An Existential reading of Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot

Abstract: The play Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett has for a long time been considered one of his best works. Grasping the significance of key factors such as modernity, modernism and historical background is of great importance to situate and contextualise the play. As Beckett´s play belongs to the “Theatre of the Absurd”, the complicated aspects of where the play belongs has given opportunities for questioning. The intricate layers of the play have opened several doors for interpretation which has allowed diverse conclusions from various researchers. For that reason, further investigation on that matter may perhaps add another viewpoint which can be considered important to fully understand the potential of this piece. This essay examines Samuel Beckett´s famous play Waiting for Godot through the complex lens of Soren Aabaye Kierkegaard´s and Jean-Paul Sartre´s perspectives within the existentialist philosophy. Certain features of each perspectives within the philosophy such as the for-itself,in-itself and the three stages consciousness facilitate the linkage needed between the play and the theory. By using these two perspectives, this essay analyses how the elements of nothingness, purpose and meaning are apparent throughout the play. The analysis of the essay was done to: firstly, attempt to discover new possible meanings and secondly, to deepen and widen my understanding of the Beckett´s play. This essay argues that these elements provide evidence that the play contains components of both Sartre´s and Kierkegaard´s perspective of existentialism.