The pair cannot agree, however, on whether or not they are in the right place or that this is the arranged day for their meeting with Godot indeed, they are not even sure what day it is. He wants to depart but is told that they cannot because they must wait for Godot. Vladimir is at times hostile towards his companion, but in general they are close, frequently embracing and supporting one another.Įstragon peers out into the audience and comments on the bleakness of his surroundings. Estragon struggles in this regard throughout the play, and Vladimir generally takes the lead in their dialogue and encounters with others. Presently, Vladimir expresses his frustration with Estragon's limited conversational skills: "Come on, Gogo, return the ball, can't you, once in a while?". This is the first of numerous Biblical references in the play, which may be linked to its putative central theme of the search for and reconciliation with God, as well as salvation: "We're saved!" they cry on more than one occasion when they feel that Godot may be near. The pair discuss repentance, particularly in relation to the two thieves who were crucified alongside Jesus, commenting that only one of the Four Evangelists mentions that one of the thieves was saved. Just prior to this, Vladimir peers into his hat. When Estragon finally succeeds in removing his boot, he looks and feels inside but finds nothing. Estragon eventually gives up, muttering, "Nothing to be done." His friend Vladimir takes up the thought and muses on it, the implication being that nothing is a thing that has to be done and this pair is going to have to spend the rest of the play doing it. The play opens with the character Estragon struggling to remove his boot from his foot. To occupy themselves, they eat, sleep, converse, argue, sing, play games, exercise, swap hats, and contemplate suicide - anything "to hold the terrible silence at bay". They claim him as an acquaintance but in fact hardly know him, admitting that they would not recognise him were they to see him. Waiting for Godot follows two days in the lives of a pair of men who divert themselves while they wait expectantly and unsuccessfully for someone named Godot to arrive. Jorge Petraglia, Roberto Villanueva and Leal Rey in a 1956 production of Waiting for Godot in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
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