Blog Post #3 Topic 1

VLADIMIR:

A dog came in–

Having begun too high he stops, clears his throat, resumes:

A dog came in the kitchen
And stole a crust of bread.
Then cook up with a ladle
And beat him till he was dead.
Then all the dogs came running
And dug the dog a tomb–

He stops, broods, resumes:

Then all the dogs came running
And dug the dog a tomb
And wrote upon the tombstone
For the eyes of dogs to come:
A dog came in the kitchen
And stole a crust of bread.
Then cook up with a ladle
And beat him till he was dead.
Then all the dogs came running
And dug the dog a tomb–

He stops, broods, resumes:

Then all the dogs came running
And dug the dog a tomb–

He stops, broods. Softly.

And dug the dog a tomb . . .

            Through a close reading of these lines from the start of act two in Waiting for Godot, we can determine Samuel Beckett’s purpose for the second act of the play. Here we see Vladimir sing a song that repeats itself indefinitely should he choose to keep at it. He does this in the exact same place and the exact same time from where act one takes place. Combining these points, we get a foreshadowing that the same thing will repeat in act two as in the previous act. This proves true when Vladimir and Estragon meet the same set of people in the same order and then proceed to continue waiting for Godot. Just like in the tombstone’s writing that recounts the exact same tale in a never ending loop, the duo will repeat the exact same act of waiting for Godot endlessly.

            The word choice used in Vladimir’s song is also important to note. The two types of characters are the dog and the cook. From a relationship dynamic of domestication, the human cook would have the more dominance in comparison to the dog. The power difference is further accentuated by the fact that the dog comes to steal only a crust of bread, not even a whole piece or loaf of bread. This is reminiscent of the scene of Pozzo and Estragon with the piece of chicken. Whereas Pozzo enjoyed the meat of the chicken, Estragon was content to have just the bones. The cook, like Pozzo, enjoys more affluence than the dog, like Estragon. There is also a connection to the cook’s ladle in relation to Pozzo, and that is his slave Lucky. A ladle is a tool used by its owner, the cook. As a slave, Lucky is also a tool to be used by his owner, Pozzo. And just like how the ladle is used to hit the dog, Lucky was used indirectly to hit Estragon, when Estragon was tricked by Pozzo into getting to close to Lucky. The tomb that is mentioned also has significance. A tomb is a final resting place; a resting place is where movement ceases; if you have ceased movement, you could also say that you are waiting. Like that, the tomb can be given another meaning to further emphasize the wait. The sentence structures are also short and choppy. This relates to much of the dialogue that takes place between the characters, much of which are quite repetitive.

            Likewise to Vladimir’s song, the wait for Godot is endless. Had the story gone on to a third act, it would very much likely be a repetition of the past two. The pauses in between the verses sung as well as the repetition of the lines when he resumes are much like the change between scenes where Vladimir and Estragon do nothing and then resume their repetitive banter. Much like the song, the story of the play goes on until it is cut off by the curtain.

Word count : 500