Beckett's Waiting for Godot and the Bergsonian Perspective of Time

Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot  and  and the Bergsonian Perspective of Time

By Orsolya Halmi

2009

0

As one of the most influential dramas representative of the Absurdist Theatre, Samuel Becketts Waiting for Godot  is  is a fine reflection reflection upon the arrival of a ne! period of cultural, philosophical and social perspectives" #ritten in $9%&, ori'inally in (rench, the drama places itself in the midst of a chaotic era characteri)ed by post*!ar uncertainty, fear and depression that !as tearin' +urope apart" The play is not only a distorted mirror* ima'e of mans ne! position in the t!entieth century, a afkaes-ue perspective on modern life, but also an unusual portrayal of the consciousness of e.perience" #ithout a comple. settin', plot and hint of any social and political back'round, it focuses much more on universal issues related to our e.istence as spiritual and physical forms !ithin a spatial and temporal frame" Godot   is a play about !aitin'" /t revolves around t!o character, +stra'on and ladimir, !ho are !aitin' in the middle of no!here for somebody named 1odot" The idea of !aitin' is veiled in absolute uncertainty they do not kno! !hether they are in the ri'ht place, at ri'ht time, and !hen and if 1odot !ill appear at all" 3ean!hile, their only concern is to pass the time, !hich proves to be -uite a difficult task" They fill their time !ith idle talk and trivial acts that makes them painfully a!are of their futile e.istence" As the idea of !aitin' is central to the play and since the act of !aitin' is insepa inseparab rable le from from the notion of time, time, Waiting for Godot  provides   provides opportunities for the !riter to e.plore modern mans e.perience of his o!n e.istence" One of the most important aspects of e.perience here is time" /n Godot , it defines ho! the characters perceive themselves and others" The play e.cellently implements (rench philosopher Henri Ber'sons philosophy !hich defines time as bein' of t!o types" Accordin' to the Ber'sonian theory$, there is a spatial conception of 4ob5ective6 time measurable by a clock and one !hich is lived 4sub5ective6, referred to as duration, measurable only by mans inner perception 47Ber'son8 26" #e may assume that Beckett mi'ht have been familiar !ith this theory !hen he !rote his !ork 4considerin' that Ber'sons !orks !ere -uite popular at the be'innin' of the 20th  century, especially in (rance !here the play!ri'ht !as livin'6 and this is e.emplified by the !ay in !hich his characters relate to time"

$

 elated in Time and Free Will: An Essay on the Immediate Data of Consciousness , published in $::9"

$

Objective Time 3athematical time as vie!ed by science is inseparable from space 4#iersma $;6 and in the case of Godot , ob5ective ob5ective time reveals reveals itself itself by the spatial matter surroundin' surroundin' the characters" /n this sense, the visual elements of Becketts scarce settin' restrained to the sky, the moon, the sun, the !illo! tree and therefore the act of  lookin lookin' ' up at the sky become becomess a repeti repetitiv tivee act" act" (or e.ample, e.ample, ladim ladimir irss repeti repetitio tious us rhetorical -uestion ? 7#ill ni'ht never come@8 4&0, &&6 ? is al!ays associated !ith the instinctive act of lookin' at the sky" (urthermore, the sky often becomes the ob5ect of philosophical discourse Ah yes The ni'ht 4 He looks at the sky.6 sky.6 Cook #hat is there so e.traordinary about it@ Dua sky" /t is pale and luminous like any sky at this hour of the day" 4 ause.6  ause.6 /n these latitudes" 4 ause.6  ause.6 #hen the !eather is fine" 4 !yrical.6  !yrical.6 An hour a'o 4he 4he looks at his "atch# $rosaic6 $rosaic6 rou'hly 4lyrical  4lyrical 6 after havin' poured forth even since 4he 4he hesitates# $rosaic6 $rosaic6 say ten oEclock in the mornin' 4lyrical  4lyrical 6 tirelessly torrents of red and !hite li'ht it be'ins to lose its efful'ence, to 'ro! pale  pale, ever a little paler, a little paler  until pppfff finished it comes to rest" But? 4hand raised in admonition6 admonition6 ?   but behind this veil of 'entleness and peace, ni'ht is char'in' 4%i&rantly6 %i&rantly6 and !ill burst upon us 4 sna$s his fingers6 fingers6 pop like that 5ust !hen !e least e.pect it" 4'ilence. 4'ilence. Gloomily.6 Gloomily.6 ThatEs ho! it is on this bitch of an earth" 4sic6 4Beckett &F*%6

2


ni'htmares"

