Start Date
26-5-2026 4:00 PM
End Date
26-5-2026 4:15 PM
Description
In Waiting for Godot, Beckett employs a variety of strategies to expose what it means to be human. Among them, one notes a recurring emphasis on eating scenes that reflect a lurking existential crisis illustrated by the characters’ failure to follow expected standards of commensality. In this respect, if one refers to Brillat-Savarin’s maxim “Tell me what kind of food you eat and I will tell you what kind of man you are,” one could start from physiological features that are given pride of place in the play to ponder over the importance of unexpected forms of nourishment as revealing features of the kind of individuals Beckett stages. Food as well as commensality deserve critical attention since nutrition and feeding modes bring to mind conflicting comic or tragic imagery that question both the nature and significance of human life. Starting from the characters’ physiological features and concentrating on eating scenes linked to a survival strategy that proves central in Waiting for Godot, this paper explores the playwright’s artistic intent and shows how Beckett’s use of food resonates with his aesthetic choices.
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A Sisyphean Carrot in Waiting for Godot
In Waiting for Godot, Beckett employs a variety of strategies to expose what it means to be human. Among them, one notes a recurring emphasis on eating scenes that reflect a lurking existential crisis illustrated by the characters’ failure to follow expected standards of commensality. In this respect, if one refers to Brillat-Savarin’s maxim “Tell me what kind of food you eat and I will tell you what kind of man you are,” one could start from physiological features that are given pride of place in the play to ponder over the importance of unexpected forms of nourishment as revealing features of the kind of individuals Beckett stages. Food as well as commensality deserve critical attention since nutrition and feeding modes bring to mind conflicting comic or tragic imagery that question both the nature and significance of human life. Starting from the characters’ physiological features and concentrating on eating scenes linked to a survival strategy that proves central in Waiting for Godot, this paper explores the playwright’s artistic intent and shows how Beckett’s use of food resonates with his aesthetic choices.