Structural Features
The starting situation where Vladimir and Estragon wait beside a tree.
What is the Stasis?
Who is Godot?
The person Vladimir and Estragon are waiting for.
What is Vladimir often referred as?
The theatrical movement most closely associated with Waiting for Godot.
What is Theatre of the Absurd?
The country where Samuel Beckett was born.
Ireland
The repeated conversations and events that occur throughout both acts.
What is the Repetition?
Where do the men spend most of the play?
The location where most of the play takes place.
What is Estragon often referred as?
Gogo
The two main characters believe this will happen, giving them a reason to keep waiting.
What is Godot’s arrival.
The year Waiting For Godot premiered in Paris.
1953
The uncertainty of whether Godot will ever arrive prevents the characters from moving forward.
What is the Obstacle?
Who are Pozzo and Lucky?
The two men who arrive while Vladimir and Estragon are waiting.
Who controls Lucky and gives him orders?
Pozzo
The feeling created by the characters repeating the same actions without progress.
What is stagnation/hopelessness.
The famous Irish writer Beckett met and befriended in Paris.
James Joyce
The audience never learns exactly who Godot is or why the men are waiting for him.
Mystery of the Play?
What is the message that the boy delivers?
Godot will not come today but will instead arrive tomorrow.
Who delivers a message from Godot?
The Boy
The use of jokes and ridiculous situations alongside serious questions about existence.
What is absurdist humor?
The prestigious literary award Beckett received in 1969.
The Nobel Prize in Literature.
The men continue waiting because they believe Godot may arrive, even after he fails to appear.
Cause and Effect of the Play?
What do Vladimir and Estragon consider doing at the end of the play?
Committing Suicide.
Who has a long and disjointed way of talking?
The play’s lack of a clear explanation for Godot encourages the audience to do this.
Interpret the meaning for themselves.
The language in which Beckett originally wrote Waiting for Godot.
French