The Complete Dramatic Works of Samuel Beckett
Page 5
VLADIMIR: Tell him … [He hesitates] … tell him you saw us. [Pause.] You did see us, didn’t you?
BOY: Yes, sir.
[He steps back, hesitates, turns and exit running. The light suddenly fails. In a moment it is night. The moon rises at back, mounts in the sky, stands still, shedding a pale light on the scene.]
VLADIMIR: At last! [ESTRAGON gets up and goes towards VLADIMIR, a boot in each hand. He puts them down at the edge of stage, straightens and contemplates the moon.] What are you doing?
ESTRAGON: Pale for weariness.
VLADIMIR: Eh?
ESTRAGON: Of climbing heaven and gazing on the likes of us.
VLADIMIR: Your boots. What are you doing with your boots?
ESTRAGON: [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.
VLADIMIR: But you can’t go barefoot!
ESTRAGON: Christ did.
VLADIMIR: Christ! What’s Christ got to do with it? You’re not going to compare yourself to Christ!
ESTRAGON: All my life I’ve compared myself to him.
VLADIMIR: But where he lived it was warm, it was dry!
ESTRAGON: Yes. And they crucified quick.
[Silence.]
VLADIMIR: We’ve nothing more to do here.
ESTRAGON: Nor anywhere else.
VLADIMIR: Ah Gogo, don’t go on like that. Tomorrow everything will be better.
ESTRAGON: How do you make that out?
VLADIMIR: Did you not hear what the child said?
ESTRAGON: No.
VLADIMIR: He said that Godot was sure to come tomorrow. [Pause.] What do you say to that?
ESTRAGON: Then all we have to do is to wait on here.
VLADIMIR: Are you mad? We must take cover. [He takes ESTRAGON by the arm.] Come on.
[He draws ESTRAGON after him. ESTRAGON yields, then resists. They halt.]
ESTRAGON: [Looking at the tree.] Pity we haven’t got a bit of rope.
VLADIMIR: Come on. It’s cold.
[He draws ESTRAGON after him. As before.]
ESTRAGON: Remind me to bring a bit of rope tomorrow.
VLADIMIR: Yes. Come on.
[He draws him after him. As before.]
ESTRAGON: How long have we been together all the time now?
VLADIMIR: I don’t know. Fifty years perhaps.
ESTRAGON: Do you remember the day I threw myself into the Rhône?
VLADIMIR: We were grape-harvesting.
ESTRAGON: You fished me out.
VLADIMIR: That’s all dead and buried.
ESTRAGON: My clothes dried in the sun.
VLADIMIR: There’s no good harking back on that. Come on. [He draws him after him. As before.]
ESTRAGON: Wait.
VLADIMIR: I’m cold!
ESTRAGON: Wait! [He moves away from VLADIMIR.] I wonder if we wouldn’t have been better off alone, each one for himself. [He crosses the stage and sits down on the mound.] We weren’t made for the same road.
VLADIMIR: [Without anger.] It’s not certain.
ESTRAGON: No, nothing is certain.
[VLADIMIR slowly crosses the stage and sits down beside ESTRAGON.]
VLADIMIR: We can still part, if you think it would be better.
ESTRAGONV: It’s not worth while now.
[Silence.]
VLADIMIR: No, it’s not worth while now.
[Silence.]
ESTRAGON: Well, shall we go?
VLADIMIR: Yes, let’s go.
[They do not move.]
CURTAIN
1 All four wear bowlers.
ACT TWO
Next Day. Same Time. Same Place.
Estragon’s boots front centre, heels together, toes splayed.
Lucky’s hat at same place.
The tree has four or five leaves.
Enter VLADIMIR agitatedly. He halts and looks long at the tree, then suddenly begins to move feverishly about the stage. He halts before the boots, picks one up, examines it, sniffs it, manifests disgust, puts it back carefully. Comes and goes. Halts extreme right and gazes into distance off, shading his eyes with his hand. Comes and goes. Halts extreme left, as before. Comes and goes. Halts suddenly and begins to sing loudly.
VLADIMIR: A dog came in –
[Having begun too high he stops, clears his throat, resumes.]
A dog came in the kitchen
And stole a crust of bread.
Then cook up with a ladle
And beat him till he was dead.
Then all the dogs came running
And dug the dog a tomb –
[He stops, broods, resumes.]
