Existentialism Reveals a Purpose?

Samuel Beckett, in his post-modern play Waiting for Godot, uses a strong theme of existentialism to reveal a lack of meaning within the story. Existentialism is a major element of post-modernism, and it is a belief that there is a lack of universal meaning in this incoherent world. This belief is strong within the dialogue of this play’s major characters of Vladimir and Estragon. In Act II of the play, the plot closely mimics the first act in which the two men spend their evening waiting for a mysterious man named Godot, for a reason unknown to them as well as the audience. As they pass the time with useless and rambled arguments, Estragon responds to his acquaintance by saying, “Yes now I remember, yesterday evening we spent blathering about nothing in particular. That’s been going on now for half a century” (1392). Estragon’s line speaks largely to the idea of existentialism. He refers to the idea that the world, much like Vladimir and himself, has been involved in useless and argumentative engagements for years now, most likely a direct reference to the first and second World Wars. This idea of uselessness parallels with the lack of meaning that accompanies this play. Similarly, Vladimir expresses his impatient thoughts and opinion while waiting for Godot when he questions, “But in all that what truth will there be?” (1408). Once again, the idea of a universal meaning being non existent stands out as a theme as Vladimir questions the purpose of his waiting. He is unable to think of the reasoning for his waiting, and for that reason the audience loses connection with any meaning; therefore, the idea of existentialism proves that this play was written for a lack of purpose.

Is it somewhat contradictory that the purpose of this play was to show a lack of purpose? It’s a little confusing to think about. Also, what do the multiple Biblical references in this play reveal about post-modernism, if anything?