You Again Embrace You Waiting for Godot
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Waiting for Godot Friendship
Friendship
- Act 1
- Estragon
-
ESTRAGON
Wait! (He moves abroad from Vladimir.) I sometimes wonder if we wouldn't have been amend off alone, each i for himself. (He crosses the stage and sits down on the mound.) We weren't fabricated for the same road.
VLADIMIR
(without anger) It's non certain.
ESTRAGON
No, nothing is sure.
Vladimir slowly crosses the stage and sits down beside Estragon.
VLADIMIR
We can still part, if you think it would exist better.
ESTRAGON
It's not worthwhile now.
Silence.
VLADIMIR
No, it'southward non worthwhile now. (1.854-9)Estragon and Vladimir inquire this question repeatedly in Waiting for Godot: whether or not they would be better off lone than they are with each other. The answer never seems to change, and is e'er passive or indecisive in nature. Or, in Estragon's earlier words, they don't do anything because they believe "information technology's safer." Likewise uncertain to role, and likewise hesitant to have a real friendship, the men are left in abiding limbo.
ESTRAGON
(restored to the horror of his situation) I was comatose! (Despairingly) Why will you never permit me sleep?
VLADIMIR
I felt solitary.
ESTRAGON
I had a dream.
VLADIMIR
Don't tell me!
ESTRAGON
I dreamt that—
VLADIMIR
DON'T TELL ME!
ESTRAGON
(gesture toward the universe) This ane is enough for you? (Silence.) Information technology's not nice of you, Didi. Who am I to tell my private nightmares to if I can't tell them to yous?
VLADIMIR
Let them remain private. You lot know I can't comport that. (1.146-153)Here we see the incredibly contradictory nature of Vladimir's relationship with Estragon. He wakes him upwards for visitor, but can't commit emotionally to listening to the workings of Estragon'south subconscious (i.e., his dreams).
ESTRAGON
Allow's hang ourselves immediately!
[…]
ESTRAGON
After you.
[…]
VLADIMIR
You're lighter than I am.
ESTRAGON
Just so!
VLADIMIR
I don't understand.
ESTRAGON
Employ your intelligence, can't yous?
Vladimir uses his intelligence.
VLADIMIR
(finally) I remain in the dark.
[…]
VLADIMIR
You're my only hope.
ESTRAGON
(with effort) Gogo light—bough not break—Gogo dead. Didi heavy—bender break—Didi solitary. Whereas—
VLADIMIR
I hadn't thought of that. (1.174-189)This is an interesting substitution. At most every other instance in the play, Vladimir is the more intellectual of the ii men. All the same hither, he needs Estragon to walk him through the scenario. Also, check out the line "I remain in the dark." On the one hand, Vladimir is confessing his ignorance; he remains in the dark cerebrally because he can't effigy out what Estragon is talking about. Just his response "I remain in the dark" is also the answer to the problem Estragon has proposed: what happens if Estragon goes first? Then the bender holds up and Estragon dies hanging. Then, when Vladimir tries, he is heavier and breaks the bough—leaving him alone and, in a sense, in the dark. This isolation for Vladimir would be a worse fate than death.
ESTRAGON
(gently) You wanted to speak to me? (Silence. Estragon takes a step forward.) Y'all had something to say to me? (Silence. Another step forward.) Didi . . .
VLADIMIR
(without turning) I've nothing to say to you lot.
ESTRAGON
(step forward) You're angry? (Silence. Step forrard.) Forgive me. (Silence. Step forwards. Estragon lays his manus on Vladimir'south shoulder.) Come, Didi. (Silence.) Give me your hand. (Vladimir half turns.) Embrace me! (Vladimir stiffens.) Don't exist stubborn! (Vladimir softens. They cover. Estragon recoils.) You stink of garlic! (1.164-7)This time Estragon takes the step forward in their friendship. Only we notice all the same another barrier in the way, this time smell. Throughout the play Estragon will repeatedly cite smell as the reason he cannot get close to another, almost as if he is disgusted by others' visceral humanity.
