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Ocampo, Maria Francesca A.

122875
February 20, 2013
The Tragicomedy Set in Waiting for Godot
Tragicomedy is a mixture of the elements from the genres tragedy and
comedy. Some tragicomedies have a serious plot with happy ending, while
others have enough jokes throughout the play to lighten the mood from the
otherwise grave plot that a typical tragedy would have. Tragicomedy has no
absolute definition compared to the definitions provided by the tragedy and
the comedy. This genre therefore has to have a perfect combination that
brings, laughter from its tears and smiles from its sadness.1
Unlike Theater of the Absurd, which had been around from the 1950's,
the tragicomedy had been conceptualized as early as the classical age by
Aristotle in Poetics. This is significant because most absurdist plays like
Waiting for Godot is a tragicomedy. It is unknown whether the tragicomedy
appeared simultaneously with tragedy and comedy or whether there was a
period or a short pause before the tragicomedy was created.
Waiting for Godot first appeared on January 5, 1953. It is not only
considered a tragicomedy just because Samuel Beckett gave it a subtitle of,
a tragicomedy in two acts. Since the tragicomedy was defined above, the
play Waiting for Godot will therefore be defined first through its tragic
elements and then through its comedic elements. To begin with, the ending
of Waiting for Godot just put the characters in their same initial state. There
is no progress. However in a classical Aristotelian definition of a tragedy, the
play must have ended in catharsis where the audience loses the feeling of
anxiety and they sense a feeling of completion. However, the ending Is still
considered to be tragic because of the hopeless condition of the two
characters. Some comedic elements include Estragon's struggle with
removing his boots and Vladimir's counterpart-amusing action which was
taking of his hat. These comedic actions may be the foreshadowing of some
dark events that occur in the near future in the play. For example, when
Estragon and Vladimir embrace, Estragon exclaims, You stink of garlic! 2
1

Emily Schooley, Between mirth and melancholy: The development of tragicomedy Tragicomedy, Helium: Where Knowledge
Rules, May 08, 2007, Feb 02, 2007 <http://www.helium.com/items/146524-between-mirth-and-melancholy-the-development-oftragicomedy>
2

Beckett, 5

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Vladimir then explains that, It's for the kidneys.3 Later in the play, when
Vladimir asks Estragon about his boots and Estragon about Vladimir's
kidneys, they both exclaim, Hurts, he wants to know if it hurts!4 This means
that so far, and there is no indication of otherwise, the two characters are
and will be in pain.
Most of the comedic actions are where the plot gets most serious. For
example, Estragon suggests they hang themselves. Vladimir replies that that
would give them an erection. The plot is very serious wherein they are
speaking of ending their lives, however the comedy comes when Vladimir
actually considers the fact of having an erection. They also argue on who
goes first and who is heavier. Tragedy usually arouses a sense of pity and
fear, in this case the suicide of the main charactes. This is nullified through
the comedic actions and words of Vladimir and Estragon.
The two characters can be known as comic individuals where they are
the victims of deception. Absurdity is usually associated with a comic
individual of a comedy. A Comedic Situation is a situation wherein the comic
individual, or the main characters have little or no control of the situation. It
is seen in the play when they are restricted from leaving because they are,
waiting for godot. Although it is known that the two can just come and go
as they please, what is restraining them is themselves and each other. They
are holding each other back and their obliviousness is what they cannot
control. Therefore the play has a comedic situation. The deception is also
seen in their actual waiting for Godot. They do now actually know Godot, and
yet they are decieved to wait for him.
Through the play putting lightly otherwise grave situations and in fact
containing a comedic situation, Waiting for Godot is a tragicomedy. Comedy
associates itself with absurdity through the aimlessness of the situation.
Tragedy assicociates itself with pity, fear, and even hopelessness. In the lines
mentioned, both elements were visible. In the play Waiting for Godot,
aimlessness and hopelessness mingle with each other to create the absurdity
in the play.

References:
3

Beckett

Beckett, 2

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Noorbakhsh, Hooti, and Torkamaneh Pouria. "Samuel BeckettS Waiting For

Godot: A Postmodernist Study." English Language And Literature Studies 1
(2011): Directory of Open Access Journals. Web. 19 Feb. 2013.
Gilliani, S.N.. "Waiting For Godot: A tragi-comedy ~ English
Literature." English Literature. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Feb. 2013.
<http://engliterarium.blogspot.com/2008/11/waiting-for-godot-tragicomedy.html>.
Hutchings, William. Samuel Beckett's Waiting For Godot : A Reference Guide.
n.p.: Praeger Publishers, 2005. eBook Collection (EBSCOhost). Web. 19 Feb.
2013.