WAİTİNG FOR GODOT (PLOT SUMMARY)

WAİTİNG FOR GODOT(PLOT SUMMARY)
A Play Written in French and English by Samuel Beckett (1906-1989)

In the evening, two tramps meet next to a tree along a country road. One of them, Estragon, is struggling to remove a boot to soothe a sort foot. Tugging at it, he says in frustration, “Nothing to be done.” .......Vladimir, interpreting the statement as an opinion about life in general, says he is beginning to accept that viewpoint but has decided to keep struggling anyway. Then he says he is glad to see Estragon again even though they had been together the day before. .......“I thought you were gone for ever.” .......“Me too.” .......Estragon says he spent the previous night in a nearby ditch and endured a beating from bullies who regularly harass him. .......While Estragon pulls at the boot, Vladimir removes his hat and shakes it out, puts it back on, then removes it again and taps at it as if to dislodge something. He puts his hat back on just as Estragon finally gets the boot off. Estragon turns the boot upside down but nothing falls out. He feels inside it, but there’s nothing. Vladimir accuses him of blaming the boot for “the faults of his feet.” Vladimir removes his hat again, finds nothing, and says, “This is getting alarming.” He also says: .......“One of the thieves was saved. It’s a reasonable percentage.” .......He is referring to the two thieves crucified with Christ. When he asks Estragon whether he has ever read the Bible, Estragon says he remembers looking at the color maps in it. The Dead Sea made him thirsty. Vladimir tells him the story of the two thieves (which bores Estragon) and wonders why only one of the four writers of the Gospels mentions that one of the thieves was saved. .......Vladimir puts his boot back on and walks around to test his foot. .......“You’re sure it was here?” he asks. .......He is referring to someone named Godot. He was supposed to show up to answer a question they posed. .......“He didn’t say for sure he would come,” Vladimir says. .......It turns out they don’t remember what day he was supposed to come. Nor do they even recall what day it is now. Although they don’t recollect what question they asked Godot, they think it had to do with a prayer, a supplication. While waiting for Godot, they have nothing to do to pass the time, so Estragon suggests that they hang themselves from the tree. Neither wants to go first, however, and in the end they decide stay alive because "it's safer," Estragon says. Besides, if Vladimir hangs himself, Estragon will be alone. .......Estragon is hungry, so Vladimir offers him a turnip–all that he has–but Estragon finds a carrot in his pocket and eats that instead. When they hear a loud cry, they huddle together in fear. The “menace” is harmless, though–a man with the loop of a long rope around his neck. At the other end of the rope is another man, who uses a whip to drive the first man. The latter is carrying a bag, a folding stool, a picnic basket, and a coat. When they ask the man with the whip whether he is Godot, the man says, “I present myself: Pozzo.” The other man is his slave, Lucky. When Pozzo asks who Godot is, Vladimir says he is a "kind of acquaintance," but Estragon says, "Personally I wouldn't even know him if I saw him." .......Pozzo barks commands at Lucky–first for the coat, then the stool, then the basket of food. He drinks wine and eats chicken while Vladimir and Estragon talk. Lucky falls asleep on his feet even though he is standing and never puts down the bag. Vladimir and Estragon notice that he has a sore on his neck from the chafing of the rope. When Estragon asks whether he may have the chicken bones that Pozzo has tossed away after eating the meat, Pozzo says, .“They’re yours.” Pozzo smokes a pipe. .......Estragon takes up the bones and chews on them. Pozzo then says he, too, would like to meet Godot, noting that the more people he meets the happier and wiser he becomes. Lucky, meanwhile, is still holding a bag and Estragon asks why he does not put it down. Pozzo says Lucky wants to impress him with his hard work so that Pozzo won’t sell him at a fair which they are going to attend. Lucky is a burden, Pozzo explains. When Lucky begins crying, Estragon tries to comfort him, but Lucky kicks him in the shins, drawing blood. Estragon and Vladimir now begin sympathizing with Pozzo, who says: .......“I can’t bear it . . . any longer . . . the way he goes on . . . you’ve no idea . . . it’s terrible . . . he must go . . . (he waves his arms) . . . I’m going mad . . . . . . .” .......“Will night never come?” Vladimir says. .......Pozzo then launches into a short lecture about the characteristics of the evening sky in that region of the country, and Vladimir and Estragon commend him for it. In return for their praise, Pozzo has Lucky dance for them and perform an encore, the same dance. Lucky next entertains them with a discourse on politics and religion but keeps talking and talking until Vladimir snatches his hat and Lucky goes silent. Pozzo and Lucky leave. Shortly thereafter, a boy who says he herds goats for Godot arrives to tell Vladimir and Estragon that Godot won’t arrive until the next day.
