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.