ESTRAGON
Why doesn't he put downward his bags?
POZZO
I as well would be happy to see him. The more people I meet the happier I go. From the meanest creature i departs wiser, richer, more conscious of one's blessings. Even you . . . (he looks at them ostentatiously in turn to arrive clear they are both meant) . . . even you, who knows, will have added to my store.
ESTRAGON
Why doesn't he put downwards his bags? (ane.405-7)Pozzo'south lines are highly ironic here. He is busy declaring how much he benefits from personal interaction while he directly ignores one) Estragon's attempts at communication and 2) the suffering of his slave, Lucky, who is still property the heavy bags. The way his annotate is couched in Estragon'due south repeated lines is a nifty instance of how structure complements and builds meaning in Waiting for Godot.
ESTRAGON
(coldly) There are times when I wonder if it wouldn't be improve for us to part.
VLADIMIR
You wouldn't go far. (ane.154-five)Vladimir speaks repeatedly of Estragon's dependence on him. At times this seems warranted, but at other times we wonder whether he isn't but assigning a physical dependence to Estragon when he himself is emotionally dependent on the presence of some other.
ESTRAGON
(on 1 leg) I'll never walk once more!
VLADIMIR
(tenderly) I'll bear you lot. (Interruption.) If necessary. (i.459-460)And notwithstanding another example; Vladimir begins to express his feelings of friendship for Estragon, but, perhaps embarrassed, quickly pulls dorsum.
ESTRAGON
(feebly) Assist me!
VLADIMIR
It hurts?
ESTRAGON
(angrily) Hurts! He wants to know if it hurts!
VLADIMIR
(angrily) No ane always suffers but you. I don't count. I'd like to hear what yous'd say if you lot had what I have.
ESTRAGON
It hurts?
VLADIMIR
(angrily) Hurts! He wants to know if it hurts! (1.23-28)1 of the barriers preventing an authentic friendship between these 2 men is that neither tin can truly understand what it ways for the other to suffer. This sounds a lot like the primary thesis of The Plague, the existentialist work of fiction published just one year before Beckett wrote Waiting for Godot.
- Vladimir
-
VLADIMIR
I'm going.
POZZO
He tin can no longer endure my presence. I am perchance not particularly human, simply who cares? (i.401-two)Pozzo direct contradicts his earlier argument that he is merely similar Estragon and Vladimir—that they all are made in God'south image. He thinks of himself as somehow to a higher place mere humans, perhaps even divine. Merely the line "who cares?" is an interesting 1. He may mean to say that he tin however chronicle to the men despite his not existence "especially human," only nosotros tin interpret this in some other, less optimistic fashion: it could be that, since men can't connect to ane another anyway, it doesn't matter whether or not Pozzo himself is human. He's going to exist isolated either way.
VLADIMIR
I'chiliad glad to see you back. I thought y'all were gone forever.
ESTRAGON
Me too. (1.4-five)The ambivalence of Estragon'south reply (in one of the earliest lines of the play) sets the states up for a fundamental doubtfulness in regards to this friendship. His response "Me too" could refer to Vladimir's claim that he'southward glad to come across him, or it could refer to the comment that he thought Estragon was gone forever. We are forever unsure every bit to whether these ii men achieve a friendship or are emotionally isolated from each other.
VLADIMIR
(exploding) Information technology's a scandal!
Silence. Flabbergasted, Estragon stops gnawing, looks at Pozzo and Vladimir in turn. Pozzo outwardly calm. Vladimir embarrassed.
POZZO
(To Vladimir) Are you alluding to anything in particular?
VLADIMIR
(stutteringly resolute) To treat a homo . . . (gesture towards Lucky) . . . like that . . . I think that . . . no . . . a human being . . . no . . . it'southward a scandal!
ESTRAGON
(not to exist outdone) A disgrace!
