Waiting for Godot Mortality Quotes Page 3
Citations follow this format: (Act.Line). Every time a character talks counts as one line, even if what they say turns into a long monologue.
| Quote #7 ESTRAGON |
Both men seem to see death as some sort of relief or end; for Estragon, it is "the best thing," or for Vladimir it is the end of each man’s personal crucifixion. It follows, then, that they are not only waiting for Godot, but waiting for death.
| Quote #8 ESTRAGON |
This is arguably the darkest moment in Waiting for Godot, and it pretty much comes out of nowhere. It is disturbing that both men are in utter agreement about the voices they hear; it means either that the noises of the dead are a real, shared experience, or that one man is willing to indulge the macabre fantasies of the other. Check out the three pairings of repetition in Estragon’s line. First "like leaves" is repeated twice, then "they rustle," and finally "like leaves" yet again. The repetition is par for the course in Waiting for Godot – a reminder of cycles and absurdity. But the image of leaves is also cyclic – just think about the tree which has sprouted overnight.
| Quote #9 ESTRAGON |
Images of death and decay are thrown arbitrarily into otherwise unrelated dialogue in Waiting for Godot. This is what makes the discussions (of corpses, in this particular case) so disturbing, but it reiterates a main thematic point of the play: that death in fact is arbitrary and without justification.
