Comment on the title of Waiting for Godot.
The title of Waiting for Godot raises many
questions but leads to one answer. It is that godot is an emanation from God.
‘Godot’ is a word which appears to be a weakened from of the word ‘God ‘.As
‘pierrot ‘is a diminutive from of ‘Pierre’, or ‘Charlot’ a diminutive from of
Charles, so ‘Godot ‘is supposed to be a similar formation. Further, we can find
another connection we know of Charlie Chaplin playing the role of the little
man, known as Charlot in France. The French and original title of the play is En
Attendant Godot (‘in looking for Godot ‘). Simon Weil also wrote a book
named Attende de Dien which means ‘Waiting for God’.
So we can presume that Beckett might have thought of other
works in his search for a suitable title of his play. Incidentally, his title
has taken on a meaning of enormous importance. Now the title means any act of
waiting meaningless and without any concrete object. The absurdity or
meaninglessness of existence is manifest in this expression. Somehow, ‘Waiting
for Godot’ has come to reflect on modern life itself.
We are not supplied any clue to exact meaning of Godot. The
play is not about Godot but about ‘Waiting’. The act of waiting is mere a
characteristic aspect of human condition. ‘Godot simply represents the
objective of our waiting an event, a thing, a person, death’. We are entirely
in the dark about our object of waiting. It can be anything or everything.
The act of waiting, however, is an important function in life.
When we are engaged only in the act of waiting we become conscious of the flow
of time in its purest and most evident form. When we are active, we pass the
time without being conscious of the passage of time. On the other hand, when we
have to wait passively, we are faced with the action of time itself. We are
continually in the process of change. We are never, at any single moment of our
life, identical with ourselves.
