War Trauma and Absurdity of Existence in Samuel Beckett’s Waiting For Godot
Abstract
It is seen throughout history that The Second World War not only renewed the terror of the First World War but also devastated the economy and psychology of human being. Losses and wartime violence had already made individuals lose their humanity assimilating them into a society formed by hopelessness, degeneration and perversity which created the ‘picture of a disintegrating world that had lost its unifying principle, its meaning and its purpose as well as its rational principle’. In Waiting for Godot, Beckett reveals that individual has undergone an identity crisis after the war which eventually destroyed their psychology. He draws the picture of the hopelessness of man, a picture of ‘...the potential tragedy in human situation’ which is the absurdity of existence in the post war world. The absurdity of the condition is an allegory of the absurdity of humanity since ‘the play seems through the metaphor of the waiting tramps and the two travellers they meet on the road, to dramatize elemental human experience, to embody fundamental truths of the human condition’ in the post war era. This paper will reinvestigate how Beckett tries to represent the post war human psychology and behaviour in his masterpiece Waiting For Godot.
Key words: War, trauma, identity crisis, dilemma
The experience of a devastating war for the second time, the global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945, caused the destruction of the previous ideals and values. The loss of lives and the destruction of the western civilization were tragic experiences as it was‚ “the world’s greatest man-made catastrophe” (Makalesi,2). The war did not only renew the shock of the First World War, but also caused economic and psychological collapse of humanity. Civilians and soldiers thought of this disruption as temporary as they expected that when the war ended life would resume from where they left off. Of course, this did not happen. A completely new world had begun, since war had destroyed, in Marxist terms, the base and superstructures of societies. Parker argues that “the military machines of the great powers inflicted not only physical violence but also economic requirements that changed relationships between nations, societies, and individuals” (Makalesi,5). This chaotic atmosphere caused people to lose their beliefs in institutions like government, religion and law. Toker argues that “the knowledge hierarchy in Western Civilization created by Christian belief lost its hegemony” (Makalesi,7). The individual turned into a being devoid of any values, but with passions for more material wealth, a sort of compensation for the post-war disappointment. The post-war modern individual, degenerated and shaped by the after- effects of the Second World War, is the subject of the absurdist playwrights, who challenged the traditional methods of literary forms. The absurd plays are different from the classical theatre, which uses logical discourse, plausible characters and decorum, because absurd drama’s characters were‚ shabby survivors squirming and teetering.
Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot is most famously known as the play where nothing happens is an outstanding example of absurd theatre. Two tramps, Estragon and Vladimir, spend the length of the play anticipating the arrival of a man named Godot, who never shows up. While waiting, their conversations weave from Jesus to suicide, among many other things. Another two characters, a master and a slave, Pozzo and Lucky grace the stage with their presence, only to withdraw and reappear again. There is also a boy who is supposed to be delivering messages from Godot to Estragon and Vladimir. Part of the immediate confusion and, in some cases, vehement dislike generated by the play was its lack of a conventional plot.
As Jean Anouilh says in a very early review of the play’s 1953 Paris production, the play is best summarized by the following line from the play: “Nothing happens, nobody comes, nobody goes, it’s awful” (Bennett,27).
Some critics regarded that this nothingness and emptiness created fertile ground for meaning. The audience and critics may anticipate the arrival of Godot more than do Estragon and Vladimir because early criticism looked and continues to look for answers to who Godot might symbolize. Alain Robbe-Grillet offers some of the initial reactions: “Godot is God . . . Or else Godot is death . . . Godot is silence . . . Godot is that inaccessible self Beckett pursues through his entire oeuvre” (Bennett,27). The reading that Godot represents God is an important one from a socio-historical perspective. These early responses to the early productions of Waiting for Godot are from the mid–1950s. Martin Esslin contextualizes the Theatre of the Absurd and the 1950s and early 1960s in the following way that the decline of religious faith was masked until the end of the Second World War by the substitute religions of faith in progress, nationalism, and various totalitarian fallacies. All this was shattered by the war. By 1942, Albert Camus was calmly putting the question why, since life had lost all meaning, man should not seek escape in suicide.
