Editing Waiting for Godot (section)

==Characters==
Beckett refrained from elaborating on the characters beyond what he had written in the play. He once recalled that when Sir [[Ralph Richardson]] "wanted the low-down on Pozzo, his home address and [[Résumé|curriculum vitae]], and seemed to make the forthcoming of this and similar information the condition of his condescending to illustrate the part of Vladimir ... I told him that all I knew about Pozzo was in the text, that if I had known more I would have put it in the text, and that was true also of the other characters."<ref>SB to [[Barney Rosset]], 18 October 1954 (Syracuse). Quoted in Knowlson, J., ''Damned to Fame: The Life of Samuel Beckett'' (London: Bloomsbury, 1996), p. 412</ref>

===Vladimir and Estragon===
{{Main|Vladimir (Waiting for Godot)|l1=Vladimir|Estragon}}
[[File:Waiting for Godot in Doon School.jpg|thumb|Vladimir and Estragon ([[The Doon School]], India, 2010)|222x222px]]
When Beckett started writing he did not have a visual image of Vladimir and Estragon. They are never referred to as [[Vagrancy|tramps]] in the text, though they are often performed in tramps' costumes on stage. [[Roger Blin]] advises: "Beckett heard their voices, but he couldn't describe his characters to me. [He said]: 'The only thing I'm sure of is that they're wearing [[Bowler hat|bowlers]].{{'"}}<ref>Quoted in ''[[Le Nouvel Observateur]]'' (26 September 1981) and referenced in Cohn, R., ''From Desire to Godot'' (London: Calder Publications; New York: Riverrun Press), 1998, p. 150</ref> "The bowler hat was of course ''de rigueur'' for men in many social contexts when Beckett was growing up in [[Foxrock]], and [his father] commonly wore one."{{sfn|Cronin|1997|p=382}} The play does indicate that the clothes worn at least by Estragon are shabby. When told by Vladimir that he should have been a poet, Estragon says he was, gestures to his rags, and asks if it were not obvious.

There are no physical descriptions of either of the two characters; however, the text indicates that Vladimir is the heavier of the pair: the contemplation-of-suicide scene tells us exactly that. The bowlers and other broadly comic aspects of their personae have reminded modern audiences of [[Laurel and Hardy]], who occasionally played tramps in their films. "The hat-passing game in ''Waiting for Godot'' and Lucky's inability to think without his hat on are two obvious Beckett derivations from Laurel and Hardy – a substitution of form for essence, covering for reality", wrote [[Gerald Mast]] in ''The Comic Mind: Comedy and the Movies''.<ref>Mast, Gerald, ''The Comic Mind: Comedy and the Movies''. University Of Chicago Press; Second Edition (15 September 1979). {{ISBN|978-0226509785}}</ref> Their "blather", which includes [[Hiberno-English]] idioms, indicated that they are both [[Irish people|Irish]].{{sfn|Gontarski|2014|p=203}}

