The universe is comprehensible

To an artist through metaphors.

Samuel Barclay Beckett

 

The Waiting for Godot opens with the dialogue of two men Estragon and Vladimir. In the course of their conversation, they implicitly or explicitly reveal their personalities. Soon it transpires that Estragon is an artist and an intellectual:

Vladimir: You should have been a poet.

Estragon: I was (Gesture towards his rags) Isn't that obvious? [p. 12] (1)

He is a romantically poetic type. When Vladimir asks him about the Gospels, he gets immersed into profound meditations and gives a seemingly irrelevant answer. This, of course epitomizes his true self:

Vladimir: Do you remember the Gospels?

Estragon: I remember the maps of the Holy Land coloured  they were. Very pretty. The Dead Sea was pale blue. The very look of it made me thirsty. That's where we'll go for honey moon. We'll swim. We'll be happy. [p. 12]

Estragon's first name is Adam. He is an archetypal Adam who has painfully descended from the paradisal lushness and bliss to the land of sorrows; a fatal plunge which has disturbed his equanimity.

Estragon: I was falling… I was on top of a… . [p. 70]

The wish to return to paradise in the form of journeying towards the promised land and the reification of utopia have been main concern of religious or non-religious intellectuals. Despite his religious belief and the irreligiousness of his time, he cannot rid himself of this wish. Therefore, the Gospels is a gentle stroke to take him into a delicious ecstasy. In the golden ages of when the ideals reigned, the Dead Sea was not black. It was bright blue. It was so favourable that the look of it was enough to cause desire and ecstasy. To describe this paradise, Estragon uses past tense so adroitly that you would think he had experienced that age. The last sentences are in future. If his future dream comes true, he will have his honey moon. Vladimir however, mocks this dream of him which is somewhat tinged with religious belief: and deems it proper for only the poets to have such a dream. Still, there is no escape from his nature. He is an idealist. Although he has not  attained his ideal in the world of reality. He can definitely reach it in the world of dreams. Therefore he constantly scolds Vladimir for not letting him sleep:

Estragon: Why will you never let me sleep? … I was dreaming. I was happy. [P. 89]

By sleep, he intends to escape the drab realities of life and at least to taste the sweetness of happiness thereby. He is no longer patient. His contemporary streams of thoughts have offered him inappropriate shoes to tread on the road of life. In the first act, his boots are tough and loose in the second act. Therefore, they have wounded his feet and exhausted his energy to walk on. Exhausted. He rebels and wishes to walk barefoot. Yet, Vladimir refrains him from doing so.

Vladimir: But you can't go barefoot.

Estragon: Christ did.

Vladimir: Christ! What's Christ got to do with it? You are not going to compare yourself to Christ!

 Estragon: All my life I've compare myself to him.

Vladimir: But where he lived it was warm, it was dry!

Estragon: Yes. And they crucified quick. [P. 52]

Vladimir does not believe in Christ. He makes attempts to banish the thought of Christ from the mind of Estragon(s). By reminding Estragon of  Christ's environment, he tries to divert his mind from Christ. However, there is a hidden metaphor in the word "Hot". In spite of Vladimir's land, Christ's is both geographically and emotionally hot. There. People do what they believe. And the protestant puts his protest in a practical shape, even though he might die on the cross. This Estragon knows. On the other hand, he knows that he is powerless to follow Christ, for the simple reason that he is not a man of action. His pet name is Gogo. In fact, the repetition of the verb "Go" in his name orders him to go. He constantly says: "I am going." But He does not move. In the course of the play, Estragon is constantly busy touching his boots while sitting. He is more a man of thought than a man of action. This his trait becomes hazardous when the situation is critical and he must act. But his doubts and fears take the place of resolution. Estragon doubts everything:

TIME: He debates with Vladimir whether it is sunset or sunrise.

PLACE: He constantly doubts whether he was here yesterday or not.    

PEOPLE: He is not sure whether he has already seen Pozzo and Lucky or not. Therefore he doubts Godot when he has never seen. He and his friend have done something which has lost its sense and turned into a mechanical performance. As a result, they deep forgetting what they have done or if they have been sinking in the bog. Estragon's legs give off a repulsive smell.

