Waiting for Godot

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Summary: POSSIBLY, THE MOST IMPORTANT WORK OF THE 20th CENTURY
Review: Samuel Beckett's classic work is possibly the most important work of the 20th century. He defies many dramatic traditions within the work as he drives home the play's minimal, yet powerful theme. If one reads or views the play, then asks himself "Who is Godot?", then one has missed the entire point. Godot is irrelevant. The play is about Gogo and Didi waiting . . . waiting . . . waiting. What do we, as humans, do everyday? We wait. We wait to wake up, we wait to go to work, we wait to go to lunch, we wait to get off work. We all live in a repetitive structure of waiting, but what are we really waiting on? What? Nothing? Who knows? We involve ourselves in these repetitive structures to avoid the questions of nothingness. Gogo and Didi's games are an attempt to avoid nothingness. As one reviewer once said, "The play is about two men in search for the meaning of life and finding meaninglessness." The play can be utterly hilarious, but just when you're at the peak of your laughter, a character says or does something that makes us realize their predicament, our predicament, and it crushes you. It is a masterpiece. Sadly, it is a hard read and good productions are rare, but if you do catch a good one, it might make you see many aspects of life in a different light, for better and for worse.

Rating:
Summary: Too deep for me to understand....
Review: When I give this play two stars, I am not doing so in an attempt to discredit it, or to say it is a bad piece of work. The two stars that I have given it is simply a rating on how much I understood it and its themes....which is very little. Perhaps I am not a deep enough thinker to understand this, or perhaps I was simply not in the proper frame of mind when I read it.

Regardless, "Waiting For Godot" is very much a masterpiece, but I have a hard time understanding what it is about. I do not agree with the negative reviews that it has been receiving, but on the other hand, I can understand where they're coming from-- this play is extremely hard to follow. The dialogue is very complex, and the theme, though I think if I concentrate hard enough I can understand, is so jumbled together in my head, that there are simply no words to describe it.

I urge you to read this play, if for nothing else than for how it challenges your mind. I'll be thinking about it for a long time, even if I don't quite comprehend it.

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Summary: Godot is not God
Review: Beckett wrote this play in French, and it was first staged in Paris. The name Godot is an actual surname in France, and Beckett may have gotten the name from a series of novels about one 'Monsieur Godot'. Beckett repeatedly stated that Godot was not God or a metaphor for God; and while Beckett was usually elusive when discussing his books, he never outright denied something without being sincere.

Almost every one of Beckett's works present characters who are subject to irresistable and inexorable great forces. He loved to work out the ways human beings verbally react to such forces. The true nature of Godot is unimportant - Beckett could very well have written the same play with some other device in the background.

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Summary: The definitive Intro to Metatheatre
Review: Waiting for Godot is perhaps the most brilliant peice of theatrical genius I have come across in my varied, albeit brief, carreer in modern and classical drama. The play that launched the metatheatricallity movement will undoubtedly be understood by very few of those who read it their first, second, even tenth times. Yet the symbolism in this play, once found, makes the reader want to jump to his feat and scream "NOW I get it!"

The dialogue is so disjointed and repetitive that it will seem to make no more sense than...well, for lack of a better example, the Bush v. Gore decision written in Sanskrit. But every line, every action, every direction in the play was placed with an enormous amount of thought. My director once told me it is impossible to cut anything out of this play because everything is so important.

I don't want to give away the excitement of the play by telling about the symbolism in any great detail, but the play's original title lends greater sense to the meaning. <<En Attendant Godot>> translated literaly means "While Waiting for Godot" which can lead to a greater sense of what the play is truly about. Second, as a real treat, Lucky's monologue in Act One is not the gibberish it seems to be. There is something extremely and frighteningly coherent about it: but that's something for you to find on your own (I'm certain any Cliff's Notes or similar text would reveal the secret if you're unsucessful). In short, this is my favorite straight play of all time, and I strongly suggest it those who want a truly theatrical adventure.

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Summary: to appreciate it, try to see a production or read it aloud
Review: It's hard to imagine a first time reader of this classic sitting down in a chair, reading it and saying, Oh, now I know why it's great. It's more likely than this reader would throw the book down and ask what the fuss is about. But, if you've seen any production of it or tried to read the dialogue out loud, it can really make a huge difference. Even the expression "waiting for Godot" has taken on a mythic meaning in cultures around the world. You cannot summarize the "point" of the play in one pithy sentence, but the play will make you think about whether what happens between the two protagonists is what is important, or the imminent arrival of Godot. Beckett takes such a simple idea and makes it contain the answers to all the big questions. If nothing else, the play will make you think about how we pass time, how we process information and where the focus is in our own lives -- what is the point and is there a point? That is why the play has achieved worldwide literary status, at least in my humble opinion.

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Summary: Reading this play without fitting it into boxes
Review: I believe all you need to know is that the characters all wear melon hats and suits... And that the play is written originally in French (Beckett's first play in French, and a smashing success), and surprisingly French despite Beckett's British origin... Hence you are reading a translation, sadly...

