The Psychological Setting of Waiting For Godot

 The Psychological Setting of Waiting for Godot - AP LITERATURE

Waiting is a fundamental part of any interaction, and in waiting, we can take in the world around us. Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot ties into this inherently human experience by writing a play about waiting in one place. Simple but effective, this two-hour play brings the audience along to the antics of two men, Vladimir and Estragon, as they wait for a figure named Godot. There is little story set before the play, as the characters know just about as much as the audience does about their current predicament. They wait together, knowing only that they are waiting for a man named Godot. The world around them is simple and bleak, consisting of a feeble plant and a mound of dirt. Their story is confined to this space, and it has a very interesting effect on them and the play as a whole. In his play, Samuel Beckett uses the setting to affect the characters within by setting an atmosphere, reminding characters of their place, and enforcing conformity.

The characters within Waiting for Godot are almost deceptively simple, telling the story with their shallowness as opposed to their depth. Vladimir actively contemplates his situation but elects to ignore it in favor of blissful ignorance. Beckett affects the characters with the setting’s atmosphere, a dull landscape with very little nuance or individuality. In the first Act, Vladimir and Estragon even converse about whether or not the plant behind them is a tree in the first place, giving them very little to surround themselves with, physically and mentally. This type of setting can affect one’s mental state, the lack of personality attributing to a feeling of necessary simplicity until there is little to perceive in the first place. Similar to typical portrayals of psych wards and prisons, the absence of life apart from the two characters instills a sense of desperation, which leads them towards the one thing that they know they should be doing: waiting for Godot. In the second Act, the addition of evidence of the previous day, the hat and boots, creates a sense of familiarity in waiting, welcoming the travelers back into their stasis. As Vladimir and Estragon begin to feel more comfortable in their waiting, their inclination to stay becomes more concrete. They have a place in this waiting, whether or not that place has positive intentions for them. The mood is set through these details, reminding the audience that many parts of this situation are inevitable.

It is hard to feel right in a space meant to displace you mentally, and though there is no malicious intent within the play to place these two men within their circumstances, Beckett’s intentions come out in the character’s thoughts throughout the show. Every detail of their surroundings, both psychological and physical, directs Vladimir and Estragon towards a sense of familiarity that they are unable to find. Their confusion about whether or not their surroundings even contain a tree adds to this level of environmental simplicity, stirring doubt for characters with little to hold faith in from the start. They were told by Godot to meet at the tree, but how are they to be sure if this is the right one? Or if it is even a tree at all? However, if they leave, and Godot comes while they are away, they have missed the situation that has become their collective fixation. In other words, the setting reminds them of their situation without pause, and these reminders only encourage the two men to continue their cycle. Pozzo and Lucky also serve as a strange insertion of unexpected variety, one that makes the audience wonder just how stuck the two travelers remain. Their recurrence on the second day communicates a sense of time lost, with Pozzo’s blind state, adding a brief sense of hesitation to believe any sort of linear timeline. All details within the play at this point direct the audience towards a sense of unreality, an inescapable understanding that the story is stagnant and unreliable.

Finally, the setting of Waiting for Godot enforces conformity from its inhabitants, confining them to their motions. While every other effect of the setting seems indirect, this detail reacts to characters directly, giving them hope for the future that they know will never be fully achieved. Though Godot’s messenger boy isn’t simply a part of the setting, he is not affected by interactions with the characters, which leads me to include him within this criteria. The men are promised repeatedly of their interaction with Godot on the following day, one which never comes. It can be assumed, by the end of the play, that they continue their cycle, every day promising to break out halfheartedly, with no real intent to waver. Stock characters like the Boy enforce this, giving them a reason to stay but no proof of honesty. However, Vladimir and Estragon are fixated on this concept of waiting for Godot with no other motives in mind, therefore no escape from the habitual stagnation. There are many moments when one of the two men remarks that they cannot do something, as they are “waiting for Godot.” Though this is seen as a comedic detail, there is a sadness to their desperation, reminding the viewer of their predicament. If they move, Godot could come, and their efforts would have been wasted. This keeps them locked in their cycle without pause, and with just enough hope to get by.

Waiting for Godot is a story about habit, as mentioned in the closing scene of the play. With no confirmation of their situation’s pause or completion, two men are confined to a rhythmic pattern of waiting. Though the audience only sees two days of these travelers’ lives, there is evidence to believe that their waiting continues after the show, though the destination was never the show’s message. Samuel Beckett’s play utilizes its setting to affect characters through the story’s atmosphere, persistent reminders of inescapable confinement, and details that serve to enforce conformity among the two men. The play examines the setting through a very specific lens, one that pinpoints a generic and inconsequential spot of land and places two characters there with one impossible goal. The impossibility of human individuality is realized through these people, and their simple days are defined by their lack of change. Habits are undeniable, and sometimes there isn’t a point to them at all. Beckett’s famous tragicomedy serves as a sorrowful reminder of hope’s impossibility, and how sometimes, the things we seek are beyond reaching.