Waiting for Godot- Samuel Beckett- Work Introduction, Characters list

WORK INTRODUCTION:

Forty two year old Samuel Beckett wrote the play that transformed the shape of twentieth-century drama. Waiting for Godot is the English translation of Beckett’s French play En attendant Godot (1953). He called writing Waiting for Godot was “a marvelous, liberating diversion”. When this two act tragic comedy play opened in January 1953 which was directed by Roger Blin at the Theatre de Babylone (Paris), Beckett’s life changed dramatically. The play was admired and derided with equal vigour. The incomplete quest of a character literally on his last leg and the telling of stories to attain a sense of self in a diminishing landscape, become in the play the enigmatic couple Didi (Vladimir) and Gogo (Estragon), tossing words back and forth, on a bare stage, waiting for Godot (who could perhaps save them from death or hell) who never arrives.

CHARACTERS LIST:

• Vladimir- An aging Tramp who is also called as Didi. He appears to be philosophical than Estragon, his friend. He has bladder problems.

• Estragon- An aging Tramp who is also called as Gogo. He consistently wishes to sleep or go away. Yet he stays with his friend waiting for Godot.

• Pozzo- A rich, tyrannical landowner, he appears half way in both the acts. In the second act he appears blind.

• Lucky- Pozzo’s ill-treated servant, who is tied to Pozzo with a rope and carries all of his bags. He does anything that was asked by Pozzo.

• A Boy- A messenger from Godot, he appears at the end of each acts and tells that Godot would not meet them today but will tomorrow.

Play Summary