The short story,” Waiting for Godot,” by Samuel Beckett is fascinating to see a nihilistic game, of no value or meaning other than two men waiting for something or someone to come. The text purpose of life is something mysterious, which we, human beings, have always been sought, but don't really know how to seek. The narrative encapsulates on the changes to show the mind to fight for the nature of the friendship relationship keeps Vladimir vs Estragon and determines the deliberately forgotten of the characters with memory and knowledge, through the lens of Beckett's character narrative, which is clearly shown that they are in shackles in loneliness, pain and hopeless waiting time. There appear to be two tensions in the narrative, the companions that the two main characters show beneath friendship and memory to point out the undermine and question the nature of friendship and memory; the first tension is that the friendship of two companions Vladimir and Estragon in the play certainly reflects, condemning the shallow social relations, discrete friendship, not really understanding each other. The companions seem to try to convey their thoughts to tell each other but at the same time, their companion does not want to know. The second tension is living in a world of nothingness, waiting in vain, the uncertainty of memory and knowledge is gradually constituted in the companions of Vladimir and Estragon, the characters will be forgotten or have their memories changed. Because they live in a world where everything was broken, there was only pain so they deleted those memories themselves. The relationship between Vladimir and Estragon are interdependent, rely on each other in order to live in a world of physical and mental pain.In order to survive in an isolated world, Vladimir (Didi) and Estragon (Gogo) are interdependent. Vladimir and Estragon were unexplainably close-knit through their need for companionship, but they have also stuck together through other needs, demanding to wait for Godot. This seems to be the core of their relationship, and it really seems to be the motivation for them to be together. Throughout the play, they repeat almost like a mantra, "We're waiting for Godot." (6).They companion together, under the façade of waiting for Godot, utilizing this as an endeavor to defend their failure to change or move. They seem to stay, survive together, simply to stave off the loneliness. “To Godot? Tied to Godot? What an idea! No question of it For the Moment.”(13). They completely admit being tied to Godot while in a relationship seems to be completely based on sticking together. Despite mentioning time and time again, they still took Godot to be the reason to stay together, it showed their emotional dependence and needed companions to be inseparable. It seems to highlight the fact that human need for contact and interaction is the important, basic and necessary need of people through Vladimir and Estragon. Estragon represents the human body because he always wants to eat and sleep, and Vladimir represents the mind of man because he is the reason to create a true person. They are ready and willing to be interchangeable, they always exchange, Gogo in this play cannot remember what he did yesterday. He depends on Didi, who has a better memory, to let him know about the past. " And, all that was yesterday you say?” (51) , they live in uncertainty and doubt, because nobody can help really identify or recognize them. Therefore, they are utilized to guarantee each other's identity. In this way, they are becoming a mutually dependent pair to prove each other's existence. "Yes, of course, it was yesterday.” (51). Didi could remember what happened depending on Gogo to remind him what they did and talked together. It is also proved by a metaphor for Estragon in the first act "My left lung is very weak (32). The weak left lung could be estragon and the other one is Vladimir, but both belong together and they support each other. Through this absurdity, the play expresses the futility of attempting to prove the past or even a person who once existed. It seems that the only things they remember are the past and the fact that Godot made them wait., Didi said “I’m glad to see you back. I thought you were gone forever.” Gogo answer "Me too"(1) could understand it as a reply to Vladimir, that he was happy to see him, or it could mention the comment that he thought Estragon had disappeared forever. This vague answer did not know if it was an answer to Gogo's friend or he was speaking to himself. It leads us to feel confused, fall into a vague state because it is forever uncertain as to whether or not these two men have achieved a solid friendship or emotionally isolated each other. It is obvious that as the principal character in Waiting for Godot with probably completely working memory.
Estragon and Vladimir fell into a typical friendship trap. Estragon's saying is there before: " I sometimes wonder if we wouldn't have been better off alone, each one for himself. We weren't made for the same road." (44 ). Estragon and Vladimir kept questioning whether they should live alone better than when they were together. The answer never seems to change, they don't do anything. They don't feel safe if they separate, break up, and are too hesitant to have a real friendship, their relationship is left behind by an ambiguous ambiguity of a relationship. They unknowingly create an illusion of similarity in thinking in every situation. They think that they themselves are really alike, which leads to a trend that people think their partners have similar feelings about many different issues. " Get up till I embrace you.” (1) . A person tries to move closer while the other person steps back or pushes them apart. This motif will repeat between the two men, although Estragon and Vladimir will often switch roles. This proves that their friendship is very strange as near and far. “Not now, not now.” (1) . One of the barriers preventing a true friendship between these two men is that no one can truly understand the meaning and pain of the other's suffering. "It hurts?"(2). Gogo kept complaining that he was in pain and Didi did misunderstand how his friend was hurting, accidentally pushing their friendship further or in other words lack sustainability. The expression of emotions, as well as the thoughts of these two characters, is really vague, unclear, it is fuzzy illusion as their relationship, the answer is like a trap, facilitating us think from different dimensions. Moreover, it is difficult to refute their friendship is really good or bad. In the interaction of the two characters, both Vladimir and Estragon argue that their intense dialogues show a common view of friendship, but they never think of the case where the other is desperate to save the friendship they.
Simultaneously, most of us perceive the importance of friendship. We have the notion that good friends contribute to our happiness in many ways. They help us to deal with tragedy, loss and hurt. They are conscious, clearly aware of their deepest struggles and friends are often the first to help that is the reason why lead to being part of a group gives us a sense of belonging and contentment, fulfillment. Particularly, a good social support system can give us the necessary comfort, the share of the challenges of life or boost energy for us. In Waiting for Godot, Beckett turns the explicit idea of friendship into a social advantage over above. According to the conventional way of thinking Both Vladimir and Estragon are comfortable and harmonious. Nevertheless, in their case, friendship is not a strength, pure; it is an obstacle to belief, knowledge, and hope. The interactions between Vladimir and Estragon become confusing, vague Both Vladimir nor Estragon answer each other's questions. As mention above, Vladimir Estragon a carrot, or what he thinks is one. Estragon accuses his companion by giving him a turnip. They made a fight just because of the misunderstood or wrong recognizes reality or imagination. This discrepancy between perception and reality is played out numerous times throughout the play. Through that conversation we see, friends can sometimes not know about this each other. Sometimes, friends only begin as a bridge between two incompetent people. A friendship when individual parties have distinctly different memories of individual events will lead to certain cracks. Their friendship was like a fragile, lonely, fragile iceberg, and two people tried to cling to each other to not get lost in this society. They find each other just because of loneliness, are they easy to leave each other when happier.
Throughout Waiting for Godot, Beckett uses Vladimir's and Estragon's equivocal interactions to question the nature of friendship and memory. Beckett seems to ask questions about conventional social expectations about shared memory and knowledge. Every day is filled with predictions, it is with men's friendship, they are passionate about various conversations, arguing with each other but never, never fully reaching the point of reaching a reasonable consensus between themselves. In general, the memory along with the nature of friendship is built by the author to create ambiguity for the audience. In the play, the author has pointed out the weaknesses of friendship with no firm fulcrum
Works cited
Samuel, Beckett. Waiting for Godot.New York: Grove Press,1954. Print.
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