How we cite our quotes: (Act.Line) Every time a character talks counts as one line, even if what they say turns into a long monologue.
Quote #21
ESTRAGON
They're coming!
VLADIMIR
Who?
ESTRAGON
I don't know.
VLADIMIR
How many?
ESTRAGON
I don't know.
VLADIMIR
(triumphantly) It's Godot! At last! Gogo! It's Godot! We're saved! Let's go and meet him! (2.378-83)
Vladimir takes Estragon’s uncertainty and draws a conclusion of assurance; in some ways, he’s regressed since Act 1, since he now can’t even admit that he is unsure of anything.
Quote #22
VLADIMIR
But that is not the question. What are we doing here, that is the question. And we are blessed in this, that we happen to know the answer. Yes, in this immense confusion one thing alone is clear. We are waiting for Godot to come— (2.526)
Again, this is ironic; the one fact the men are absolutely certain of is surrounded by the most doubt and questioning.
Quote #23
POZZO
It isn't by any chance the place known as the Board?
VLADIMIR
Never heard of it.
POZZO
What is it like?
VLADIMIR
(looking round) It's indescribable. It's like nothing. There's nothing. There's a tree.
POZZO
Then it's not the Board. (2.707-11)
Pozzo convinces himself of "facts" by using an arbitrary and contrived system of logic. The fact that there is a tree in the scenery has absolutely nothing to do with whether or not this is "the Board." (Actually, "the Board" is an old word for "stage," so in fact the setting IS the Board. Pozzo is not only faking certainty, he’s just plain wrong.)
Quote #24
VLADIMIR
And you are Pozzo?
POZZO
Certainly I am Pozzo.
VLADIMIR
The same as yesterday?
POZZO
Yesterday?
VLADIMIR
We met yesterday. (Silence.) Do you not remember?
POZZO
I don't remember having met anyone yesterday. But tomorrow I won't remember having met anyone today. So don't count on me to enlighten you. (2.746-51)
The constant state of uncertainty is the only consistent, objective truth in Waiting for Godot.
Quote #25
ESTRAGON
Are you sure it wasn't him?
VLADIMIR
Who?
ESTRAGON
Godot.
VLADIMIR
But who?
ESTRAGON
Pozzo.
VLADIMIR
Not at all! (Less sure.) Not at all! (Still less sure.) Not at all! (2.786-791)
The uncertainty surrounding Godot increases as the play goes on. Now, not only are they unsure of his name, whether he is coming, who he is, what he looks like, or whether they missed him, but Vladimir also has to wonder whether he has already met Godot.
Quote #26
VLADIMIR
Was I sleeping, while the others suffered? Am I sleeping now? […] At me too someone is looking, of me too someone is saying, He is sleeping, he knows nothing, let him sleep on. (Pause.) […] What have I said?
He goes feverishly to and fro, halts finally at extreme left, broods. (2.795)
Vladimir can’t even be certain of his own consciousness by the end of the play.
Quote #27
VLADIMIR
Tell him . . . (he hesitates) . . . tell him you saw me and that . . . (he hesitates) . . . that you saw me. (Pause. Vladimir advances, the Boy recoils. Vladimir halts, the Boy halts. With sudden violence.) You're sure you saw me, you won't come and tell me tomorrow that you never saw me!
Silence. Vladimir makes a sudden spring forward, the Boy avoids him and exits running. (2.829)
This is interesting; at the end of the play, Vladimir is at his most lucid. He knows he saw the Boy yesterday (and, we can extrapolate, many other days in the past) and he knows he will see him tomorrow. His moment of clarity, however, leads only to fruitless anger. What good is certainty, anyway, in a world full only of unreliability and doubt?