Traditional Spirituality In Samuel Beckett's Waiting For Godot

Traditional spiritualites like Christianity have been around since man was created. It has a huge influence in society and the life of people, even to today and even back 70 years ago when Samuel Beckett was writing Waiting For Godot. It’s no surprise when Beckett incorporates traditional spirituality into his tragicomedy since it does have a huge presence. Beckett’s use of this traditional spirituality in Waiting for Godot helps to expose the themes of faith and doubt as well as to justify the seemingly pointless waiting throughout the play. In Waiting for Godot the focus is on the character of Godot, who is a representation of God. He is never revealed to the other characters, and in turn, the readers. Estragon even says at one point in the play that “Personally I wouldn’t even know him if I saw him.” (Beckett 15). When it comes to traditional spirituality, there is always a god or higher being to believe in and in most cases believers never see or meet this higher being face-to-face. Readers of the bible see this happening with the God of Christianity in the Book of John when it states, “No one has ever seen God.” (John 1:18) In turn, this relates back to Godot since none

VLADIMIR: Yes, now it is night. ESTRAGON: And if we dropped him?...” (83)
Estragon throughout this whole play is always very critical of Godot which becomes significant because it helps to develop this theme of doubt in the play, starting with Estragon. He is always ready to leave and not want to wait for Godot when things are taking too long or he doesn’t show up. Additionally, Beckett’s pessimistic language and style of writing helps portray the impatient and doubtful ideals of Estragon. Readers can tell this because of how easily he jumps to the thought of dropping Godot and just moving on with their lives. If Estragon had the faith that Vladimir did in Godot and him coming, Estragon would want to stay and wouldn’t forget about Godot so