The play, "Waiting for Godot," by Samuel Beckett follows two men seeking to find the purpose of their existence. Throughout the entire play, both men appear to be waiting for a person called Godot who is apparently able to relieve them of their current circumstances. In a sense, Godot represents hope for the two men and it is this hope of meeting Godot that drives the man to remain where they are. Nevertheless, Godot never appears in the play and thus all the waiting seems to be for naught. The play itself starts off without any introduction or elaborating of details. It continues without anything overtly significant happening and without a build-up to a climatic ending - it ends where it started. All in all, one cannot be faulted into making the assumption that the whole point of the play is that there is simply no point to it at all. And therein lies the caveat of the role that Godot plays. This essay will thus attempt to highlight how, through his nuanced absence, Godot ironically guides the audiences through the failures of rationalization and interpretation. To do this, the essay will first highlight how the play explores the absurdity of existence. Subsequently, the essay will highlight the play's character's search for meaning under such circumstances. This would then lead to a discussion of how Godot, as an absent character, is the focal point of such explorations. Finally, despite the earnestness exhibited by the characters who are present in the play, their struggle to define their relationship with Godot would thus prove to highlight the futility of their struggles. .
To start, time is an important aspect in our everyday lives; however, it is shown to be meaningless in the play itself. The two main characters are tramps named Vladimir and Estragon whom continually wile their time away waiting for the mysterious Godot. It is definitely absurd as to how they waste away their time and "Let it go to waste" [1] by waiting for someone to simply come and rescue them.