The decade following the war brought about renewed hope in peace, but the ‘absurdity’ of the war only confirmed that ‘life had lost all meaning’. Faith in the face of the absurd world following World War II, the critics that imagine Godot as God also imagine the simultaneous hope and absurdity of the situation. In their wait, Estragon and Vladimir hope for Godot to come, though they wait in vain. Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot presents an existentialist point of view of the universe and reality and he forces the audience to “consider the meaning of their existence in a world where there appears to be no true order or meaning”. It seeks to find and define meaning and identity in a world of disillusionment and chaos. Waiting for Godot, represents the repetition of life and the premise is the futility of waiting. The characters show no growth and development and the language and set are also very basic. It represents desperation and despair in life. It was voted “the most significant English language play of the twentieth century”. It is Beckett’s translation of his own French translation, En Attendant Godot. There are certain incidents in the play which clearly define the absurdity of human life. The two tramps wait for someone, named Godot, whom they did not know and they claim him as an acquaintance but in fact hardly know him, admitting that they would not recognize him when they see him. The play opens with the character Estragon struggling to remove his boot from his foot. 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. They both are incapable of anything. When Estragon finally succeeds in removing his boot, he looks and feels inside but finds nothing. On one occasion when they feel that Godot is near, they both mutter “We are saved”.
In Act II, the messenger boy again returns to inform that they should not expect Godot that day, but he promises them that he will arrive the next day. They consider suicide but their rope with the help of which they want to hang, breaks in two when they tug it. On one occasion Estragon’s trousers fall down, but he does not notice until Vladimir tells him to pull them up. They revolve around to bring a more suitable piece and hang themselves the next day, if Godot fails to arrive.
“VLADIMIR: We will hang ourselves tomorrow. Unless Godot come.
ESTRAGON: And if he comes?
VLADIMIR: We will be saved”. (Beckett II, p-60)
During the whole course they decide that they will move, they said it twice, but does not moved. They both agreed but neither of them makes any move to go.
“VLADIMIR: Let’s go.
ESTRAGON: Let’s go” (Beckett, II, p-87)
There are certain incidents in the play which describe that they have no ambition, no special purpose, no place to go. Their predicaments are the common, human ones, aching feet, sour breath, the pangs of hunger and the ever-revolving fear. When the two friends decide to pass their time by means of exercises, they alternately use the words such as ‘our movements’, ‘our elevations’, ‘our relaxations’, ‘our elongations’, when they decide to abuse each other they use the expressions such as ‘moron’, ‘vermin’, ‘abortion’, ‘sewer rat’, ‘curate’, ‘critic’ etc. All these words lead to laughter but at the same time describes the senselessness of the language they are using for each other. The endless cross talk act of Vladimir and Estragon is at the same time funny as well as sad. Funny in the way the cross talks are humorous and sad because their main reason of this senselessness is to pass the time, to fill the gap.