Vladimir stands through most of the play whereas Estragon sits down numerous times and even dozes off. "Estragon is inert and Vladimir restless."<ref name="Alan Schneider 1998 p. 6">Letter to Alan Schneider, 27 December 1955 in Harmon, M., (Ed.) ''No Author Better Served: The Correspondence of Samuel Beckett and Alan Schneider'' (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1998), p. 6</ref> Vladimir looks at the sky and muses on religious or philosophical matters. Estragon "belongs to the stone",<ref>Kalb, J., ''[http://samuel-beckett.net/Penelope/staging.html Beckett in Performance] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110608131244/http://samuel-beckett.net/Penelope/staging.html |date=8 June 2011 }}'' (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989), p. 43</ref> preoccupied with mundane things such as what he can get to eat and how to ease his physical aches and pains; he is direct, intuitive. The monotonous, ritualistic means by which Estragon continuously sits upon the stone may be likened to the constant nail filing carried out by [[Happy Days (play)#Winnie|Winnie]] in ''[[Happy Days (play)|Happy Days]]'', another of Beckett's plays, both actions representing the slow, deliberate erosion of the characters' lives.{{Original research inline|date=February 2021}} He finds it hard to remember but can recall certain things when prompted, ''e.g.'', when Vladimir asks: "Do you remember the [[Gospel#Canonical gospels|Gospels]]?"{{sfn|Beckett|1988|page=12}} Estragon tells Vladimir about the coloured maps of the [[Holy Land]] and that he planned to honeymoon by the [[Dead Sea]]; it is his [[short-term memory]] that is poorest and suggests that he may, in fact, be suffering from [[Alzheimer disease|Alzheimer's disease]].<ref>See Brown, V., ''[http://uir.unisa.ac.za/bitstream/handle/10500/888/thesis.pdf Yesterday's Deformities: A Discussion of the Role of Memory and Discourse in the Plays of Samuel Beckett] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141012033313/http://uir.unisa.ac.za/bitstream/handle/10500/888/thesis.pdf |date=12 October 2014 }}'', pp. 35–75 for a detailed discussion of this.</ref> [[Al Alvarez]] writes: "But perhaps Estragon's forgetfulness is the cement binding their relationship together. He continually forgets, Vladimir continually reminds him; between them they pass the time."<ref>Alvarez, A. ''Beckett'' 2nd Edition (London: Fontana Press, 1992)</ref> Estragon's forgetfulness affords the author a certain narrative utility also, allowing for the mundane, empty conversations held between him and Vladimir to continue seamlessly.{{Original research inline|date=February 2021}} They have been together for fifty years but when asked by Pozzo they do not reveal their actual ages. Vladimir's life is not without its discomforts too but he is the more resilient of the pair. "Vladimir's pain is primarily mental anguish, which would thus account for his voluntary exchange of his hat for Lucky's, thus signifying Vladimir's symbolic desire for another person's thoughts."<ref name="themodernword.com">Gurnow, M., ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20141007231614/http://themodernword.com/beckett/paper_gurnow.html No Symbol Where None Intended: A Study of Symbolism and Allusion in Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot]''</ref> These characterizations, for some, represented the act of thinking or mental state (Vladimir) and physical things or the body (Estragon).<ref>{{Cite book|title=Beckett and Joyce: Friendship and Fiction|last=Gluck|first=Barbara|publisher=Bucknell University Press|year=1979|isbn=9780838720608|location=London|pages=152}}</ref> This is visually depicted by Vladimir's continuous attention to his hat and Estragon to his boots. While the two characters are temperamentally opposite, with their differing responses to a situation, they are both essential as demonstrated in the way Vladimir's metaphysical musings were balanced by Estragon's physical demands.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Samuel Beckett's Theatre in America: The Legacy of Alan Schneider as Beckett's American Director|last=Bianchini|first=Natka|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|year=2015|isbn=9781349683956|location=New York|pages=29}}</ref>

The above characterizations, particularly that which concerns their existential situation, are also demonstrated in one of the play's recurring themes, which is sleep.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|title=The Visible and the Invisible in the Interplay between Philosophy, Literature and Reality|last=Tymieniecka|first=Anna-Teresa|author-link=Anna-Teresa Tymieniecka|publisher=Springer Science & Business Media|year=2012|isbn=9789401038812|location=Dordrecht|pages=89}}</ref> There are two instances when Estragon falls asleep in the play and has nightmares, about which he wanted to tell Vladimir when he woke. The latter refuses to hear it since he could not tolerate the sense of entrapment experienced by the dreamer during each episode. This idea of entrapment supports the view that the setting of the play may be understood more clearly as a dream-like landscape, or, a form of [[Purgatory]], from which neither man can escape.{{Original research inline|date=February 2021}} One interpretation noted the link between the two characters' experiences and the way they represent them: the impotence in Estragon's nightmare and Vladimir's predicament of waiting as his companion sleeps.<ref name=":1" /> It is also said that sleep and impatience allow the spectators to distinguish between the two main characters, that sleep expresses Estragon's focus on his sensations while Vladimir's restlessness shows his focus on his thoughts.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book|title=The Cambridge Introduction to Theatre and Literature of the Absurd|last=Bennett|first=Michael Y.|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2015|isbn=9781107053922|location=Cambridge, UK|pages=51}}</ref> This particular aspect involving sleep is indicative of what some called a pattern of duality in the play.<ref>{{Cite book|title=University of Basrah Studies in English|last1=Al-Hajaj|first1=Jinan Fedhil|last2=Davis|first2=Graeme|publisher=Peter Lang|year=2008|isbn=9783039113255|location=Oxford|pages=141}}</ref> In the case of the protagonists, the duality involves the body and the mind, making the characters complementary.<ref name=":2" />

