Blog Post # 3 - Topic # 2 Mira Daya

The genre of Waiting for Godot contradicts with the purpose of doing a close reading. Close reading involves understanding implications, brought upon by events in the play, and the tone and choice of words of the characters. The play fits the genre of absurdism which illustrates an individual’s search for meaning in a meaningless world. Though an analysis is doable, the conclusions we draw are not useful to our understanding of deeper themes that may exist. 

For instance, the personalities and mannerisms of the characters we are introduced to make them seem unreliable as sources for a close reading.  Trying to read for subtext can be misleading, given how the scenes and characters are portrayed. Let’s say we can do a proper close reading.  We can attempt to determine the timeline of events from Act 1 to Act 2. Unfortunately, we are not given any cues about how much time has elapsed between the two Acts. Consider the scene in Act 2 where Vladimir brings up their encounter with Pozzo and Lucky, which occurred in Act 1, to which Estragon says he does not recall that ever happening. It is possible Estragon has forgotten this event because it has been a long period of time. It is also possible that Estragon simply has a bad memory and is unable to recall event from the previous day. What then is the point of doing a close reading of this if we are only able to conclude that the time elapsed was either short or long. This only justifies Estragon’s potential forgetfulness, but this fact in no way benefits to our further understanding of the story or how Estragon acts later on. The main event of the play is that they are waiting for Godot.  The fact that Estragon is forgetful and forgets their encounter with Pozzo and Lucky does not affect Godot’s arrival.  Yes, he forgets what he’s doing, but their main goal is not affected by this.

Another instance would be to do a close reading on the movements of the actors to determine their mood. Recall that Estragon is often said to be taking his boots off and putting them back on. Also, Vladimir repeatedly takes his hat off, inspects the inside, and puts it back on. There is no mention of why they do this. How then do we determine the reason for their actions and what it may be telling us about how they are feeling? It seems that their own uncertainty about whether to wear the items brings uncertainty to the relevancy of the scene itself, again, leading to no logical conclusion of this close reading.

By doing close readings of Waiting for Godot we can see that the conclusions do not seem to benefit Estragon and Vladimir in reaching their main goal. As the reader, analyzing the environment and movements caused by evens also do not give us much insight on how each character is feelings. Therefore, you cannot do a close reading because our attempt at one leaves us with unnecessary conclusions rather than useful insights.

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