Vladimir and Estrogen Stick Together

Throughout the play, Vladimir and Estragon had a fair amount of disagreements. At times the disagreements led to talk of one of them leaving and even hanging themselves became a solution they contemplated, but despite their talk of being apart, Vladimir and Estragon remain partners for all of act one. The relationship between Vladimir and Estragon is complex, especially since the reader is given very little information about what their day to day lives are like. We do not know the history of their friendship, the origin, or if they had any relation prior to waiting for Godot. From the dialogue, I have found that Vladimir is a bit dominating, while Estragon is more submissive. I say this because many times Estragon will have an idea, then Vladimir will repeat it as if it is his own, and since their memories are terrible, Estragon truly believes that the idea was Vladimir's first. This instance seems to represent the relationship because it shows Vladimir's dominant nature, but also his dependence on Estragon. I think that both the characters depend on each other because they have curiosities and keep each other working towards their common goal: meeting with Godot

First Impressions of Waiting for Godot

So far, I'm a big fan of the play, Waiting for Godot, and to me, it seems that my classmates are all having very different reactions to it. With a work that is based on absurdity, that does not surprise me at all. I noticed that some students are frustrated with the play because the characters don't make sense. The characters cannot keep one train of thought, their memories are horrible, and none of them seem to know their purpose, meaning no one has stopped to say, "Why are we waiting for Godot?" Others seem to take the play as a jumping off point for their philosophical thinking. Since the playwright made the details of the play so vague (i.e. the setting, history, characters, and dialogue) these readers believe that they must interpret what is not being said. I am one of those students. I read this play and could not help but ask myself what the playwright is trying to tell us. I keep thinking that this nonsense is some elaborate allegory for something, but that may just be me looking for some closure in the absurdity. The other way that students in my class reacted to the play was with laughter. I think the play is really funny. These characters remind me a bit of the the three stooges, just because we laugh at how absent-minded the characters are behaving. I also can't help but laugh when they speak to each other with such strong emotion over something silly, like getting angry because of a boot or crying because of the words of another character. I am sure that by the end of the play I will find some meaning in it because there must be a greater reason why we are studying it than simply the comedic aspects.