He resumes his gnawing. (1.386-9)Estragon's chiming in here is a bright improver to the commutation; he clearly holds no 18-carat concern for Lucky, as he's busy eating his bones while the man is abused. Vladimir, as well, is aghast at Pozzo'south treatment of Lucky, but look a scrap and picket him berate Lucky for mistreating Pozzo. At that place's no logic or consistency in his business organization, so his attempt at sympathy is negated by its applesauce.
VLADIMIR
Together over again at last! We'll have to celebrate this. But how? (He reflects.) Get up till I embrace you lot.
ESTRAGON
(irritably) Non now, not at present. (1.6-7)This early exchange also established an important dynamic in Waiting for Godot; one man attempts to get closer while the other pulls back. This motif volition repeat itself, though Estragon and Vladimir will often switch roles.
VLADIMIR
Who told you lot?
POZZO
He speaks to me again! If this goes on much longer nosotros'll soon be old friends. (ane.403-4)Pozzo defines friendship by mere interaction. Advice—even poor communication—is enough to break isolation, at least in his mind.
- Pozzo
-
POZZO
(halting) You lot are human being beings none the less. (He puts on his spectacles.) As far as one can see. (He takes off his spectacles.) Of the same species every bit myself. (He bursts into an enormous laugh.) Of the same species every bit Pozzo! Made in God's image! (one.314)Pozzo here admits that, at least biologically, he is exactly the same equally Vladimir and Estragon. This seems incompatible with his status as a God, or his belief that he is somehow in a higher place these two men (and above Lucky, who is also clearly a man being). Simply like Didi and Gogo, Pozzo struggles between a want to get close to others and a belief that he is somehow separate from them.
POZZO
Make haste, before he stops. (Estragon approaches Lucky and makes to wipe his optics. Lucky kicks him violently in the shins. Estragon drops the handkerchief, recoils, staggers about the stage howling with pain.) (1.454)This is a perfect example of the way isolation works in Waiting for Godot. One man makes an attempt to connect to another, and the 2d man violently pushes him abroad.
POZZO
Good. Is everybody fix? Is everybody looking at me? (He looks at Lucky, jerks the rope. Lucky raises his head.) Will you look at me, pig! (Lucky looks at him.) Good. (He puts the pipe in his pocket, takes out a little vaporizer and sprays his throat, puts back the vaporizer in his pocket, clears his throat, spits, takes out the vaporizer once again, sprays his throat again, puts back the vaporizer in his pocket.) I am ready. Is everybody listening? Is everybody ready? (He looks at them all in plow, jerks the rope.) Hog! (Lucky raises his caput.) I don't like talking in a vacuum. Good. Let me encounter.
He reflects. (1.426)Pozzo is arguably the loneliest character in Waiting for Godot. While he makes a big testify out of interacting with others and praising the benefits of human connexion, he is always focused on himself, not on others. When he says "I don't like talking in a vacuum," information technology's clear that his concern is with his own ego, not in whether others hear or benefit from what he is saying.
POZZO
I do. But instead of driving him away as I might accept done, I mean instead of simply kicking him out on his arse, in the goodness of my centre I am bringing him to the fair, where I hope to go a good toll for him. The truth is yous can't drive such creatures abroad. The best thing would exist to impale them.
Lucky weeps. (1.450)This brings the states back to the earlier commutation in which Vladimir and Estragon debate killing themselves. It became clear and so that isolation was a worse fate than decease, and Pozzo reiterates that here. Lucky's response—weeping—is unclear. Does he weep at the idea of being driven away? Or of being killed? Or is he simply distraught that Pozzo no longer wants his company?
