![]() It allows the audience to realize that all these two characters have is the hope that Godot will show up. This emphasizes the phrase so that the audience will pick up on it. In the first half-dozen pages of the play, the phrase is repeated about four times. The aforementioned phrase, “Nothing to be done,” is one example of repetition in dialogue. The idea that the two characters are simply passing time is evident in the dialogue. To allow for the repetition of the routine to take place the cast must include only those characters who are necessary to it. This leaves no room for extra characters that will get in the way of the act. In order to maintain the integrity of the routine, the play must be based around these two characters. As mentioned before, the play is set up like a Vaudeville routine. Another effect of repetition on the structure of Godot is the number of characters in the play. What is every day for us but another of the same act? Surely small things will change, but overall we seem to be living out the same day many times over. It is not very long into the second act before one realizes that all they are really doing is wasting time, “Waiting for…waiting.” (50)īy making the second act another show of the same routine, Beckett instills in us a feeling of our own waiting and daily routines. However, after the first act, the audience has pretty much decided that Godot will never show up. There is no climax in the play because the only thing the plot builds to is the coming of Godot. In this way, repetition dictates the structure of the play. The same chain of events: Estragon sleeps in a ditch, Vladimir meets him at the tree, they are visited by Pozzo and Lucky, and a boy comes to tell them that Godot will not be coming but will surely be there the following day. The routine is put on again for the audience. The second act, though not an exact replication, is basically the first act repeated. Once the routine is over, it cannot continue. For Godot, the routine begins at the opening of the play and ends at the intermission. Comedy routines have a beginning and an ending. Beckett accomplishes two things by using this style of comedy. A day in the life of two hapless companions on a country road with a single tree. From this beat on the characters move through what amounts to a comedy routine. Vladimir is moving around bowlegged because of a bladder problem. Estragon is struggling with a tightly fitting boot that he just cannot seem to take off his foot. ![]() ![]() Each character is involved in a comedic action from the play’s beginning. Vladimir is usually cast as tall and thin and Estragon just the opposite. These characters lend themselves to the same body types as Abbot and Costello. The first two characters to appear on stage are Vladimir and Estragon, dressed in bowler hats and boots. The first thing an audience may notice about Waiting For Godot is that they are immediately set up for a comedy. This is demonstrated in the progression of dialogue and action in each of the two acts in Godot.
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