Compare the relationship between Vladmir and Estragon to that between Pozzo and Lucky in Waiting for Godot? . What similarities and differences do...

Vladimir and Estragon are waiting for Godot: some
indication that life is meaningful or an escape. The name Vladimir can mean prince, man
of the people or ruler of peace. Estragon has the connotative meaning of estrogen and he
is the more stereotypically feminine of the duo. One is more masculine and contemplative
and the other more feminine and emotion-driven. Or, you could look at them as
manifestations of one character since they share characteristics and seem to inherently
depend upon each other. Vladimir is the conscious, practical one and Estragon is the
soul. These descriptions are oversimplifications because in this play there are no clear
answers. Each character is capable of rationality, emotion and existential
questioning.

Vladimir and Estragon depend upon each other.
Likewise, Pozzo and Lucky are attached: literally by rope. Pozzo is a bully. He defines
himself as Master to Lucky, his slave. Pozzo is a symbol of oppression and Lucky is the
symbol of the oppressed and the repressed consciousness, which is why his lines are
stream of consciousness. His rant adds to the chaos and meandering plot, but his speech
actually describes a progression of questioning God, the attrition of life/history and
death.

Pozzo and Lucky do more than just wait, but since
their relationship is based on subjugation, their existence is historically harmful
while Vladimir and Estragon’s is introspective but pointless. Pozzo does things for
recognition. Vladimir and Estragon are suicidal. They do nothing but think out loud.
Their outlook on life is almost entirely bleak, but they do still wait and try to pass
the time with conversation and occasional profound questions. Estragon gets beat up,
like Lucky, but Vladimir is not his oppressor.

At times,
Vladimir and Estragon sound like an old married couple whose relationship has peaked and
become habitual. They are waiting for something that never comes so they are waiting for
death. Pozzo and Lucky’s relationship is like the relation between the powers of history
and the modern, repressed individual. Pozzo overcompensates to function in the world as
a Master. Lucky is the slave but can be commanded to “think,” and his thoughts parallel
the confusion and the existential waiting that is characteristic of the modus operandi
of Vladimir and Estragon.

For Vladimir and Estragon, Godot
is God, boss or master. So their Godot is Lucky’s Pozzo. The idea here is that they
might recognize that waiting for salvation from Godot is to wait for nothing or to wait
for an oppressor.

Master-slave
dialectic: The relationship between Vladimir and Estragon has been
interpreted as an attempt to replace the Protagonist-Antagonist framework. Hegel’s
metaphor of Master-slave describes history and individual development as a struggle for
freedom during which one usually gains superiority over another. Hegel’s metaphor
supposed that true freedom would exist beyond this Master-slave, or Subject-object,
framework. Pozzo dominates Lucky, but Vladimir and Estragon’s interaction is not so
clear cut and this represents an attempt to describe of two individuals seeing each
other as subjects (not objects). Their existence appears meaningless but they are
actually doing what they can to avoid dominating or objectifying each other and
subsequently, they avoid being dominated by Godot. Ironically, they long for a master
but avoid one by waiting.