ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY

COLLEGE OF EDUCATION
DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH

DRAMA
Waiting for Godot

Top Themes
“FOURTH YEAR”

BY:
ASST. LECTURER: HAYDER GEBREEN
2017\2018
Saturday, 05 May 2018 Hussain K. Neama
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Write a brief analysis on the theme of loneliness in Waiting for

Godot?

• Theme 1: Alienation …

The play Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett treats the topic of
loneliness from the perspective of social, mental, and spiritual isolation instead
of treating it as a state of physical separation. The rationale behind the choice of
treating this topic coincides with the play's existentialist influence, which
contends that life is itself, an isolated event with no real meaning nor purpose.
This is why Waiting for Godot presents an atmosphere of melancholy, longing,
and nonsense in the form of the actual wait for Godot: A person, entity, or thing
that never manifests it. As a way to mock social injustice and the separation of
the classes, we see how the character of Lucky seems to be left to his own
devices. He is Pozzo's slave and property, which means that he must do as Pozzo
pleases or else he will be punished. In his own world of a slave, Lucky is
completely alone. Nobody would ever be able to help him neither change nor
improve his situation.

In contrast, Pozzo seems to be completely co-dependent on Lucky. He is

so used to live in his own superior world that he forgets that it is Lucky, and not
himself who can help Pozzo survive. When Pozzo goes blind, he seems to need
Lucky the most. This is how completely isolated from reality he is. The mental
loneliness comes in the form of Eragon: His limited mentality makes him forget
and live in oblivion. He seems to miss out a lot of the action in the play as a
result of his constant forgetfulness. He basically lives in a fog and is led blindly
through it by Vladimir, who is his protector. Yet, Vladimir is nowhere content.
He is waiting for Godot.
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He devotedly hopes for Godot to come in and....do what? We are not sure,
as an audience, what difference Godot would make in his life. However, it is clear
that the presence of Godot is quite a need in Vladimir's life. However, Godot
never shows up. The physical separation that we can appreciate comes from the
unique status of the four main characters that, as a result of their random
existence, happened to come together and end up in the same place.

They are together, but each lives within their own little world. They all
wait for Godot, but each of them does it in their own unique way. In the end,
they all find at least one reason to declare that it is worthless to live. In Eragon's
and Vladimir's case the situation is so bad that they do not even find the courage
to do it. In all, loneliness is treated in several different ways in the play Waiting
for Godot. Each way pertains to the reality and limitations of each character.
One thing is clear: They are all meant to be lonely wandering souls. That is one
of the most central subtopics of the existentialist philosophy.
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• Theme 2: The Meaninglessness of Life

One of the central themes of Waiting for Godot is the meaninglessness of
life. Even as the characters insist on staying where they are and doing what
they do, they acknowledge that they do it for no good reason.

Nothing much happens in Waiting for Godot, which opens very much as it
closes with very little changed except the characters' existential
understanding of the world. Existentialism requires the individual to find
meaning in their lives without reference to a god or afterlife, something
that Beckett's characters find impossible. The play starts with "Let's go. /
Yes, let's go. / (They do not move)."

• Theme 3: The Nature of Time

Time moves in cycles in the play, with the same events recurring over and
over again. Time also has real significance: though the characters now exist
in a never-ending loop, at some point in the past things were different. As
the play progresses, the characters are mainly engaged in passing the time
till Godot arrives, if, indeed, he ever will arrive.

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• Theme 4: Suffering.
Suffering is a constant and fundamental part of human existence in Waiting

for Godot. Every character suffers and suffers always, with no seeming

respite in sight. The hardships range from the physical to the mental, the

minor to the extreme. Suffering drives some men to find companionship (so

as to weather the storm together), causes others to abuse their companions

(to lessen the suffering of the self), and motivates others isolate themselves

(since watching people suffer is a kind of anguish on its own).