According to Ionesco, Absurd is “that purpose… cut off from his religious, metaphysical, is devoid of and transcendental roots, man is lost; all his actions become senseless, absurd, and useless” (Guven, p-178). At the same time theatre of the absurd, express its “sense of the senselessness of the human condition and the inadequacy of the rational approach by the abandonment of the rational devices and discursive thought”. It also describes their helplessness, frustrations and resentments. It makes audience keenly aware of the human predicament and human misery. Life is presented as bleak and hopeless. It dramatizes the habit, boredom and sufferings of being. In the middle of the play, Vladimir says “habit is a great deadener” (Beckett, II). The play is about ignorance and impotence. The feeling of helplessness is conveyed in the very opening dialogue when readers/audience are told that Estragon has been beaten as usual by the same lot, of unknown people during the night which he felt compelled to spend in a ditch. It describes the miserable condition of the two tramps. The absurdity is also dramatized by the other two characters Lucky and Pozzo. Lucky’s plight is indeed, pitiable. He is no better than a beast of burden and there are sores on his neck. Pozzo treats him worse than an animal. Pozzo – Lucky relationship represents a master slave relationship, the tyranny of the master arouses deep resentment in the readers/audience, and the abject surrender of the slave arouses mingled feelings of pity and disgust. Pozzo going blind and Lucky going dumb deepens the tragic and pathetic condition. They both feel helpless. Estragon on one point says “Nothing happens, nobody comes, nobody goes, it’s awful”. At another point Estragon expresses his misery “All my lousy life I’ve crawled about in the mud”. On one occasion Pozzo utter “One day he went blind, one day we’ll go deaf, one day we were born, one day we shall die…it’s night once more” (Beckett, II, p-82). The overall feeling of isolation in the play is existential. The fact that Vladimir and Estragon do nothing, except be and exist, it portrays absurdist theme of misery and hopelessness of life. The two waits for Godot instead of searching him out, and though they want to leave, they never do. By the end of the play, one gets the feeling that the two will remain in strange condition in the strange place, waiting for the man who will never come.
“VLADIMIR: Well, shall we go?
ESTRAGON: Yes, let’s go.
[They do not move.] (Beckett, II, p-87)
The play Waiting For Godot leads to some other basic fact as the loss of identity. Vladimir and Estragon are called by the nick names as Didi and Gogo. Vladimir is also called as Mr. Albert by the messenger boy. It dictates their pathetic condition as they are not even called by their original names. It is the loss of identity that causes mankind’s helplessness.
The way in which Lucky has been presented to readers/audience represent being an instrument in the hand of Pozzo. He carries the orders of the Pozzo. This has been shown by Beckett how one can live one’s life without any meaning or purpose and to make people contemplate and think about this and may realize how they too are Estragon and Vladimir or Lucky, living one’s existence, waiting or allowing one’s life to be controlled by another, especially after the pangs of the world war. There is some chaos created by Beckett as Vladimir and Estragon wait for two days and then they again decided to return back but still they do not move. They will hang them tomorrow if Godot would not come but they only verbally say but do not do any action. Another question arises in the mind of the audience that Godot exist or not? If yes, why didn’t he appear in the play as they both are waiting for him endlessly and if not, then from where the boy messenger come to increase their trouble. There is complete disparity and chaos between the character’s words and actions. All the happenings in the play lead to absurdity and it present a very simple question in the minds of the people why do they exist and at the same time it makes them aware of the fact that the people need to do something instead of wasting their life. Beckett tries to educate people and want to tell that they are not essentially good or bad, they are what they make of themselves by their own choice. Thus, one can say that absurdity and existentialism run simultaneously in the play and he shows how creative evolution explores the elements of experience and shows how and to what extent all human beings carry the seeds of such depression and disintegration within the deeper layers of their personalities, which is a meditative rhapsody on the nullity of human attainment.
Godot is their only hope but the end result remains zero. Godot does not show up magically to rescue the protagonists but they have nothing better to do than waiting either. The whole meaning of life becomes meaningless. The response of the audience is important to understand because the inconsistency in action made it hard for the audience to understand the play. The tragic fate of Vladimir and Estragon failed to create immediate effect on the audience. One can argue that the audience were also living in a complicated world which made them unable to understand the true message of the play. The chaotic nature of the world also created chaos in human psychology. The postmodern authors tried to focus on the chaotic situation of human mind and tried to explore it through their writing and Samuel Beckett became very successful in this regard. People did not know the problematic state of their mind and failed to connect with the play. The world that is shown in the play was not familiar to the audience. The world became an unknown place after the war. The physical destruction of the world and the mental destruction of human beings made it hard for the human beings to recognize their familiar world. The world seemed like a place that was forced to go on exile. People form their identity through the eyes of the surroundings. A person has an identity in terms of nationality. He also has a personal identity to the people he knows. Vladimir and Estragon is waiting at a deserted place and they cannot form an identity based on that place; the world in Waiting for Godot does not show the power to give someone an identity.
