Nobody Comes in Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot :: Waiting for Godot Essays

Nobody Comes in Samuel Becketts Waiting for GodotSamuel Becketts Waiting for Godot zero point happens, nobody comes, nobody goes, its awful. When the play first opened, it was criticized for lacking meaning, structure, and common sense. These critics, however, failed to see that Beckett chose to have his play, Waiting for Godot, capture the feeling that the world has no sheer meaning. In this misunderstood masterpiece, Beckett asserts numerous existentialist themes. Beckett believed that existence is determined by chance. This basic existentialist tenet is first asserted in Vladimirs backchat of a parable from the Bible. Of the two thieves crucified at the same time as Christ, one was saved and one was damned. Given this knowledge, Vladimir ponders how is itthat of the four Evangelists only one speaks of a thief being saved. The four of them were there - or thereabouts - and only one speaks of a thief being saved.Of the other three, two go intot mention any thieves at all and the third says that both of them abused Christ.But all four were there. The reports of the Evangelists shows that opportunity determines human life. That each Evangelist speaks of a different fate for the thieves prove the role of chance in our existence. It is generally accepted that one thief was saved and another one damned, which further illustrates the probability of life. In addition, Beckett expands on this paradox by stating, Do not despair one of the thieves was saved. Do not presume one of the thieves was damned. Because fate is determined by chance, there is nothing anyone can do to insure their savior. In the play, it is stated that Godot himself beats the minder of sheep but cherishes the minder of goats. The flightiness of Godots decisions elude to the arbitrariness of life itself, raising questions over who will be saved and who will be damned. In the play, Pozzo remarks about his fate in comparison to Luckys Remark that I might easily have been in his shoes and he in mine. If chance had not willed it otherwise. In Stoppards play Rosencrantz and Guildenstern argon Dead, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern flip a coin that escapes the natural laws of reason. Here, the existentialist viewpoint focuses on refuting probability in favor of chance. To many people, Godot symbolizes God. The name Godot even reflects an attenuated adaption of the word God. Godots silence but ubiquitous presence resembles that of Gods, and Vladimir and Estragons helplessness mirrors our own frailty.