Waiting for Godot task ....

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• Waiting for Godot is a play by Samuel Beckett in which two characters, Vladimir (Didi) and Estragon (Gogo), wait for the arrival of someone named Godot who never arrives, and while waiting they engage in a variety of discussions and encounter three other characters. 
• Waiting for Godot is Beckett's translation of his own original French play, En attendant Godot, and is subtitled in English only "a tragicomedy in two acts".
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What connection do you see in the setting (“A country road. A tree.Evening.”) of the play and these paintings?

■These two paintings are symbolically goes with the settings e.g. in the first painting two people are there and staring at the sun which is going with the hope, the tree is also there in second painting which is also goes with the settings of tree.
■   In the first answer I found that in the first act tree doesn't any leaf means there is no hope that today Godot will be come. Here we also say that in the first act we found that barren tree and the second act we found that sprouted tree.  End of the play we found nothing to be happen. So we can also that endless play.    But Vladimir and Estragon waiting for Godot with the hope that today Godot will come. In the second act we found that tree has some leaves means there is hope that today Godot will defiantly come but he can’t come and they are still waiting for Godot. 


The tree is the only important ‘thing’ in the setting. What is the importance of tree in both acts? Why does Beckett grow a few leaves in Act II on the barren tree -The tree has four or five leaves - ?

)  In both Acts, evening falls into night and moon rises. How would you like to interpret this ‘coming of night and moon’ when actually they are waiting for Godot?

In the second answer I found the connection these two paintings that is in the first picture we find setting of the evening. The second picture of the setting is morning. May be Beckett got whole idea through these painting. The play starts with the dialogue “Nothing to be done” means in the play we find only one situation and that is Vladimir and Estragon waiting for Godot so it also indirectly suggest viewer that in all the play nothing going to be happen in serious way. 

moon shows the light of positiveness and hope for new day come with new things and full fill our wishes of life.it also reflected meaninglessness of waiting.
The director feels the setting with some debris. Can you read any meaning in the contours of debris in the setting of the play?

In the movie version director showing debris .it's like absurdity,and humans predicament, also debris is totally useless but it will be recycle if someone think over it so that debris also in same condition for waiting for processing of recycle as over body in aged time become totally weak ,useless so death come and our soul converted into new body it is spiritual ideas from indian myth and religion . 

The play begins with the dialogue “Nothing to be done”. How does the theme of ‘nothingness’ recurs in the play?

The play begins with the dialogue "Nothing to be done".and also Estragon speaks that “Nothing happens, nobody comes, nobody goes, and it’s awful!”. Nothingness is main theme of this play and we can see that in this play these all characters they are doing insignificant activities meaninglessly.But here nothingness is means that something to be done so nothing itself is action. It recalls the line of T.S.Eliot’s ‘nothing’ means ‘something’. Repetition of the word nothing to be done.

• Do you agree: “The play (Waiting for Godot), we agreed, was a positive play, not negative, not pessimistic. As I saw it, with my blood and skin and eyes, the philosophy is: 'No matter what— atom bombs, hydrogen bombs, anything—life goes on. You can kill yourself, but you can't kill life." (E.G. Marshal who played Vladimir in original Broadway production 1950s)?
• Yes, I agree to the point of E.G Marshal that the play waiting for Godot is positive play in the sense of life is goes on we can not stop or kill the time. If we commit suicide or stop our breath it doesn't matter for life. We kill ourselves not the life, it must go on. So, we can say that life is meaningless though we have to live life, this lesson make us positive

How are the props like hat and boots used in the play? What is the symbolical significance of these props?

The boots are an element of Estragon, while the hat is an element of Vladimir.  Just as the hat is representative of Vladimir's role as a thinker and philosopher, the boots show us that Estragon is the more "earthy" character... more emotional, a more concrete thinker, and less convinced that this unknown man Godot will actually show up.  As an earthy character, Estragon is more concerned with the moment than Vladimir is, and thus is easily distracted from his own suffering.  Just like with Pozzo and Lucky, these "joined" characters represent opposite characteristics. 

The boots, like the hat, are also symbolic of civilization and the human condition.  Civilization tells us that boots are a necessary part of life.  However, Estragon's boots are too tight and hurt his feet, in the same way that civilization restricts human behavior and can cause pain, such as alientation and loneliness.  Estragon's daily struggle with his boots shows how humans are trapped into other such daily struggles.  Each day is a challenge and is full of difficulty, even if that difficulty seems relatively minor. 

   “The subject of the play is not Godot but ‘Waiting’” (Esslin, A Search for the Self). Do you agree? How can you justify your answer?

Ans. I agree with this point that the main theme of the play is not Godot but  'Waiting' because in life we are one or other way wait for something like most people wait for Moksh, success. Waiting is worst punishment that we can't bear and be angry , so we try to divert our mind in other things which we do in our whole life.

· Vladimir and Estragon talks about ‘hanging’ themselves and commit suicide, but they do not do so. How do you read this idea of suicide in Existentialism?

Ans. In life, many time we put into the situations where we fed up of sufferings and struggles of life at that time we think of suicide but we don't do that in real life. We go on living a life because somehow we fear that what  happen with othes. So , perhaps the Beckett wants satarise this types of people by the character of Estragon and Vladimir who think of suicide but don't do that.

• Who according to you is Godot? God? An object of desire? Death? Goal? Success? Or  . . .

• According to me, Godot is the an object of desire. We constantly thinking about the meaning of life, we want to achieve goals, become successful. But the the ultimate end is death, so everyone wanted that we all are become free from the meaningless life. So, the Godot is our medium to reach the celestial city, in which the journey of body to soul.

The more the things change, the more it remains similar. There seems to have no change in Act I and Act II of the play. Even the conversation between Vladimir and the Boy sounds almost similar. But there is one major change. In Act I, in reply to Boy;s question, Vladimir says: 

     "BOY: What am I to tell Mr. Godot, Sir?

VLADIMIR: 

  Tell him . . . (he hesitates) . . . tell him you saw us. (Pause.) You did see us, didn't you?

How does this conversation go in Act II? Is there any change in seeming similar situation and conversation? If so, what is it? What does it signify?

   In most of the acts we doesn't find any difference. But yes in above mentioned context we can see the difference. Here Vladimir becomes more self centered.  As in life most of the time people stays with us but when they thinks that their motives are not are near that time they leaves us.