Weekend Economists Waiting for Godot March 7-9, 2014

[Demeter]

1. The Plot (there's always a plot, you know)

Act I

The play opens with Estragon (Gogo) struggling to remove one of his boots, giving up, and muttering, "Nothing to be done." Vladimir (Didi) takes up the thought and muses on it. Estragon claims that he spent the night in a ditch and was beaten by unknown assailants. He finally succeeds in removing the boot, but looks inside and finds nothing; he later removes his second one. Bickering and bantering, the pair discusses whether they should repent. This leads to Vladimir’s pondering about the two thieves crucified alongside Jesus Christ, and the strange fact that only one of the Four Evangelists mentions a thief being saved. All the while, Estragon struggles to maintain sufficiently preoccupying conversation, and Vladimir heckles him for his lack of conversational skills. Estragon suddenly decides to leave but Vladimir tells him that they must stay and wait for Godot—a segment of dialogue that repeats often throughout the play. Unfortunately, the pair cannot agree on whether or not they are in the right place, or that this is the right day for their meeting with Godot. They only know that they are supposed to wait for someone named Godot at a tree and there is indeed a leafless one nearby.

Estragon soon dozes off, but, after rousing him, Vladimir is not interested in hearing about Estragon's dreams—another recurring motif. Estragon wants to hear an old joke, which Vladimir starts but cannot finish, as he is urgently compelled to rush off and urinate due to a kidney ailment that pains him whenever he laughs. Estragon next suggests that they hang themselves, but they abandon the idea when their strategy seems infeasible. Estragon asks what Godot is going to do for them once he arrives, but "Oh ... nothing very definite" is the best that Vladimir can manage. When Estragon declares that he is hungry, Vladimir provides a carrot (among a collection of turnips), at which Estragon idly gnaws, loudly reiterating their boredom.

"A terrible cry" from off-stage abruptly heralds the entrance of Lucky, a baggage-burdened, nearly-silent slave who has a rope tied around his neck. His aggressive and pompous master, Pozzo, soon appears holding the other end. The master barks orders at the slave and frequently calls him a "pig", but acts civil, though terse, towards the other two. The original pair is astounded by this arrival, and at first mistake Pozzo for Godot. Pozzo stops to rest, enjoying chicken and wine without any thought of sharing, and eventually casts the bones to the ground. Estragon jumps at the chance to have them, much to Vladimir's embarrassment, but Pozzo cautions that the bones now belong to Lucky, so Estragon will have to ask him for them personally. Estragon tries to communicate with the slave, who merely hangs his head without answering, so Estragon claims the bones. Now past his initial astonishment, Vladimir suddenly blows up at Pozzo for his mistreatment of Lucky. Pozzo ignores this and explains that he is on his way to sell Lucky, at which point the slave begins to cry. Pozzo presents a handkerchief, but, when Estragon tries to use it to wipe Lucky's tears away, Lucky kicks him in the shin. Pozzo then speaks maudlinly as though he were the victim and Lucky the abuser. When he thanks Vladimir and Estragon for their company and offers them some kind of compensation, Estragon tries to beg for money, but Vladimir quickly cuts him short. When Pozzo suggests that Lucky can "dance" and "think" for their entertainment, the other two agree. Lucky's dance, called "the Net", is clumsy and shuffling. Lucky's "thinking" is a long-winded and disjointed verbal stream of consciousness; it is the first and only time in the play that Lucky speaks. The soliloquy begins as a relatively coherent lecture on theology but quickly dissolves into mindless, agonising verbosity and only ends when Vladimir rips off Lucky's hat. Lucky collapses and, once he is revived, Pozzo has him pack up his bags and they leave at last.

Vladimir and Estragon begin to reflect on the encounter, with Vladimir suspecting that they have met Pozzo and Lucky before. Suddenly a boy arrives, purporting to be a messenger sent from Godot in order to tell the pair that Godot will not be coming that "evening but surely tomorrow." During Vladimir's interrogation of the boy, he asks if he came the day before, making it apparent that the two men have been waiting for an indefinite period and will likely continue this trend. After the boy departs, the moon finally appears and the two men decide to leave in order to find shelter for the night, yet they make no attempt to do so.

Act II

It is daytime again and Vladimir begins singing a recursive round about the death of a dog, but twice forgets the lyrics as he sings. As in the previous act, Estragon claims to have spent the night in a ditch and was beaten, despite the lack of any apparent injury. Vladimir comments that the formerly bare tree now has leaves and he tries to speak with Estragon about the proceedings of the day before, but Estragon retains only a vague recollection, hampered by his extremely unreliable memory. Vladimir triumphantly sees an opportunity to produce evidence of the previous day's events by showing Estragon the wound on his leg from when Lucky kicked him. Only then does he notice that Estragon is not wearing any boots. He discovers the pair of boots nearby, which Estragon insists are not his but nevertheless fit when he tries them on. With no carrots left, Vladimir offers Estragon the pointless choice between a turnip and a radish. He then sings Estragon to sleep with a lullaby before noticing further evidence to confirm his memory: Lucky's hat lies on the ground from the day before. This leads to his involving Estragon in a frenetic hat-swapping scene. The two wait for Godot, as they did yesterday, and in the meantime distract themselves by playfully imitating Pozzo and Lucky, firing insults at each other and then making up, and attempting some fitness routines—all of which fail miserably and end quickly.

Pozzo and Lucky unexpectedly reappear, but the rope is much shorter than yesterday, and Lucky now guides Pozzo, rather than being driven by him since Pozzo apparently cannot see in front of him. As they arrive, Pozzo trips over Lucky and they together fall into a motionless heap. Estragon sees an opportunity to exact revenge on Lucky for kicking him. The issue is debated lengthily by Estragon and Vladimir. Pozzo offers them money but soon all four end up on the ground, idly converse, and finally stand up again. Pozzo insists that he is now blind and Lucky is now mute. He claims to have lost all notion of time, and assures the others that he cannot remember meeting them the day before, but also does not expect to recall today's events when tomorrow arrives. Pozzo’s commanding arrogance from yesterday now (with his blindness) appears to have been replaced by humility and insight, though his demeanor is one of utter despair. His parting words—which Vladimir expands upon later—eloquently encapsulate the brevity of human existence: "They give birth astride of a grave, the light gleams an instant, then it's night once more." Estragon has again begun snoozing by the time Lucky and Pozzo depart.

While Estragon sleeps on, Vladimir is encountered by (apparently) the same boy from yesterday, though Vladimir wonders whether he might be the other boy's brother. This time, Vladimir begins consciously realising the circular nature of his experiences and existence: he even predicts exactly what the boy will say, involving the same speech about Godot not arriving today but surely tomorrow. Vladimir particularly seems to experience a moment of revelation when he asks the boy about the colour of Godot's beard and is told that it is white. In a rush of anger, Vladimir abruptly chases the boy away, demanding that he be recognised the next time they meet. Estragon awakes and pulls his boots off again. He and Vladimir again consider hanging themselves, but they test the strength of Estragon's belt (hoping to use it as a noose) and it breaks; Estragon's trousers consequently fall down. They resolve tomorrow to bring a more suitable piece of rope and, if Godot fails to arrive, to commit suicide. Again, they decide to clear out for the night, though neither of them makes any attempt to move.

SOUNDS LIKE US AND / OR EU FOREIGN (OR EVEN DOMESTIC) POLICY...