Representations of Captivity in Waiting for Godot

The servile relationship of Lucky to Pozzo in Waiting for Godot provides a visual image of the relationship of Vladimir and Estragon to Godot. Lucky has an actual rope holding him captive, but he never makes a move to leave his captor or desire freedom. Vladimir and Estragon are similarly under the power of Godot though they have no physical rope binding them. They are unable to leave because they are waiting for Godot, and they can do nothing until he comes, though Vladimir at times speaks of himself as one who is able to act and is not under the power of another. However unaware Vladimir and Estragon may be of it, they are as tied to Godot as Lucky is to Pozzo, and as unwilling to depart their master.

Vladimir and Estragon meet Lucky and Pozzo midway through the first act, and the two strangers provide the only excitement for Vladimir and Estragon, whose days and lives are focused around Godot and his expected coming. At this first meeting, Lucky's rope is long enough that he reaches mid stage before Pozzo appears, carrying a whip. Lucky is carrying a heavy bag, a folding stool, a picnic basket, and an overcoat. Pozzo controls Lucky by yanking on the rope and shouting one-word orders at him. He has Lucky bring him food, dance, speak, and even jerks the rope to keep Lucky from sleeping. He calls Lucky "Pig!" (16). Lucky seems to respond only to orders shouted at him directly by Pozzo and ignores the other talk, even that which is about him.

Vladimir and Estragon are curious about Lucky and they scrutinize him while Pozzo eats. Estragon asks Pozzo, "What ails him?" and "Why doesn't he put down his bags?" (17). Vladimir notices "a running sore" on Lucky's neck from the chafing of the rope (17). After watching the way Pozzo treats Lucky, Vladimir is outraged, calling it "a scandal. . . . To treat a man. . . . like that" (18), but Pozzo seems unmoved by their reaction and certainly has little pity for Lucky.

Vladimir and Estragon also wonder why Lucky doesn't put his bags down. He has several things to carry, and while the characters are talking and eating, Lucky continues to hold them even as he sags under their burden and visibly pants. Pozzo reasons that Lucky certainly has the right to put his bags down, so "It follows that he doesn't want to" (21). This implies, of course, that Lucky has a choice in the matter, that he is able to act of his own free will, even in the face of Pozzo's constant commands. This may or may not be true, depending on how reliable Pozzo's explanation is, but it puts more of the burden of Lucky's discomfort on Lucky himself.

Pozzo then goes on to explain that Lucky does not want to put the bags down because he is trying to impress Pozzo so that he will not get rid of Lucky. They are even headed to the fair for Pozzo to sell Lucky. Pozzo tells them, "The truth is you can't drive such creatures away. The best thing would be to kill them" (21). This makes Vladimir and Estragon even more outraged, that Pozzo would dare get rid of such a faithful servant. At this point, Lucky starts to weep, and he is truly a pathetic character. His terrible master wants to get rid of him, but he is doing everything in his power to maintain the relationship, as degrading as it is for him.

In the second act, Pozzo and Lucky return, and this time their circumstances are slightly different. Lucky's rope is much shorter so that Pozzo, who is now blind, follows closely behind. Pozzo is so helpless that when he falls, he cannot even get himself up without help, but he still asserts his authority over Lucky, having Estragon kick him a few times. At this, Lucky makes no move to defend himself and reacts very little. As they leave this time, Lucky even puts the whip and the rope in Pozzo's hands for him, which is a visible suggestion that Lucky has placed himself in this slavish relationship. Pozzo jerks the rope and shouts at Lucky on their way out, even though he would be utterly helpless without Lucky. Certainly, if Lucky wanted to leave, there would be very little that Pozzo could do, at least physically, to stop him. But Pozzo seems to be in complete control of Lucky and has Lucky obey his every word. Perhaps, then, Pozzo is right in saying that such creatures cannot be driven away.

Though Vladimir and Estragon are not bound by any rope, their relationship to Godot is similar to that of Lucky to Pozzo. A dozen times throughout the play, Estragon says, "Let's go." Vladimir responds, "We can't." Estragon asks, "Why not?" To which Vladimir answers, "We're waiting for Godot." At this, Estragon will have another line, and according to the stage directions, it is always to be said despairingly. On one occasion Estragon says, despairingly, "What'll we do?" And Vladimir's answer is, "There's nothing we can do" (44). They hardly know Godot, and definitely have never seen him because they at first mistake Pozzo for him, but they wait with devotion. They are not physically bound in any way, but something compels them to wait and continue waiting, even when they want to leave. According to Vladimir, they have nothing to do but wait.