“Waiting for Godot, for example, shows the world in exile, waiting for the deliverer of a safe return, but desire for return has been corroded by long helplessness and lethargy; so the world is made up of trams and madmen- of boredom, cruelty, horror, Nothing happens” according to critic Zinnes (Zinnes, p-315). Beckett wrote about a pair of tramps who are waiting for a ‘person’ named Godot. Throughout the play it will feel as if the wait is meaningless and they will be forced to face a tragic fate. There were some comic elements in the play and it is brilliantly mixed with the tragic outline of the play. However, as it has been said earlier that the play was not popular among the audience who could not relate to the incidents that were being staged. Eventually people started to understand Beckett’s work and applauded him for his brilliant thinking. The complicated world had taken away their security of life and they perform the cycle of life without bothering about the end result. Esslin pointed out the fate of the characters in the play of the theatre of the absurd saying, “Above all, everything that happens seems to be beyond rational motivation, happening at random or through the demented caprice of an unaccountable idiot fate” (Bennet, p-105). Vladimir and Estragon fight, laugh, wait for Godot in a day and they prepare to complete the cycle in the following days. One of the most interesting aspects of human life is that they are continuously surprised by the incidents that take place in their life as well as the surprising facts about their surroundings. At the same time, it is important to mention that human beings do not consciously wait for the unexpected things to happen in their life. The process should be automatic. The protagonists of Waiting for Godot have been doing the opposite things a human being does in his/her life. Vladimir and Estragon are consciously waiting for the unexpected things to happen in their life. Vladimir and Estragon represent the postmodern society where people are no longer in control of the things that happen in their lives. They get prepared and wait for certain incidents to happen in their life. Godot is not something or someone who has a concrete identity. Godot is absent and the whole play revolves around his expected visit to that deserted place where Vladimir and Estragon are waiting. Vladimir and Estragon are entirely dependent on Godot’s arrival. Godot’s appearance will give them an identity or help them to end their miseries. The irony of waiting for someone who is not even real makes Vladimir and Estragon rootless human beings who are waiting for nothing. Beckett had the first-hand experience of war and the experience may have influenced him in creating the characters. Faith has always been a dominating part in human society. The history of religion shows how it has been an influential aspect in a person’s life. People often try to take shelter under the roof of religion and place their faith on a divine power. It is also important to understand that the degradation of faith create a void inside of a human being. Waiting for Godot was written in the 1950s. One can assume that the play was influenced by the horror of the Second World War. Human beings can suffer from existential crisis after a devastating war because “the psychological confrontation with deep existential concerns occurs most dramatically in the aftermath of extreme negative events-whether personal ones, such as a devastating accident, or more globally significant ones like the terrorist attacks of 9/11” (Rakwal, p-78). The setting of the play hints at the physical destruction of the earth but the main focus which is the mental destruction of human existence have been shown through the dialogues of the play. The main protagonists of the play can be related to the then society when Waiting for Godot was written. The author may have brought his own experience in the play and tried to show the vulnerability of the society during that time. The common notion about the play is that the playwright intentionally made it vague to show the true picture of that society. Existential and other crisis in a human life may force a human being to reassess his situation and often he ends up finding nothing meaningful about his life. One sees during the play that an act presents something funny and the reader may laugh out loud reading it or the audience may roar the theatre with laughter while watching it performed. An important part of the theatre of absurd is the irony in the funny conversations of the play. An audience’s careful observation will point out the hidden angst of the characters. Vladimir and Estragon tried to end their life in a funny way in Act-I.
“Vladimir: Yes, while waiting.
Estragon: What about hanging ourselves?
Vladimir: Hmm. It’d give us an erection!
Estragon: (highly excited) An erection!
Vladimir: With all that follows. Where it falls mandrakes grow. That’s why they shriek when you pull them up. Did you not know that?
Estragon: Let’s hand ourselves immediately!
Vladimir: From a bough? (They go towards the tree) I wouldn’t trust it.
