Function Of Boredom In Waiting For Godot

“We wait. We are bored…No, don’t protest, we are bored to death, there’s no denying it. Good. A diversion comes along and what do we do? We let it go to waste. Come, let’s get to work!...In an instant all will vanish and we’ll be alone once more, in the midst of nothingness!”
The aforementioned lines from Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot most aptly strike the keynote of the play, wherein the alleviation of boredom becomes the primary motivator and stimulator of action. The very act of waiting becomes a dissonant catalyst in evoking both in the characters and the spectators the “function” of boredom. Both the structure and the action of the play is preoccupied with “passing the time”, which becomes an inevitable consequence of the process of “Waiting for Godot”.
As Vladimir and Estragon, the two tramps, “wait” for Godot, they experience a series of encounters. Some encounters are with absolute nothingness- with the hollow distortion of space and time, with the suspension of language and semantics, with the vacancy of meaning- while some are with individuals who are victims of almost a similar predicament, Pozzo and Lucky. Pozzo and Lucky form the contradicting binary to that of Vladimir and Estragon, sharing the hierarchical relationship of master and slave. However, they too suffer the fatality of the need to “pass the time”. Initially, to Pozzo, Vladimir and Estragon become an outlet to expunge his boredom and loneliness. However, there are complex forces that become