&

#$A%&'&R"  And !here !ere !e yesterday evenin' accordin' to you@ ESTRAO!" Ho! !ould / kno!@ /n another compartment" ThereEs no

lack of void" #$A%&'&R" 4 sure  sure of himself 6. 1ood" #e !erenEt here yesterday evenin'"

 o! !hat did !e do yesterday evenin'@ ESTRAO!" =o@ #$A%&'&R" Try and remember" ESTRAO!" =o/ suppose !e blathered" #$A%&'&R"  4controlling  4controlling himself 6. About !hat@ ESTRAO!" Ohthis and that / suppose, nothin' in particular" Ies,

no! / remember, yesterday evenin' !e spent blatherin' about nothin' in  particular" ThatEs been 'oin' on no! for half a century" 4G;6 4G;6 The charact characters ers unreliab unreliabili ility ty from from the narrat narrative ive point point of vie! vie! 4they 4they do not remember !hat they did and !here they !ere the day before6 and the blossomin' of the tree, as !ell as +stra'ons observation about the blatherin' 'oin' on for half a century su''ests that more than a day may have elapsed bet!een the t!o acts" This illustrates ho! sub5ective time intersects !ith ob5ective time, creatin' a duality !hich defines ho! the characters e.perience the process of !aitin'" BJer'sonK hypotheses physical time as  “

one and universal L impersonal time in !hich all thin's !ill pass8 4#iersma 4#iersma F;6

Subjective Time ladimir and +stra'ons main concern is to pass the time, ho!ever, this activity al!ays implies !hat Ber'son calls duration" eadin' Ber'son, Otto #iersma e.plains sub5ective time as 7the real, lived time of our e.perience in !hich a manifold of durations relates to different levels of consciousness8 4$;6" He clarifies the importance of memory and consciousness in understandin' ho! 7real time8 functions Time as succession encompasses before and after and a brid'e bet!een the t!o elementary memory, makin' duration a continuum of !hat no lon'er  e.ists into !hat does e.ist real time, perceived and lived" /nner duration is like a melody, unfoldin' 4pure duration, !hich cant be divided6 ? different

F

from the unfolded 4!hich can be divided, a tra5ectory pro5ected in space !hich !hich can be measur measured6 ed6"" Our attent attention ion diffe differen rentia tiates tes and unites unites severa severall contemporaneous flo!s, occupyin' the same duration as actual e.perience ?  !hich !hich is differ different ent from from conver convertin tin' ' time time into into spati spatiali ali)ed )ed,, simul simultan taneous eous instants as virtual representation" 4ibid"6 Waiting iting for Godot is built on this idea of time as internali)ed duration" The distress of the t!o main characters, 1o'o and =idi, lies precisely !ithin the fact that their  only task is to !ait, that is, to pass the time" Since !aitin' implies inactivity and inertia 4they have to rely on 1odot, +stra'on is beaten by men, yet he is unable to do anythin' about it etc"6, time forces itself upon the characters consciousness, influencin' duration" This is the source of their torment they perceive time as passin' very slo!ly and sometimes even stoppin'" +.perienced time, here, is associated !ith action" Iet, they cann cannot ot find find any anythin thin' ' mean meanin in'f 'ful ul to do, do, so thei theirr acti action onss beco become me subs substi titu tuti tive ve"" Mompanionship and talk also provides means for speedin' up time, but these prove to be  5ust as pointless as their actions" Both characters instinctively reali)e reali)e that fillin' time !ith action or !ords can positively influence duration" ladimirs repeated phrases 7one can bide ones time8 4&%6, 7time has stopped8 4&F6, 4&F6, 7that 7that passed passed the time8 time8 4&F, 4&F, FG, 9:6 not only only hi'hli hi'hli'ht 'ht the charac character ters s intens intensee  preoccupation !ith time, but also underline Ber'sons theory of duration as an internali)e internali)ed d uninterrup uninterrupted ted flo!" flo!"
Both Both chara charact cter erss are are hi'h hi'hly ly 7tim 7time*c e*con onsc scio ious us88 thou' thou'h h they they try try to elud eludee it it +stra'ons observation about time passin' any!ay is countered by ladimirs intuitional kno!led'e that it 'oes by faster !hen one is not thinkin' about it" The idea recurs later  on as !ell, !hen ladimir e.claims after makin' up !ith +stra'on 7Ho! time flies !hen one has fun8 4:06" ladimirs statement is not validated from an ob5ective point of 

%

vie! he does not really kno! ho! much measurable time has really elapsed, yet relyin' on his intuition, he h e states that it has passed rapidly" As Ber's Ber'son onss philos philosophy ophy assert asserts, s, 7real 7real durati duration on can only only be e.peri e.perience enced d by intuition8, throu'h consciousness, !hich creates 7an endless flo! of e.perience in an indivisible continuity"8 continuity"8 3easurable time, ho!ever, is disruptive and divisible, broken into intervals by the intellect, and therefore falsified 47The Mreative8 $6" (or ladimir and +stra'on, the rapid flo! of intuitional time is more si'nificant than the mechanical one" They kno! that the hours and days succeed one another !ith re'ularity !hatever they do,  but they are tormented by the slu''ish flo! of internali)ed time"