Waiting for God, Oh: Shitting on Allegory, Symbolism and Meaning Making

"Samuel Beckett's high-octane thriller "Waiting for Godot" is now an action-packed, explosions-galore video game! Behold the multiplayer! Behold the heart-stomping action! Behold the waiting!" (vector belly)

It took me a long time to digest Waiting for Godot.  I read it--enjoyed it well enough the first time through--but found myself at the end of the play completely confused.  To the point that I had a hard time even asking any vaguely constructive questions about it.  I sat confused for two days.  How could Beckett continue to have this effect on me?

I should have known better.  

So I went back through.  Ditched the dialogue.  Payed attention to stage direction, body position, items that are worn and not worn.  In other words, I gave up trying to understand each little thought and convention.  I surrendered much of my need to make meaning through language.

Obviously, a lot of the idea behind doing this came from what Dr. Betsalel had to say about Beckett when he came to class, though with a small tweak in giving up some of the symbolism.

Things came much easier.

When you cut through some of the proverbial shit, it is easier to gain your first hold on what is happening.  Beckett's dramas differ in this way from his fiction.  In the fiction, there is no way of knowing what physical activity is actually happening due to the unstable voice of the narrators.  This is not so much the case in later fiction like Company, but is more a part of the early trilogy of Molloy, Malone Dies and The Unnamable.

This is something to hang on to, whether the movements of the characters are real or imagined.  This is something to be trusted. Maybe. It is a break from the constant mental ticking of the characters.

So try it some time.  I definitely don't think that's the only way to digest the play, and I am absolutely sure I will enjoy it from a different angle in the near future.

In the meantime.