Where Estragon represents an intellectual/artist Vladimir represents a party, a certain stream of thought which requires activity if it wants to survive. He is constantly walking and touching his hat. His recent action has to be compared with Lucky's behaviour so that we may understand Beckett's meaning in this allegorical action. When Lucky wanted to think, he put on his hat. As for Vladimir, he constantly takes off his hat, shakes it, searches the inside of it and puts it on. In fact his hat symbolizes his frame of mind. By putting on his hat, he conceals his frame of mind from the public. He is constantly thinking or talking to himself. But in the end, His mind becomes blank. I don't know what to think any more. He has imposed his way of thinking upon Estragon and in a sense he has put a hat on his head. The aftermath of these reactions is predetermined. If they want to see an unusual event, they have got to take off their hat In order to be able to see:

Estragon: Let me see. (He takes off his hat, concentrates.)

Vladimir: Let me see. (He takes off his hat, concentrates. Long silence.) Ah!

They put on their on their hats. Relax. [P. 65]

They achieve repose when they are under the umbrella of that stream of thought.

Estragon calls his friend Didi. "Dis" in French means "to talk". This combination shows that Vladimir talks on behalf on a party and that his words are pointless. Just like Lucky who talks nonstop when he puts on his hat. What does this stream of thought stand for? The answer to this question lies in the Russian name Vladimir. He defends a country in which everything is red:

Vladimir: … You can't tell me that this (gesture) bears any resemblance to… (he hesitates)… to the Macon country, for example. You can't deny there's a big difference… But down there everything is red. [P. 61]

Since Vladimir relies on a group who thinks unanimously and has abundant possibilities, he has more repose than Estragon. His name also shows his position. Vladimir means someone who is in possession of the world. Therefore, he is able play the protector and protects the breathless Estragon who is lonely.

Vladimir: (Vladimir gets up softly, takes off his coat and lays it across Estragon's shoulders… Estragon wakes with a start, jumps off, cast about wildly. Vladimir turns to him, puts his arms around him.) There… there… Didi is there… don't be afraid… .

Estragon: Ah!

Vladimir: There… there… . It's all over.

Estragon: I was falling… .

Vladimir: It's all over, It's all over.

Estragon: I was on top of a-

Vladimir: Don't tell me! Come! We'll make it off. [P. 70]

Estragon feels lonely. He is a wanderer in the land of thoughts. He does not even know why. I don't know why I don't know. [P. 67] He can neither choose nor tolerate the present sufferings. So he feels he is sinking. He dreams he is falling. Vladimir tries to quiet him down. However, he refrains from narrating his dream lest Estragon's nightmarish dreams may posses him as well, and shake his belief:

Estragon: I had a dream.

Vladimir: Don't tell me.

Estragon: I dreamt that-

Vladimir: Don't tell me!

Estragon: (gesture towards the universe) This one is enough for you? It is not nice of you, Didi. Who am I to tell my private nightmare to if I can't tell them to you?

Vladimir: Let them remain private. You know I can't bear that. [P. 15]

Vladimir knows full well that intellectual doubts are destructive. So he neither listens to Estragon nor talks about his fears to him. When Estragon falls asleep, he starts talking about his anxieties:

Vladimir: Was I sleeping, while the others suffered? Am I sleeping now? Tomorrow, when I wake, or think I do, what shall I say of today? [P. 90]

Too, Vladimir knows these doubts destroy his dominion. Therefore, he fights them not lose a power which he has acquire in the course of years. How can he leave while he has dominance on Estragon's emotion. He wants Estragon to express his feelings parrotlike:

Vladimir: you must be happy too, deep down, if you only know it. Estragon: Happy about what?

Vladimir: To be back with me again.

Estragon: Would you say so?

Vladimir: Say you are, even if it's not true.

Estragon: What am I to say?

Vladimir: Say, I am happy.

Estragon: I am happy.

Vladimir: So am I.

Estragon:  So am I.

Vladimir: We are happy.

Estragon: We are happy.

Estragon finds out that he has lost his human rights and protests:

Estragon: We've no rights any more?

Vladimir: You'd make me laugh, if it wasn't prohibited.

Estragon: We've lost our rights.

