“Habit is a great deadener”. In what ways does Waiting for Godot illustrate this idea? Essay

Habit and spell form an important branch of the monkey hold for Godot, by Samuel Beckett. The play, a famous product of the Theatre of the Absurd, is characterized by a circular structure which doesnt lead anywhere, repetitive dialogue and a general absurdity. It witnesses two men, Vladimir and tarragon, who spend the intact two acts wait for Godot. The quotidians they civilise through with(predicate)out the play atomic number 18 mainly a result of their attempts to slump the time. Habits such as tiny with objects and telling stories become federal agency of their routine and seem like a good stylus to get through the waiting. However, as Vladimir himself says, drug ab recitation is a swell deadener (Beckett 105) and compensatetually their uses deaden them. The term deadener implies that the usances answer the characters even more bored and that or else of table serviceing them, they lead to their downfall and amaze their lives even more meaningless.This essa y giveing discuss the uniforms flummoxed by the diverse characters and explore whether they indeed lucubrate the sentiment of garments cosmos a deadener. d superstar this, it will also discuss what Beckett is trying to fold up about habit in valet life history in general.One habit that is developed in Waiting for Godot by both estragon and Pozzo is fiddling with objects. This habit is portrayed mainly through the tier directions and is indeed visual action alternatively of words. Estragon uses objects such as his conjure in order to pass time. Silence. Estragon is fiddling with his boot again (Beckett 37). In this stage direction, Beckett places Estragons fiddling within a silence which shows how he tries to fill the void by play with his boot. This habit is formed out of tedium and therefore designed to relieve it. Through this, Beckett seems to be commenting on how human beings blaspheme on habits in order to offend their lives meaning and protective cover.How ever, instead of making life more elicit, the perennial fiddling however reinforces the monotony in the play making the characters even more bored. Pozzo on the an different(prenominal) hand fiddles mostly with his clear, cuddling his watch to his ear he puts his watch behind in his pocket (Beckett 37). He repeatedly takes his watch out, consults it, puts it a counseling, and gets it out again in a very routinely manner. He does not only do this to pass the time it is also a way for him to call forth his superiority through the secular objects he owns. It is important for him to continuously cite his power and position. However, instead of bighearted him power, this habit eventually contributes to his downfall. In the second act, Pozzo becomes blur and loses all his power.A second way for Pozzo to prove his power and seek prudence is by perform which also becomes habitual. At several occasions, Pozzo takes on another exercise and starts performing in order to toy wi th the others and become the centre of attention. He unremarkably performs dramatic monologues, tirelessly torrents of red and snowy light it begins to lose its effulgence (Beckett 38). This convict clearly shows his eloquent diction chosen to impress his audience and again prove his superiority.The varied syntax of this particular speech, ranging from entangled poetic objurgates to short crude dialects, makes it interesting to his audience and shows how he is indeed acting. severally time he takes on a role, he ensures that every 1 is paying attention to him because that is his eventual(prenominal) goal. Routines are a way for the great unwashed to define themselves by what they habitually do. but again, this habit turns out to be a deadener which is illustrated by Pozzos sudden transfigure of status in the second act. unawares he is blind and no one pays attention to him anymore. He repeatedly asks for help but no one responds and this proves how his habits damp him. A similar habit to that of performing is telling stories. It is one of the first habits to be introduced in the play and is again a way for them to fill the time. In the seed of the play, Vladimir attempts to tell his first story, but Estragon repeatedly interrupts him two thieves, crucified at the alike time as Our Saviour. One / our what? (Beckett 6). This habit is more or less an immediate deadener as it fails to secure its goal of passing time and giving them something to do. Estragons interruptions undermine Vladimirs capabilities as a story fibber and turn the stories into meaningless, circular debates. sooner of storytelling graceful a routine to give their lives meaning, it becomes a reinforcement of the meaninglessness of their existence proving that they arent going away anywhere. None of the routines or habits they develop is helping. They are in fact doing the pivotal and making their situation worse. They are gloss over stuck waiting for Godot and always will be.Waiting in itself could be considered as a disablement habit. It is definitely the dominating habit in the play as they are continuously waiting. The phrase were waiting for Godot (Beckett 51), which also inspires the title, is the most repeated sentence in the entire play. The fact that it is repeated so many times shows how dread(a) and meaningless their situation has become. The repetition of the phrase emphasises its importance to the overall play because even though it is very simplex, it sums up the aggregate of the play. This habit is arguably the most deadening of all as it prevents them from leaving and going on with their lives. It forces them to cover put and thereby takes all the meaning out of their existence, diminish them to mere spectators rather than participators in life.A final habit that Estragon and Vladimir develop is that of staying together. In staying together, they attempt to deflect the danger of being only(a) and try to use each other to confirm that their lives do take aim meaning. I felt lonely, says Vladimir when Estragon falls asleep (Beckett 10). This simple sentence is the very essence of why they develop the habit of staying together. Even though Estragon is physically there, Vladimir has no one to talk to anymore and this agitates him.They need each other even if they dont always get along in order to confirm each others existence. At the slightest threat of being left alone, they panic and therefore stay together as a liaison of necessity. The above quotation invokes pathos in the audience as they realise how concentrated their reliance is upon one another and therefore how low they have sunk as individuals. They are trying to avoid danger through their habits, but Beckett is implying that this is impossible and that habits will lead to monotony and insignificance in your life. Instead of profiting from each other, staying together prevents them from moving forward and thereby deadens them.Habit is indeed a de adener and Waiting for Godot illustrates this in numerous ways. completely four characters in the play have been deadened by their habits and instead of their routine saving them, they caused their downfall. It seems as if Beckett is trying to illustrate how habit affects people in reality. It is undeniable as human beings to develop habits. It is almost like a natural chemical mechanism in order for us to avoid absurdity in life. However, Beckett implies, one has to pack absurdity as it is part of life. Habits wont give us the security we need, they will only bring monotony and eventual deadening to our lives as happened in Waiting for Godot. This play is obviously part of absurdist theatre and therefore an exaggeration, however Beckett seems to be relating it to real life to a indisputable extent. He seems to be advising to prevent from ontogeny habits and instead accept the randomness that inescapably accompanies life.Work citedBeckett, Samuel. Waiting for Godot. Grove wei gh New York, 1982.