POZZO
(He jerks the rope.) Up pig! (Pause.) Every time he drops he falls asleep. (Jerks the rope.) Up hog! (Noise of Lucky getting upward and picking upward his baggage. Pozzo jerks the rope.) Back! (Enter Lucky backwards.) Stop! (Lucky stops.) Plough! (Lucky turns. To Vladimir and Estragon, affably.) Gentlemen, I am happy to have met yous. (Before their incredulous expression.) Aye yes, sincerely happy. (He jerks the rope.) Closer! (Lucky advances.) Stop! (Lucky stops.) […] (Pozzo finishes buttoning upward his glaze, stoops, inspects himself, straightens upwardly.) Whip! (Lucky advances, stoops, Pozzo snatches the whip from his mouth, Lucky goes dorsum to his place.) Yes, gentlemen, I cannot go for long without the society of my likes (he puts on his glasses and looks at the 2 likes) even when the likeness is an imperfect one. (He takes off his glasses.) Stool! (Lucky puts down bag and basket, advances, opens stool, puts it down, goes dorsum to his identify, takes upwardly bag and handbasket.) (ane.336)Notice the same sort of conflict here; Pozzo alternates between treating Lucky every bit scum and declaring that he cannot be without others for visitor. He is obsessed with what he considers his superiority, only he tin't deal with the loneliness and isolation that superiority brings.
- Act 2
- Vladimir
-
VLADIMIR
(vexed) Then why do you e'er come itch back?
ESTRAGON
I don't know.
VLADIMIR
No, but I do. It's because you don't know how to defend yourself. I wouldn't have let them beat out you.
ESTRAGON
You couldn't have stopped them.
VLADIMIR
Why non?
ESTRAGON
There was x of them.
VLADIMIR
No, I mean before they beat yous. I would take stopped you from doing whatever it was you lot were doing. (2.24-xxx)We are told repeatedly that Estragon is dependent on Vladimir, but is Vladimir similarly dependent on Estragon? It almost seems here as though he needs to be needed by his companion; that he grasps at a self-designed purpose through his helping Gogo.
VLADIMIR
We could play at Pozzo and Lucky.
ESTRAGON
Never heard of information technology.
VLADIMIR
I'll do Lucky, you practise Pozzo. (He imitates Lucky sagging nether the weight of his baggage. Estragon looks at him with stupefaction.) Continue.
ESTRAGON
What am I to do?
VLADIMIR
Curse me!
ESTRAGON
(subsequently reflection) Naughty!
VLADIMIR
Stronger!
ESTRAGON
Gonococcus! Spirochete!
Vladimir sways dorsum and forth, doubled in two.
VLADIMIR
Tell me to recall.
ESTRAGON
What?
VLADIMIR
Say, Think, pig!
ESTRAGON
Call back, pig!
Silence. (2.359-370)Because they don't know how to have a real relationship themselves, the best Vladimir and Estragon can do is imitate what they see around them. The tragedy is that they are imitating an calumniating and unhealthy relationship, as it's the only example they take.
VLADIMIR
Make sure he's live before you beginning. No point in exerting yourself if he's dead.
ESTRAGON
(bending over Lucky) He's breathing.
VLADIMIR
Then let him have it.
With sudden fury Estragon starts boot Lucky, hurling abuse at him as he does and so. But he hurts his foot and moves abroad, limping and groaning. Lucky stirs. (2.735-7)It'south hard to reconcile this callous annotate (nigh making sure Lucky is alive) with Vladimir's earlier outrage at Pozzo's mistreatment of Lucky. You might desire to cheque out our grapheme analysis of Vladimir, where we jump right into this messy business concern.
Enter Pozzo and Lucky. Pozzo is blind. Lucky burdened as before.
[…]
VLADIMIR
At last! (He goes towards the heap.) Reinforcements at last!
POZZO
Help!
[…]
VLADIMIR
We were starting time to weaken. At present nosotros're sure to meet the evening out. (two.456-63)This is a not bad example of the way Vladimir sees other people only for purposes of amusement. He ignores the fact that Pozzo is bullheaded and that both he and Lucky have fallen helplessly to the ground. Instead, he rejoices that he has something to do to pass the time until evening. In this way, Vladimir could be seen equally the most isolated character in Waiting for Godot, since he can't even recognize the humanity of another.
