Coping Mechanisms in "Waiting for Godot" Anonymous College

Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot follows two men, Vladimir and Estragon, through a series of largely uneventful and stagnated scenes. The two men constantly attempt to distance themselves from their dismal situation, creating a pattern of escapism and removal from reality which takes many different forms throughout the play. The most intriguing path which Estragon and Vladimir explore to distance their thoughts from their seemingly hopeless situation in Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot is that of escape through dreams. Fruitless, as all their other efforts, the two men’s conversation on dreams highlights the different ways in which they strive to cope, as well as their dependence upon one another.

Estragon, in Act I, falls into a brief slumber and is awakened – or as Beckett puts it, “restored to the horror of his situation.” Vladimir violently rejects Estragon’s effort to relate his dreams, prompting Estragon to pose the question, “This [universe] is enough for you?” A similar situation occurs in Act II, with Estragon suddenly awakening from a dream and Vladimir pushing aside any attempts to tell him what occurred. Just as the two men fill space with meaningless and circular conversation, Estragon uses dreams to place...