1.
[HAMLET clears his throat noisily and spits into the audience.]: ACT III - Hamlet finds out ros and guil betrayed him and spits in audience
Hamlet is not only betrayed by Ros and GUil but by the audience. While the audience think ahhh r & g you cowards when they try to rationalize sending hamlet to his death, we too are just as passive and not doing anything to stop it from occurring. Stoppard is pointing directly at the passivity of the audience.
2.
[He takes off his hat, peers inside it, feels about inside it, shakes it, puts it on again.]
[He knocks on the crown as though to dislodge a foreign body, peers into it again, puts it on again.]
V: Nothing to be done.: BEGINNING ACT I: HAT AND BOOTS
V is searching for the appropriate word and it seems that he uses his hat to help him think. But then he takes off the hat again and kocks into it. It seems like someone else is thinking for him. How does it characterize him?
3.
[V adjusts Lucky's hat on his head.]: MID ACT II: V tries on lucky's hat and gives his hat to E. V decides to wear it because his hat annoyes him.
4.
[V examines the hat, peers inside it.]: END ACT I: After lucky's stream of consciousness what does V do with his hat and why?
5.
[V's hat, E's boot, Lucky's hat, fall to the ground.]: MID ACT I: Lucky cracks his whip. What happens to the hats and boots? If the hat and boots represent their beliefs and ways of feeling comfortable in the world, then what is Beckett saying when their props jump off due to fear?
6.
[Wind in the rigging]: ACT III - On the boat
The other place that the wind comes up is in the final act. The wind is filling the sails of the boat that will take Guil and Ros to England. It is at this point in the play that events are set and determined; the wind is directing Guil and Ros to their fates. What before was "just" a metaphor suddenly takes on literal power: it really is taking the two of them to their deaths. But anyway, we'll talk more about that final act in our next section, "The Boat."
7.
E: [recoiling]. Who farted?: ACT: II Pozzo farts and E responds.
8.
E: [they embrace. estragon recoils.] you stink of garlic!: V smells of garlic beginning of act I.
9.
E: [turning to look at the boots]. I'm leaving them there. [Pause.] Another will come, just as . . . as . . . as me, but with smaller feet, and they'll make him happy.: ...
10.
E: He has stinking breath and I have stinking feet.: Pozzo asks which of p and v smells so bad.
11.
E: pale for weariness ... of climbing heaven and gazing on the likes of us.: END OF ACT I: Estragon to the moon. He explains why it is pale and at this moment seems to comprehend the repetitiveness of their waiting.
12.
E: Taking off my boot. Did that never happen to you?
V: Boots must be taken off every day: V asks him what he is doing. E says he taking off his boot and asks him if its never happened to V. It seems as if the taking off of a boot holds a deeper resonance. V does not see boots in the same way that E does. Perhaps this has something to do with how they each view life. E wearys out and suffers (he htinks the boot hurts) but V changes his boots every day and moves through life and gets used to it. Perhaps the boots aids in their characterization. E need for boots characterize him as more practical who thinks of things required for daily life while V's need for a hat characterizes him as a more intellectual character who relies on thought.
13.
E: The more you eat the worse it gets
V: With me it's just the opposite
...
V: I get used to the muck as I go along: ACT I - THE CARROT EATING
E and V discuss how eating a carrot is for them. V disagrees with E. It reflects their character and their attitude towards life.
14.
E: They're not mine.: In Act II E looses his boots and V finds them in the exact place he left them yesterday. What does E says when he sees them?
V thinks they are the same, E says they are a different color. What is this symbolic for?
15.
G: Give us this our daily mask.: Alludes to the lords prayer and is frequently repeated through the play. G always replaces "bread" with a word that is applicable to his situation/puns on their situation. The mask one is said when Claudius and Gertrude mix up their identities. Stoppard is saying that people often turn to literature for guidance as to how to lead their lives but literature cant help in specific situations. Stoppard reminds his audience that great literature is not a blueprint for how to lead our lives. Rather, literature itself struggles to make sense of the complex business of living in a confusing, often frustrating world.
16.
G: I'm trying to establish the direction of the wind.: In act II, G tries to use the wind to establish which way they came to the court at denmark.
17.
G: We can change direction, rattle about, but our movement is contained within a larger one that carries us along: This quote by Guil relates to boat symbolism and the theme: Free will.
18.
Player: I know which way the wind is blowing: R&G ACT II: This is a metaphor for - the player knows how events are going to play out
19.
R: "Fire!": R shouts fire and then no one moves and he comments not a move. He is directly pointing at the passivity of the audience and the unspoken rules of theatre.
20.
R: We might as well be dead. Do you think death could possibly be a boat?: ACT III - On the boat
R and G exchange comic discussion about death on a boat. G says d cant be on a boat because death is the ultimate negative - not being. R says hes not been on boats frequently but G says no, you have been not on boats frequently. This is an example of tragicomedy. Their discussion is funny but its dismal because the boat is taking them to their death.
21.
V: [V succeeds finally in getting on the boot.] Try and walk. [Estragon walks.] Well?
E: It fits.: V and E try to put on E's boot. And then they test how the boot fits. Boots are practical and they reflect E's nature.
22.
V: A dog came in the kitchen: V's song
- Repetition, banality, and a comically macabre subject matter
23.
V: But yesterday evening it was all black and bare. And now it's covered with leaves.: Act II: V comments on the sudden growth of the tree. Why did the leaves grow? what is it symbolic for? is it an ironic symbol as there actually is no hope? Perhaps it fools the audience into expecting godot to come or something to occur.
24.
V: Hope deferred maketh the something sick, who said that?
"Hope deferred makes the heart sick; but a desire fulfilled is a tree of life.": EARLY ACT I- what does v say about the hope and the tree? it is an allusion to the bible from proverbs.
what is the real one? It is about the tree and suggests that the blooming of the tree is a symbol of life and perhaps hope. According to the proverb it means a desire has been fulfilled. The tree's sprouting leaves could be an ironic symbol pointing out that they have no fulfilled their desires at all because each day when night falls, hopes have been deferred yet another day -
25.
V: Why did you throw them [the boots] away?
E: [exasperated]. Because they were hurting me!: ACT II - Discuss how E was kicked by Lucky. They check E's legs and V notices his boots are missing. V asks why E threw his boots away and E says they hurt.
