WAITING FOR GODOT WIKI FULL

The play is a direct presentation of waiting, ignorance, impotence, boredom. There is still another possibility Beckett’s title may have its source in Tom Kromer’s book called ‘Waiting for Nothing?” It is believed that the name of ‘Odet’s might have itself have suggested to Beckett the name Godot’. According to yet another view of Martin Esslin, the source of the title for the play was Odets’s ‘Waiting for lefty’. In Balzac’s play, the return of a person named Godean is anxiously awaited, the frustration of waiting is a much a part of Balzac’s play as it is of Beckett’s. The most convincing suggestion, in this case, comes from Eric Bentley who traces the title to Balzac’s play ‘Marcadet’.

WAITING FOR GODOT WIKI FULL

The source for the full title of the play caused similar anxiety. Hugh Kenner has connected the name with his famous theory of the ‘cartesian centaur’ by mentioning the name of a French racing cyclist whose last name was Godean. It has been said, for instance, that the word has been formed from the English ‘God’ and French ‘Eau’ (water). One of the critics, wishing to pinpoint the foolishness of trying to identify Godot too closely, said, “Godot is that character for whom two tramps are waiting at the edge of a road and who does not come.” Yet those hunting for the meaning of ‘Godot’ have ignored the advice offered by this critic and by Beckett himself and have displayed much ingenuity in interpreting the word ‘Godot’. Beckett himself was of little help and, when asked about the meaning of Godot he replied, “If I knew I would have said so in the play.” There is a general agreement that Godot is of less importance in the play than waiting, but the source of the word Godot has excited much curiosity. Martin Esslin holds the view that the subject of the play is not Godot but waiting. An earlier version of the play was simply called waiting’. The source of the title of the play has aroused a greater controversy than anything else connected with it. Beckett has thus depicted in this play a situation that has a general human application. Throughout their lives, human beings always wait for something, and Godot simply represents the objective of their waiting-an event, a thing, a person, death. The chief concern of this absurd drama is ‘waiting’ and ‘Godot’ which are ever puzzling. Even Beckett himself did not offer much help to interpret the play. Critics have not been able to reach any kind of agreement about this play. A lot of controversies have arisen since the publication of ‘waiting for Godot’.

Waiting for godot wiki