Existentialism in Godot

B.A.
(H) English- 3rd year
Modern European Drama

Presentation
Sonali Dhoundiyal (17/975)

Gunjan Solanki (17/1117)
Pragati Chauhan (17/1896)
Disillusionment and Existentialism in Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot
The play Waiting for Godot was written by Samuel Beckett in 1952, originally in French entitled
En attendant Godot. According to John Fletcher, Beckett's works ask the big questions of life
and reasons for our existence. He was greatly inspired by the existential philosophy of Sartre
and Camus and was famous for writing plays that confounded the conventions of drama and
language. GJV Prasad has famously noted that they often have “characterless characters” and
“plotless plot”. Waiting for Godot is a play about the absolute desolate nature of human
condition and a meditation on the human predicament.
Existentialism began as the philosophical attempt of man to describe his existence and its
conflicts, the origin of these conflicts and the anticipations of overcoming them. Ravi Samuel
writes “Existentialism is a philosophy of reaffirming and regaining the lost status of man...it is a
theory of individual meaning which asks each man to ponder over the reason for his existence”.
Existentialism began as a philosophical movement in the nineteenth century but it rapidly came
to maturity in the twentieth century within France and Germany.
It flourished during the 1940s-1950s due to the work of theorists such as Sartre, Camus and
Beauvoir. The terribly destructive events of the World Wars led to physical and mental human
sufferings, increasing the uncertainty about human existence, anxiety and depression.
The discourse of existentialism inevitably found its way into literature and Samuel Beckett
quickly became one of the leading playwrights dabbling with the absurd nature of a post-war
world. Waiting for Godot is his most well-known existentialist drama, but Beckett never ascribed
this philosophy to his work. In the world of the play, devoid of systems, purpose and markers of
time, all that is left is to simply exist. The fact that Vladimir and Estragon do little except exist
highlights this. It can be more accurately described as absurdism, which contains the idea that
there is no meaning found in the world beyond the meaning we give it.
The central tenet of Existentialism, given by Thomas Flynn is “Existence precedes Essence”.
Essence consists of the various labels, roles, relationships we fit into. But these are constructs
that exist in the outside world. Sartre in Being and Nothingness says anything with
consciousness presents nothingness as consciousness has no essence. No essence is
intrinsic, they are merely the roles we play in the world. Similarly, Vladimir and Estragon are
also playing a role in the play, therefore it is a performance within a performance. They are
unable to form a friendship or bond because of their existential setting, in which all human
relations are meaningless. Vladimir's attempts to embrace Estragon are always thwarted by him
and if they do embrace, they recoil instantly. On the other hand, Vladimir does not want to hear
about Estragon's dream. Any sort of friendship between them is immediately undercut.
The play highlights the futility and meaninglessness of human life, whereby waiting for Godot is
the only meaning-making activity that the two tramps indulge in. Angela Hotaling says, “Godot
will bring purpose and meaning”. However, it is the absence of Godot, and the anticipation of his
arrival which brings purpose and meaning to their lives. The play begins in an absurd setting;
the initial stage direction is, “He gives up, exhausted, rests, tries again” and the first line of the
play is “Nothing to be done.” The deliberate finality of these lines makes it sound like the end of
the play at the beginning itself, thus bringing into focus the perception of time which is non-
linear. Further, the opening line highlights that human life amounts to nothing, yet we continue
on with the burdens and struggles, because life is a play which has to be “done”, which has to
be performed till the end.
Is his essay on “Existentialism and Happiness” in Waiting for Godot, Edvinas Belevicus says
that the theme of futility and Estragon's eagerness to commit suicide can be interpreted as his
recognition of the absurd and inability to reconcile with it. What Vladimir and Estragon
experience in the lack of a distraction is not simply boredom, it is a fundamental existential
mood, which Martin Heidegger calls 'Profound Boredom’. Heidegger proposes time as an
originary temporality and Boredom occurs when time is suspended- such as while waiting.
Profound Boredom is the type in which we are confronted with the possibility of our death. It
highlights the finitude of existence which leads to loss of certitude.
The arrival of Godot is delayed throughout the play and there is no certainty as to who he is,
what he represents, or whether he even exists. Many critics have read Godot as a narrative
created by the tramps to pass time and to do away with the piercing existential void. Martin
Esslin in his seminal essay “Theatre of the Absurd” comments, “the feeling of uncertainty it
produces, the ebb and flow of this uncertainty- from the hope of discovering the identity of
Godot to its repeated disappointment- are themselves the essence of the play.” Waiting
becomes an eternal act while days melt one into the other, to the point where it becomes
difficult to tell which day it is, and day or night can be determined only by looking directly at the
sky. Even Pozzo, who is the most self-assured character eventually loses his material
possessions which portrays their impermanence and his watch- which represents linear time. All
forms of certainty and any semblance of fixity is countered until they submit to the nothingness.
Many philosophers considered Absurdism to be a branch of Existentialism. Camus noted that

