M.A English Part 2 Notes | Waiting For Godot Notes
Question : While Didi and Gogo represent a horizontal axis, Lucky and.Pozzo represent a vertical axis Elaborate.
Answer :
There are two heroes in the tragicomedy "Waiting for Godot." Both of them have strange characteristics, which to some extent nullify their heroism, and for that purpose, it will be appropriate to call them "anti-heroes." Vladimir as compared to Estragon is more intelligent and he understands each other's capabilities as well as disabilities. Estrogens is by nature coward and is obsessed by nightmares. He is fully dependent-on Vladimir. Once, when he threw himself in the river, Vladimir rescued .him at the risk of his own life. They developed good understanding and became habitual to cling to each other wifh great affection.
They called each other with nicknames of "Gogo" and "Didi", ("Gogo" for Estragon and "Didi" for Vladimir). Their mutual warm-and human relationship, as said earlier, was between Didi and Gogo. For that reasons, we may say that they offer one way of going through life or we may say that the fraternal pair represent a horizontal axis. In these and other respects, they are like an old married couple who always want to separate but never do so.
While on the other hand, there appear two other figures on the scene as a pair of mysterious passers by. They seem to come from nowhere and go nowhere. One of them is Pozzo and the other is Lucky and they symbolize a master slave relationship-Pozzo, the master and Lucky the slave. Pozzo being master is inhabit of treating Lucky more than he would treat an animal. Some critics are of the opinion that "Pozzo from an ecclesiastical point of view represents mankind while Lucky represents Christ."
This interpretation, to greater extent reminds how Jesus Christ was whipped by the Jews before his Crucifixion. Christ was tormented by them Even a hat, made of thorns, was put on the head of Christ. This cruelty and torture has beer, represented in the play when a "thinking hat" is put on Lucky's head. Pozzo (mankind) for that reason turns blind, which signifies the transience of human power and domination. Lucky becomes dumb.
"The essence of the play thus lies in that, it has no climax, but, on the contrary, a relentless levelling down. Pozzo and Lucky are drawn closer to state of the two tramps.
The vertical axis is joining the horizontal axis, in Act I, Pozzo says:
"I am myself in your situation, if I had an
appointment with a Godin.....Godot.... Godot
... ..anyhow, you see who I mean, I'd wait till it was black night before 1 gave up."
And in Act II, when the blind Pozzo and dumb Lucky are leaving Vladimir asks Pozzo" What do you do, when you fall far from help? Pozzo says: "We wait till we can get up. Then we can go on. The word "wait" here is significant.
"The Pozzo-Lucky pair representing the vertical axis may be compared with Didi-Gogo pair who represent the horizontal axes the difference between the two pairs is quite distinctive. When in Act II, the blind Pozzo falls down and cannot get up, calls out for help. The two tramps keep making futile effort to help him. During these attempts they forget whether it concerns them or not, until Vladimir realizes the human significance of the situation and utters:
"To all mankind they were addressed, these
cries for help, ringing in our ears; But
at this place, at this moment of time,
all mankind is us, whether we like it or not."
"In this immense confusion, one thing alone is clear. We are waiting for Godot to come."
Summing up the opposite pairs, Didi fend Gogo on one hand and Pozzo and Lucky on the other hand, it can be concluded that both the pairs move on two different plane, former on horizontal axis and the latter on vertical Oidi Gogo's relationship is quite distinctive from Pozzo-LucKys relationship. The former presents one way of going through life and the latter (Pozzo-Lucky) offer another way, thus on different planes and axis.