Nothingness in Waiting for Godot

Introduction:

 Here I am talking about Nothingness in ‘Waiting for Godot’. In this play we can’t see any kind of things which can show some interest about it. But in this play, we can see the deep meaning of life or some morality or truthiness about life. We can see it with the help of some aspect and with the help of some points. First we know about the author Samuel Beckett.  

 Samuel Beckett was an Irish avant-garde playwright, poet and novelist best known for his play ‘Waiting for Godot’. Strongly influenced by fellow Irish writer, James Joyce, Beckett is sometimes considered the last of the Modernists; however, as his body of work influenced many subsequent writers, he is also considered one of the fathers of the Postmodernist movement. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1969, "for his writing, which—in new forms for the novel and drama—in the destitution of modern man acquires its elevation."

 Born in the Dublin suburb of Fox rock on Good Friday, 1906, Samuel Barclay Beckett was the younger of two sons born to William Frank Beckett and May Barclay. The area surrounding his family home featured in his prose and poetry later in life. Irish poet and Beckett biographer Anthony Cronin said of Samuel Beckett’s childhood, “if anything, an outdoor type rather than an indoor one. He enjoyed games and was good at them. He roamed by himself as well as with his cousin and brother; and though he often retreated to his tower with a book and was already noticeable in the family circle for a certain moodiness and taciturnity, he could on the whole have passed for an athletic, extrovert little Protestant middle-class boy with excellent manners when forced to be sociable.”

Nothingness in ‘Waiting for Godot’:

 Here we can discuss that nothingness in Waiting for Godot it shows some deep meaning in life in different way. And in this play there are five characters. These characters show the thing that nothingness with the help of their dialogues. And we can easily understand these things with the help of their dialogue.

 For my point of view ‘Waiting Godot’ deals with the norms that a desire, a fulfillment, a dream, a hope of somebody is still waiting which has no any end. It is useless, meaningless, monotonous and absurd or nothingness, but in nothingness there is something (A hope).A new day will come with new desire that something fruitful will come for somebody in life. One or two ways it may be God, a fruitful desire will come for somebody who is eagerly waiting that has no any end.

 ‘Waiting for Godot’ gives a message that while doing nothing there is something. “Nothing is also better than something” A person who always has desire for any achievement till birth to death his list of desire will never come to end. In the same way for Godot there is ‘waiting’ which has no any end or meaning. When we are on death bed at that we have many desires to give this thing or that thing to our members, means no end of desire when we are on death bed. There is no meaning of life. Nothingness remains in life.

 First spread some glance about the theme of the play. How Samuel Becket portrayed the theme of nothingness and absurdity with keeping the centre figure Vladimir and Estragon.

Absurd theatre:

 The term ‘Absurd’ was coined by Martin Esslin in his essay ‘Theatre of Absurd’. In these plays absurd means man’s reaction to a world apparently without meaning. Such plays have No Beginning – No Middle- No End. No plot construction this is the structure of Absurd theatre. This kind of plays becomes monotonous. It has no any meaning. Absurd is also connected with Existentialism and in existentialism we see that human existence has no meaning or purpose and therefore no any way for communication. Waiting for Godot is a classic example of “Theatre of the Absurd. It presents the world where actions are done without meaning. People have lack of communication and they fail to communicate, characters go on forgetting. They do not have purpose of their existences. Even when they realize, they fail to act and they realize, they fail to act and they can’t commit suicide also. It suggests that human beings in life are really meaningless. They are supposed to survive.

 With the characters of Estragon and Vladimir, Backett resembles reality with which we are not familiar. He indicates level of absurdity in the real world tramps themselves do not recognize that their actions are absurd so it reflects human condition because somewhere we do not know or we generally are not knowing what we do or why or what is our purpose Is everything normal in the play ?

Determination:

 The characters Estragon and Vladimir fail to discern that what they have chosen is ‘waiting’ and it is their determination or choice. Instead, they both consider ‘waiting as one of their mandatory part so here perhaps Backett gives moral in form of satire on human beings. The fact is that human beings are ultimately waiting for others to come to fulfill their desires or perfect time to come to bring hope of meaning but here ‘waiting’ become primary activity of both tramps’ lives and it suggests nothing but meaninglessness. When they make aware or their meaningless decision, they can’t follow or translate their mental choice into physical act and they find themselves in cage. It suggests   repetition of endless cycle of life          

 The characters arouse questions why don’t both tramps act when they have already decided to move and what is the barrier between determinations?  Is the choice their primary choice or determination to live life? It creates picture of mankind’s futile life. They go on deciding and waiting too for each and every thing in their lives but what they lack is their self realization, to put the things which have been thought into activity or physical action.

 First we deal with the ideas of Jean-Paul Sartre. What he wants to said about nothingness. He published his seminal existentialist work being and Nothingness in 1943 in which he portrayed the theme of nothingness. That at the root of our being there is nothingness. Samuel Becket, who was inspired by the existentialist philosophy of Albert Camus and Sartre in his early 20s, published his trend setting play Waiting for Godot in 1952. He also asserts in the play that nothingness is at the root of our existence, especially in the life of the modern people. 