“the absurd is born out of this confrontation between the human need and the unreasonable
silence of the world.” Absurd plays depict time as non-linear and portray the absurdity of the
human condition. Vladimir asks Estragon to come in on “hands and knees”, thus reducing man
to an animalistic position. They use language as a game, often including incomprehensible
sentences (such as Lucky's monologue) which represents an onslaught on language, exposing
it as an insufficient tool of communicating the agony of the modern man. The real content of the
play lies in the action. Language is discarded altogether, it “is far too straightforward an
instrument…Reality can be conveyed by being acted” (Martin Esslin).
The silence that Camus talks about is evident in the play in the controlled usage of language.
Godot is often said to play between the binaries of silence and substance. Absurdism, as a
philosophy, is based on the belief that the universe is irrational and meaningless and the
exploration of order brings the human and the universe in conflict. In The Myth of Sisyphus,
Camus considers absurdity as an opposition, a conflict or “divorce” between two ideals. He
continues by saying that human experiences evoke the notions of absurdity, leaving individuals
with the choice of suicide as “way out” of absurdity, or a leap of faith as “philosophical suicide”.
Further, in “The Theatre of Absurd”, Esslin shows the world as an incomprehensible place by
highlighting the irrationality, despair, exploitation and anguish prevalent in contemporary society.
The audience is unable to comprehend the play and emotional identification with the characters
is replaced by puzzled, critical attention. Although the happenings on the stage are absurd, yet
they are related to real life with its absurdity.
Esslin does not propagate the total rejection of meaning rather points towards deeper layers of
meaning. According to him, absurdity is “melancholic, colored by a feeling of futility born from
disillusionment…chronic hopelessness” in Beckett's play.
Waiting for Godot is a masterpiece of existential, absurd literature which portrays two aimless
characters in a world of alienation and no meaning. The sense of metaphysical anguish at the
absurdity of the human condition is the theme of Beckett’s play in which practically “nothing
happens twice” (Vivian Mercier). In “The Anti-Aesthetics of Waiting for Godot” by Stephan
Halloran the stage is seen as the world and the audience are voyeurs standing outside all the
time and space. The characters act out tragic, comic and dull life altogether. The brief illusion is
ended when the curtains come down and those lives are finished.
Works Cited
● Belevicus, Edvinas. "Existentialism and Happiness in Waiting for Godot" (2014)

● Camus, Albert. The Myth of Sisyphus (1942)
● Esslin, Martin. "Theatre of the Absurd" (1968)
● Flynn, Thomas. Existentialism: A Very Short Introduction (2006)
● Halloran, Stephen. "The Anti-Aesthetics of Waiting for Godot"
● Heidegger, Martin. Being and Time (1927)
● Prasad, GJV. Introduction to Waiting for Godot: Pearson (2004)
● Sartre, Jean-Paul. Being and Nothingness (1943)

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B.A.

(H) English- 3rd year

Modern European Drama

Sonali Dhoundiyal (17/975)

Disillusionment and Existentialism in Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot

Many philosophers considered Absurdism to be a branch of Existentialism. Camus noted that

● Belevicus, Edvinas. "Existentialism and Happiness in Waiting for Godot" (2014)

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