The document presents a psychoanalytic interpretation of Samuel Beckett's play "Waiting for Godot" through the lens of Freud's theory of personality, analyzing characters Estragon, Vladimir, and Godot as representations of the id, ego, and superego respectively. The analysis concludes that the interplay between these characters reveals their interdependence, reflecting essential aspects of human psychology. References to foundational texts by Freud and Beckett are provided to support the analysis.

1. Psychological
Reading of Waiting
for Godot.

2.  Prepared by : KAVITABA P. GOHIL
 Roll No : 19
 Paper – 9 : The Modernist Literature
 M.A (English) : Sem -3
 Enrollment No : 2069108420180018
 Batch : 2017-19
 Email : kavitabaprahaladsinhjigohil@gmail.com
 Submitted to : Smt .S. B Gardi, Department of English,
MK Bhavnagar University

3. SYNOPSIS
• Introduction
• Method
• Embodying Freud in “Waiting for Godot”
• Psychological analysis of characters
• Conclusion
• References
• Thank you

5. Introduction
• Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot which is a
renowned play written after the World War II
primarily focuses on its postwar- period
characters.
• The play is categorized into “Theatre of the
Absurd”, and several studies were conducted
on the post-war period and its impressions in
the play.
• However, there were a few studies about a
full-psychoanalytic analysis of the characters.

6. Method
• Psychoanalytic theory
Psychoanalytic theory is the theory of personality
organization and the dynamics of personality development
that guides psychoanalysis, a clinical method for
treating psychopathology.
First laid out by Sigmund Freud in the late 19th century,
psychoanalytic theory has undergone many refinements
since his work.
Under the Personality structure he determined the three
different elements, the Id, the Ego and the Superego.

7. Embodying Freud in “Waiting for
Godot”
• Who is Sigmund Freud?
• What is the Id, the Ego and the Superego?

8. Psychological analysis of the
characters
• 6 Characters – 5 on stage -1 behind stage
• The discourse analysis of the two protagonists Estragon
and Vladimir, and the hidden character Mr. Godot in the
play according to the Freudian Theory of Personality.
• The voices of these three characters were analyzed
deeply and the characters were subject to a complete
psychoanalytic analysis with regards to the Freud's “the
id, the ego, and the superego” triangle.

9. Continue…
• Estragon symbolizes the id, Vladimir symbolizes the
ego, and Mr. Godot symbolizes the superego.
• Vladimir is the most rational character in the play as
the ego is the most rational one among these
mental personalities.
• Estragon behaves with his impulses throughout the
play as the id does, and Mr. Godot is a God-like
figure having norms, rules, and prohibitions.

10. Dependency of characters…

11. Continue…
• Vladimir indicates Estragon's dependence on him telling
Estragon:
[“You'd be nothing more than a little heap of bones at the
present minute, no doubt about it”.]
• Again, Vladimir said that Estragon would lose his way
without him:-
[ESTRAGON: (coldly.) There are times when I wonder if
it wouldn't be better for us to part.
VLADIMIR: You wouldn't go far.]

12. Continue…
• Vladimir implies his commitment to Godot
in the scene of the discussion to hang
themselves or not:
 “Let's wait and see what he says”
• Apart from this he is the one who always
reminds Estragon that they are waiting for
Godot and thus they couldn’t go away
from the place.

13. Continue…
• Vladimir's protection for Estragon recalls
the position of the ego: it tries hard to
protect the id from the punishment,
strictness, and tyranny of the superego.
• Scene when Lucky hit Estragon
• Boots , jacket and nightmare of Estragon

14. Continue…
• On the other hand, Vladimir cannot recall the past
without Estragon since he believes he is a witness about
the past. this case is similar to the fact that the ego takes
its energy from the id.
• Vladimir starts to question about reality, time, and place
they are in. He wonders whether he is awake or not; he
falls into a reality anxiety. Likewise, when the ego is
forced to face its weakness, it breaks into a reality
anxiety about the external world.

15. Continue…
• Mr. Godot is supposed to punish Vladimir and Estragon,
as it is the case of the superego since if its norms are not
fulfilled the superego punishes the ego and indirectly the
id with the feelings of tension, inferiority, and guilt.
• Vladimir feeds or offers to feed Estragon with carrots in
both the acts. Vladimir believes that it is his duty to do
what Estragon desires. Similarly, the ego realizes the
intentions and satisfies the impulses of the id like a rider
who has to direct his/her horse in the way it itself wishes
to go.

16. Continue…
• Superego doesn’t communicate with id, in
the same manner Godot have never
communicated with Estragon, or never
sent any message for him.

17. CONCLUTION
• By considering all above refrences we come to
conclusion that:-
“Vladimir represents ‘The EGO’,Estragon represents
‘The ID’ & Mr. Godot represents ‘The Superego’
according to frued’s theory of Personality.”
• In the case of Id, Ego and Superego; neither of the
character can be seprated fron each other.
• They cannot be complete characters even in the
lack of one party.

18. Refrences
• Freud, S. (1933). New introductory lectures on
psychoanalysis.London, England: Hogarth Press.
• Freud, S. (1961). The ego and the id. In J.
Strachey (Ed. and Trans.), The standard edition
of the complete psychological works of Sigmund
Freud (Vol. 19, pp. 3 -66). London: Hogarth
Press. (Original work published 1923)
• Beckett, S. (2011). Waiting for Godot. New York,
NY:Grove Press.

19. THANK YOU