Throughout the play the couple refer to each other by the pet names "Didi" and "Gogo", although the boy addresses Vladimir as "Mister Albert". Beckett originally intended to call Estragon "Lévy" but when Pozzo questions him he gives his name as "Magrégor, André"<ref>Fletcher, J., "The Arrival of Godot" in ''The Modern Language Review'', Vol. 64, No. 1 (Jan. 1969), pp. 34–38</ref> and also responds to "''Catulle''" in French or "[[Catullus]]" in the first Faber edition. This became "Adam" in the American edition. Beckett's only explanation was that he was "fed up with Catullus".<ref>Duckworth, C., (Ed.) "Introduction" to ''En attendant Godot'' (London: George Harrap, 1966), pp. lxiii, lxiv. Quoted in {{harvnb|Ackerley|Gontarski|2006|p=183}}</ref>

[[Vivian Mercier]] described ''Waiting for Godot'' as a play which "has achieved a theoretical impossibility – a play in which nothing happens, that yet keeps audiences glued to their seats. What's more, since the second act is a subtly different reprise of the first, he has written a play in which nothing happens, twice."<ref>[[Vivian Mercier|Mercier, V.]], "The Uneventful Event" in ''[[The Irish Times]]'', 18 February 1956</ref> Mercier once questioned Beckett on the language used by the pair: "It seemed to me...he made Didi and Gogo sound as if they had earned PhDs. 'How do you know they hadn't?' was his reply."<ref>[[Vivian Mercier|Mercier, V.]], ''Beckett/Beckett'' (London: Souvenir Press, 1990), p. 46</ref> They clearly have known better times, such as a visit to the [[Eiffel Tower]] and grape-harvesting by the [[Rhône]]; this is about all either has to say about their pasts, save for Estragon's claim to have been a poet, an explanation Estragon provides to Vladimir for his destitution. In the first stage production, which Beckett oversaw, both are "more shabby-genteel than ragged...Vladimir at least is capable of being scandalised...on a matter of [[etiquette]] when Estragon [[begging|begs]] for chicken bones or money."<ref>[[Vivian Mercier|Mercier, V.]], ''Beckett/Beckett'' (London: Souvenir Press, 1990), pp. 47, 49</ref>

===Pozzo and Lucky===
Pozzo and Lucky have been together for 60 years.{{sfn|Beckett|1988|page=21}} Pozzo controls Lucky by means of an extremely long rope, which he jerks and tugs if Lucky is the least bit slow.

It has been contended that "[[Pozzo (Waiting for Godot)|Pozzo]] and Lucky are simply Didi and Gogo writ large", unbalanced as their relationship is.<ref>Friedman, N., "Godot and Gestalt: The Meaning of Meaningless" in ''The American Journal of Psychoanalysis'' 49(3) p. 277</ref> However, Pozzo's dominance is superficial; "upon closer inspection, it becomes evident that Lucky always possessed more influence in the relationship, for he danced, and more importantly, thought – not as a service, but in order to fill a vacant need of Pozzo: he committed all of these acts {{em|for}} Pozzo. As such, since the first appearance of the duo, the true [[Slavery|slave]] had always been Pozzo."<ref name="themodernword.com" /> Pozzo credits Lucky with having given him all the culture, refinement, and ability to reason that he possesses. His [[rhetoric]] has been learned by rote. Pozzo's "party piece" on the sky is a clear example: as his memory crumbles, he finds himself unable to continue under his own steam.