Then all the dogs came running
And dug the dog a tomb
And wrote upon the tombstone
For the eyes of dogs to come:
A dog came in the kitchen
And stole a crust of bread.
Then cook up with a ladle
And beat him till he was dead.
Then all the dogs came running
And dug the dog a tomb –
[He stops, broods, resumes.]
Then all the dogs came running
And dug the dog a tomb –
[He stops, broods. Softly.]
And dug the dog a tomb …
[He remains a moment silent and motionless, then begins to move feverishly about the stage. He halts before the tree, comes and goes, before the boots, comes and goes, halts extreme right, gazes into distance, extreme left, gazes into distance. Enter ESTRAGON right, barefoot, head bowed. He slowly crosses the stage. VLADIMIR turns and sees him.]
You again! [ESTRAGON halts, but does not raise his head. VLADIMIR goes towards him.] Come here till I embrace you.
ESTRAGON: Don’t touch me!
[VLADIMIR holds back, pained.]
VLADIMIR: Do you want me to go away? [Pause.] Gogo! [Pause. VLADIMIR observes him attentively.] Did they beat you? [Pause.] Gogo! [ESTRAGON remains silent, head bowed.] Where did you spend the night?
ESTRAGON: Don’t touch me! Don’t question me! Don’t speak to me! Stay with me!
VLADIMIR: Did I ever leave you?
ESTRAGON: You let me go.
VLADIMIR: Look at me. [ESTRAGON does not raise his head. Violently.] Will you look at me!
[ESTRAGON raises his head. They look long at each other, then suddenly embrace, clapping each other on the back. End of the embrace, ESTRAGON, no longer supported, almost falls.]
ESTRAGON: What a day!
VLADIMIR: Who beat you? Tell me.
ESTRAGON: Another day done with.
VLADIMIR: Not yet.
ESTRAGON: For me it’s over and done with, no matter what happens. [Silence.] I heard you singing.
VLADIMIR: That’s right, I remember.
ESTRAGON: That finished me. I said to myself, he’s all alone, he thinks I’m gone for ever, and he sings.
VLADIMIR: One isn’t master of one’s moods. All day I’ve felt in great form. [Pause.] I didn’t get up in the night, not once!
ESTRAGON: [Sadly.] You see, you piss better when I’m not there.
VLADIMIR: I missed you … and at the same time I was happy. Isn’t that a queer thing?
ESTRAGON: [Shocked.] Happy?
VLADIMIR: Perhaps it’s not the right word.
ESTRAGON: And now?
VLADIMIR: Now? … [Joyous.] There you are again … [Indifferent.] There we are again … [Gloomy.] There I am again.
ESTRAGON: You see, you feel worse when I’m with you. I feel better alone, too.
VLADIMIR: [Vexed.] Then why do you always come crawling back?
ESTRAGON: I don’t know.
VLADIMIR: No, but I do. It’s because you don’t know how to defend yourself. I wouldn’t have let them beat you.
ESTRAGON: You couldn’t have stopped them.
VLADIMIR: Why not?
ESTRAGON: There were ten of them.
VLADIMIR: No, I mean before th
ey beat you. I would have stopped you from doing whatever it was you were doing.
ESTRAGON: I wasn’t doing anything.
VLADIMIR: Then why did they beat you?
ESTRAGON: I don’t know.
VLADIMIR: Ah no, Gogo, the truth is there are things escape you that don’t escape me, you must feel it yourself.
ESTRAGON: I tell you I wasn’t doing anything.
VLADIMIR: Perhaps you weren’t. But it’s the way of doing it that counts, the way of doing it, if you want to go on living.
ESTRAGON: I wasn’t doing anything.
VLADIMIR: You must be happy, too, deep down, if you only knew it.
ESTRAGON: Happy about what?
VLADIMIR: To be back with me again.
ESTRAGON: Would you say so?
VLADIMIR: Say you are, even if it’s not true.
ESTRAGON: What am I to say?
VLADIMIR: Say, I am happy.
ESTRAGON: I am happy.
VLADIMIR: So am I.
ESTRAGON: So am I.
VLADIMIR: We are happy.
ESTRAGON: We are happy. [Silence.] What do we do now, now that we are happy?
VLADIMIR: Wait for Godot, [ESTRAGON groans. Silence.] Things have changed since yesterday.
ESTRAGON: And if he doesn’t come?
