Skip to content

Waiting for Godot Discussion Questions

Adapted from The Norton Anthology of English Literature, 11th edition

  1. Describe Vladimir and Estragon as separate characters and in relation to one another. In what way are they opposites? Why don't they leave each other, as Estragon sometimes suggests? What do you make of the fact that they are unable to engage in any purposeful action?
  2. Describe Lucky and Pozzo’s relationship as master and slave. What is Pozzo’s view of Lucky? Why doesn’t Lucky leave Pozzo? Why do they both decline physically in the second act? What does their relationship tell us about the kind of world they inhabit?
  3. What does the motif of circularity and repetition suggest about the larger themes of the play? Discuss one or more examples that demonstrate circularity or repetition and connect it to the play’s major themes.
  4. Explore Christian imagery and allusions in the play. Notice that there are references to three biblical pairings: the two thieves, Cain and Abel, and the boy messenger and his brother (one brother tends sheep and the other tends goats, a reference to the biblical parable in which the sheep are blessed and the goats are cursed). What do these pairings suggest about the other pairings in the play (Vladimir and Estragon, Lucky and Pozzo)? What does the play suggest about God? What does it suggest about the possibility of salvation?
  5. What role does humor play here? What is being suggested in the comic scene in which Vladimir and Estragon trade hats?
  6. In Waiting for Godot, many characters endure suffering: Vladimir and Estragon contemplate suicide in an effort to escape their purposeless existence, Lucky suffers humiliation and mistreatment by Pozzo, and both Lucky and Pozzo suffer physically in the second act. Additionally, there are numerous references to beatings. Estragon is beaten nightly by unknown people for unknown reasons, and the boy messenger tells Vladimir that his brother is beaten. What is the play saying about human suffering?
  7. Some critics have suggested that Waiting for Godot undermines “grand narratives,” stories that we tell ourselves that reinforce ideas about progress, coherence, and knowledge in human existence. In what way does the play disrupt these kinds of narratives?