Just before they meet Pozzo and Lucky, Estragon asks Vladimir whether they are tied to Godot. Vladimir doesn't miss a beat in answering, "What an idea! No question of it" (14). Then he says that there is nothing to be done about it and no use in fighting it. Immediately following this exchange, Lucky enters. Because the rope is so long, Lucky trails it halfway across the stage before Pozzo enters. Though Lucky, at first, seems to have no visible master, he is clearly tied to something, which is a parallel to Vladimir and Estragon, who are bound to something even though that something never becomes visible. Godot never makes an appearance, and the only possible proof of his existence comes in the form of a boy at the end of each act who tells them that Godot will not be coming that day, but he will most definitely come tomorrow, without fail. This is enough for Vladimir and Estragon, who resign themselves each time to wait another day for Godot, because he will surely come tomorrow.

Because Lucky enters directly after they discuss being tied to Godot, he represents this relationship, and everything acted out between Lucky and Pozzo could apply, then, to Vladimir and Estragon and Godot. Vladimir and Estragon are as free to leave as Lucky is, who places the rope and the whip in his master's hands. Lucky, meekly obedient, holds heavy burdens because he does not want his master to sell him, and he bears the beating and the verbal abuse silently. Vladimir at one point tells Estragon that he would laugh, "if it wasn't prohibited" (13). Estragon asks if they have lost their rights, but Vladimir says "We got rid of them" (13). At the beginning of act two, Vladimir even paces back and forth across the stage in agitation, reminiscent of a prisoner pacing a prison cell. Later in that act, Vladimir and Estragon pretend to be Lucky and Pozzo, respectively. Vladimir, taking on the role of the slave, staggers under imaginary baggage and tells Estragon, "Tell me to think" (47). Even as they despair that Godot has not come yet, they willingly wait, their lives hinging on his actions, just like Lucky makes no move to go his own way but endures the abuse of Pozzo.

Both times after the boy comes and tells them Godot is not coming, Estragon suggests that they hang themselves. But they cannot because they do not have any rope, which Estragon, ironically, calls a "pity" (35). Vladimir's sense of being bound and his feeling compelled to remain speaks to a complicated sense of free will versus forced action. The idea, as he has formed it for himself and repeats over and over to Estragon, is that they are "waiting" for Godot. This implies that the choice is theirs to make, and they are the actors. However, when Estragon asks over and over if they can leave, Vladimir says that they cannot. This suggests that they do not have a choice to make in their act of waiting and it is something they must do. At one point, Vladimir says that if they leave, Godot will punish them, which speaks even more directly of compelled action.

They act out this conflict when, at the close of both acts, they decide leave. Estragon says, "Well, shall we go?" (35). Vladimir says, "Yes, let's go" (35). But they do not move. Even as they make a decision to depart Godot and stop waiting, and announce it out loud, and declare that they are doing it, they do not move. Their words and actions conflict because of the complication between how much they hold themselves to Godot, like Lucky putting the rope in Pozzo's hand, and how much Godot holds them to himself, as Pozzo does through his domination of Lucky by words and power of character.

Even as Vladimir and Estragon tell themselves that they can leave at any time, they do not. They are physically able to, but their actions betray that they are somehow bound to Godot. A word from Godot heard secondhand is enough to compel them to wait another day. Their attention to this unseen master is as devout as Lucky's to Pozzo. Vladimir says that the only thing that is clear is that they kept their appointment in waiting for Godot. Vladimir asks Estragon how many people can say the same thing, to which Estragon replies, "Billions" (51). That word immediately reframes their situation from that of two fictional characters to that of universal humanity. Billions of people have done the same thing Vladimir and Estragon are doing: Tying themselves to an unseen master who may or may not ever satisfy what they think they are waiting for. They are willing captives, held to an idea, or religion, or anything that compels them to hinge their lives upon it regardless of who they become in the process or what happens to their will. The image of Lucky weeping because his abusive master wants to sell him is pathetic. It is just as pathetic as the closing image of Vladimir and Estragon waiting one more day on the promise of Godot to come for them, and as they are rooted to the spot, declaring that they can leave whenever they feel like it.