How does Beckett use language to define the characters in the play “Waiting for Godot?”

Beckett uses the names of the characters to demonstrate their core values to the play. Estragon’s name has two interpretations, one, that it is French for tarragon which is well suited to his vegetable- like character. He spends much of the play asleep in the “foetal posture” which creates a sense of vulnerability and childlike innocence. As Beckett says, “Estragon is on the ground, he belongs to the stone” and the word “stone” suggests that Estragon does not want to wake up. His association with carrots and turnips also contributes to this idea of earthliness whereby he’ll “never forget this carrot” suggesting that is it is part of his nature. The other interpretation is that the name sounds similar to the female hormone oestrogen, suggesting that he is the more feminine out of the pair between him and Vladimir which further gives his name significance.

However, one can also argue that the names Beckett has chosen do not help to define the characters because they are ultimately meaningless. For example, the nicknames for Vladimir and Estragon, “Gogo” and “Didi” do not relate to their original names and there therefore meaningless. It is a disjointed connection of consonants that repeats the same sound, creating a lack of naturalism. Vladimir’s name is stereotypically common and therefore contains no meaning either. One can argue that Pozzo’s name has meaning because it can also mean oil, reflecting his rich status. He owns the slave Lucky and has multiple possessions that he openly flaunts such as the: stool, whip, glasses, pipe and vaporizer among others. However, one can also argue that his name is meaningless because in the second act he responds to the Biblical names of both “Cain” and “Abel”. They represent the murderer and the “victim of all humanity” which suggests that names in the context of the play are meaningless because they juxtapose each other.