Vladimir: We got rid of it. [P. 19]

At all events, he prefers to lose the "I" and dissolve into the "we" of Vladimir. He no longer has individuality. He is a slave like Lucky. And Vladimir treats him like Pozzo. He calls him pig as Pozzo calls Lucky. Estragon feels this invisible chain of servitude round his neck. After all, he is responsible for this servitude, for the reason that they have a unilateral relationship, from the very first. Estragon was a sinking intellectual and Vladimir was a guarding thinker:

Estragon: Do you remember the day I threw myself into the Rhone?

Vladimir: We were grape harvesting.

Estragon:  You fished me out.

Vladimir: That's all dead and buried. [P. 53]

Although Vladimir intends to forget that memory by feigning superciliousness. Estragon is not willing to do so. He tries insidiously to remind him of promises. That day, the sun was shining. Everywhere was full of light. Estragon had thought the long night of despair had ended. And this savior of the world would leave no knots untied. But Vladimir says There is no good harking back on that, come on. And he insists that they forget the memory of that day. Because half a century has passed since then. They do nothing but talk. All the knots have remained tied up. Vladimir breath stinks. Now Estragon is aware of a mirage that Vladimir has created for him. He mocks him:

Estragon: You and your landscapes! Tell me about the worms. [P. 61]

But the passage of fifty years has frozen him to the extent that he does not feel its coldness. In the course of the play, he is the only one who complaint about cold- which may refer to his cold land. He has no choice but to bear the present situation. He starts nominal fights to amuse himself and not let time weigh upon him. Estragon lives in the heart of a capitalistic country. Estragon is a French name which drags the symbol of Estragon intellectual. Vladimir is well aware that the rebel of a society members is more effective than that of one who lives outside of the society. Therefore, he dictates Estragon to question any capitalistic action for which Pozzo stands:

Estragon: Why doesn't he put down his bags?

Pozzo: But that would surprise me.

Vladimir: You are being asked a question… I think he is listening.

Estragon:  What?

Vladimir: You can ask him now. He's on the alert.

Estragon: Ask him what?

Vladimir: Why he doesn't put down his bags? [P. 29]

  Estragon has a more significant function. He serves as a laboratory rat. If the result is positive, Vladimir the party enters the scene. It seems more logical to a party to Jeopardize the position of all in case of fiasco by sacrificing one member:

Estragon:  Let's hang ourselves immediately.

 Vladimir: From a bough? I wouldn't trust it.

Estragon: We can always try.

Vladimir: Go ahead.

Estragon: After you.

Vladimir: No, no, you first.

Estragon: Why me?

Vladimir: You are lighter than I am.

Estragon: Just so!... .

Vladimir: You are my only hope. [P. 17]

Estragon is not too an idiotic intellectual. He realizes the aim of the party/ Vladimir:

Estragon: Gogo light- bough not break. Gogo dead. Didi heavy- bough break. Didi alone. Where as- [PP. 17-18]

At this point, Estragon finds meaning. Perhaps the critics who claim that the word ESTRAGON originate from TARRAGON are right. Estragon's words go down Vladimir's threat as bitterly as tarragon.

Estragon: You see, you feel worse when I'm with you. I feel better alone too. [P. 59]

In the pre/post war years, Intellectuals were the first who clung tenaciously to Vladimir(s). Meanwhile, they were the first who let out the cry of protest. Some separated from the party and some others remained loyal to it but tried to mention its mistakes. As Estragon constantly tries to bring the reality of the situations before Vladimir's eyes. He constantly asks questions but Vladimir evades answering or busies him with something:

Estragon: I asked you a question.

Vladimir: Ah.

Estragon: Did you reply?

Vladimir: How is the carrot?

Estragon: It's a carrot.

Vladimir: So much the better, so much the better. What was it you waited to know?

Estragon: I've forgotten. That's what annoys me. I'll never forget this carrot. Ah yes, now I remember. [P. 20]

Vladimir tolerates Estragon's nagging because he is sacred of being left alone within the iron walls:

Estragon:  Why will you never let me sleep?

Vladimir:  I felt lonely. [P. 89]

By so doing, he tries to keep Estragon by his side whether through menace or promise. But Estragon has understood his intention.

