Discussion Topic
Vladimir and Estragon's Relationship with Pozzo and Lucky in Waiting for Godot
Summary:
In Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot, Vladimir and Estragon's relationship contrasts sharply with that of Pozzo and Lucky. Vladimir and Estragon are equals, united in their absurd task of waiting for Godot, reflecting a friendship marked by mutual dependence and existential pondering. Pozzo and Lucky, however, have a master-slave relationship, characterized by dominance and oppression, with Pozzo's authority diminishing in the second act. While Vladimir and Estragon's dynamic remains static, Pozzo and Lucky's evolves, highlighting the play's themes of power and existential uncertainty.
How does Vladimir and Estragon's relationship in Waiting for Godot compare to Pozzo and Lucky's?
The first element of comparison is that they are both couples (in a non-erotic sense). They are tightly bound together and depend on one another. Their relationships are complicated, seeming to blend love and hate. They have been paired up for many years; one has a sense of such a deep familiarity that they can anticipate each others' thoughts and reactions, and they find that familiarity both a source of comfort and claustrophobia. They both are sustained by the relationships and feel trapped within them. They also almost possess private languages which the audience can overhear but not fully comprehend.
The main difference between the two relationships is that Vladimir and Estragon are equals, in similar situations, and the relationship of Pozzo and Lucky is unequal, with one being master and the other slave. Even when the positions of Pozzo and Lucky are reversed, they still remain inherently unequal.
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Vladimir and Estragon are waiting for Godot: some indication that life is meaningful or an escape. The name Vladimir can mean prince, man of the people or ruler of peace. Estragon has the connotative meaning of estrogen and he is the more stereotypically feminine of the duo. One is more masculine and contemplative and the other more feminine and emotion-driven. Or, you could look at them as manifestations of one character since they share characteristics and seem to inherently depend upon each other. Vladimir is the conscious, practical one and Estragon is the soul. These descriptions are oversimplifications because in this play there are no clear answers. Each character is capable of rationality, emotion and existential questioning.
Vladimir and Estragon depend upon each other. Likewise, Pozzo and Lucky are attached: literally by rope. Pozzo is a bully. He defines himself as Master to Lucky, his slave. Pozzo is a symbol of oppression and Lucky is the symbol of the oppressed and the repressed consciousness, which is why his lines are stream of consciousness. His rant adds to the chaos and meandering plot, but his speech actually describes a progression of questioning God, the attrition of life/history and death.
Pozzo and Lucky do more than just wait, but since their relationship is based on subjugation, their existence is historically harmful while Vladimir and Estragon’s is introspective but pointless. Pozzo does things for recognition. Vladimir and Estragon are suicidal. They do nothing but think out loud. Their outlook on life is almost entirely bleak, but they do still wait and try to pass the time with conversation and occasional profound questions. Estragon gets beat up, like Lucky, but Vladimir is not his oppressor.
At times, Vladimir and Estragon sound like an old married couple whose relationship has peaked and become habitual. They are waiting for something that never comes so they are waiting for death. Pozzo and Lucky’s relationship is like the relation between the powers of history and the modern, repressed individual. Pozzo overcompensates to function in the world as a Master. Lucky is the slave but can be commanded to “think,” and his thoughts parallel the confusion and the existential waiting that is characteristic of the modus operandi of Vladimir and Estragon.
For Vladimir and Estragon, Godot is God, boss or master. So their Godot is Lucky’s Pozzo. The idea here is that they might recognize that waiting for salvation from Godot is to wait for nothing or to wait for an oppressor.
Master-slave dialectic: The relationship between Vladimir and Estragon has been interpreted as an attempt to replace the Protagonist-Antagonist framework. Hegel’s metaphor of Master-slave describes history and individual development as a struggle for freedom during which one usually gains superiority over another. Hegel’s metaphor supposed that true freedom would exist beyond this Master-slave, or Subject-object, framework. Pozzo dominates Lucky, but Vladimir and Estragon’s interaction is not so clear cut and this represents an attempt to describe of two individuals seeing each other as subjects (not objects). Their existence appears meaningless but they are actually doing what they can to avoid dominating or objectifying each other and subsequently, they avoid being dominated by Godot. Ironically, they long for a master but avoid one by waiting.
How do Vladimir and Estragon react to Pozzo in Waiting for Godot?
The reactions to Pozzo can be seen in a "before" and "after" manner. In the first Act, Pozzo is the master in his own sense of the Master/ Slave Dialectic with Lucky. He is the one asserting control, the agent of action, the one who claims to be free. He is the one who chains Lucky, and who seeks to impress Vladimir and Estragon with his own sense of control, wealth, fashion, intellect and demeanor. Their reaction to him in the first act is one of concern for Lucky and a sort of dismissive attitude towards him. They mistake him for Godot, and once they realize that he is not it, they do not become overwhelmingly driven or preoccupied with him. Vladimir seeks to engage him intellectually, and Pozzo is more concerned with showing off his pipes and shoes, and even showcasing his control over Lucky. In the second act, when Pozzo is blind and represents only a shell of what he used to, Vladimir and Estragon again initially mistake him for Godot, but really little else is evident. There seems to be some level of understanding which hits Estragon, especially when Pozzo talks about how everything will come to an eventual end: "One day I went blind, one day he went dumb, one day we were born, one day we shall die." Vladimir is more concerned with showcasing his intellect, now that the once prestigious master has become blind, and no longer seems to be pulling Lucky, but rather is being led by Lucky. The reactions to Pozzo, though, are still only tempered by the pair's waiting for Godot, waiting for what could be absolution in the first act, but ends up become a period of infinite regression by the second.