Every character in Waiting for Godot seems to live in a prison of his own making. Each is confined to a state of passivity and stagnancy by his own inability to act. The one character who is literally the slave of another is no more restricted than those who are technically free; in fact, he may be more free because he is at least aware of his imprisonment.
Questions About Freedom and Confinement
- Does Lucky choose to be a slave?
- Why does Vladimir want to play the part of Lucky when he’s pretending with Estragon?
- Between Estragon and Vladimir, who has more freedom?
Chew on This
Try on an opinion or two, start a debate, or play the devil’s advocate.
Lucky’s position is the most enviable in Waiting for Godot since he has the security of being told what to do.
Vladimir and Estragon are slaves to their concept of Godot just as Lucky is a slave to Pozzo.