The Complete Dramatic Works of Samuel Beckett
Page 7
VLADIMIR: At last! [He goes towards the heap.]
Reinforcements at last!
POZZO: Help!
ESTRAGON: Is it Godot?
VLADIMIR: We were beginning to weaken. Now we’re sure to see the evening out.
POZZO: Help!
ESTRAGON: Do you hear him?
VLADIMIR: We are no longer alone, waiting for the night, waiting for Godot, waiting for … waiting. All evening we have struggled, unassisted. Now it’s over. It’s already tomorrow.
POZZO: Help!
VLADIMIR: Time flows again already. The sun will set, the moon will rise, and we away … from here.
POZZO: Pity!
VLADIMIR: Poor Pozzo!
ESTRAGON: I knew it was him.
VLADIMIR: Who?
ESTRAGON: Godot.
VLADIMIR: But it’s not Godot.
ESTRAGON: It’s not Godot?
VLADIMIR: It’s not Godot.
ESTRAGON: Then who is it?
VLADIMIR: It’s Pozzo.
POZZO: Here! Here! Help me up!
VLADIMIR: He can’t get up.
ESTRAGON: Let’s go.
VLADIMIR: We can’t.
ESTRAGON: Why not?
VLADIMIR: We’re waiting for Godot.
ESTRAGON: Ah!
VLADIMIR: Perhaps he has another bone for you.
ESTRAGON: Bone?
VLADIMIR: Chicken. Do you not remember?
ESTRAGON: It was him?
VLADIMIR: Yes.
ESTRAGON: Ask him.
VLADIMIR: Perhaps we should help him first.
ESTRAGON: To do what?
VLADIMIR: To get up.
ESTRAGON: He can’t get up?
VLADIMIR: He wants to get up.
ESTRAGON: Then let him get up.
VLADIMIR: He can’t.
ESTRAGON: Why not?
VLADIMIR: I don’t know.
[POZZO writhes, groans, beats the ground with his fists.]
ESTRAGON: We should ask him for the bone first. Then if he refuses we’ll leave him there.
VLADIMIR: You mean we have him at our mercy?
ESTRAGON: Yes.
VLADIMIR: And that we should subordinate our good offices to certain conditions.
ESTRAGON: What?
VLADIMIR: That seems intelligent all right. But there’s one thing I’m afraid of.
POZZO: Help!
ESTRAGON: What?
VLADIMIR: That Lucky might get going all of a sudden. Then we’d be ballocksed.
ESTRAGON: Lucky?
VLADIMIR: He’s the one who went for you yesterday.
ESTRAGON: I tell you there was ten of them.
VLADIMIR: No, before that, the one that kicked you.
ESTRAGON: Is he there?
VLADIMIR: As large as life. [Gesture towards LUCKY.] For the moment he is inert. But he might run amuck any minute.
POZZO: Help!
ESTRAGON: And suppose we gave him a good beating, the two of us?
VLADIMIR: You mean if we fell on him in his sleep?
ESTRAGON: Yes.
VLADIMIR: That seems a good idea all right. But could we do it? Is he really asleep? [Pause.] No, the best would be to take advantage of Pozzo’s calling for help –
POZZO: Help!
VLADIMIR: To help him –
ESTRAGON: We help him?
VLADIMIR: In anticipation of some tangible return.
ESTRAGON: And suppose he –
VLADIMIR: Let us not waste our time in idle discourse! [Pause. Vehemently.] Let us do something, while we have the chance! It is not every day that we are needed. Not indeed that we personally are needed. Others would meet the case equally well, if not better. To all mankind they were addressed, those cries for help still ringing in our ears! But at this place, at this moment of time, all mankind is us, whether we like it or not. Let us make the most of it, before it is too late! Let us represent worthily for once the foul brood to which a cruel fate consigned us! What do you say? [ESTRAGON says nothing.] It is true that when with folded arms we weigh the pros and cons we are no less a credit to our species. The tiger bounds to the help of his congeners without the least reflection, or else he slinks away into the depths of the thickets. But that is not the question. What are we doing here, that is the question. And we are blessed in this, that we happen to know the answer. Yes, in this immense confusion one thing alone is clear. We are waiting for Godot to come –
ESTRAGON: Ah!
POZZO: Help!
VLADIMIR: Or for night to fall. [Pause.] We have kept our appointment, and that’s an end to that. We are not saints, but we have kept our appointment. How many people can boast as much?
ESTRAGON: Billions.
VLADIMIR: You think so?
ESTRAGON: I don’t know.
