Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett Page A

recognize? All my lousy life I’ve crawled about in the mud! And you talk to me about scenery! (
Looking wildly about him
.) Look at this muckheap! I’ve never stirred from it!
    VLADIMIR : Calm yourself, calm yourself.
    ESTRAGON : You and your landscapes! Tell me about the worms!
    VLADIMIR : All the same, you can’t tell me that this (
gesture
) bears any resemblance to . . . (
he hesitates
) . . . to the Macon country for example. You can’t deny there’s a big difference.
    ESTRAGON : The Macon country! Who’s talking to you about the Macon country?
    VLADIMIR : But you were there yourself, in the Macon country.
    ESTRAGON : No I was never in the Macon country! I’ve puked my puke of a life away here, I tell you! Here! In the Cackon country!
    VLADIMIR : But we were there together, I could swear to it!
    Picking grapes for a man called . . . (
he snaps his fingers
) . . . can’t think of the name of the man, at a place called . . . (
snaps his fingers
) . . . can’t think of the name of the place, do you not remember?
    ESTRAGON : (
a little calmer
). It’s possible. I didn’t notice anything.
    VLADIMIR : But down there everything is red!
    ESTRAGON : (
exasperated
). I didn’t notice anything, I tell you!
    Silence. Vladimir sighs deeply
.
    VLADIMIR : You’re a hard man to get on with, Gogo.
    ESTRAGON : It’d be better if we parted.
    VLADIMIR : You always say that and you always come crawling back.
    ESTRAGON : The best thing would be to kill me, like the other.
    VLADIMIR : What other? (
Pause
.) What other?
    ESTRAGON : Like billions of others.
    VLADIMIR : (
sententious
). To every man his little cross. (
He sighs
.) Till he dies. (
Afterthought
.) And is forgotten.
    ESTRAGON : In the meantime let us try and converse calmly, since we are incapable of keeping silent.
    VLADIMIR : You’re right, we’re inexhaustible.
    ESTRAGON : It’s so we won’t think.
    VLADIMIR : We have that excuse.
    ESTRAGON : It’s so we won’t hear.
    VLADIMIR : We have our reasons.
    ESTRAGON : All the dead voices.
    VLADIMIR : They make a noise like wings.
    ESTRAGON : Like leaves.
    VLADIMIR : Like sand.
    ESTRAGON : Like leaves.
    Silence
.
    VLADIMIR : They all speak at once.
    ESTRAGON : Each one to itself.
    Silence
.
    VLADIMIR : Rather they whisper.
    ESTRAGON : They rustle.
    VLADIMIR : They murmur.
    ESTRAGON : They rustle.
    Silence
.
    VLADIMIR : What do they say?
    ESTRAGON : They talk about their lives.
    VLADIMIR : To have lived is not enough for them.
    ESTRAGON : They have to talk about it.
    VLADIMIR : To be dead is not enough for them.
    ESTRAGON : It is not sufficient.
    Silence
.
    VLADIMIR : They make a noise like feathers.
    ESTRAGON : Like leaves.
    VLADIMIR : Like ashes.
    ESTRAGON : Like leaves.
    Long silence
.
    VLADIMIR : Say something!
    ESTRAGON : I’m trying.
    Long silence
.
    VLADIMIR : (
in anguish
). Say anything at all!
    ESTRAGON : What do we do now?
    VLADIMIR : Wait for Godot.
    ESTRAGON : Ah!
    Silence
.
    VLADIMIR : This is awful!
    ESTRAGON : Sing something.
    VLADIMIR : No no! (
He reflects
.) We could start all over again perhaps.
    ESTRAGON : That should be easy.
    VLADIMIR : It’s the start that’s difficult.
    ESTRAGON : You can start from anything.
    VLADIMIR : Yes, but you have to decide.
    ESTRAGON : True.
    Silence
.
    VLADIMIR : Help me!
    ESTRAGON : I’m trying.
    Silence
.
    VLADIMIR : When you seek you hear.
    ESTRAGON : You do.
    VLADIMIR : That prevents you from finding.
    ESTRAGON : It does.
    VLADIMIR : That prevents you from thinking.
    ESTRAGON : You think all the same.
    VLADIMIR : No no, impossible.
    ESTRAGON : That’s the idea, let’s contradict each other.
    VLADIMIR : Impossible.
    ESTRAGON : You think so?
    VLADIMIR : We’re in no danger of ever thinking any more.
    ESTRAGON : Then what are we complaining about?
    VLADIMIR : Thinking is not the worst.
    ESTRAGON : Perhaps not. But at least there’s that.
    VLADIMIR : That what?
    ESTRAGON :