VLADIMIR: [After a moment of bewilderment.] We’ll see when the time comes. [Pause.] I was saying that things have changed here since yesterday.
ESTRAGON: Everything oozes.
VLADIMIR: Look at the tree.
ESTRAGON: It’s never the same pus from one second to the next.
VLADIMIR: The tree, look at the tree.
[ESTRAGON looks at the tree.]
ESTRAGON: Was it not there yesterday?
VLADIMIR: Yes, of course it was there. Do you not remember? We nearly hanged ourselves from it. But you wouldn’t. Do you not remember?
ESTRAGON: You dreamt it.
VLADIMIR: Is it possible that you’ve forgotten already?
ESTRAGON: That’s the way I am. Either I forget immediately or I never forget.
VLADIMIR: And Pozzo and Lucky, have you forgotten them too?
ESTRAGON: Pozzo and Lucky?
VLADIMIR: He’s forgotten everything!
ESTRAGON: I remember a lunatic who kicked the shins off me. Then he played the fool.
VLADIMIR: That was Lucky.
ESTRAGON: I remember that. But when was it?
VLADIMIR: And his keeper, do you not remember him?
ESTRAGON: He gave me a bone.
VLADIMIR: That was Pozzo.
ESTRAGON: And all that was yesterday, you say?
VLADIMIR: Yes, of course it was yesterday.
ESTRAGON: And here where we are now?
VLADIMIR: Where else do you think? Do you not recognize the place?
ESTRAGON: [Suddenly furious.] Recognize! What is there to 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 together.
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: That’s the idea, let’s ask each other questions.
VLADIMIR: What do you mean, at least there’s that?
ESTRAGON: That much less misery.
VLADIMIR: True.
ESTRAGON: Well? If we gave thanks for our mercies?
VLADIMIR: What is terrible is to have thought.
ESTRAGON: But did that ever
happen to us?
VLADIMIR: Where are all these corpses from?
ESTRAGON: These skeletons.
VLADIMIR: Tell me that.
ESTRAGON: True.
VLADIMIR: We must have thought a little.
ESTRAGON: At the very beginning.
VLADIMIR: A charnel-house! A charnel-house!
ESTRAGON: You don’t have to look.
VLADIMIR: You can’t help looking.
ESTRAGON: True.
VLADIMIR: Try as one may.
ESTRAGON: I beg your pardon?
VLADIMIR: Try as one may.
ESTRAGON: We should turn resolutely towards Nature.
VLADIMIR: We’ve tried that.
ESTRAGON: True.
VLADIMIR: Oh, it’s not the worst, I know.
ESTRAGON: What?
VLADIMIR: To have thought.
ESTRAGON: Obviously.
VLADIMIR: But we could have done without it.
ESTRAGON: Que voulez-vous?
VLADIMIR: I beg your pardon?
ESTRAGON: Que voulez-vous?
VLADIMIR: Ah! que voulez-vous. Exactly.
[Silence.]
ESTRAGON: That wasn’t such a bad little canter.
VLADIMIR: Yes, but now we’ll have to find something else.
ESTRAGON: Let me see.
[He takes off his hat, concentrates.]
VLADIMIR: Let me see. [He takes off his hat, concentrates. Long silence.] Ah!
[They put on their hats, relax.]
ESTRAGON: Well?
VLADIMIR: What was I saying, we could go on from there.
ESTRAGON: What were you saying when?
VLADIMIR: At the very beginning.
ESTRAGON: The beginning of WHAT?
VLADIMIR: This evening … I was saying … I was saying …
ESTRAGON: I’m not a historian.
VLADIMIR: Wait … we embraced … we were happy … happy .… what do we do now that we’re happy … go on waiting … waiting … let me think … it’s coming … go on waiting … now that we’re happy … let me see … ah! The tree!
ESTRAGON: The tree?
VLADIMIR: Do you not remember?
ESTRAGON: I’m tired.
VLADIMIR: Look at it.
[They look at the tree.]
ESTRAGON: I see nothing.
VLADIMIR: But yesterday evening it was all black and bare.
And now it’s covered with leaves.
ESTRAGON: Leaves?
VLADIMIR: In a single night.
ESTRAGON: It must be the spring.
VLADIMIR: But in a single night!
ESTRAGON: I tell you we weren’t here yesterday. Another of your nightmares.