragon and Vladimir aren't toiling at mundane labour - but their repetitive waiting with nothing to do, no hope, repeated beatings by others, see an occasional escape.

“Let us do something, while we have the chance! It is not every day that we are needed. Not indeed that we personally are needed. Others would meet the case equally well, if not better. To all mankind they were addressed, those cries for help still ringing in our ears! But at this place, at this moment of time, all mankind is us, whether we like it or not. Let us make the most of it, before it is too late! Let us represent worthily for one the foul brood to which a cruel fate consigned us! What do you say?"

There is no necessity to write about this play at length, for it is a play that has to be enjoyed by those who love the ideology - not to mention, the patience that is required for the rewards of reading as there could be a risk of the nonsensical, which is actually the absurdism taking form in dialogue between the two tramps. This is considered a book/play that has become popular over the years since its first publication in French almost seventy years ago ( The English translation is also by the author himself ). It is said that the audience reaction of its first staging was one of bafflement, back in 1953. I feel that this is a play, where the viewer should be aware of the script before its viewing, for its total effect - I plan to put that to test in the coming days, by at least settling for a cinema version.

My Rating: ****
Genre: Play Script / Philosophy / Existentialist Literature