Duality

Double Your Pleasure, Double Your Fun

Waiting for Godot is chock-full of pairs. There’s Vladimir and Estragon, the two thieves, the Boy and his brother, Pozzo and Lucky, Cain and Abel, and of course the two acts of the play itself.

With these pairs comes the repeated notion of arbitrary, 50/50 chances. One thief is saved and other damned, but for no clear reason:

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)

If Vladimir and Estragon try to hang themselves, the bough may or may not break. One man may die, one man may live. Godot may or may not come to save them. In the Bible, Cain’s sacrifice was rejected and Abel’s accepted for no discernible reason.

So many pairs and so much arbitrary damnation. Even the tone of Waiting for Godot is filled with duality: two-person arguments, back-and-forth questions, disagreement-agreement, questions and (often inadequate) answers.