Resumo de Waiting For Godot

Waiting for Godot, the existentialistic masterpiece of Samuel Beckett, provides a depressing, but nonetheless interesting philosophy. Beckett uses a stripped down play with minimal characters and setting to demonstrate existentialist ideals. The play centers around two main characters in a non-specific setting. These two characters purpose is to Wait for a man named Godot to arrive. Their dialogue that occurs while they wait, along with the wait itself, represents the absurd existence of mankind. Beckett uses all elements of the play to express his themes of circular structure, existentialistic ideas, and deistic views of God.
The actual setting of Waiting for Godot is quite vague. Beckett describes it only as a country road with a tree in the evening. The unimportance of the setting is important to the theme of the play since the play is meant to represent all mankind, there should not be any ethnic of geographical influence. The bare stage draws all attention to words of the characters and the isolation of the characters. The characters therefore become more pure than if they were in a city, or corrupted by society. The setting is instrumental in two parts of the play. Both parts concern the tree. At one point, Estragon and Vladimir discuss the tree and decide to hang themselves from it. In act two, the tree has become considerably greener, causing the two to doubt whether they are in the right place of the right time. Most of the time, however, the setting is made an area of unimportance to stress the universality of Vladimir and Estragon with all of mankind.
There is no specific plot to Waiting for Godot, and very few characters. The play is divided into two acts, and five basic identical parts to each act. These parts are: Estragon and Vladimir alone, Entrance of Pozzo and Lucky, Departure of Pozzo and Lucky, Arrival of Messenger, and Estragon and Vladimir alone once again. The lack of a plot and any climactic action whatsoever directs the viewer and reader to focus on the words alone. This gives Beckett an opportunity to provide a direct and concise commentary on human existence, using existential philosophy.
Godot also represents man?s search for meaning in life. The struggle to find meaning is in itself meaningless to the existentialist because there is no such thing. Life is absurd and pointless, and so it is shown in the wait of Estragon and Vladimir. Beckett attests that humanity knows there is no meaning in life, but refuses to accept this fact because it would mean there is a frightening kind of freedom in the acceptance of there being no universal truths, and no universal rights or wrongs. He demonstrates this idea by allowing Vladimir and Estragon to come to this conclusion, and reject it in favor of the possibility of a God or Meaning. Vladimir tells Estragon that, because of their request to Godot, they have lost their rights. Estragon then asks if they are not tied down, but all talk is lost when the two hear a noise in the bushes which they believe could be Godot and stop talking. Here, Beckett has the characters saying that when one accepts a God, or devotes life to searching for meaning through religion or other means, he or she denies his or herself freedom and ties him or herself down to the false ideals of an unknown truth. When Estragon asks if they are tied, he is saying that there is a possibility of rejection of these false truths, which may open up doors to a total freedom of choice. This, as it would, scares the two and forces them to reject this idea, preferring to stay within the comfort of meaningless rules and truths. Their continuing to wait for Godot is representative of humanity?s preference for the ?safe.? Beckett says through this play that mankind knows there cannot be truth, but chooses to confine themselves, because a meaningless life is too much to bear.
Beckett?s purpose in Waiting for Godot was to show in the most basic way, man?s addiction to the search for knowleedge and God and the futility of that search. Through this addiction and its futility, Beckett brings out the existentialist philosophy and the freedom it would give to humanity if only humanity could be man enough to accept the possibility of no truth and no God.

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