Waiting for Godot Essay
...r Monday? (Pause) Or Friday? V: (looking wildly about him, as though the date was inscribed in the landscape). It's not possible! E: Or Thursday? (10-11) Didi and Gogo have nothing to assure them that they are to wait for Godot on Saturday; they don't have any assurance of Godot wanting them to wait on any day. Their memory lacks context and the little memory that they do have has no support. The confusion of not knowing the date worries them of the thought if they have missed Godot. E: If he came yesterday and we weren't here you may be sure he won't come again to-day. V: But you say we were here yesterday. E: I may be mistaken. (11) They are not sure of who Godot is and for what reasons they are to meet Godot, but they know that they must wait for Godot; waiting for Godot is the only thing they are sure of. If this one thing they are sure of becomes a situation where they are unsure of it, they lose a balance. The simple setting surrounding Didi and Gogo does not help them know that time is passing by; all they have to depend on is the withered tree. When the play first begins, the tree has no leaves. As Act One begins, Didi and Gogo see a tree and know that Godot told them to wait by a tree. They also realize that the tree has no leaves; this is all they have to go by. V: We're waiting for Godot. E: (despairingly). Ah! (Pause) You're sure it was here? V: What? E: That we were to wait. V: He said by the tree. (They look at the tree.) Do you see any others. E: What is it? V: I don't know. A willow. E: Where are the leave? V: It must be dead...Or perhaps it's not the season.(10) They realize that the season must be a season when trees are dry and leafless. This visual aid of the tree does not help them with the questions of when and where they are. In Act Two, the setting is the same as in Act One, except for the tree. This time the tree has grown leaves which shows that times has changed. V:...ah! The tree? E: The tree? V: Do you not remember?...Look at it. They look at the tree. E: I see nothing. V: But yesterday evening it was all black and bare. And now it's covered with leaves. E: Leaves? V: In a single night. E: It must be the Spring. V: But in a single night! E: I tell you we weren't here yesterd...