VLADIMIR: You may be right.
POZZO: Help!
VLADIMIR: All I know is that the hours are long, under these conditions, and constrain us to beguile them with proceedings which – how shall I say – which may at first sight seem reasonable, until they become a habit. You may say it is to prevent our reason from foundering. No doubt. But has it not long been straying in the night without end of the abyssal depths? That’s what I sometimes wonder. You follow my reasoning?
ESTRAGON: [Aphoristic for once.] We all are born mad. Some remain so.
POZZO: Help! I’ll pay you!
ESTRAGON: How much?
POZZO: One hundred francs!
ESTRAGON: It’s not enough.
VLADIMIR: I wouldn’t go so far as that.
ESTRAGON: You think it’s enough?
VLADIMIR: No, I mean so far as to assert that I was weak in the head when I came into the world. But that is not the question.
POZZO: Two hundred!
VLADIMIR: We wait. We are bored. [He throws up his hand.] No, don’t protest, we are bored to death, there’s no denying it. Good. A diversion comes along and what do we do? We let it go to waste. Come, let’s get to work! [He advances towards the heap, stops in his stride.] In an instant all will vanish and we’ll be alone once more, in the midst of nothingness!
[He broods.]
POZZO: Two hundred!
VLADIMIR: We’re coming!
[He tries to pull POZZO to his feet, fails, tries again, stumbles, falls, tries to get up, fails.]
ESTRAGON: What’s the matter with you all?
VLADIMIR: Help!
ESTRAGON: I’m going.
VLADIMIR: Don’t leave me! They’ll kill me!
POZZO: Where am I?
VLADIMIR: Gogo!
POZZO: Help!
VLADIMIR: Help!
ESTRAGON: I’m going.
VLADIMIR: Help me up first. Then we’ll go together.
ESTRAGON: You promise?
VLADIMIR: I swear it!
ESTRAGON: And we’ll never come back?
VLADIMIR: Never!
ESTRAGON: We’ll go to the Pyrenees.
VLADIMIR: Wherever you like.
ESTRAGON: I’ve always wanted to wander in the Pyrenees.
VLADIMIR: You’ll wander in them.
ESTRAGON: [Recoiling.] Who farted?
VLADIMIR: Pozzo.
POZZO: Here! Here! Pity!
ESTRAGON: It’s revolting!
VLADIMIR: Quick! Give me your hand.
ESTRAGON: I’m going. [Pause. Louder.] I’m going.
VLADIMIR: Well I suppose in the end I’ll get up by myself. [He tries, fails.] In the fullness of time.
ESTRAGON: What’s the matter with you?
VLADIMIR: Go to hell.
ESTRAGON: Are you staying there?
VLADIMIR: For the time being.
ESTRAGON: Come on, get up, you’ll catch a chill.
VLADIMIR: Don’t worry about me.
ESTRAGON: Come on, Didi, don’t be pig-headed.
[He stretches out his hand which VLADIMIR makes haste to seize.]
VLADIMIR: Pull!
[ESTRAGON pulls, stumbles, falls. Long silence.]
POZ
ZO: Help!
VLADIMIR: We’ve arrived.
POZZO: Who are you?
VLADIMIR: We are men.
[Silence.]
ESTRAGON: Sweet mother earth!
VLADIMIR: Can you get up?
ESTRAGON: I don’t know.
VLADIMIR: Try.
ESTRAGON: Not now, not now.
[Silence.]
POZZO: What happened?
VLADIMIR: [Violently.] Will you stop it, you! Pest! He thinks of nothing but himself!
ESTRAGON: What about a little snooze?
VLADIMIR: Did you hear him? He wants to know what happened!
ESTRAGON: Don’t mind him. Sleep.
[Silence.]
POZZO: Pity! Pity!
ESTRAGON: [With a start.] What is it?
VLADIMIR: Were you asleep?
ESTRAGON: I must have been.
VLADIMIR: It’s this bastard Pozzo at it again.
ESTRAGON: Make him stop it. Kick him in the crotch.
VLADIMIR: [Striking POZZO.] Will you stop it! Crablouse! [POZZO extricates himself with cries of pain and crawls away. He stops, saws the air blindly, calling for help. VLADIMIR, propped on his elbow, observes his retreat.] He’s off! [POZZO collapses.] He’s down!
ESTRAGON: What do we do now?
VLADIMIR: Perhaps I could crawl to him.
ESTRAGON: Don’t leave me!
VLADIMIR: Or I could call to him.
ESTRAGON: Yes, call to him.