Little is learned about Pozzo besides the fact that he is on his way to the fair to sell his slave, Lucky. From Beckett's own life experiences in Ireland and wartime France, commentators such as [[Hugh Kenner]] have identified Pozzo as representing German behaviour in occupied France, or alternatively as a bullying and conceited [[Protestant Ascendancy]] landlord.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Beidler |first1=Philip D. |author1-link=Philip Beidler |title=The great beyond: art in the age of annihilation |date=2022 |publisher=The University of Alabama Press |location=Tuscaloosa |isbn=9780817321260 |pages=112–113}}</ref> When translating his original French dialogue into English, Beckett took pains to introduce Irish idiom (specifically, Dubliners' idiom): Pozzo's [[tobacco pipe|pipe]] is made by [[Peterson Pipes|Kapp and Peterson]], Dublin's best-known tobacconists (which he refers to as a "[[Erica arborea#Uses|briar]]" but which Estragon calls by the dialect word ''dudeen''). Not only is his [[Hiberno-English]] text more colourful than the French original, but it emphasizes the differences in the characters' social standing.{{sfn|Bradby|2001|p=40}}<ref>{{cite book |last1=Roche |first1=Anthony |editor1-last=Gontarski |editor1-first=S. E. |editor1-link=S. E. Gontarski |title=The Edinburgh companion to Samuel Beckett and the arts |date=2014 |publisher=Edinburgh University Press |location=Edinburgh |isbn=978-0-7486-7568-5 |page=203 |chapter=The 'Irish' translation of Beckett's ''Godot''}}</ref> Pozzo confesses to a poor memory but it is more a result of an abiding self-absorption. "Pozzo is a character who has to overcompensate. That's why he overdoes things ... and his overcompensation has to do with a deep insecurity in him. These were things Beckett said, psychological terms he used."<ref>Kalb, J., ''Beckett in Performance'' (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989), p. 175</ref> Beckett's advice to the American director [[Alan Schneider]] was: "[Pozzo] is a [[hypomania]]c and the only way to play him is to play him mad."<ref name="Alan Schneider 1998 p. 6" />

"In his [English] translation ... Beckett struggled to retain the French atmosphere as much as possible, so that he delegated all the English names and places to Lucky, whose own name, he thought, suggested such a correlation".<ref>Barney Rosset to Deirdre Bair, 29 March 1974. Referenced in {{harvnb|Bair|1990|p=464}}</ref>

Lucky appears to be the subservient member of their relationship, at least initially, carrying out every task that Pozzo bids him to do without question, portraying a form of "dog-like devotion" to his ''master.''<ref>[[Vivian Mercier|Mercier, V.]], ''Beckett/Beckett'' (London: Souvenir Press, 1990), p. 53</ref> He struggles with a heavy suitcase, falling on a number of occasions, only to be helped and held up by Estragon and Vladimir.

Lucky speaks only once in the play and it is in response to Pozzo's order to "think" for Estragon and Vladimir. The ostensibly abstract philosophical meanderings supplied to the audience by Lucky during his speech have been described as "a flood of completely meaningless gibberish" by [[Martin Esslin]] in his essay, [[Theatre of the Absurd#Etymology|"The Theatre of the Absurd"]].{{sfn|Esslin|1960}} Esslin suggests that this seemingly involuntary, philosophical spouting is an example of the actor's working "against the dialogue rather than with it",{{sfn|Esslin|1960}} providing grounds for Esslin's claims that the "fervor of delivery" in the play must "stand in a dialectical contrast to the pointlessness of the meaning of the lines".{{sfn|Esslin|1960}}

[[Jean Martin]], who originated the role of [[Lucky (Waiting for Godot)|Lucky]] in Paris in 1953, spoke to a doctor named Marthe Gautier, who was working at the [[Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital]]. Martin asked if she knew of a [[Physiology|physiological]] reason that would explain Lucky's voice as it was written in the text. Gautier suggested [[Parkinson's disease]], which, she said, "begins with a trembling, which gets more and more noticeable, until later the patient can no longer speak without the voice shaking". Martin began incorporating this idea into his rehearsals.<ref>[[Jean Martin]] on the world première of ''En attendant Godot'' in Knowlson, James and Elizabeth, (Eds.) ''Beckett Remembering – Remembering Beckett'' (London: Bloomsbury, 2006), p. 117</ref> Beckett and the director may not have been completely convinced, but they expressed no objections.<ref>Wilmer S. E., (Ed.) Beckett in Dublin (Dublin: Lilliput Press, 1992), p. 28</ref> When Martin mentioned to the playwright that he was "playing Lucky as if he were suffering from Parkinson's", Beckett responded by saying "Yes, of course", and mentioning that his own mother had Parkinson's.<ref>[[Jean Martin]] to [[Deirdre Bair]], 12 May 1976. Quoted in {{harvnb|Bair|1990|p=449}}</ref>

When Beckett was asked why Lucky was so named, he replied, "I suppose he is lucky to have no more expectations..."<ref>Duckworth, C., ''The Making of Godot'', p. 95. Quoted in {{harvnb|Bair|1990|p=407}}</ref>

===The Boy===
[[File:Waiting for Godot University of Chicago II.jpg|alt=Estragon and the boy in dialogue|thumb|222x222px|Estragon and the boy ([[University of Chicago]], 2020)]]
The cast list specifies only one boy.

