Waiting For Godot as an Absurd Play.

The word "Absurd" means "a literary and philosophical term suggesting the illogicality or
pointlessness of the human condition from an existential point of view. The word 'absurd' is derived
from the French word 'absurdum means 'out of harmony'. Absurd dramas emerge from
Existentialism. Absurd drama subverts logic. It relishes the unexpected and the logically
impossible. According to Sigmund Freud, there is a feeling of freedom we can enjoy when
we are able to abandon the straitjacket of logic. In trying to burst the bounds of logic and
language the absurd theatre is trying to shatter the enclosing walls of the human condition
itself. Our individual identity is defined by language, having a name is the source of our
separateness - the loss of logical language brings us towards a unity with living things. In
being illogical, the absurd theatre is anti-rationalist: it negates rationalism because it feels
that rationalist thought, like language, only deals with the superficial aspects of things.

The theatre of the absurd describes a mood, a tone towards life, where man's existence is a
dilemma of purposeless, meaningless, and pointless activity. It is complete denial of age-old values.
It has no plot, no characterization, no logical sequence, and no culmination. It is totally
unconventional.The theatre of Absurd is one of the ways of facing up to a universe that has lost its
meaning and purpose.

The Theatre of Absurd transfers irrationality of life on the stage. The talks and actions of the
characters do not convey any meaning .There is in fact, no plot in the play .The time is static ,the
place is not specific. After the first performance of Waiting for Godot in 1953,some critics were of
the view that Beckett has contrived an absolute negation of human existence. But after thirty years
of serious critical discussion, critics have reached the conclusion that the situation depicted in
"waiting for Godot" is symbolic of man's general position in this world. In the world of Godot the is
complete impossibility of rational action. Estragon's struggle with his boats is as absurd as his efforts
to commit suicide. The striking dialogue ," there is nothing I can do about it", repeated so often by
Vladmir and Estragon is the epitome of the play. This dialogue has a metaphysical implication. It is a
comment on the absurdity of life.

The play is in two acts each of which follow the some pattern. On an remote stage representing a
country road with a single tree, two men Vladimir and Estragon, dressed in tattered clothes and
ancient bowler hats , are trying to keep an appointment. They are not sure whether they really have
this appointment nor are they sure to whom the appointment is to be made and what is the
purpose. They are dependent over each other and still want to get away from each other, and above
all they are convinced of their desirability of doing away with themselves. But each time ,they
attempt to commit suicide ,they fail through sheer incompetence . In each of the two acts they meet
another pair of characters ;Pozzo and Lucky. Pozzo is big,fat and opulent while Lucky is thin old with
a rope around his neck. The second act depicts the tramp's loss of identity. Although both the
characters are bound in a friendly bond , they are unable to communicate with each other, their
relationship verges on uncertainty.
The play also depicts the difference in the attitude of the two tramps . Vladimir is of a speculative
turn of mind , while Estragon is weaker and more temperamental . Yet both are at the mercy of
Godot absolutely ,who has asked them to wait for him. The two tramps are in such a mental state in
which nothing happens twice. The time stands still and their only pre-occupation is to pass time.
They are actually aware of the futility of their existence and they are merely filling up the hours with
painless activity. They are totally helpless in the presence of their mental condition. Hence whatever
they do is highly farcical but at some time it is deeply tragic.

Like committed absurdist , Beckett combats the traditional notions of time. The principal theme of
the play is "waiting", to wait means to experience the action of time "waiting for Godot " is a
dramatic statement of the human situation itself. In fact Godot is nothing but the name for the fact
that the life ,which goes on pointlessly is wrongly interpreted as "waiting for Something", what
appears to be the positive attitude of the tramps amounts to be a double negation of their
existence. They are unable to recognise the pointlessness of their existence. "They are like men
who , despite living on a desert island and never being married continuously expect the return of
their wives . In fact they are ruined by their habit merely because they happen to exist, and because
existence does not know any other alternation but to exist. Thus an absurd drama becomes a kind of
modern mystical experience", says Esslin.