No one dreamed about being born. We were just sent here one day without having a choice. No one dreams about leaving this earth. We will just leave here one day without having a choice. If we define Point A as the day we arrived on this planet and Point B as the day we will leave it, what happens between point A and B is what we typically call life. That "in-between" is what Samual Beckett describes in "Waiting for Godot".
Godot’s meaning is a much-debated topic. The most popular theory is that it means God as in (God)ot. But Beckett originally wrote the play in French, in which the word for God is 'Dieu'. Beckett himself commented, 'If by Godot I had meant God, I would have said God, and not Godot'.
"Waiting for Godot" seems to be about the act of waiting itself. We all choose to wait for Godot in our own way: when we have graduated, when we get a better job, when we have saved enough money, when we have paid off the house; all endless distractions in our eternal wait for Godot. But as Estragon points out 'It would have passed in any case', to which Vladimir replies, 'Yes, but not so rapidly'. We are all just passing time with occasional distractions in our way. And yet we like to think that our existence matters, that we are not here without a purpose, which is why Vladimir insists that the boy tell Godot that he saw them.
It's not an easy play to watch because we all want to see the end of everything. The end of a movie, of a play and even of life because even ending provides a sense of comfort. That comfort is denied in "Watching for Godot" which carries on like an itch that won't go away. It's uncomfortable, disorienting and repetitive. It's perfect. It's all of us.
It's me, sitting here on the edge of my bed, waiting for morning to come because everything else I already have had: the better job, enough money, the paid-off house. Now I'm just waiting to watch the sun come up and to sit on the verandah with a mug of tea and wait some more.
