Waiting For Godot Movie Scene

Waiting For Godot Blog Response 2

The opening scene of Waiting for Godot is superb, and as in many plays, novels and movies, the opening scene is crucial and full of meaning. The case is so in this movie. The opening scene shows a lot more than what is apparent, and it illustrates a great deal about the novel. That is why I chose it for my analysis.

First the setting: desolate, dry, dead. A plain of rock and dullness far as the eye can see, but set on a small stage of rocky hills and a road. The tree,  is a symbol of life. However the tree is dead, and alones. This contrasts to what a tree would symbolize in common literature. The setting is nothing there is no life, it shows the absurdity of the situation. The vast nothingness can symbolize life and its lack of meaning. The tree represents the hope that we all have in our vast plain of nothingness, a hope that never lives and never fully dies. The characters appear followed by a period of silence in which Estragon attempts to remove his boot. The two men are in an unknown place; this doesn’t seem to worry them all that much. They are more preoccupied with the location of Godot, and all the while Estragon attempts to remove his boot, a boot that represents the burden of society and its quest to find meaning. The boot has to be removed every day (to paraphrase Vladimir) and however it is a pain for Estragon, a necessary pain. The boot is to Estragon what the rock is to Sisyphus. Then comes the phrase “nothing to be done”. The phrase simply illustrates the lack of hope in life, the absurdity of the situation. They have reached the point to where they accept the absurd and take of the boot. Because there is nothing to be done.