Le mystère de Godot - décryptage textuel
The Mystery of Godot – Textual Decryption

Summary/Abstract: Samuel Beckett's play En attendant Godot has raised and still continues to raise the legitimate question: who is Godot? This as a consequence of the fact that the mystery of the identity of the character is not solved in the text. We do not know who Godot is, as neither do the ones who are waiting for him, the vagrants Vladimir and Estragon. We do not even know if he exists, as he does not appear at all in the play. He is only represented by a messenger who talks in his name without any confirmation that he knows him or that he has ever seen him. The attempt of solving the mystery of Godot must take into account the confession of the author who, in a famous letter, says that he does not know who Godot is and neither does he know if he exists. Disconcerting, Beckett's confession cannot be separated from the particular context of the theatre of the age, the absurd theatre. This because the absurd theatre is a theatre of questions that do not seek any answers. A theatre that prefers asking to answering. The fact that the one who created this character does not know if he exists does not mean that the readers or the audience of the play should give up seeking the answer themselves. We consider that the stake of the play is exactly that each one of us, who read or saw the play, should give it time to function in our minds and souls, waiting patiently and hopefully for the configuration of an answer, that can only be personal, meaning authentic and officially signed by each one of us.

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