Truth in Samuel Becket’s “Waiting for Godot”

Abstract

Waiting for Godot is a play by Samuel Beckett in which two characters, Vladimir (Didi) and Estragon (Gogo), engage in a variety of discussions and encounters while awaiting the titular Godot, who never arrives. Waiting for Godot is a play driven by a lack of truth in other words, uncertainty. Characters are unable to act in any meaningful way and claim this is because they are uncertain of the consequences. Without the presence of objective truth, every statement is brought into question, and even common labels (color, time, names) become arbitrary and subjective. In Waiting for Godot, Beckett espouses the Existentialist tenet that the world is without meaning, but disagrees with the belief that one can give the world meaning and purpose through action. Add this to the list of uncertainties surrounding the act of Waiting For Godot. Not only are the men unsure of what day they are supposed to meet him, but even if they were, they couldn’t know what day it is anyway. Part of the problem here is that what should be objective truth the name of this specific day is actually arbitrary. If it’s Thursday, it’s because we choose to call it Thursday. Some existentialists argue that, actually, there is no such thing as objective truth, ever, so it’s possible that Beckett is getting at that claim.