il the time when Godot arrives, all they can do is pass the time and wait. The first information we learn about the characters is how Estragon was beaten and slept in a ditch. We get the sense that this happens all the time. This is nothing new to the characters. They are used to this routine. The flow of the play is based around this feeling that the characters know where each day is headed. The audience feels that the characters go through each day with the hope that Godot will come and make things different. In at least three instances in the play characters announce that they are leaving and remain still on the stage. These are examples of how the units of the play are effected individually by repetition. Again, Becket emphasizes this for a reason. This is best shown in the following beat:Pozzo: I must go.Estragon: And your half-hunter?Pozzo: I must have left it at the manor.SilenceEstragon: Then adieu.Vladimir: Adieu.Pozzo: Adieu. Silence. No one moves.Vladimir: Adieu.Pozzo: Adieu.Estragon: Adieu.Silence.Pozzo: And thank you.Vladimir: Thank you.Pozzo: Not at all.Estragon: Yes yes.Pozzo: No no.Vladimir: Yes yes.Pozzo: No no.Silence.Pozzo: I don’t seem to be able...(long hesitation)...to depart.Estragon: Such is life.(31)The last two pieces of the excerpt is very literal. The idea that going someplace is doesn’t matter, because there is really nowhere to go. All you can do is find someplace else to wait. Also repeated in the beat is the stage direction for silence. Silence occurs in life and theater is just a reflection of our lives. It is, in effect, a line of dialogue. Repeated silence outlines the awkwardness of the beat. The repetition then creates the tone of the beat. Many of the play’s beats are comprised of some type of repetition. “All I know is that the hours are long, under these conditions, and constrain us to beguile them with proceedings which-how shall I say-which may at firs...