 Whereas in the tradition play we see a concentrated single action motivates the whole play, here in the case of Waiting for Godot everything is fuelled by the sense of ‘nothingness’. In fact, here nothing creates everything.

          Whether we look at or look into the play, the sense of nothingness determines the course of the whole play. As a playwright, Samuel Becket believes that form and content should be complementary and should not be separate from each other. Here in the play both the form and the content are structured by  an encircling sense of nothingness. Apart from form and content every outer and inner component of the play serves complementary role to establish the idea of ‘nothingness’. Every  aspect of the play - structure ,theme, setting, character , dialogue or some other  behavioral silent activities- is motivated by one thing that is  nothingness—the nothingness of the human life. But here ‘nothingness’ points its finger toward ‘everything’ –everything that modern people face physically and psychologically after two World Wars.

          In order to understand how nothingness is able to create everything in the play Waiting for Godot we must look back to the events that took place during the first half of the 20th century in the worlds of politics, literature, philosophy and religion. The early 20th century witnessed two World Wars. In literature it gave birth to two recognizable literary styles: modernism and post-modernism and all these happenings paved the way for the theatrical tradition the absurd drama which in fact was a reflection the age. In fact, almost all literary activities were predetermined by a sense of nothingness in the early 20th century.  The theatre of the absurd describes a mood, a tone towards life, where man's existence is a dilemma of purposeless, meaningless, and pointless activity. It is complete denial of age-old values. It has no plot, no characterization, no logical sequence, and no culmination. Samuel Becket introduced the concept of absurdity, nothingness and meaninglessness of life in his play Waiting for Godot.

          The setting of the play is influenced by a mode of nothingness. A desolate country road, a ditch, and a leafless tree make up the barren, otherworldly landscape, which bears a surplus of   symbolism. The landscape is a symbol of a barren and fruitless civilization or life. There is nothing to be done and there appears to be no place better to depart. The tree, usually a symbol of life with its blossoms and fruit or its suggestion of spring, is apparently dead and lifeless. But it is also the place to which they believe this Godot has asked them to come. The setting of the play reminds us the post-war condition of the world which brought about uncertainties, despair, and new challenges to the all of mankind.

         

 In next comes the plot. The beginning and the end of Waiting for Godot, in which "Nothing happens, nobody comes ... nobody goes, " are also determined by a sense of nothingness. The play is without the traditional, Aristotelian structure where there is a beginning, middle and a perfect ending. Waiting for Godot does not tell a story; it explores a static situation. On a country road, by a tree, two old tramps, Vladimir and Estragon, are waiting. That is the opening situation at the beginning of act I. At the end of act I they are informed that Mr. Godot, with whom they believe they have an appointment, cannot come, but that he will surely come tomorrow. Act-II repeats precisely the same pattern. The same boy arrives and delivers the same message. So, the play ends exactly where it started. In this way, a sense of nothingness or purposelessness acts as a driving force in the play.

 As per as the portrayal of characters is concerned the play also uplifts the sense of nothingness. A well-made play is expected to present characters that are well-observed and convincingly motivated. But in the play we five characters who are not very recognizable human beings and don’t engage themselves in a motivated action. Two tramps, Vladimir (Didi) and Estragon (Gogo), are waiting by a tree on a country road for Godot, whom they have never met and who may not even exist. They argue, make up, contemplate suicide, and discuss passages from the Bible. The play concludes with some beautiful exchanges between Vladimir and Estragon: 

         

          Estragon: why don't we hang ourselves?

Vladimir: with what?

Estragon: you haven't got a bit of rope?

Vladimir: no

Estragon: then we can't

Vladimir: oh, wait, there is my belt

Vladimir: it's too short

Estragon: you could hang on to my legs

Vladimir: and who would hang onto mine?

Estragon: true

          A play is expected to entertain the audience with logically built, witty dialogue. But in this play, like any other absurd play, the dialogue seems to have degenerated into meaningless babble. ‘Nothing to be done’ is the words that are repeated frequently. The dialogues the characters exchange are meaningless banalities. They use language to feel the emptiness between them, to conceal the fact that they have 'nothing' to talk about to each other.

          In the play we come across some behavioral attitudes that are more important than dialogues as they reflect the frustration, hesitation and psychological complexities of modern people. The opening lines of play are the superb example of it. When the curtain opens we find Estragon is engaging in his another vain attempt to take off his boots. His repeated failure attempt symbolizes the meaninglessness of everyday life activities and more symbolically the meaninglessness of life itself. Throughout the play there are so many behavioral attitudes that reflect the nothingness of human life.

Conclusion:

          So it is now clear that Nothingness tells us something and gives us deep meaning about life and it also shows the reality of life and it is clearly shown in this play with the help of these five characters. And it also told that life has no meaning.

          In order to better understand how nothingness creates everything in the play we can compare Waiting for Godot with The Spanish Tragedy and Hamlet. In these two plays, the central motive is revenge. In fact, everything is structured by this revenge motive. But in Waiting for Godot, where there is no motivated action, the sense of nothingness play the pivotal role in determining the every aspect of the play. So, nothingness creates everything in Waiting for Godot.