Pessocence In Waiting For Godot - 1529 Words

Waiting for Godot represents human existence as pointless and futile. The play seems to question whether pointless waiting for something is a better alternative than wandering a devastated earth in which nothing makes sense, a bleak choice at best. The World War One poems we addressed in class are interesting because they both confirm and deny the pessimistic outlook on human existence presented by Waiting for Godot. I believe that whether the poem supports or challenges the play depends on the strength of the poet’s beliefs in concepts such as God, loyalty, and love, concepts which are so fundamental in man’s thinking that only a traumatic experience can enlighten someone to see past them. The more committed the poem is to such concepts,†¦show more content†¦For these reasons an idealistic soldier who has not witnessed combat is likely to reject the play as nonsense, as nothing but two deranged tramps pointlessly wasting their time. He would describe them as s eemingly nothing like himself, a brave soldier fighting for his flag, the noble concept of honor, and the promise of eternal life, with a society behind him who nod their heads at the comforting ideas which their brave sons march off to defend. This naivety was quick to wear off as the post combat poems passionately describe. The most stinging rebuttal of the naivety felt by the young man in The Soldier comes in the final lines of the poem Dulce Et Decorum Est by Wilfred Owen which reads, of vile, incurable sore on innocent tongues,- My friend, you would not tell with such high zest To children ardent for some desperate glory, the old Lie : Dulce Et decorum est Pro Patria mori. â€Å"The old Lie†: this is what Owen calls the patriotism and duty that drove British men into uniform and motivated them to run headfirst into their horrid deaths by machine gun fire and gas attacks. â€Å"The old Lie†: these three words represent the unravelings of the foundational societal beliefs that is the focus of Waiting for Godot. To say that to die for ones country is