This play certainly challenges the reader's preconceived
notions about drama and how plays traditionally work. Generally, readers assume that
the play will have several characters who will face at least one significant conflict;
there will be some significant setting and probably multiple sets/settings; there will
be some action; the characters will do things; the
resolution of the play will provide satisfaction to the reader at the end of the
conflict(s).
This play barely addresses ANY of the above
features. There are only two characters, Vladimir and Estragon, for the majority of the
play and only two other characters, Pozzo and Lucky, drift in and out of the scene
having absolutely NO effect on the main characters. The setting is incredibly sparse --
a tree and a rock -- and it only ever changes in that the tree seem to grow leaves
overnight between Act 1 and Act 2. The characters don't ever do anything but talk and
attempt to alleviate their ill-fitting hat and boot. Their sole purpose is to wait for
a man(?) named Godot to come and tell them what to do.
The
meaning of the play comes from the existential state of the two men. They are not
taking control of their lives -- they are condemned to be free. Instead of doing
anything to understand, or even better, change their situation, they merely wait around
for Godot to come. Estragon can barely even remember that they are waiting. They
talk about leaving, about killing themselves, about their dreams
and nightmares, their want of better food, their memories of the previous day and the
characters of Pozzo and Lucky, but they do nothing. Nothing comes of anything. They
are existentially dead. By Beckett's stripping away all of the expectations and leaving
only the most absolute essentials of a story, he leaves the audience with a stark
picture of these two men and the tragically unending circumstances of their lives. The
ending provides no resolution, just as their lives have no
resolution.
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