Waiting for Godot Friendship Quotes Page 11

Smell is clearly an issue for Estragon. This is the second time (earlier it was Vladimir’s breath) that he recoils from another for such a reason. As we mentioned earlier, it would seem that Estragon is bothered by the visceral nature of another’s humanity. This time, however, the smell isn’t enough to drive him away; he repeats loudly that he’s going to leave, possibly in the hopes that someone will stop him.

It’s difficult to reconcile this callous comment (about making sure Lucky is alive) with Vladimir’s earlier outrage at Pozzo’s mistreatment of Lucky. You might want to check out our character analysis of Vladimir, where we jump right into this messy business.

We’ve gotten this several times by this point in the play, but this one is arguably the clearest in its message. Vladimir wants Estragon awake because he’s lonely – he needs the entertainment. But he doesn’t want to invest anything personally by listening to Estragon’s dreams; this would make Estragon human, real, which Vladimir can’t seem to handle.