VLADIMIR
You're a hard man to get on with, Gogo.
ESTRAGON
It'd be better if we parted.
VLADIMIR
You always say that and you always come crawling back.
ESTRAGON
The best thing would be to kill me, like the other.
VLADIMIR
What other? (Pause.) What other?
ESTRAGON
Like billions of others. (2.85-90)
Whoa there. Like billions of others? We’re thinking this isn’t literal. First, let’s go back to that line in Act 1 when Pozzo says that it would be better to kill Lucky than to send him away. Estragon is definitely repeating what he’s heard, even as he denies remembering anything about Lucky and Pozzo from the day before (this denial is what prompts Vladimir to declare he’s a difficult man to get along with). It would seem then that Estragon is either mindlessly repeating things, intelligent-parrot-style, or he agrees with the claim that death is better than isolation. As to the comment about others, Estragon is simply equating his and Vladimir’s relationship with all the other "billions" of relationships in the world. The thought that death is better than loneliness, then, applies to everyone, not just these crazy guys on the stage.
VLADIMIR
We could play at Pozzo and Lucky.
ESTRAGON
Never heard of it.
VLADIMIR
I'll do Lucky, you do Pozzo. (He imitates Lucky sagging under the weight of his baggage. Estragon looks at him with stupefaction.) Go on.
ESTRAGON
What am I to do?
VLADIMIR
Curse me!
ESTRAGON
(after reflection) Naughty!
VLADIMIR
Stronger!
ESTRAGON
Gonococcus! Spirochete!
Vladimir sways back and forth, doubled in two.
VLADIMIR
Tell me to think.
ESTRAGON
What?
VLADIMIR
Say, Think, pig!
ESTRAGON
Think, pig!
Silence. (2.359-370)
Because they don’t know how to have a real relationship themselves, the best Vladimir and Estragon can do is imitate what they see around them. The tragedy is that they are imitating an abusive and unhealthy relationship, as it’s the only example they have.
VLADIMIR
Moron!
ESTRAGON
That's the idea, let's abuse each other.
They turn, move apart, turn again and face each other.
VLADIMIR
Moron!
ESTRAGON
Vermin!
VLADIMIR
Abortion!
ESTRAGON
Morpion!
VLADIMIR
Sewer-rat!
ESTRAGON
Curate!
VLADIMIR
Cretin!
ESTRAGON
(with finality) Crritic!
VLADIMIR
Oh!
He wilts, vanquished, and turns away.
ESTRAGON
Now let's make it up. (2.413-24)
It’s as if Estragon and Vladimir use each other only to pass the time; each man is only seen as entertainment, not as another real, genuine human being.
Enter Pozzo and Lucky. Pozzo is blind. Lucky burdened as before.
[…]
VLADIMIR
At last! (He goes towards the heap.) Reinforcements at last!
POZZO
Help!
[…]
VLADIMIR
We were beginning to weaken. Now we're sure to see the evening out. (2.456-63)
This is a great example of the way Vladimir sees other people only for purposes of entertainment. He ignores the fact that Pozzo is blind and that both he and Lucky have fallen helplessly to the ground. Instead, he rejoices that he has something to do to pass the time until evening. In this way, Vladimir could be seen as the most isolated character in Waiting for Godot, since he can’t even recognize the humanity of another.
VLADIMIR
That seems a good idea all right. But could we do it? Is he really asleep? (Pause.) No, the best would be to take advantage of Pozzo's calling for help—
POZZO
Help!
VLADIMIR
To help him—
ESTRAGON
We help him?
VLADIMIR
In anticipation of some tangible return. (2.520-4)
This is a lowly low for Vladimir; while his earlier focus on the self was indifferent, this one is malicious—he’s plotting to manipulate another for personal gain.
VLADIMIR
Let us not waste our time in idle discourse! (Pause. Vehemently.) Let us do something, while we have the chance! It is not every day that we are needed. (2.526)
Vladimir is able to rejoice in Pozzo's and Lucky’s pain and helplessness because it lends importance to his own life.
VLADIMIR
Make sure he's alive before you start. No point in exerting yourself if he's dead.
ESTRAGON
(bending over Lucky) He's breathing.
VLADIMIR
Then let him have it.
With sudden fury Estragon starts kicking Lucky, hurling abuse at him as he does so. But he hurts his foot and moves away, limping and groaning. Lucky stirs. (2.735-7)
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.
Quote 68
VLADIMIR
Was I sleeping, while the others suffered? Am I sleeping now? Tomorrow, when I wake, or think I do, what shall I say of today? (2.795)
This is an oft-quoted line from Waiting for Godot, since it seems an incredibly human and sympathetic expression. However, in context, you’ll find that such an interpretation is incredibly ironic. Vladimir utters this while ignoring others’ cries of "Help!"