Estragon: We can always try.
Vladimir: Go ahead.
Estragon: After you.
Vladimir: No, no. you first.
Estragon: Why me?
Vladimir: You’re lighter than I am.” (Beckett, I, p-9-10)
Vladimir and Estragon often talk on unnecessary topics while they wait for Godot. The conversation shows that they were having a seemingly pointless discussion and decided to hang themselves but fails to materialize the plan. They thought that they have tried everything and “agreed that nothing is left to be done; all the possibilities have been exhausted”. They abandoned the plan because they thought that if one of them committed suicide, other one will be alone. Initially, it seems that the audience is given a chance to laugh about a situation but if they think deeply, they will realize that they all are laughing at the horror of their own life. People become frustrated while finding no hope and try to commit suicide. The scene is more tragic than comic in a deeper sense. The absurdist often tried this technique in their play to show how vulnerable a human life is in the complicated modern world. They end up laughing at the horror of their own fate. Vladimir and Estragon are not sure about their own existence. They think that Godot has something to offer and they will finally stop waiting. The crisis is severe because they know that Godot will never show up. The characters had to act in that way because, “despair and helplessness are also aspects of an existential crisis”. They are desperate to meet Godot and they want it to happen soon. Deep inside they know that Godot will not be able to solve their problems. The horrible part of their wait is that they don’t even know what they are waiting for. It seems that they are waiting for the sake of waiting. These are the acts of the human beings who have lost everything and do not know what to expect from life or what to expect from their precious ‘Godot’.
“Estragon: He should be here.
Vladimir: He didn’t say for sure he’d come.
Estragon: What exactly did we ask him for?
Vladimir: Were you not there?
Estragon: I can’t have been listening.
Vladimir: Oh…nothing very definite.
Estragon: A kind of prayer.
Vladimir: Precisely.
Estragon: A vague supplication.” (Beckett, I, p-10)
The supreme power of thinking and rationalizing are not present in the characters of Waiting for Godot. They are living as an object of this world. Human beings try to rationalize their actions in life but Vladimir, Estragon, Lucky and Pozzo seem to have lost their power to rationalize their actions. The bizarre depiction of Lucky as the slave and Pozzo as the master can suggest the hierarchy of the society and power but their actions are symbolic and it may not seem as a believable act in the modern society. The characters do not have anything to identify themselves throughout the play. They are as lifeless as rocks. Lucky follows all the order of Pozzo like an animal and does not make a sound. Lucky seems to be the victim of the rising power of the capitalist world. Pozzo admits that there was a time when Lucky taught him a lot of things but now, he is nothing but a toy to him. Lucky does not have a choice and often denies to have the privilege of the mercy of his ‘master’ Pozzo. Pozzo also admits that Lucky has been his faithful servant for more than sixty years but now he has become a burden to him. It is important to understand that the pair of Pozzo and Lucky completes each other because without one another they are nothing. However, the question remains whether they have identity at all because when they came back in the Act II, they start to act differently. Pozzo is a dominating figure in the play but there are certain doubts on his strength as well. All four characters seems to be dwelling in a world where there is no purpose of living. In Act I, Estragon wanted the chicken bone Pozzo threw away but Pozzo said that the bone belongs to Lucky and if Lucky has no problem giving Estragon the chicken bone, he does not have problem either.
“Estragon: Er… You’ve finished with the… er… you don’t need the…er…bones, sir? - Estragon goes to towards Lucky, stops before him.
Estragon: Mister…Excuse me, Mister…
Pozzo: You’re being spoken to, pig! Reply! (To Estragon.) Try him again.
Estragon: Excuse me, Mister, the bones, you won’t be wanting the bones?
