Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot is a comprehensive study in existentialism. The play in its own right contains many existentialist themes and concepts which are relayed to the audience through the actions and thoughts of the main characters. The main existentialist theme which Beckett deals with is that death is the only eventual possibility. He uses the almost religious action of waiting and turns it on its head. He does this by reducing the action to a fruitless exercise. Vladimir and Estragon are in fact waiting for nothing. I think that Beckett strongly questions the notion of religion in “Waiting for Godot”. He uses certain religious symbols such as the tree, which is one of the very few props visible on the stage.
The tree is very religious. It is believed that the tree represents life and death in a cyclical fashion. Also waiting is a central part of the play. Waiting can be interpreted as a religious activity. Waiting can be directly linked to faith. Many people of the catholic faith believe that they are on this earth waiting to go to heaven i.e. the afterlife. I think that Beckett hits out at this notion. He does this by showing that nothing happens at the end of Vladimir and Estragon’s waiting. The title, waiting for Godot, is very clever. It can be, and has been read as waiting for god. It would appear, on first glance that Vladimir and Estragon are indeed waiting for god, or a godlike figure.