Estragon: The best thing would be to kill me, like the other. Vladimir: What other? (Pause) What other?

Estragon: Like billions of others. [P. 62]

However, Vladimir is conscious of the consequence of martyring the opponents. That's why he signs the song of the dog and mocks Estragon in order to drive the thought of martyrdom and heroism out of his mind.

Vladimir: To everyman his little cross. Till he dies. And is forgotten. [P. 62]

Separation is a way Estragon puts before his feet. But he himself demands the opposite:

Estragon: Don't touch me! Don't question me! Don't speak to me! Stay with me! [P. 58]

This behavior stems from his trait of escaping from action and from fear of solitude. Because when he is alone at night, he is assaulted and cudgeled by strangers. The horror of the real or unreal strangers keeps him loyal to the party. Now both of them know that they are bound to tolerate catch other. But they look for an excuse. The best excuse is Godot. The savior. That's why anytime Estragon calls to go, Vladimir refuses and mentions that they are waiting. We are waiting for Godot. But this deed of Vladimir is mingled with treachery. The waiting that can create action turns to an idle action:

Vladimir: We've nothing more to do here.

Estragon: Nor everything else.

Vladimir: Ah, Gogo. Don't go on like that. Tomorrow everything will be better. [P. 52]

As they sink in the bog and Estragon bears witness to it:

Estragon: All my lousy life I've crowled about in the mud. [P.61]

Vladimir's treatury becomes apparent, when Estragon realizes that he was aware of Godo's not coming. When the shepherd comes, Vladimir starts giving the news that He won't come this evening. Yet, he encourages Estragon to remain. Not having a proper conception of Godot, he takes another one for Godot:

  Pozzo: You took me for Godot.

Estragon: Oh no, Sir, not for an instant, Sir.

…

Pozzo: You took me for him.

Estragon: That's to say… you understand… the dusk… I confess… I imagined… for a second… [P.23]

At all events, Pozzo arrives instead of Godot. But he claims that he is liberal:

Pozzo: But I am liberal. It's my nature. [P.39]

He has a watch and a pair of glasses with which he has tied his greedy eyes to the world in order to see things faster and have them to himself. Pozzo is an Italian name which suggests a well. He always laughs because the others do not have to laugh:

Pozzo: The tears of the world are a constant quantity. For each one who begins to weep, somewhere else another stops. The same is true of the laugh. [P. 33]

Pozzo rightly bears witness to his nature:

Pozzo: I am perhaps not particularly human but who cares. [P. 29]

He claims he is a liberal but this is the way he treats his subordinates:

Pozzo: Back! Stop! Torn! Closer! Stop! Coat! Hold that! Coat! Whip! Stool! Closer! Back! Further! Stop! Basket! Further! [P. 24]

All the sentences are imperative mood. He is a slave who does not want to relax a minute. Lucky  must always be busy:

Pozzo: … Up pig! Every time he drops falls asleep. (jerks the rope) Up pig! [P. 23]

Lucky carries all the wealth of Pozzo but what he has is his master's left-overs. Pozzo's deed is not out of kindness. His fear is to lose his slave:

Pozzo: … Nice business it'd be if fall sick on me. [P. 27]

The method of Pozzo in exploiting Lucky is so advanced and complicated that he has used his ideas although his ideas are perse worthless. Yet, Pozzo does not feel safe. He continually checks his thoughts lest he has changed them. At times, he puts a hat on Lucky's head so that he might give expression to his feelings and he listens to him for hours on end. Lucky in English means fortunate. But how can he who is a porter be fortunate? This pungent black humour caused by the stupidity of Lucky(s) makes him feel happy. The degree of Lucky's stupidity must be realized through the tongue of Pozzo:

Pozzo: He imagines that when I see how well he carries I'll be tempted to keep him on in that capacity. [P. 31]

Pozzo: He imagines that when I see him indefatigable I'll regret my decision such in his miserable scheme. As though I were short of slaves! Atlas, Son of Jupiter. [P. 31]

Pozzo calls Lucky Atlas, just like one who has the burden of the world upon his shoulders. And once Hercules took his place. But Atlas is again deceived by Hercules because of idiocy and takes the burden of the world upon his shoulders. This mythological background is a burden that Beckett puts on Lucky's shoulders to show the enormity of his stupidity. Lucky is so immersed in his own stupidity that he bursts into weeping if Pozzo ever decides to sell him.

