Lucky-Christ
We as people do not take comfort in the strange and forbidding. Because of this, we try to find explanations or personal connections to everything in our experiences. It thus follows that any theatregoer will make an attempt to put the work in front of him or her into familiar terms, much to the dismay of a one Samuel Beckett. His attitude towards critics who attempt to impose values and ideas onto his work (on of utter contempt) is well documented. But he seems to give us no other choice by providing us with very strange and forbidding environments in his theatrical works. Each of these works has a few generally accepted "explanations," none endorsed by Beckett himself. Many critics say that Waiting for Godot (the only one of his theatrical works that I have seen in production, and therefore the only one I am qualified in the least bit to comment on) is wrought with Christian symbolism, especially symbols for a dying Christ. One such symbol is the character of Lucky. Lucky enters the world of Godot on a leash, held and followed by his master, Pozzo. Lucky carries Pozzo's luggage and acts as his slave, completely subservient and sedate, save when he violently lashes out against an attempt to comfort and when he is ord
If they were each to take his own existence into his own hands and make something of it, both of them would be able to lead a normal life, but instead they both put their lives in the hands of Godot. His arrival in each act is the first possible reference to Lucky as a saviour. Lucky then begins a lengthy tirade that makes little sense as far as the English language goes, but can be made clear by the actor's emphasis on certain images, words and ideas and the audiences' connection from these ideas to their own ideas. He is the subject of much discussion by two of the other characters in the play, a pair of Buster Keaton/Charlie Chaplin-type tramps by the names of Vladimir and Estragon. This dying Christ (and by inference, dying Christianity) is very much in line with Beckett's existential beliefs. "Hell," and "heaven," together conjure up some kind of conflicting image in most western people, "blue still and calm," seems to suggest a still ocean, an image that is almost the complete opposite of the war and violent imagery of "hell" and "heaven". An excerpt from this speech:"That is to say blast hell to heaven so blue still and calm, so calm with a calm that even thought intermittent is better than nothing. If we view Lucky as a Christ-symbol then his speech can be seen as a summary of the teachings of Christ. In this quote we are also faced with a complex set of images. Finally, Estragon wipes Lucky's eyes (Jesus' face was wiped by Veronica) so he will "feel less forsaken"; Jesus cried from the cross "God, why have you forsaken me?" Most of these points are not very memorable when compared to Lucky's one opportunity to speak. Pozzo, in an attempt to impress and entertain Vladimir and Estragon, orders Lucky to think, aloud. During this trip, Jesus fell three times under the weight of his cross, and in Godot Lucky repeatedly falls under the weight of Pozzo's bags.
Common topics in this essay:
Estragon Lucky,
God Lucky,
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Vladimir Estragon,
Romans Jesus,
Samuel Beckett,
Finally Estragon,
Pozzo Lucky,
Romans Pozzo,
,
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lucky enters,
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christ symbol,
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throughout play,
blast hell heaven,
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Acceptance Essays