VLADIMIR: Pozzo! [Silence.] Pozzo! [Silence.] No reply.
ESTRAGON: Together.
VLADIMIR: He moved.
ESTRAGON: Are you sure his name is Pozzo?
VLADIMIR: [Alarmed.] Mr Pozzo! Come back! We won’t hurt you!
[Silence.]
ESTRAGON: We might try him with other names.
VLADIMIR: I’m afraid he’s dying.
ESTRAGON: It’d be amusing.
VLADIMIR: What’d be amusing?
ESTRAGON: To try with other names, one after the other. It’d pass the time. And we’d be bound to hit on the right one sooner or later.
VLADIMIR: I tell you his name is Pozzo.
ESTRAGON: We’ll soon see. [He reflects.] Abel! Abel!
POZZO: Help!
ESTRAGON: Got it in one!
VLADIMIR: I begin to weary of this motif.
ESTRAGON: Perhaps the other is called Cain. Cain! Cain!
POZZO: Help!
ESTRAGON: He’s all humanity. [Silence.] Look at the little cloud.
VLADIMIR: [Raising his eyes.] Where?
ESTRAGON: There. In the zenith.
VLADIMIR: Well? [Pause.] What is there so wonderful about it?
[Silence.]
ESTRAGON: Let’s pass on now to something else, do you mind?
VLADIMIR: I was just going to suggest it.
ESTRAGON: But to what?
VLADIMIR: Ah!
[Silence.]
ESTRAGON: Suppose we got up to begin with.
VLADIMIR: No harm in trying.
[They get up.]
ESTRAGON: Child’s play.
VLADIMIR: Simple question of will-power.
ESTRAGON: And now?
POZZO: Help!
ESTRAGON: Let’s go.
VLADIMIR: We can’t.
ESTRAGON: Why not?
VLADIMIR: We’re waiting for Godot.
ESTRAGON: Ah! [Despairing.] What’ll we do, what’ll we do!
POZZO: Help!
VLADIMIR: What about helping him?
ESTRAGON: What does he want?
VLADIMIR: He wants to get up.
ESTRAGON: Then why doesn’t he?
VLADIMIR: He wants us to help him to get up.
ESTRAGON: Then why don’t we? What are we waiting for? [They help POZZO to his feet, let him go. He falls.]
VLADIMIR: We must hold him. [They get him up again. POZZO sags between them, his arms round their necks.] Feeling better?
POZZO: Who are you?
VLADIMIR: Do you not recognize us?
POZZO: I am blind.
[Silence.]
ESTRAGON: Perhaps he can see into the future.
VLADIMIR: Since when?
POZZO: I used to have wonderful sight – but are you friends?
ESTRAGON: [Laughing noisily.] He wants to know if we are friends!
VLADIMIR: No, he means friends of his.
ESTRAGON: Well?
VLADIMIR: We’ve proved we are, by helping him.
ESTRAGON: Exactly. Would we have helped him if we weren’t his friends?
VLADIMIR: Possibly.
ESTRAGON: True.
VLADIMIR: Don’t let’s quibble about that now.
POZZO: You are not highwaymen?
ESTRAGON: Highwaymen! Do we look like highwaymen?
VLADIMIR: Damn it, can’t you see the man is blind!
ESTRAGON: Damn it, so he is. [Pause.] So he says.
POZZO: Don’t leave me!
VLADIMIR: No question of it.
ESTRAGON: For the moment.
POZZO: What time is it?
VLADIMIR: [Inspecting the sky.] Seven o’clock … eight o’clock …
ESTRAGON: That depends what time of year it is.
POZZO: Is it evening?
[Silence. VLADIMIR and ESTRAGON scrutinize the sunset.]
ESTRAGON: It’s rising.
VLADIMIR: Impossible.
ESTRAGON: Perhaps it’s the dawn.
VLADIMIR: Don’t be a fool. It’s the west over there.
ESTRAGON: How do you know?
POZZO: [Anguished.] Is it evening?
VLADIMIR: Anyway it hasn’t moved.
ESTRAGON: I tell you it’s rising.
POZZO: Why don’t you answer me?
ESTRAGON: Give us a chance.
VLADIMIR: [Reassuring.] It’s evening, sir, it’s evening, night is drawing nigh. My friend here would have me doubt it and I must confess he shook me for a moment. But it is not for nothing I have lived through this long day and I can assure you it is very near the end of its repertory. [Pause.] How do you feel now?
ESTRAGON: How much longer must we cart him round? [They half release him, catch him again as he falls.] We are not caryatids!