To delineate the identities of these four characters in the framework of European leftist intellectual, the communist party, the capitalistic government and all the capitalistic communities, we can refer to other pieces of evidence. For example, Vladimir sees the sores on Lucky's neck. Just like the sores Vladimir saw on the people who were prisoner in the hands of capitalism and he rebelled against it. But the passage of a century tempered Vladimir and induced him to compromise:

Pozzo: How did you find me?

Vladimir: Oh, very good, very good. [P. 38]

And he pretended that he was not able to tolerate pozzo's behavior towards Lucky:

Vladimir: After having sucked all the good out of him you chuck him away like a… like a banana skin. [P. 34]

But this is just a ceremonial protest which does not help Lucky who has given way beneath that burden. Vladimir even does not have the courage to approach him. He watches him from a distance. Pozzo notices this point and gives warning. He is a wicked with strangers. [P. 22] When Estragon goes to help Lucky, he kicks him. On one hand, this reaction is another sign of his stupidity and on the other hand this stems from the weakness of Estragon/Intellectual. He is not capable of attracting other's trust. Estragon's reaction also springs from his lack of ability in establishing relationship with others. He gets angry and kicks Lucky. Because the encounter with the masses, even if they are ignorant, is to the loss of the intellectuals. And Estragon hurts himself only and turns away from him by calling him a savage. The eventuality of this conduct leads him to turn to the opposite pole, that is to Pozzo.

At the beginning Pozzo boats a lot and calls himself a god:

Pozzo: I woke up one fine day as blind as Fortune. [P. 86]   

 Fortune is an Italian name which is associated with Tyche who had a cornucopia in his hand as a symbol of fertility. However, he was always blind. According to the Greeks, they worked obscurely lifting up one man and pushing down another. It is like Pozzo describes himself. But Pozzo's blindness holds a different meaning. It implies his inability. Lucky falls down, he also falls down. As he had a rope in his hand by which he dragged Lucky, an invisible rope joins him to Lucky. The death of people leads to his own death. He asks for helps. At first, the two friends get involved into an intellectual discussion. Vladimir talks about helping his fellow-beings. It seems as if he has forgotten how Pozzo has sucked Lucky's blood. Then, Estragon plays the role of a lawyer and haggles over the price of salvation with Pozzo. Ultimately, Vladimir stretches a helping hand towards Pozzo but he gets involved like him. It seems as if Vladimir's party conflict with capitalistic world is superficial. In the end, they stretch a helping hand towards each other. They are two friends:     

Pozzo: -but are you friends?

Estragon: he wants to know if we are friends!

Vladimir: No, he means friends of his.

Estragon: Well?

Vladimir: We're proved we are, by helping him.

Estragon: Exactly. Would we have  helped him if we weren't his friends. [P. 85]

Vladimir tries to assure Pozzo:

Vladimir:  Mr. Pozzo! Come back! We won't hurt you! [P. 86]

Considering all this, we can now conclude that the relationship between Pozzo and Lucky is the same one which exists between Vladimir and Estragon. Lucky and Estragon are not allowed to sleep. They should constantly be doing something.

Vladimir and Pozzo determine their course of action and their frame of mind. Meanwhile they need them. Both see each other every day and will the next day. Therefore they shared a single destination. Attar Neishabouri the Persian mystic poet narrates the story of thirty birds which are in quest of a mythological bird called Phoenix. When their journey comes to an end they find out that they are the Phoenix themselves. If this four people were not blind and could make the best of their time- Pozzo: The blind have no notion of time. The things of time are hidden from there then too. [P. 86]- they might have found Godot. After all. Godot is the combination of Go and Do. If these two words were not heard in their pet names (Didi and Gogo) and got manifested in their action they might have arrived at Godot. As Beckett starts I can't go on. I'll go on.g

 

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!. Beckett, S. B. Waiting for Godot. Great Britain: Western Printing Services Limited, 1969.