Why „Waiting for Godot” can be difficult to understand by the Youth

When I was watching “Waiting for Godot” at first time everything was difficult for me. I didn’t exactly know what is going on the stage. Who are those strange man, and who is Godot? I was staring on the screen and I couldn’t understand the main plot. My first impressions connected with the Beckett’s play are like that, but later when I really wanted to understand “Waiting for Godot” I was able to identified reasons of my difficulties.
First of all I don’t realized before what kind of play it is. Its absurdist play and only in case if the audience knows the characteristic features of that kind of play, its possible to understand the meaning. The main, characteristic features of the absurdist plays is:
* plays take the form of man’s reaction to a world;
*man as a puppet controlled or menaced by invisible outside forces;
*mixed with horrific or tragic images;
* repetitive or meaningless actions;
*wordplay and nonsense;
*dialogues full of clichés;
*parody.
Not everyone is able to understand the meaning of the absurdist play at the first watching. The characters not facilitate this task. In “Waiting for Godot” characters can be found as mad men. They behave in very strange way. They are waiting for someone who is actually unknown by them. They also haven’t known the reason of the meeting.
What is the main plot of the drama?
Estragon and Vladimir are homeless tramps. Their only chance is Godot’s coming. That hope is supported by a Boy. Estragon isn’t as full of hope as Vladimir. Vladimir’s knowledge is full of holes: actually he doesn’t know Godot and doesn’t know his expectations. Vladimir is upset, pride and his behavior indicates that he is hypocrite. Estragon is stupid and lazy, but at the same time he is smart. They meet Pozzo and Lucky every day, but they behave as if they have met first time. Vladimir and Estragon are waiting constantly, Pozzo and Lucky are still strolling. Pozzo is primitive and behave in a cruel way with respect to slave Lucky. Lucky is a calm person, who seem to be absent. Characters’ moods became worse during the play. Even suicide attempt finish in a bizzare way. Last sentences emphasize their disability.
Who can be a person called “Godot”?
Godot is an unreal person, who is being waited for Vladimir and Estragon, but he never comes. They strongly believe that he can be their hope and only his presence might be the most important thing in their lives. For the audience, Godot can be a symbol of those spiritual virtues, which are essential for people’ existence.
Why the young audience usually doesn’t like the play?
The first and the most important reason is the character of the play. Absurdist plays are difficult to understand without knowing the symbols. Those people who have never had any contact with that kind of plays aren’t usually able to recognize the major idea of the plot.
The second thing which can be troublesome is the action. In this play actually nothing happens. The play lost some of its tension when it became public that Godot never appears. Vladimir and Estragon talk about things that they are going to do, but they never do them.
Also language which is used by the characters might be difficult to understand. They are talking about trivial things.
Besides, for us, youth, the play seems to have no sense. No action is a reason for the audience to became bored and stop following the main plot. Person, called Godot, who never comes and is unknown makes a mess in our heads. It’s difficult to be concentrated on the performance. The main characters don’t make that task much easier. They behave as if they were mad. Their behavior become ridiculous. There are few situations which might indicate that two tramps can be drunk. We can’t be sure anything in the play. Even the purpose of waiting for Godot is unknown. It’s a secret even for Vladimir and Estragon- they don’t know why they’re waiting .
As far as I am concerned, that kind of play isn’t so easy to understand. The absurdist plays might be a reason of the wide misunderstanding and trouble with the analysis. At school, this drama is problematic for students. For the young brains, whose knowledge about the literature is not so huge, analysis this text is a challenge. But is a challenge worth to taking…