Act II
.......The following day, Vladimir arrives first, then Estragon, and they resume waiting. The tree, bare before, now has a few leaves. Vladimir discovers that Estragon has forgotten what happened the day before until Vladimir reminds him. When they talk about hearing voices–“dead voices”–Vladimir says they sound like sand and Estragon, like leaves rustling. Estragon tells Vladimir what the voices are saying: .......“To have lived is not enough for them,” Estragon says. “To be dead is not enough for them.” .......To kill time, Vladimir asks Estragon to sing. Estragon won’t, but he suggests they ask each other questions. Their discussion then shifts to the tree when Vladimir points out that it has leaves now. Yesterday it did not. .......“It must be spring,” Estragon says. .......When Vladimir talks again about Pozzo and Lucky, Estragon again forgets who they are. So Vladimir tells him to pull up a trouser leg to see the wound Lucky inflicted. After Estragon sees the evidence, which is festering, he says he wants to leave. But Vladimir says they must stay to wait for Godot. .......Pozzo and Lucky approach, Lucky tethered to Pozzo as before except that the rope is shorter. Lucky is wearing a different hat, and Pozzo is blind. When Pozzo bumps into Lucky, they fall and become entangled in Lucky’s baggage and rope. Pozzo calls for help. Estragon thinks Pozzo is Godot, but Vladimir informs him who it is. Vladimir and Estragon keep conversing while Pozzo keeps calling for help. Eventually, Pozzo says he’ll pay 100 francs for help. Estragon and Vladimir keep talking and Pozzo raises the reward to 200 francs. When Vladimir tries to pull Pozzo up, Vladimir falls. He tries to get up, but he too becomes entangled. Vladimir calls for Estragon to help, promising that he’ll agree to Estragon’s plan to leave. Estragon suggests that they go to the Pyrenees Mountains and Vladimir consents. Estragon tries to help but smells something. .......“Who farted?” .......“Pozzo,” Vladimir says. .......“I’m going.” .......Vladimir tries to get up again but fails. Finally, Estragon, after several attempts, succeeds in helping him up. Pozzo then frees himself, crawls off, and collapses. Estragon and Vladimir decide to help him. After a struggle, they get him to his feet. Because he is blind, Pozzo does not know who helped him. He thinks they could be robbers. Then he asks the time of day. No one is sure. Estragon isn’t even sure whether it is evening or dawn. However, Vladimir decides that it is evening and informs Pozzo. Pozzo asks for Lucky, and Estragon goes to fetch him. Lucky is still on the ground. Estragon kicks him several times but hurts his foot. .......Meanwhile, Vladimir says he and Estragon are the same men Pozzo met the day before. Pozzo doesn’t remember. He calls for Lucky, who gets up and gathers his burdens. As Pozzo and Lucky are about to leave, Vladimir asks Pozzo to have Lucky sing. But Pozzo says Lucky is mute. .......“He can’t even groan.” .......Pozzo and Lucky leave. A boy approaches and addresses Vladimir. The boy says he is not the same boy who talked with the men the day before, but he does have a message from Godot–namely, that Godot will not be coming that evening but will be coming the next day. .......Estragon, who has been sleeping, awakens and is ready to go away. But Vladimir tells them they can’t go far, because they must return to the tree the next day to wait for Godot. .......“And if he comes?” .......“We’ll be saved,” Vladimir says. .
http://www.cummingsstudyguides.net/xLitTerms.html