Prompt 1: Insanity in Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot

Insanity in Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the term insanity means “condition of being insane; unsoundness of mind as a consequence of brain-disease; madness, lunacy.” Because of the overuse of this term in today’s culture, I feel that this term has come to be defined more loosely in that people employ the term in a manner that suggests that anything that seems to be outrageous in regard to what is socially “correct” or what the norm is, is insane. Given this, the term has come to define actions that are out of the ordinary without the individual demonstrating any logic in his or her decision making and thinking. One of the most obvious signs of  insanity appears to be the individual’s inability to see anything inherently wrong or odd about his or her behavior. Because of this, insanity’s definition has come to mean the instability of the mind with no regard or understanding for one’s own being, surroundings, or what is socially acceptable; the manner in which people utilize the term proves to be subjective in its usage. With this definition in mind and that the play was written during a time where existentialism was a popular topic, I believe that in Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot, Estragon and Vladimir do demonstrate signs of insanity due to their lack of sense of time and their constant waiting for a person who clearly will not arrive.

Estragon: If he came yesterday and we weren’t here you may be sure he won’t come again today.

Vladimir: But you say we were here yesterday.

Estragon: I may be mistaken. [Pause] Let’s stop talking for a minute do you mind? (Beckett 7)

In this scene, Estragon and Vladimir attempt to remember how long they have been waiting, yet they do not seem to possess the ability to know how long they have been waiting or what day it actually is. In other words, the two evidently have no concept of time. Time is a social construct as far as years, months, days, and hours go because the manner in which people measure time was created by people.Throughout the play, both characters clearly have no regard for time as they never seem to be able to determine how much time has passed. They demonstrate awareness for what time is, yet they cannot grasp how it passes. The fact that they never know how much time passed demonstrates insanity because they cannot see an issue with this inability, but someone of a sound mind would be able to. They never question their failure to determine what day it is or how much time goes by, they continue to simply wait for Godot.

Vladimir: We’ll hang ourselves tomorrow. [Pause.] Unless Godot comes.

Estragon: And if he comes?

Vladimir: We’ll be saved. (Beckett 84)

Here, at the end of the play, both characters revisit the same idea of killing themselves they explored in the beginning of the novel. This demonstrates that their only reason to live is Godot’s arrival, yet he never arrives. Godot’s failure to appear drives Vladimir and Estragon to the point where they feel the need to hang themselves. Because they cannot distinguish how much time has passed, they cannot tell how long they truly have been waiting for Godot, so they continue to await this being who never seems to appear. They rely so heavily on someone who does not present himself at all throughout the play, and this person drives Vladimir and Estragon to the point where they want to commit suicide because they wait and have been waiting for an unknown amount of time. Clearly, Godot may never come to Vladimir and Estragon, and the evidence throughout the play appears to point to that he will not. Still, the two characters ignore any reasoning behind Godot’s absence which supports them being insane. Their own existence relies on a figure’s existence that has yet to be confirmed.

Vladimir and Estragon demonstrate that they are insane due to their irrational and outrageous thoughts that occur while waiting for someone whose character is unknown and presence is nonexistent. This play explores existentialism, a popular concept during the time Beckett wrote the play, so it oddly makes sense for the characters to exhibit signs of insanity because people experiencing an existential crisis often feel that they are insane. The characters live in an endless cycle and constant state of not knowing or understanding anything that occurs around them or that they experience allows Beckett to create a piece that represents the time period’s feelings of insanity. Overall, Vladimir and Estragon do appear to demonstrate insanity due to the idea that the intended audience likely felt that they were also insane.