Essay
Beckett's approaches to depicting the theme of cruelty in Waiting for Godot (1953)?
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An essay describing the ways Samuel Beckett shows cruelty in Waiting for Godot, his 1953 play.
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Beckett uses the characters of Pozzo and Lucky to demonstrate the theme of cruelty. Through thesecharacters actions and dialogue, Beckett is able to show attitudes to cruelty, the dehumanising effect
of cruelty and the relationship developed through slavery.
Lucky and Pozzo visibly are in a formal Master/Slave relationship, unlike Vladimir and Estragon.
Beckett uses their relations as dominating and dominated to show the cruelty of slavery. The pair are
joined artificially and by force. For instance, Pozzo uses the stage prop of the whip as a threat in case
of disobedience. A ‘crack of the whip’ is often a repeated sound effect to intimidate both Lukcy and
Vladimir and Estragon. This instates a constant fear on Lucky and is one way in which Pozzo
psychologically is cruel to Lucky. Not only is Pozzo threatening to Lucky, he is also more obviously
dictating of his actions and thereby, loses his freewill. This could imply a level of trust from Lucky in
Pozzo, but some may say a forced interdependency is evident between the pair. In this case, Lucky
relies on Pozzo for food, or even a purpose, and in turn Pozzo relies on Lucky to carry his bags.
Moreover, in Act Two, Lucky is necessary due to Pozzo’s blindness. In a way, their relationship is
reversed from Act One to Act Two. In the first act ‘Pozzo drives Lucky’ as it says in the stage direction
but when it comes to Act Two, it has to be Lucky who literally ‘drives’ Pozzo. This forces both
characters to rely on one another and to which no one character can stand alone. This cruelty of
being stuck in this situation is what Beckett may be trying to exploit. It could be a macrocosm for the
human position as no human has consented to being alive but are trapped in our own existence.
Another element of cruelty Beckett explores through the characters of Pozzo and Lucky is the
dehumanisation of slavery. Beckett makes Pozzo treat Lucky as closer to the worth of a dog rather
than a human. Pozzo refers to Lucky as a ‘pig’, a ‘hog’ and a ‘swine’. This verbal abuse of Lucky
empathises how slaveowners view their slaves as property rather than people who have human
rights. It comes as no coincidence that Beckett structures the play to include a discussion of the loss
of rights between Vladimir and Estragon, shortly before the appearance of Pozzo and Lucky.
Estragon remarks: ‘we’ve lost our rights?’ to which Vladimir replies: ‘we got rid of them’. This could
suggest that slaves have consented to being dominated by a slaveowner but moreover, it goes to
show the loss of freewill. Dehumanisation is also a form of distancing. Visually, the distance is
apparent as Lucky is distanced by the rope ‘which is long enough to allow him to reach the middle of
the stage before Pozzo appears’. This could affirm Pozzo’s power as it puts him way above Pozzo or
Pozzo may distance himself as to not suffer from Lucky’s supposed abuse of him. But this distance,
on the other hand, could be preparation for the humiliation of Lucky by Pozzo later on in Act One.
The moment that Pozzo has Lucky ‘dance’ and ‘think’, their relationship aligns more to one of a
circus ringmaster and his trained animal, again exacerbating the dehumanisation. Lucky preforms his
thinking to the audience and as Pozzo cheers him on to ‘think; more elaborately, Beckett draws on
his inspirations from circus clowns, in which animals are often an accomplice. Lucky in no way denies
Pozzo, Vladimir, Estragon or the audience his performance, perhaps his lack of objection could
signify that Lucky is numbed by the frequency of Pozzo’s abuse and therefore has total disregard to
his own self-worth and is waiting to be humiliated and dehumanised.
Lastly, Beckett uses Pozzo and Lucky to show different attitudes to cruelty. The audience has been
shocked by the treatment of Lucky as in 1953 theatre was more of a realistic in nature, but what
shocks them even more is the lack of concern Vladimir and Estragon show. Estragon’s main concern
is getting Lucky’s bones. An example of this is in Act Two when Estragon states: ‘we should ask him
for the bones first. Then if he refuses we’ll leave him there’. This reiterates Vladimir and Estragon’s
ignorance of Pozzo’s abuse. However, Pozzo doesn’t take issue with his own abuse either, Pozzo
assumes that the Slave-Master arrangement is fine as it follows the established social aristocratic
norm present throughout the world. Lucky’s acceptance of his situation and Godot doing the same
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