Ø  Becket’s Waiting for Godot  as a play on Existentialism.

“We always find something, eh Didi, to give us the impression we exist?”

- Estragon in Waiting for Godot

 Existentialism is a movement in twentieth-century philosophy and literature that centres on the individual and his or her relationship to the universe or God. One of the leading exponents of existentialist thought was the  French novelist and philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre. His philosophy is articulated in his novels, such as No Exit and Nausea. Among the most famous and influential existentialist propositions is Sartre’s dictum, “existence precedes and rules essence,” which is generally taken to mean that there is no pre-defined essence to humanity except that which we make for ourselves. “Nothing to be done”-with this line Samuel Beckett introduces the strange world of Waiting for Godot ; the two tramps ,Vladimir and Estragon, have nothing significant to do with their lives other than waiting for the inscrutable Godot. This sets the tone for his frequent cynicism and suggests a sort of primordial intuition about his actual plight of being mired in nothingness.

     

The play has two acts, the first which spans a day and the second which is the next day.The characters in “Waiting for Godot” and their location represent human suffering from Albert Camus’ concept of nostalgia. (The Myth of Sisyphus by Albert Camus in Basic Writings of Existentialism edited by Gordon Marino) The setting that Beckett creates for the characters is simple and desolate, and could be seen as man’s struggle to find distinct place or existence full of meaning and sense. The waiting at least gives the men something to do and without it,they are even more lost within a sea of meaninglessness. This is why the only options that seem available to the men are waiting or suicide. Vladamir and Estragon are struggling with Nihilism . For Nietzsche, a nihilist is not one who believes in nothing, but one who abandons belief in this world in favor of another world that is idealized, fictitious, and the product of the mechanisms of “ressentiment”(‘ On the Genealogy of Morals’, Third Essay,by Nietzsche) .  . Most beliefs and views of reality that one holds are illusions. Reality as one knows it and all of the comfort that it gives is nonexistent. After ‘ The Death of God’ life loses all meaning. This is reminiscent of Nietzsche’s claim that “Any meaning is better than none at all.” Despite their sense that human life is nothing more than a brief and absurd interlude between the “thrownness” of birth and the “darkness” of death, the tramps cling to the notion that the mysterious and messianic figure of Godot will save them and give their lives significance.

In attempting to unravel the themes of the play, interpreters have extracted a wide variety of  symbolism from the Godot's name. Some, taking an obvious hint, have proposed that Godot represents God and that the play is centered on religious symbolism. Others have taken the name as deriving from the French word for a boot, “ godillot”. Still, others have suggested a connection between Godot and Godeau, a character who never appears in Honore de Balzac's “Mercadet; Ou, le faiseur”. Through all these efforts, there is still no definitive answer as to whom or what Godot represents, and the writer has denied that Godot represents a specific thing, despite a certain ambiguity in the name. Upon study, however, one realizes that this ambiguity in meaning is the exact meaning of Godot. Though he seems to create greater symbolism and significance in the name Godot, Beckett actually rejects the notion of truth in language through the insignificance of the title character's name. By creating a false impression of religious symbolism in the name Godot Beckett leads the interpreter to a dead end where Vladimir and Estragon donot lament for their vain waiting, rather take the unmitigated decision to be apart from each other and commit suicide at last if Godot,  who is partly a epitome of hope when He turns up and partly not if He does not ,does not appear on the last day.

Pozzo and Lucky appear as circus like figures , with the former as the ring master and the latter as the performing animal. The circus may be intended as a metaphor for life itself .Just as the circus presents an unreal charade of excitement , daring and accomplishment, so life is essentially a deceptive charade .Though the relationship is grotesque ,it does serve to give some meaning to their existence. The relationship might be said to be productive in that limited way .But when Pozzo and Lucky reappear in Act Two ,all semblance of meaning has gone, for the distinctivenesss of their roles has vanished. Lucky becomes dumb just as Pozzo becomes blind .This is extremely surprising because Lucky had been an exceptionally loquacious person in the first act .So the dumbness signifies two things : the first is that man’s life is invariably a process of degeneration and the second is that in this absurd universe there is not only nothing to communicate but also nothing with which to communicate. Both blind Pozzo and dumb Lucky end up threshing helplessly upon the ground , and they depart, stumbling hopelessly. Thus, their relationship also proved sterile.

The Existentialists regard human life as absurd .They think that no “ism”, no philosophy  , no system ,no order , even no “Avatar” can eliminate man’s suffering. In literature they have highlighted man’s alienation, loneliness , seclusion ,pointlessness, absurdity of existence. Estragon and Vladimir  , Pozzo and Lucky’s wearing of bowler hat like Sir Charlie Chaplin ,Estragon’s  vain effort to take off his boot are something relating to the clownish elements of the play-which invariably relates to the meaningless apprearance and activities of human beings on this earth and that is the core “Mantra” of the Existentialists. The treatment of time is also Existentialistic . Doubts about Time make the tramp doubt about their existence and also of their identity. Existence and identity are open to question.

Finally Becket’s Waiting for Godot is a dramatic vacuum . It is a search for reality that lies behind mere reasoning in conceptual terms as a modern man is faced with a world in which he can no longer rely on the traditional “props” to his existence  :  society is non-existent ; brotherhood is meaningless ; and religion brings no fulfilment . And so he does  all  that he can .He passes time and hopes for something new, though the hope is dispirited and lifeless. He simply waits. What it is he awaits, he is not sure, but he feels compelled to wait. So, starting with the undeniable fact of human suffering , he concludes that not all is right with the world and asks what kind of God could have created it or even permitted it.