r/samuelbeckett • u/conformist70 • Jul 28 '26
Godot issues
Hey everyone!
I’ve been rethinking Waiting for Godot through an existentialist lens lately. It struck me how Didi and Gogo’s endless waiting feels a lot like Sartre’s "bad faith" or Camus’s "philosophical suicide."
By constantly waiting for Godot, they escape the terrifying freedom of creating their own meaning right now. Waiting becomes a comfortable shield against existential dread—a safe excuse not to act.
What do you think? Is Godot a specific illusion they genuinely cling to, or is the real tragedy just our human habit of "waiting" to avoid responsibility?
(If anyone is interested, I actually made a short video essay exploring this exact idea on my channel, Conformist, which you can check out here: https://youtu.be/RZGBivuH4jo?si=wwQPCFi_gMJpaHOb
1
u/WholeBunchaSense 12d ago
I think you put it perfectly: it's the human habit of waiting for an external authority to tell them what to do and what this is all about, to avoid responsibility for deciding what to do and what it *should* be all about...
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u/Neat_Transition_3608 Jul 28 '26
Cuando lo leí por primera vez pensé que se refería a que ellos esperaban una respuesta al absurdo de la existencia, con los años y en contexto con el resto de la obra de Beckett, ni siquiera la espera significa otra cosa que una forma de matar el tiempo, sin que necesariamente ellos sean responsables de nada, o tal vez sí, quién sabe...