Waiting
for Godot is a very tragic play; I think we all agree with that. Vladimir
and Estragon, the two main characters, are abandoned by the mysterious Godot,
that they consider as their only hope, their only way to escape this very
boring life and situation. In the whole play, they do not do anything. They are
only waiting.
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| A very simplistic production to show that the characters cannot do anything. There is only a tree: what is the interest of such a life? |
There are
some people who say that Godot is the name that Beckett gave for God. I do not
know if it is true. Maybe Godot is the idea that Beckett and all the
existentialist philosophers have of God: a faraway person or thing, who do not
care about the humans. It is for sure the opinion of a lot of people today, who
think that God do not exist or do not care about the humans.
We
could analyse in detail Beckett’s vision of God and what God is become in our
societies today, but it is not my point. Indeed, I would like to attract your
attention on Vladimir and Estragon’s vain hope.
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A quote that could illustrate
Beckett’s opinion of God.
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What is the absurd?
Vladimir and Estragon are two
miserable people, who are bored to death because they do not have anything to
do. They live in a desolate country, with nothing more than a tree. They cannot
stand each other, but neither one of them can live alone because it would be more
boring. They cannot do anything, but both of them are searching some occupation
to kill time, instead of being able to kill them. Everybody agree: their life
is absurd, useless, meaningless, full boring and so pathetic that they cannot
end it. But what about our lives?
In our societies a lot of people are
a bit like these two hobos: they have a boring life, with a boring job, which
make them in a bad mood, that is why they cannot stand the other people, that
is why they search the meaning of their life, which is not consequently neither
their job neither their social relations. It can be their family, but when the
kids are adults and when the magic of love is disappeared in the couple, the
family is not so important. I also think to unemployed people who do not have
any kid and who search in what way they can find a way to realize them, to
bring a meaning to their life. This is the echo in our societies of what the
absurd theatre wants to say.
This way of thinking incites us to always
adopt a pessimist point of view on all. Our societies are pessimist, because,
even if your life does not correspond to the ideal type of an absurd one that I
have described, you see only the bad things. I mean, I do not want to make
basic and stupid psychology or philosophy, but Vladimir and Estragon are
resigned to their meaningless existence, that is why they can be only pessimist
and they project all their hopes in the future, waiting for something that
could change their life. In this typical case, they really cannot do something,
but our lives are not like this typical play. We have to revolt ourselves to
fight against a boring and a meaningless life. By “revolt”, I do not think of
something violent or dangerous. I think of the realization that we can make
something of our lives.
How to fight against the
absurd
This idea is totally absent of Waiting for Godot, but it is not the
case for Camus. For example, in The
plague, the revolt goes through a collective action against a bad thing,
because then we find a meaning to our life. In The stranger, I think that we can consider that the revolt goes
through Meursault’s new sensibility in the end. Indeed, he revolts himself the
night before his condemnation to death, when he realizes the simple beauty of
nature and when he really communicates with the world outside his body, when he
communicates with his environment. In this case, he finds a meaning to his life
by admiring the nature in a very simple way, in its very simple beauty. He
finds a meaning to his life by finding the beauty of life.
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| The scream, by Edward Munch: when you realize that your life is not so different than the one of Vladimir and Estragon. Does it have a meaning? |
Beauty of nature and life, beauty of
a proper, good and collective fight: I think that these are two ways to find
the meaning of our life and not to abandon ourselves to despair and resignation
like Vladimir and Estragon. Maybe it seems to you very simple or naïve, but I
think that it is essential to remember that in our societies who only live for
consumption and instant pleasures.
So I would like to answer to you:
what brings a meaning to your life, why your life is worth to be lived?
Thank you for reading!