VLADIMIR
Our Saviour. Two thieves. One is supposed to have been saved and the other . . . (he searches for the contrary of saved) . . . damned. (1.64)
In the world of Waiting for Godot, freedom from confinement is arbitrary and without logic.
VLADIMIR
(stutteringly resolute) To treat a man . . . (gesture towards Lucky) . . . like that . . . I think that . . . no . . . a human being . . . no . . . it's a scandal! (1.388)
Vladimir is outraged at the notion of slavery. Given his own state of confinement, this is highly ironic.
VLADIMIR
(to Lucky) How dare you! It's abominable! Such a good master! Crucify him like that! After so many years! Really! (1.476)
Vladimir turns the table on the master-slave relationship, suggesting that Pozzo is as beholden and dependent on Lucky as Lucky is on Pozzo.
Quote 72
VLADIMIR
You work for Mr. Godot?
BOY
Yes Sir.
VLADIMIR
What do you do?
BOY
I mind the goats, Sir.
VLADIMIR
Is he good to you?
BOY
Yes Sir.
VLADIMIR
He doesn't beat you?
BOY
No Sir, not me.
VLADIMIR
Whom does he beat?
BOY
He beats my brother, Sir. (1.783-792)
In the Boy and the absent Godot we have another set of master and slave. Vladimir and Estragon, then, are the only set of equals in the play. Or are they?
Quote 73
VLADIMIR
One is not master of one's moods. All day I've felt in great form. (2.16)
By declaring himself at the mercy of his emotions, Vladimir takes another step in the direction of self-imposed servitude.
Vladimir pulls up the trousers, looks at the leg, lets it go. Estragon almost falls.
VLADIMIR
The other. (Estragon gives the same leg.) The other, pig! (Estragon gives the other leg.) (2.233)
Vladimir has assimilated notions of master and servant from watching Pozzo and Lucky. Notice which role he takes for himself in this implicit case (calling Estragon a "pig," as Pozzo does to Lucky)—as opposed to the role Vladimir takes later when explicitly playing pretend with Estragon.
VLADIMIR
I'll do Lucky, you do Pozzo. (He imitates Lucky sagging under the weight of his baggage. Estragon looks at him with stupefaction.) Go on. (2.361)
See the contradiction here (compared to the previous quote)?
VLADIMIR
We'll hang ourselves tomorrow. (Pause.) Unless Godot comes.
ESTRAGON
And if he comes?
VLADIMIR
We'll be saved. (2.877-9)
This exchange brings us full circle to the discussion of the two thieves at the beginning of the Act 1; whether or not the men are saved from their imprisonment is dependent on the arbitrary arrival or absence of Godot. Freedom from confinement is random and without reason.
VLADIMIR
And they didn't beat you?
ESTRAGON
Beat me? Certainly they beat me.
VLADIMIR
The same lot as usual?
ESTRAGON
The same? I don't know. (1.12-15)
Waiting for Godot presents suffering as a regular, expected part of daily life.
VLADIMIR
It hurts?
ESTRAGON
(angrily) Hurts! He wants to know if it hurts!
VLADIMIR
(angrily) No one ever suffers but you. I don't count. I'd like to hear what you'd say if you had what I have.
ESTRAGON
It hurts?
VLADIMIR
(angrily) Hurts! He wants to know if it hurts!
ESTRAGON
(pointing) You might button it all the same.
VLADIMIR
(stooping) True. (He buttons his fly.) Never neglect the little things of life. (1.24-30)
Estragon and Vladimir both have a case of chronic pain. Again, when we see the play as an allegory, it is a statement that pain is a necessary part of the human condition.
Quote 79
Vladimir breaks into a hearty laugh which he immediately stifles, his hand pressed to his pubis, his face contorted.
VLADIMIR
One daren't even laugh any more.
(1.45-6)
That Vladimir feels pain when he laughs is a cruel joke, but representative of the play’s nature as a tragicomedy. Tragicomedy should mean a marriage of the tragic and the comic, but Waiting for Godot goes one step further in suggesting that the tragedy (in this case, the pain) is the result of the comedy (in this case, Vladimir’s laughter).
VLADIMIR
A running sore!
ESTRAGON
It's the rope.
VLADIMIR
It's the rubbing.
ESTRAGON
It's inevitable. (1.348-51)
Estragon literally says that chafing is inevitable when you’ve got a rope around your neck. But he also makes the point, whether intentionally or not, that suffering is inevitable. For everyone.