Descrizione in inglese di Waiting for Godot di Beckett

The birth of absurdist drama

In 1952 “Waiting for Godot” was performed for the first time in Paris and in 1955 in London. It’s considered the starting point of the Absurdist Drama, and Vladimir and Estragon (Didi and Gogo) are considered the emblems and symbols of this kind of Drama.
There are two main characters: Vladimir and Estragon. The setting is a country road and on the stage, there’s just a bare tree in the middle of it. The two tramps are waiting for a mysterious Godot who never comes. To kill time, they talk each other (even there are no sensical sentences). They quarrel, sometimes they separate themselves because they can’t stand each other anymore. Even they try to commit suicide but always fail. The drama is just in two acts and in the first one other two characters enter the scene: Pozzo and Lucky. Pozzo is a sort of master and Lucky is a sort of servant. At the end of each day, a boy comes and tells them that Godot isn’t going to come that day but he’s going to come the next day. The two tramps keep on waiting for him (Godot) day by day; the play ends like that.

The absence of plot and dialogue

There’s no plot, because any plot has got a development of the story. There are no characters since true characters have got a personality. There is no dialogue since any dialogue provides information, on the contrary here there are no information. No time since there’s just a static present without any past or future. There’s unity: symmetry is what forms unity. The stage is divided in two halves, in the middle there’s a bare tree. Human race is divided into two: at first with Vladimir and Estragon; into 4 with Pozzo and Lucky; into 6 with the boy and Godot. Unity is in the characters’ actions and their being complementary. Estragon tries to take off his boot, at the same, Vladimir takes off his hat and peers on it. They do these two actions when they try to think of something. Vladimir is more practical, he never dreams and keeps waiting. On the contrary, Estragon is a dreamer sceptical about Godot and always complains about people beating him at night. They serve each other to remind their own identity and existence. Vladimir and Estragon without each other help would be nothing. As regards Godot, some historians say he is the mixture of God and Charlie Chaplin as a parody of God’s existence.