Existentialism In Waiting For Godot Essay

In “Waiting for Godot”, written by Samuel Beckett, absurdism is a major theme within the play as an existentialist view of human reality is hugely reflected. The play revolves around the mocking of religion and faith in regards to futility. Ironically, however, the play would not exist without this idea that life has no meaning.
The first example of the absurdism present in the play is how the main characters, Vladimir and Estragon spend the entirely of their time waiting for someone who they do not know will arrive. Estragon and Vladimir know very little of this being named Mr. Godot. The play continues on in Act 1 as new characters are introduced such as Pozzo and Lucky. While having a conversation as to who Mr. Godot is with Pozzo, Estragon states, “ … we hardly know him.” (Beckett 15) and also that he might never even recognize Mr. Godot as he says, "Personally I wouldn't know him if I ever saw him” (Beckett 15). This portrays to the audience that the identity of Mr. Godot holds little to no importance as hardly any information is ever given about this

VLADIMIR: We can't. ESTRAGON: Why not? VLADIMIR: Were waiting for Godot. (6) Existentialism focuses on the concept of an individual having the freedom to choose for themselves. In contrast to the belief that humans are controlled by a pre-existing being, God being one of the many examples. Estragon and Vladimir constantly try to pass the time throughout the entire play to stop themselves from contemplating too deeply. In a sense, they wanted to lessen the pain of waiting by not thinking about complex topics. Estragon and Vladimir have made their choice of waiting, as they share a similar view of death in the parts of the play where the two ignore the importance of suicide and life: VLADIMIR: What do we do now? ESTRAGON: Wait. VLADIMIR: Yes, but while waiting. ESTRAGON: What about hanging