VLADIMIR
That seems a skillful idea all correct. Simply could we do information technology? Is he really asleep? (Pause.) No, the best would be to take advantage of Pozzo'due south calling for assist—
POZZO
Help!
VLADIMIR
To assist him—
ESTRAGON
We assist him?
VLADIMIR
In apprehension of some tangible return. (2.520-4)This is a lowly depression for Vladimir; while his earlier focus on the self was indifferent, this one is malicious—he's plotting to manipulate some other for personal gain.
VLADIMIR
Yous're a hard human to get on with, Gogo.
ESTRAGON
It'd exist better if we parted.
VLADIMIR
You ever say that and you e'er come crawling back.
ESTRAGON
The all-time thing would be to kill me, similar the other.
VLADIMIR
What other? (Pause.) What other?
ESTRAGON
Like billions of others. (2.85-90)Whoa in that location. Like billions of others? We're thinking this isn't literal. Commencement, permit'south become back to that line in Human activity 1 when Pozzo says that it would exist better to impale Lucky than to send him away. Estragon is definitely repeating what he's heard, even every bit he denies remembering annihilation about Lucky and Pozzo from the twenty-four hours earlier (this denial is what prompts Vladimir to declare he's a difficult man to go along with). It would seem then that Estragon is either mindlessly repeating things, intelligent-parrot-style, or he agrees with the merits that death is better than isolation. As to the comment about others, Estragon is simply equating his and Vladimir'south relationship with all the other "billions" of relationships in the world. The thought that expiry is better than loneliness, then, applies to everyone, not just these crazy guys on the stage.
VLADIMIR
Moron!
ESTRAGON
That's the thought, let's abuse each other.
They turn, move apart, turn once more and face each other.
VLADIMIR
Moron!
ESTRAGON
Vermin!
VLADIMIR
Abortion!
ESTRAGON
Morpion!
VLADIMIR
Sewer-rat!
ESTRAGON
Curate!
VLADIMIR
Cretin!
ESTRAGON
(with finality) Crritic!
VLADIMIR
Oh!
He wilts, vanquished, and turns away.
ESTRAGON
Now let's make information technology upward. (2.413-24)It'south every bit if Estragon and Vladimir utilize each other only to laissez passer the time; each human is just seen equally entertainment, not every bit another real, 18-carat human beingness.
VLADIMIR
Was I sleeping, while the others suffered? Am I sleeping now? Tomorrow, when I wake, or retrieve I do, what shall I say of today? (2.795)This is an oft-quoted line from Waiting for Godot, since information technology seems an incredibly human and sympathetic expression. However, in context, you'll find that such an interpretation is incredibly ironic. Vladimir utters this while ignoring others' cries of "Help!"
VLADIMIR
Let united states non waste material our time in idle discourse! (Pause. Vehemently.) Permit us do something, while we have the chance! It is not every twenty-four hour period that nosotros are needed. (2.526)Vladimir is able to rejoice in Pozzo'due south and Lucky's hurting and helplessness because it lends importance to his own life.
-
They look long at each other, then of a sudden embrace, clapping each other on the back. Cease of the embrace. Estragon, no longer supported, virtually falls. (2.8)
Estragon, who, moments earlier, hesitated to even look at Vladimir, can at present no longer stand without him. He is dependent on Didi, but certainly not past choice.
- Estragon
-
ESTRAGON
(wild gestures, incoherent words. Finally.) Why will yous never let me slumber?
VLADIMIR
I felt lonely.
ESTRAGON
I was dreaming I was happy.
VLADIMIR
That passed the fourth dimension.
ESTRAGON
I was dreaming that—
VLADIMIR
(violently) Don't tell me! (Silence.) (two.774-9)We've gotten this several times by this point in the play, but this one is arguably the clearest in its bulletin. Vladimir wants Estragon awake because he'south lonely—he needs the entertainment. But he doesn't want to invest anything personally by listening to Estragon's dreams; this would brand Estragon human, real, which Vladimir tin can't seem to handle.