MetaTheater, dadaism, post-ww1 dissilusionement, all that ain't matter much... Well I say, to appreciate this play you do not need to know beforehand or care beforehand who Godot represents... whether he's "God" or some political figure... Superfluous definition of this play is not the point. Beckett wrote, and I paraphrase this translation: "I can't tell you what the play signifies. I can't tell you more than the words in the play don't already tell you. The characters of the play and I have gone our seperate ways..." etc, etc... That is all. Read it, read it loud, read it again in a few months, whatever.

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Summary: The Absurdist Drama
Review: Along with Chekhov's "Uncle Vanya," this play is very likely the best play ever written. Like the one mentioned above, it is not the most dinamic thing you'll ever read/see. Far from it. "Waiting for Godot" is still amazing, mainly thanks to the wonderful dialogue and intriguing characters.
It's hard to write about this without getting straight to the point and I don't want to. Read it yourself and than get anti-depressants.
If you really do intend to read it, have patience and look below the surface.

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Summary: I never decided to leave while reading this play
Review: Apparently, people have made much of the "fact" that Godot is god. While hardly being a fact (and in fact, being outwardly denied by Beckett himself), people who search too desperately for the specific personage Godot represents miss the point. One can say that Godot is god, especially if one is a New Critic and therefore ignores whatever the author may have said about his work. And while at one point Vladimir exclaims (and I'm just paraphrasing): "Godot is here! We are saved," this does not explicitly explain who Godot is. He could just as easily be bringing money to Vladimir and Estragon as he could be bearing salvation for them. The point is, that Beckett was an essentially existential writer, and saw that all of life was just waiting for the terminal breath. Furthermore, in the act of waiting for an ending, Vladimir and Estragon constantly make the existential choice: whether or not to keep on waiting. Several times they contemplate committing suicide; several times Estragon threatens to leave. In the end, they confirm their existence (yes, only one existence--they seem to be as one person in the dialogue: this is no mistake) by deciding, if offhandishly, to remain living; living, and waiting.

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Summary: Let's go. We can't. Why? We're waiting for Godot.
Review: "Waiting for Godot" is a very interesting play indeed. Throughout the play, there are only five characters: Vladimir, Estragon(the two main characters), Pozzo, Lucky and a boy. Estragon always had trouble with his boots. They always hurt him. Vladimir and Estragon are interesting characters because they seem to fight a lot, but get along at the same time, like in this small passage:

"Vladimir: You again! Come here till I embrace you.
Estragon: Don't touch me!
Vladimir: Do you want me to go away? Gogo! Did they beat you? Gogo! Where did you spend the night?
Estragon: Don't touch me! Don't question me! Don't speak to me! Stay with me!
Vladimir: Did I ever leave you?
Estragon: You let me go."

Also within that passage, they tend to contradict what each other say, and sometimes what they said themselves. I also noticed that Estragon seemed to be forgetful in a short matter of time. For example, Vladimir and Estragon have come back to the same spot to wait for Godot as the previous day, where they met Pozzo and Lucky:

"Vladimir: Is it possible you've forgotten already?
Estragon: That's the way I am. Either I forget immediately or I never forget.
Vladimir: And Pozzo and Lucky, have you forgotten them too?
Estragon: Pozzo and Lucky?
Vladimir: He's forgotten everything!"

Estragon had completely forgotten about what happened the day before, but I found it rather amusing. And he always forgot that they were waiting there for Godot to come.

I also enjoyed the other conversations between Vladimir and Estragon. They questioned each other on the same subject for a page at a time. They also continued to question a subject over and over again, just at different parts of the day(this play takes place over a coarse of two days). You are never told why they are waiting for Godot, just that they are waiting.

The only thing I really didn't like about this play is that it continued to repeat itself over and over again, and also it was difficult to understand because they didn't have very smooth transitions from subject to subject. They skipped from carrots to boots to sleeping and anything in between, and they talked about two different things at the same time, which confused you as well.

Rating:
Summary: Interesting...
Review: I would like to see this play live.... after reading it, I am intrigued to see actors bring it to life. It is a story written on many levels and I think the best way to understand the irony is to see it presented on stage.
I enjoyed the written piece though. It is full of wry humor and irony.
The two main characters are waiting for Godot... an unknown "authority" coming sometime... all throughout the play. They continue to wait and contemplate the meaning of life through banal conversation.
One has to wonder who Godot really is.... and why he is so important to wait for.
Perhaps Godot is the culmination of all life for these two men? A "God"-like figure, looming over us all as we wait on and on until life's ultimate endpoint.
This is strong existential writing. Beckett purports the theory that today is all there is, and the most significant thing is to live in it and exist.
I will probably need to read this one again, it is the type of writing that begs to be examined more than once. If you like comedy in an absurd light... this play is for you.