VLADIMIR: You were saying your sight used to be good, if I heard you right.
POZZO: Wonderful! Wonderful, wonderful sight!
[Silence.]
ESTRAGON: [Irritably.] Expand! Expand!
VLADIMIR: Let him alone. Can’t you see he’s thinking of the days when he was happy? [Pause.] Memoria praeteritorum bonorum – that must be unpleasant.
ESTRAGON: We wouldn’t know.
VLADIMIR: And it came on you all of a sudden?
POZZO: Quite wonderful!
VLADIMIR: I’m asking you if it came on you all of a sudden.
POZZO: I woke up one fine day as blind as Fortune. [Pause.] Sometimes I wonder if I’m not still asleep.
VLADIMIR: And when was that?
POZZO: I don’t know.
VLADIMIR: But no later than yesterday –
POZZO: [Violently.] Don’t question me! The blind have no notion of time. The things of time are hidden from them too.
VLADIMIR: Well just fancy that! I could have sworn it was just the opposite.
ESTRAGON: I’m going.
POZZO: Where are we?
VLADIMIR: I couldn’t tell you.
POZZO: It isn’t by any chance the place known as the Board?
VLADIMIR: Never heard of it.
POZZO: What is it like?
VLADIMIR: [Looking round.] It’s indescribable. It’s like nothing. There’s nothing. There’s a tree.
POZZO: Then it’s not the Board.
ESTRAGON: [Sagging.] Some diversion!
POZZO: Where is my menial?
VLADIMIR: He’s about somewhere.
POZZO: Why doesn’t he answer when I call?
VLADIMIR: I don’t know. He seems to be sleeping. Perhaps he’s dead.
POZZO: What happened exactly?
VLADIMIR: The two of you slipped. [Pause.] And fell.
POZZO: Go and see is he hurt.
VLADIMIR: We can’t leave you.
POZZO: You needn’t both go.
VLADIMIR: [To ESTRAGON.] You go.
ESTRAGON: After what he did to me? Never!
POZZO: Yes yes, let your friend go, he stinks so. [Silence.]
What is he waiting for?
VLADIMIR: What are you waiting for?
ESTRAGON: I’m waiting for Godot.
[Silence.]
VLADIMIR: What exactly should he do?
POZZO: Well to begin with he should pull on the rope, as hard as he likes so long as he doesn’t strangle him. He usually responds to that. If not he should give him a taste of his boot, in the face and the privates as far as possible.
VLADIMIR: [To ESTRAGON.] You see, you’ve nothing to be afraid of. It’s even an opportunity to revenge yourself.
ESTRAGON: And if he defends himself?
POZZO: No no, he never defends himself.
VLADIMIR: I’ll come flying to the rescue.
ESTRAGON: Don’t take your eyes off me.
[He goes towards LUCKY.]
VLADIMIR: Make sure he’s alive before you start. No point in exerting yourself if he’s dead.
ESTRAGON: [Bending over LUCKY]. He’s breathing.
VLADIMIR: Then let him have it.
[With sudden fury VLADIMIR starts kicking LUCKY, hurling abuse at him as he does so. But he hurts his foot and moves away limping and groaning. LUCKY stirs.]
ESTRAGON: Oh the brute!
[He sits down on the mound and tries to take off his boot. But he soon desists and disposes himself for sleep, his arms on his knees and his head on his arms.]
POZZO: What’s gone wrong now?
VLADIMIR: My friend has hurt himself.
POZZO: And Lucky?
VLADIMIR: So it is he?
POZZO: What?
VLADIMIR: It is Lucky?
POZZO: I don’t understand.
VLADIMIR: And you are Pozzo?
POZZO: Certainly I am Pozzo.
VLADIMIR: The same as yesterday?
POZZO: Yesterday?
VLADIMIR: We met yesterday. [Silence.] Do you not remember?
POZZO: I don’t remember having met anyone yesterday. But tomorrow I won’t remember having met anyone today. So don’t count on me to enlighten you.
VLADIMIR: But –
POZZO: Enough. Up pig!
VLADIMIR: You were bringing him to the fair to sell him. You spoke to us. He danced. He thought. You had your sight.
POZZO: As you please. Let me go! [VLADIMIR moves away.] Up!
[LUCKY gets up, gathering up his burdens.]
VLADIMIR: Where do you go from here?
POZZO: On. [LUCKY, laden down, takes his place before POZZO.] Whip! [LUCKY puts everything down, looks for whip, finds it, puts it into POZZO’s hand, takes up everything again.] Rope!