Friday, November 22, 2019

How does Lucky's speech in Waiting for Godot relate to God, and what is the meaning behind it?

Lucky is a secondary character in Samuel Beckett's play Waiting for Godot. Lucky only speaks once. He begins his speech speaking about "the existence as uttered forth in the public works of Puncher and Wattmann of a personal God quaquaquaqua with white beard." His entire speech is long and incoherent. Not much of the speech makes sense at all. After the speech, Pozzo, Didi (Vladimir), and Gogo (Estragon) do not even discuss Lucky's speech. It seems to have confused them to the point that it does not seem worth discussing.
Essentially, Lucky's speech plays to the idea that the play itself is an example of absurdism. His speech is, literally, absurd. That said, one could argue that elements of the speech do relate to God in some way.

Existence...personal God.

This part of the speech acknowledges that the relationship between one and God is a personal one. Here, Lucky is stating that the relationship between one and God cannot be defined on a universal level. Therefore, Lucky's speech cannot be understood by Didi and Gogo, because they are dependent upon one another, and a personal relationship with God is impossible.

Those who for reasons unknown but time will tell are plunged in torment plunged in fire.

Here, Lucky seems to contemplate the idea of hell. Sin tends to be personal. Humankind tends to sin on a personal level, and these sins ("reasons unknown" by others) are what send them into the "fire." It seems that Lucky is speaking on the idea of living an honorable and sin-free life. By living this way, one should be able to ensure he or she is not "plunged in fire."

Heaven so blue still and calm so calm with a calm which even though intermittent is better than nothing.

Here, Lucky seems to be making a statement on the idea that, if nothing else, believing in God will allow one to live in a calm world. The "blue still and calm" of heaven (and God) is important enough to focus upon in life.
At the close of his speech, Lucky falls down. He seems to have become exhausted by the revelations he has made because the speech has taken everything out of him. Lucky, figuratively, leaves the question of God up to the reader to determine, and when one tries to take all of the unnecessary diction out of the speech, Lucky seems to understand God more than readers may first acknowledge.
Lucky's speech, when reduced to only the points that make sense, states that one must have a personal relationship with God. God, who exists "outside time without extension who from the heights of divine" (outside of time and space), loves us dearly." God "suffers like" man when he (man) is "plunged in fire." Unfortunately, the man has "labors left unfinished." When examining the limited speech, one can see that Lucky openly discusses God.

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