(Lucky looks long at Estragon.)” (Beckett, I, p-19)
Lucky is an old man and he has been carrying bags for the whole time. He must have been hungry but he acted afraid to have the chicken bone which belonged to him. This is the sign of a man who does not know how food is going to help him to get rid of the misery. The animal like behaviour should not be associated with Lucky’s action because an animal would have jumped on the food his master provided. Positive answer should be considered because a man in misery understand the misery of another man. Lucky does not talk throughout the First Act but he heard the conversation between Pozzo and the other men. It is true that the act can be seen otherwise because when Estragon approached him, Lucky kicked him which is not the sign of kindness. The crisis that was created between the characters and the mysterious behaviour and appearance of Lucky should be seen as the difficulty of communication between the characters. The relationship between Lucky and Pozzo reflects the unequal and cruel relationship between a rich person and a poor person dependent on him. The character seems to have a decent economic background and can hire someone else as a servant to replace Lucky. In a postmodern word, people like Pozzo will not drive away a servant like Lucky because they make a complete pair. Pozzo can act like a master because Lucky is there to obey his orders. Lucky gives him an identity for the time being. The inhuman treatment of Lucky makes the situation complicated because toward the end of the play one sees that Lucky abandoned the blind Pozzo. The identity that had the history of sixty years was destroyed overnight.
The protagonists of the play are the victims of the postmodern dilemma of believing in idea which do not have a concrete identity. Godot is most likely to be an idea because Vladimir and Estragon is familiar with it but they have the dilemma of conquering it in a practical life. The play reflects that the characters have only one choice which is ‘waiting’. Godot is not the main focus of the play, rather ‘waiting’ takes the central role of the play. The justification for waiting for Godot by Vladimir and Estragon can be seen as irrational and senseless. The hopelessness and the irrational actions of the protagonists can frustrate the audience but the true meaning of the play and the wait for the mystery to solve makes it a relevant for the audience. The knowledge gained from the paly “will have a liberating effect: if we realize the basic absurdity of most of our objectives, we are freed from being obsessed with them and this release express itself in laughter” as according to Esslin. The existential crisis became the most significant characteristics of the protagonists. They could not be freed from the obsession of meeting Godot and remained as the victim of postmodern nothingness.
The perception of the characters is also different about the surroundings. Vladimir and Estragon had conversation about believing in god and they seem to be confused about the role of the religion. The belief system was shattered and religion was no longer the most dominant part in a human life. They expected something from the divine power to stop the madness of the war but they received no response. The churches were deserted and people of all religion started to have doubt on the supreme power. Men became aware of the ability in themselves. One person’s madness created the whole world a mess. People communicate with god because they seek shelter during their bad time. People compared their good sides with god’s mercy and asked for forgiveness for their sins. These are the common characteristics of every religion. Waiting for Godot shows how the belief system was changed among the characters. In other words, they lost the identity through which they could relate to their god.
“Vladimir: But you can’t go barefoot!
Estragon: Christ did.
Vladimir: Christ! What’s Christ go to do with it? You’re not going to compare yourself to Christ!
Estragon: All my life, I’ve compared myself to him.
Vladimir: But where he lived it was warm, it was dry!” (Beckett, I, p-46)
They certainly have lost the patience and trying to get the meaning of god of their own. “All my life, I’ve compared myself to him” is powerful statement because they no longer seem to have hope on Christ anymore. Religion and expectations have become subjective. The wanted immediate result. If Godot was the representation of God, then they have certainly lost the divine connection with god. The life of helpless human beings has been portrayed and the absence of an idea has been shown through the character of Godot. Beckett’s Waiting For Godot is a play where the characters have nothing and they wait for that revival. The wait seems meaningless because the characters do not know what they are waiting for. The post Second World War society witnessed so much horror that they started to see meaninglessness in everything. The nothingness became a true phenomenon in everyday activities. The shock of war turned society into believing that there is no guarantee of life in the coming hour. The existential crisis destroyed the belief system of the greater part of the society. The interpretation of the play varies from critic to critic but the play has been accepted as a masterpiece by the modern audience.
Works Cited
Abhijit Seal, Master of Arts, Department of English, Cotton University, Panbazar, Assam, India. Email ID: abhijitseal31@gmail.com