Ｔｈｅ Ａｎｔｉｈｅｒｏｅｓ’ Ｓｙｍｂｏｌｉｃ ａｎｄ Ａｌｌｕｓｉｖｅ Ｍｅａｎｉｎｇ ｉｎ Ｗａｉｔｉｎｇ ｆｏｒ Ｇｏｄｏｔ

【Key words】antihero， symbol， allusive

【中圖號】D0【文獻標示碼】A【文章編號】1005-1074(2009)02-0067-01

Beckett implements symbols and allusions in his Waiting for Godotwhenever he deems it necessary and beneficial to the overall work. The hopelessness of the antiheroes， meaninglessness of their lives and the futility of their efforts are a remarkable symbol of the existing human world of the post-war period， which is meaningless and absurd.

We are able to assess various identities for the four main antiheroes in the play. The heights of Estragon and Vladimir play a symbolic role as to their character traits during Waiting for Godot. \"Estragon is on the ground， he belongs to the stone\" (Cousineau， p97). Estragon is short and he oftentimes slowly slumps toward the ground as he falls asleep. This is in contrast to the image of Vladimir， who \"is light， he is oriented towards the sky. He belongs to the tree\" (Beckett， p97). He is taller and stands throughout most of play. He also looks up at sky numerous times during the play， thus indicative of heightened thought: \"He (Vladimir) is . . . the intellectual who is concerned with a variety of ideas . . . Vladimir correlates some of their (Estragon and Vladimir's) actions to the general concerns of mankind， seen in his uttering，All mankind is in us'\" (Roberts， p46). In contrast， Estragon is concerned mainly with more mundane matters， not with either religious or philosophical matters. This is reinforced when， at the open of the second act， Estragon's boots-the only movable objects upon the stage-serve as metonyms for their owner.

Estragon views the world through its physical aspects and their immediate ramifications. When he first sees the rope around Lucky's neck he questions Pozzo upon the chafing that may be occurring. Estragon is also the one who speaks of hunger， a physical need， during the course of the play. He inquires to Pozzo whether or not he may have the discarded chicken bones from Pozzo's meal. He even creates similes using the images of food: \"Such an old and faithful servant (speaking of Lucky). . . After having sucked all the good out of him you chuck him away like a . . . like a banana skin.\" Estragon is aware of this discrepancy between the two antiheroes' worldviews， for he laughs when Vladimir must cut his dialogue short in order to relieve himself during the play. This is the aesthetic motive behind Lucky's kicking Estragon during the play: Estragon， being physical， will continue to focus upon the pain more than Vladimir， who would arguably mentally abstract the wound.

The characterizations of Pozzo and Lucky can be interpreted in a similar manner. Pozzo， with his leading Lucky to the fair to be sold， has an obvious agenda. He is concerned with material matters: his Kapp and Peterson， vaporizer， and watch. He espouses knowledge， be it true knowledge or not is not his concern， for he has a role in life-that of a leader. For Estragon and Vladimir， he serves as a temporary Godot， a god-on-earth， and a type of Nietzschian bermensch.The antiheroes of Pozzo and Lucky also allow Beckett to depict highly abstract philosophical， sociological， and philological ideas into particular personages on stage. Pozzo is master and Lucky is slave， Beckett allows the audience to view the full implications of such binary roles in life. This dual relationship is further embodied by the whip that Pozzo brandishes， which also suggests sadomasochistic themes (thus abbreviated \"S and M，\" the converse of \"M and S，\" or \"master and slave\"). By the second act， Beckett symbolically displays the true power exchange between the coupling of Pozzo and Lucky. Yet， upon closer inspection， it becomes evident that Lucky always possessed more influence in the relationship， for he danced， and more importantly， thought-not as a service， but in order to fill a vacant need of Pozzo: he committed all of these acts for Pozzo. As such， since the first appearance of the tow， the true slave had always been Pozzo.The pairing of Pozzo together with Lucky alongside Estragon and Vladimir allows the metaphor of one person's existential dependence of another to become manifest. As with Ishmael's literal tie and dependence upon Queesqueg to stabilize the monkey-rope that the former is bound while securing a whale in Herman Melville's Moby Dick， Estragon's symbolic connection to Vladimir is that of memory， because for whatever reasons the former has extreme amnesia. The literal binding that appears between Lucky and Pozzo supports this notion of human reliance.

The theme of circularity is perpetually insinuated by the bleak setting and background. The image of the road， paralleling and reinforcing the leitmotif of Estragon's boots， symbolizes life's journey (Roberts， p19). Thus the characters of the play， having found themselves at the end of life's travels， are now waiting for further instructions as to where to go or what to do.

It is not unreasonable to state that most critics， after the quagmire of Beckettian cholarship has settled， regardless if the focus was upon the characterization， philosophy， or Christian symbolism in the play， would be content with Alvarez's sentiment upon Waiting for Godot.

Bibliography

[1]Beckett， Samuel. Waiting for Godot: Grove Weidenfeld， 1954

[2]Cousineau， Thomas. Waiting for Godot: Form in Movemen: Twayne， 1990

[3] Roberts， James. Beckett's Waiting for Godot， Endgame， Other Plays: Cliffs Notes， 1980