Are We Making a Mistake Waiting for God-ot?

My wife and I recently watched a wonderful production of Waiting for Godot in New York with Nathan Lane and John Goodman. There are many possible interpretations of Samuel Beckett’s play, which has been recognized as one of the most important of the twentieth century. Beckett himself refused to say much about its deeper meaning. His typical comment was something like: “It is what it is. You figure it out.”

One of the most obvious ways to read the play is to identify Godot as God and assume the two men on the country road – Estragon and Vladimir -- are waiting to meet God at the end of their lives. (As is typically done in European productions, the actors in this production put the accent on the first syllable of Godot: “god´-oh”.) Thus, Godot is audibly identified with God throughout the play.

The human condition is that death is inevitable and “there is nothing to be done,” as the characters say several times. Death can come unexpectedly, seemingly with no reason. A local landowner, Pozzo, passes by with a servant, Lucky. Pozzo says: “Behind this veil of gentleness and peace, night is charging and will burst upon us – pop! – just when we least expect it. That’s how it is on this bitch of an earth.”

A young boy comes to tell Estragon and Vladimir that Godot will not come today but “surely tomorrow.” He describes Godot as having a white beard. Lucky describes a “personal God” as having a white beard. This is the conventional image of God but this is the God that never comes. The central mistake is to wait for a God who is going to lift our burdens at the end life rather than seeing God as a central part of our life. As a result, we can become spiritually paralyzed and fail to find the meaning in life that is possible now. The play concludes (with some lines omitted):

Vladimir: We’ll hang ourselves tomorrow. Unless Godot comes.
Estragon: And if he comes?
Valdimir: We’ll be saved….
Estragon: Well? Shall we go?...
Vladimir: Well? Shall we go?
Estragon: Yes, let’s go.
(Stage direction: They do not move.)