Page (1 of 6) Quotes:
1 2 3 4 5 6
How we cite the quotes:
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 #1 VLADIMIR
Hand in hand from the top of the Eiffel Tower, among the first. We were respectable in those days. Now it's too late. They wouldn't even let us up. (Estragon tears at his boot.) What are you doing?
ESTRAGON
Taking off my boot. Did that never happen to you?
VLADIMIR
Boots must be taken off every day, I'm tired telling you that. (1.20-22) |
We are introduced to what appears to be a repeating, cyclical routine for these two men. The more we realize the extent of the repetition, the more horrifying their predicament seems.
| Quote #2 VLADIMIR
He didn't say for sure he'd come.
ESTRAGON
And if he doesn't come?
VLADIMIR
We'll come back tomorrow.
ESTRAGON
And then the day after tomorrow.
VLADIMIR
Possibly.
ESTRAGON
And so on.
VLADIMIR
The point is—
ESTRAGON
Until he comes.
VLADIMIR
You're merciless.
ESTRAGON
We came here yesterday.
VLADIMIR
Ah no, there you're mistaken. (111-121) |
Note that it is Estragon, NOT Vladimir, who recognizes that they’ve been repeating their actions again and again. Why, then, is Vladimir considered the more lucid character? Why is he the only one to remember Lucky and Pozzo later in the play?
| Quote #3 VLADIMIR
He said Saturday. (Pause.) I think.
ESTRAGON
You think.
VLADIMIR
I must have made a note of it. (He fumbles in his pockets, bursting with miscellaneous rubbish.)
ESTRAGON
(very insidious) But what Saturday? And is it Saturday? Is it not rather Sunday? (Pause.) Or Monday? (Pause.) Or Friday?
VLADIMIR
(looking wildly about him, as though the date was inscribed in the landscape) It's not possible!
ESTRAGON
Or Thursday? (1.135-40) |
Waiting for Godot reminds us that our labeling of time is ultimately arbitrary. Words like "Saturday" or "Thursday" are made-up anyway, so we have no way of knowing what day it really is.
