"Waiting for Godot" as an Existential Drama

Considered in terms of the twentieth-century secular philosophy, Waiting for Godot goes well with the tenets of Existentialism, theorised by Sartre in Being and Nothingness (1943). Sartre de-established the conventional structure of Western philosophy and subverted religious traditions by asserting that "existence precedes essence". There is no pre-existent spirituality or soul; no god, Christian or otherwise; no cosmic compassion for human life; no salvation in heaven and damnation in hell; neither preset destiny nor inevitable fate; and nor the transcendence of our worldly existence.

In "The Humanism of Existentialism", Sartre insists that "there is no human nature since there is no God to conceive it. Not only is man what he conceives himself to be, but…man is nothing else but what he makes of himself." Everyone must bear the responsibility for their own existence since it is not predetermined or shaped by any external force; subsequent anxiety is one of the aspects of human nature. Nevertheless, the burdens of anxiety and responsibility are often too heavy to bear, and we often seek to shift them on certain individuals, institutions, religions, or even on a Godot.

Loneliness is the second aspect in Sartre's theory, which Heidegger identified as the consequence of godlessness. In a blank futile universe devoid of purpose, design or care – represented by the featureless Beckettian landscape or darkness in his later works – Sartre finds human beings "alone, with no excuses", at the same time "condemned to be free." Afraid of this isolation Estragon and Vladimir cling together despite their quarrels, and Pozzo and Lucky do not untie themselves. This futility leads to the third characteristic, despair.

Since there is no preset will, Existentialism preaches the individual freedom of choice. Estragon and Vladimir have made the choice of waiting, without any instruction as Vladimir says that Godot "didn't say for sure he'd come". Yet they wait to know exactly how they stand. The boredom of waiting prompts them to ponder over their identity, as Camus suggests in The Plague that inactivity leads the individual to think. Estragon remarks: "We always find something, eh Didi, to give us the impression that we exist?"

For Sartre, man needs a rational basis for existence but fails to find one, making his life no better than a wasted passion. The two tramps vainly attempt to put an order in their lives by waiting for Godot who never arrives, and reiterate that "Nothing to be done." And this inaction again questions their very entities, and Estragon anxiously doubts: "Where do we come in?" Vladimir and Estragon ponder suicide by hanging themselves from the tree, but once again their anxiety stops them, as the latter remarks: "Don't let's do anything. It's safer." Kierkegaard's notion of 'Dread' or 'Angst' talks of a state in which the individual's freedom of choice places him in a state of anxiety, as he is surrounded by almost infinite possibilities. This could explain the inactivity of both the tramps. They are aware of the different choices they can make but are hesitant, just as they decide to leave at the end of each Act but remain motionless.
Beckett infers that people pass time with habits to cope with the existentialist dilemma of the dread or anxiety of their existence. The idea of a habit being essential to an entity substantiates Sartre's notion of a rational base. Beckett wrote in his essay on Proust that "Habit is a compromise effected between the individual and his environment…Life is habit." Estragon and Vladimir idly pass the time to escape the pain of waiting and even thinking. Vladimir expresses the idea at the end of the play: "Habit is a great deadener." All the events – the Crucifixion story, the suicide plan, playing talk – seem nothing more than silly pastimes. Once during the Pozzo-Lucky episode, the tramps behave as if they are in a theatre; Vladimir even asks Estragon to keep his seat while going off to the urinal at "The end of the corridor, on the left." But the distractions end some time or other, leaving them again with their futile inaction: "The essential doesn't change." This once again echoes Kierkegaard's theory that life will end in nothingness as it has begun, reducing achievements to nothing.

Time has little significance in this futile lifecycle. The past often becomes shadowy to Estragon as he often asks questions like "What did we do yesterday?" He does not remember Pozzo and Lucky and even the place in Act Two, and shortly, Pozzo also fails to recognize the tramps. Linear time seems to have broken down here. The boy returns with the same message, Godot never comes and tomorrow also never seems to arrive. Vladimir, therefore, is right to say that "time has stopped." Estragon conveys the horror of this uneventful repetitive existence: "Nothing happens, nobody comes, nobody goes, it's awful!" Amidst this void vista, they can do nothing meaningful than waiting for Godot. They can well be worse with Godot, possibly be separated as suggested by one thief being saved from damnation and one boy being spared from beating; but without the transcendent Other their lives have no meaning either. This is "bad faith" in Sartre's language and accordingly "border on the comic" as the actors of a tragicomedy. According to Anouilh, it is Pascal's Pensées played by Fratellini clowns.

Nevertheless, considering Waiting for Godot as nothing more than a dramatization of Sartre's thesis is as reductive an oversimplification as viewing it only as a Christian allegory. Like Beckett, his play as well as his characters are not committed to any specific theory. Existentialism is a way to see them, but surely not the only one.