For this blog post, I want to focus
on the first time that Vladimir and Estragon see each other in the second act.
Their conversation starts off very hostile, Estragon yelling, “Don’t touch
me...Don’t speak to me” (1386). This is not the way that they act when they
first run in to each other in act I. In Act I they are glad to see each other,
and act as if they hadn’t seen one another in a long time. While this
interaction is not a positive one, it gives the reader hope that there could be
a change up in the plot, and that something exciting will happen. With a
conflict, you get more of a plot.
However, they almost immediately go
back to the kind ways they expressed in their first interaction in Act I. All
they needed to do was look at each other and then they hugged as the stage
directions suggested. Then their conversation is very similar to the beginning
of Act I, they’re “happy to be back” (1387) and that now they need to “wait for
Godot” (1387). The plot is circular; it keeps repeating itself, a common absurdist
characteristic. How do characters break this continuous cycle? We see there is
some hope but is all hope lost for a break in the cycle?
Joe, I really liked your blog and also found this play to be very repetitive and I sadly I didn't find a time the circle broke but I feel that links the authors theme of hopelessness into perspective. Without the repetition hope would in fact be seen, but since the cycle never breaks I do have to assume all hope is lost for these two characters.
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