The boy in Act I, a local lad, assures Vladimir that this is the first time he has seen him. He says he was not there the previous day. He confirms he works for Mr. Godot as a [[goatherd]]. His brother, whom Godot beats, is a [[shepherd]]. Godot feeds both of them and allows them to sleep in his hayloft.

The boy in Act II also assures Vladimir that it was not he who called upon them the day before. He insists that this too is his first visit. When Vladimir asks what Godot does the boy tells him, "He does nothing, sir."{{sfn|Beckett|1988|p=91}} We also learn he has a white beard – possibly, the boy is not certain. This boy also has a brother who it seems is sick but there is no clear evidence to suggest that his brother is the boy who came in Act I or the one who came the day before that.

Whether the boy from Act I is the same boy from Act II or not, both boys are polite yet timid. In the first act, the boy, despite claiming to have arrived while Pozzo and Lucky are still about, does not announce himself until after Pozzo and Lucky leave, saying to Vladimir and Estragon that he waited for the other two to leave out of fear of the two men and of Pozzo's whip; the boy does not claim to arrive early enough in Act II to see either Lucky or Pozzo. In both acts, the boy seems hesitant to speak very much, saying mostly "Yes Sir" or "No Sir", and winds up exiting by running away.

===Godot===
The identity of Godot has been the subject of much debate. "When Colin Duckworth asked Beckett point-blank whether Pozzo was Godot, the author replied: 'No. It is just implied in the text, but it's not true.{{'"}}<ref>Colin Duckworth's introduction to ''En attendant Godot'' (London: George G Harrap & Co, 1966), lx. Quoted in Cohn, R., ''From Desire to Godot'' (London: Calder Publications; New York: Riverrun Press, 1998), p. 150</ref>

[[Deirdre Bair]] says that though "Beckett will never discuss the implications of the title", she suggests two stories that both may have at least partially inspired it. The first is that because feet are a recurring theme in the play, Beckett has said the title was suggested to him by the slang French term for boot: "''[[wikt:godillot|godillot]]'', ''[[wikt:godasse|godasse]]''". The second story, according to Bair, is that Beckett once encountered a group of spectators at the French ''Tour de France'' bicycle race, who told him "Nous attendons Godot" – they were waiting for a competitor whose name was Godot.{{sfn|Bair|1990|p=405}}

"Beckett said to [[Peter Woodthorpe]] that he regretted calling the absent character 'Godot', because of all the theories involving God to which this had given rise."<ref>Interview with [[Peter Woodthorpe]], 18 February 1994. Referenced in Knowlson, J., ''Damned to Fame: The Life of Samuel Beckett'' (London: Bloomsbury, 1996), p. 785 n. 166</ref> "I also told [Ralph] Richardson that if by Godot I had meant God I would [have] said God, and not Godot. This seemed to disappoint him greatly."<ref>SB to Barney Rosset, 18 October 1954 (Syracuse). Quoted in Knowlson, J., ''Damned to Fame: The Life of Samuel Beckett'' (London: Bloomsbury, 1996), p. 412</ref> That said, Beckett did once concede, "It would be fatuous of me to pretend that I am not aware of the meanings attached to the word 'Godot', and the opinion of many that it means 'God'. But you must remember – I wrote the play in French, and if I did have that meaning in my mind, it was somewhere in my unconscious and I was not overtly aware of it."{{sfn|Bair|1990|p=591}} (Note: the French word for 'God' is 'Dieu'.) However, "Beckett has often stressed the strong unconscious impulses that partly control his writing; he has even spoken of being 'in a [[trance]]' when he writes."<ref>[[Vivian Mercier|Mercier, V.]], ''Beckett/Beckett'' (London: Souvenir Press, 1990), p. 87</ref> While Beckett stated he originally had no knowledge of [[Honoré de Balzac|Balzac]]'s play ''Mercadet ou le faiseur'', whose character Godeau has an identical-sounding name and is involved in a similar situation, it has been suggested he may have been instead influenced by ''[[The Lovable Cheat]]'',<ref>{{Cite journal|first1=Katherine|last1=Waugh|first2=Fergus|last2=Daly|date=1995|title=''Film'' by Samuel Beckett|url=http://iol.ie/~galfilm/filmwest/20beckett.htm|journal=Film West|volume=20|access-date=9 December 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190226142235/http://iol.ie/~galfilm/filmwest/20beckett.htm|archive-date=26 February 2019|url-status=dead}}</ref> a minor adaptation of ''Mercadet'' starring [[Buster Keaton]], whose works Beckett had admired,<ref>{{Cite journal|first=Alan W.|last=Friedman|date=2009|title=Samuel Beckett Meets Buster Keaton: Godeau, Film, and New York|journal=Texas Studies in Literature and Language|volume=51|issue=1|pages=41–46|jstor=40755528|doi=10.1353/tsl.0.0023|s2cid=161370974}}</ref> and whom he later sought out for ''[[Film (film)|Film]]''.

