Book Review: Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett.
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Waiting For Godot, An Existential Play.
Book: Waiting For Godot
Author: Samuel Beckett
Genre: Drama (Tragicomedy).
Publisher: Faber Faber Inc
ISBN-10: 0571058086
"Do you know how devil tortures souls in hell?" Carl Jung's uncle once asked him. "He keeps them waiting"
Waiting for Godot is a play where the characters undergo the same feeling. The characters Vladmir and Estragon wait for some Godot, who never arrives. It is a play with minimal characters and no action, plot or setting. You are left wating for something to happen in the play and it doesn't happen.
You might end up regretting having wasted one good hour at something so silly and meaningless. But wait. This is exactly the feeling the play aims to communicate.
Waiting for Godot belongs to the Theatre of Absurd, a genre that is applied to works of art that have in common the sense that human condition is essentially and ineradicably absurd. It is the representation of meaninglessness of life where we are subjects to the sheer contingency of our world. We are in conatant wait for something which may or may not happen. such plays draw material from philosophical ideologies like Existentialism, Nihilism.
But who is Godot? How Vladmir and Estragon know him? How do they communicate with him? Does he really exist? These are questions that are left unresolved. Once the Director of the play Waiting for Godot asked Beckett who did he think Godot is? Beckett simply said "i would have shown it if i knew". The answer is intriguing and so are all the interpretations that have come of it.
The play is meaningless, absurd, complex and a difficult read. Like Vladmir and Estragon you find yourself trapped in the plethora of possibilities, What could that mean? Why this and not that? Why don't the two leave the place and go? You'll often see yourself asking. But to look for meaning in Beckett's absurd universe is to misunderstand it. It can solve and explain nothing, it only describes and experience. The play, like the absurd universe is not meant to be apprehended.
The best part of the play is its prose. Filled with monologues, cliches, double entendre, misunderstandings..you can have a good laugh. The language seems unwanted, unable to carry any sort of communication, it is simply there.
We all read books, have learned to read between the lines, can pick up symbols, ideas, thoughts behind the words- Beckett is none of it. His volumes deal with silence, vacuum, nulity. Read and experience what you read, the result is Beckett.
A must read for those looking for something beyond words.
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Actually,my drama teacher in college said that the 'God- Godot' thing was a metaphor, and they were actually waiting for God. I couldn't honestly say because I've neither read it nor seen it performed :-)
@SimeyC: many people mistake the title for something else. In fact the interpretations to the name Godot are as many as there are interpretations to the play...Once the director of the play asked Beckett..."what did he think Godot actually is"...and Beckett said" I would have shown it if i had known".
@ Tutlens: ya! it could be God. People have their interpretations to it and Beckett sure wouldn't mind it.
I love it. Thanks for doing reviews like this. My favorite thing about book review wednesdays is reading all the different genres. Thanks for linking up!
-CYM
SimeyC Level 5 Commenter 2 years ago
I thought you had made an error with the title - expecting this to be something like 'waiting for God' - however, I'm glad the title was correct - this really does like an interesting play...