Who is Godot in Beckett's mind... and...in your mind?

Question

Which one could be considered the most ghastly play produced by Samuel Beckett?

Answer 1

Beckett, of course, always vehemently insisted that Godot was not God, but it would be simply naive to think that he would have had a title character's name spelled that way--a character eagerly awaited who never appears--without expecting an audience/reader's first expectation to be that he was referring to God.

The point, I think, is that the characters are waiting for Someone else, an Other, Someone-out-there who will make sense of the world for them and help them make sense of their own lives. That "god-ot" doesn't show.

The Frenchman (Estragon) and the Russian (Vladimir), after their respective rationalistic "revolutions," represent the post-modern humankind who will never find such a One outside themselves. They must look within. Vladimir and Estragon shouldn't be waiting around; they should listen to their own language and "go do it." The name for a god-with-us or a god-within-us would be Emanuel. (So Beckett is absolutely right: Godot is NOT god, but rationalistic humans' substitute for Emanuel, the real god-with/within-us.)

The English/American Lucky is, indeed, "lucky," in that he never has to subject himself to such soul searching. He doesn't even talk at all (probably he's too busy watching television or pro-football or some huckster's advertising or a Karl Rove puppet). He talks only when someone else tells him to "think." For him, thinking is talking, but he really prefers listening. LIstening is being entertained. It's what theater audiences come expecting.

And Godot, for the American Lucky after all, is always just around the corner. In Godot he trusts. His is one nation under Godot. Godot serves his needs, but just exactly who Godot is or whether he ever comes--or even what his name means--doesn't much matter. He's "lucky" that way. Let the show go on. (And Lucky is with us still--still dancing to someone else's tune. How lucky we are!)

And, of course, the show does go on, repeating itself in the second act. Pozzo, the key character, however, is now blind and Lucky mute. Pozzo is The Boss, who tells everybody else what to do and shares his scraps. Lucky is completely under his control. Pozzo doesn't wait for Godot; he plays god himself. Think of him as Mussolini or Hitler or Stalin or any Big-Name politician who exerts power over the masses and uses Machiavellian means to attain and secure that power (or maybe even popes that come and go through the centuries: Popes-go). Pozzo doesn't wait around; he comes and goes at will, telling others what to do and when to think, just sharing his scraps, even though he himself be blind.

The end of the play summarizes the theme of the play.

Vladimir: Well, shall we go?
Estragon: Yes, let's go.
They do not move.

Shall we GO? they say. Yes, let's GO. But they never DO IT. They are waiting to "GO-DO-IT," to find meaning for themselves, to make meaning for themselves, to experience Emanuel within themselves. Still waiting. Well, I guess they're just not as "lucky" as someone willing to be led around on a leash by a Pozzo.

You won't find a play much more "ghastly" than that.

Answer 2

I haven't read that play yet, but what I heard is that Godot is a talking name, so it's GOD(ot) or something like salvation.

See official interpretations at the links below:

Answer 3

Who Is Godot

Answer 4

I see Godot as a "velleity" (a great word I never get to use! ) meaning a mere wish without any effort to realize or obtain it. He represents that something that is just around the corner, we think, that will make everything in our lives just fall into place. Yeah, I think the previous answerers have it exactly right.
The most ghastly play? Well, I've never forgotten a college production of his play called simply "Play" (1963) in which three characters are entombed in jars up to their necks the entire play. Creepy and funny....lines from it, like the exclamation "hellish half-light!" have stuck in my mind for years and entered my own vocabulary...

Answer 5

I perceived Godot as being, essentially, life. Well,not life, but Life, if that makes sense. The life people are waiting to have handed to them, doing nothing to work towards it, but they just *know* someday their lotto numbers will be right or they'll write that novel or whatever and then everything will be perfect.

Answer 6

Godot is nothing.

Becket is commenting on the fact that modern civilised people are in a constant state of waiting for something to come, but they don't know what it is. But in fact, nothing is coming.

Becket's conclusion is that we are all doomed to continue the fruitless waiting. Others would disagree and say that instead of waiting you should chase your dreams actively.

Answer 7

i remember reading somewhere that beckett felt that Godot is the meaning of life or something. that we're all waiting for something meaningful to happen while doing all these meaningless day to day tasks.

to me, Godot is hope. perhaps false hope.

Answer 8

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Jen the "toast girl" with a dirty mind! OMG *faints* *passes glass of wine* dont worry, you'll be fine... lol youve just been hanging out here too long... you'll be back in shape in no time.. lol I was sentenced to a years worth of washing behind the ears last night if that says anything... i overturned my verdict though... ;-)

Answer 9

various people have interpreted Godot as various things...it could be god, hope, happiness....

to me Godot represents happiness in life.....we keep waiting for happiness to come to us, something big to happen and miss out on all the small things which make life worth living in the first place......

LIVE your life and be happy....

Answer 10

In my mind "Godot" represents the great novel that Joyce never wrote.