Unlike elsewhere in Beckett's work, no bicycle appears in this play, but [[Hugh Kenner]] in his essay "The Cartesian Centaur"<ref>Kenner, H., ''The Cartesian Centaur'', (Perspective, 1959)</ref> reports that Beckett once, when asked about the meaning of Godot, mentioned "a veteran racing cyclist, bald, a 'stayer', recurrent placeman in town-to-town and national championships, Christian name elusive, surname Godeau, pronounced, of course, no differently from Godot." ''Waiting for Godot'' is clearly not about track cycling, but it is said that Beckett himself did wait for French cyclist {{Interlanguage link|Roger Godeau|fr}} (1920–2000; a professional cyclist from 1943 to 1961), outside the velodrome in [[Roubaix]].<ref>Croggon, Alison. [http://www.theaustralian.com.au/arts/enter-all-those-wary-of-samuel-beckett/story-e6frg8n6-1225864745353 "Enter all those wary of Samuel Beckett"]. ''[[The Australian]]''. 11 May 2010</ref><ref>Clements, Toby. [https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/3621242/Cyclists-as-postmen-with-raggle-taggle-dreams.html "Cyclists as postmen with raggle-taggle dreams"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240521014304/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/3621242/Cyclists-as-postmen-with-raggle-taggle-dreams.html |date=21 May 2024 }}. ''The Telegraph''. 26 July 2004.</ref>

Of the two boys who work for Godot only one appears safe from beatings, "Beckett said, only half-jokingly, that one of Estragon's feet was saved".{{sfn|Ackerley|Gontarski|2006|p={{page needed|date=September 2020}}}}

The name "Godot" is pronounced in Britain and Ireland with the emphasis on the first syllable, {{IPAc-en|ˈ|ɡ|ɒ|d|oʊ}} {{respell|GOD|oh}};<ref name="NYT-20131112" /> in North America it is usually pronounced with an emphasis on the second syllable, {{IPAc-en|ɡ|ə|ˈ|d|oʊ}} {{respell|gə|DOH|'}}. Beckett himself said the emphasis should be on the first syllable, and that the North American pronunciation is a mistake.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.thecampuschronicle.com/archive/vol_4/05_07/ |title=Savannah College of Art and Design: The Chronicle |date=27 March 2008 |website= |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080327012846/http://www.thecampuschronicle.com/archive/vol_4/05_07/ |archive-date=27 March 2008 |url-status=dead}}</ref> Georges Borchardt, Beckett's literary agent, and who represents Beckett's literary estate, has always pronounced "Godot" in the French manner, with equal emphasis on both syllables. Borchardt checked with Beckett's nephew, Edward, who told him his uncle pronounced it that way as well.<ref name="NYT-20131112" /> The 1956 [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]] production split the difference by having Vladimir pronounce "Godot" with equal stress on both syllables (goh-doh) and Estragon pronounce it with the accent on the second syllable (g'doh).<ref>[[Terry Teachout|Teachout, Terry.]] [https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748704243904575630592465424692 "The Cowardly Lion Waits for Godot".]''The Wall Street Journal''. 26 November 2010.{{subscription required}} {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240521014306/https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748704243904575630592465424692 |date=21 May 2024 }}</ref><ref>{{YouTube|1ZrTh-78K2o|Becket, Samuel. ''Waiting for Godot''. audio recording. Examples located 16:05–16:15}}</ref>