ESTRAGON
If I could only sleep.
VLADIMIR
Yesterday you lot slept.
ESTRAGON
I'll try.
He resumes his foetal posture, his head between his knees.
VLADIMIR
Expect. (He goes over and sits down beside Estragon and begins to sing in a loud vocalisation.)
Bye farewell bye bye
Bye bye–
ESTRAGON
(looking up angrily) Non so loud!
VLADIMIR
(softly)
Goodbye bye bye bye
Goodbye goodbye bye bye
Bye bye bye farewell
Farewell bye . . .
Estragon sleeps. Vladimir gets up softly, takes off his glaze and lays information technology across Estragon's shoulders, and then starts walking upward and downwards, swinging his arms to go on himself warm. Estragon wakes with a showtime, jumps upwards, casts about wildly. Vladimir runs to him, puts his arms around him. At that place . . . there . . . Didi is hither . . . don't be agape . . .
ESTRAGON
Ah!
VLADIMIR
There . . . there . . . it's all over.
ESTRAGON
I was falling—
VLADIMIR
It's all over, it's all over.
ESTRAGON
I was on tiptop of a—
VLADIMIR
Don't tell me! Come up, we'll walk it off.
He takes Estragon by the arm and walks him upwards and down until Estragon refuses to go any further. (ii.312-323)Check out the conflict here. Vladimir wants to sing Estragon to sleep, but he's awkward and clumsy in his attempts to do so. He wants to get closer to his companion, but doesn't know how. He then sacrifices his jacket for the sleeping Estragon though it means he suffers the common cold himself—but when Gogo wakes upwardly, Vladimir refuses to mind to his nightmare. Every attempt at connection is made futile by an inability or unwillingness to commit.
ESTRAGON
(sadly) You see, yous piss better when I'm not at that place.
VLADIMIR
I missed you . . . and at the same time I was happy. Isn't that a strange thing?
ESTRAGON
(shocked) Happy?
VLADIMIR
Mayhap information technology's not quite the right word.
ESTRAGON
And at present?
VLADIMIR
Now? . . . (Joyous.) There yous are once more . . . (Indifferent.) In that location we are over again. . . (Gloomy.) At that place I am over again.
ESTRAGON
You encounter, you feel worse when I'one thousand with yous. I feel better alone too. (2.17-23)Vladimir'southward line, in which his emotion ranges from joy to indifference to gloom, is an important one, and helps the states to understand the men's conflicting feelings in this passage. He'south happy to see Estragon, but Estragon'due south very presence reminds him of his own plight, which makes him gloomy.
ESTRAGON
Don't affect me! Don't question me! Don't speak to me! Stay with me! (2.v)Look at the tension in this one line of Estragon's—he needs Vladimir close, simply he can't handle whatsoever sort of 18-carat friendship with him.
ESTRAGON
That wasn't such a bad lilliputian canter.
VLADIMIR
Yeah, but now we'll have to observe something else.
ESTRAGON
Permit me see.
He takes off his hat, concentrates. (2.182-84)Estragon and Vladimir are playing at having a relationship; the best they can do is simulate what they retrieve they are supposed to do: accept an argument, converse, brand up, etc.
ESTRAGON
(recoiling) Who farted?
VLADIMIR
Pozzo.
POZZO
Here! Hither! Pity!
ESTRAGON
It'due south revolting!
VLADIMIR
Quick! Give me your mitt!
ESTRAGON
I'm going. (Break. Louder.) I'm going. (2.566-71)Scent is clearly an issue for Estragon. This is the 2nd time (earlier it was Vladimir'south jiff) that he recoils from another for such a reason. As nosotros mentioned in Quote #6, it would seem that Estragon is bothered by the visceral nature of another'south humanity. This time, however, the scent isn't enough to bulldoze him abroad; he repeats loudly that he's going to get out, possibly in the hopes that someone will stop him.
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Source: https://www.shmoop.com/study-guides/literature/waiting-for-godot/quotes/friendship
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