Lucky’s Act 1 monologue from Beckett’s Waiting for Godot (1953)
Step 1: Brainstorm a bullet list of motifs you have seen up to this point in the play.
Step 2: CIRCLE any unfamiliar or evocative expressions not already footnoted and write definitions or
comments in the margin.
Lucky:
Given the existence1 as uttered forth in the public
works of Puncher and Wattmann2 of a personal
God quaquaquaqua3 with white beard
quaquaquaqua outside time without extension
who from the heights of divine apathia4 divine
athambia5 divine aphasia6 loves us dearly with some
exceptions for reasons unknown but time will tell
and suffers like the divine Miranda7 with those
who for reasons unknown but time will tell are
plunged in torment plunged in fire whose fire
flames if that continues and who can doubt it will
fire the firmament that is to say blast hell to
heaven so blue still and calm so calm with a calm
which even though intermittent is better than
nothing but not so fast and considering what is
more that as a result of the labours left unfinished
crowned by the Acacacacademy of
Anthropopopometry8 of Essy-in-Possy9 of Testew
and Cunard10 it is established beyond all doubt all
other doubt than that which clings to the labors of
men that as a result of the labors unfinished of
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Given the existence: Lucky’s “thinking” begins by framing a basic premise of a theological argument. The entire monologue is
a sentence fragment of three dependent clauses, each with a different focus:
1) Beginning with “Given the existence,” lines 1-15
2) Beginning with “and considering what is more,” lines 15-53
3) Beginning with “and considering what is more,” lines 53-82
2
Puncher and Wattmann: Poinçon et Wattman in the French original. Poinçon is French for a ticket puncher (i.e., conductor) on
a tram, and wattmann is French for a tram driver. But what sort of entity or persons does the name evoke?
3
qua: Latin for “in the function or capacity of,” an expression often used in scholarly or legal works. The string of of “quas”
create the onomatopoetic effect. What do they sound like?
4
apathia: from Gk. a- (“without”) + pathos (“emotion; feeling;suffering; passion”). Apathy; a lack of enthusiasm, interest, or
concern.
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athambia: imperturbability; calm and unruffled self-assurance.
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aphasia: loss of ability to understand or express speech.
7
Miranda: a charactonym meaning “admirable,” for example Prospero’s daughter Miranda in Shakespeare’s The Tempest.
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Anthropometry: the scientific study of the measurements of the human body, such as the “research” Schoolteacher performed
upon Sethe in Morrison’s Beloved.
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Essy-in-Possy: Esse is Latin for “being”; posse is Latin for “being able.” But what sort of entity does the name evoke?
10
Testew and Cunard: Têtu et Conard in the French original, meaning “mulish and stupid,” with a possible sexual pun on
testicule et con, meaning testicle and old French slang for vagina. But what sort of entity or persons does the name evoke?
Testew and Cunard it is established as hereinafter
but not so fast for reasons unknown that as a
result of the public works of Puncher and
Wattmann it is established beyond all doubt that
in view of the labours of Fartov and Belcher11 left
unfinished for reasons unknown of Testew and
Cunard left unfinished it is established what many
deny that man in Possy of Testew and Cunard that
man in Essy that man in short that man in brief in
spite of the strides of alimentation12 and defecation
is seen to waste and pine waste and pine and
concurrently simultaneously what is more for
reasons unknown in spite of the strides of physical
culture13 the practice of sports such as tennis14
football running cycling swimming flying floating
riding gliding conating15 camogie16 skating tennis of
all kinds dying flying sports of all sorts autumn
summer winter winter tennis of all kinds hockey
of all sorts penicilline and succedanea17 in a word I
resume flying gliding golf over nine and eighteen
holes tennis of all sorts in a word for reasons
unknown in Feckham Peckham Fulham Clapham18
namely concurrently simultaneously what is more
for reasons unknown but time will tell fades away
I resume Fulham Clapham in a word the dead
loss per head since the death of Bishop Berkeley19
being to the tune of one inch four ounce per head
approximately by and large more or less to the
nearest decimal good measure round figures stark
naked in the stockinged feet in Connemara20 in a
word for reasons unknown no matter what matter
the facts are there and considering what is more
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Fartov and Belcher: Vulgar comic names. But what sort of entity or persons does the name evoke?
alimentation: the process of chewing, swallowing, and digesting.
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physical culture: British term for the activity called physical education in America.
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tennis: while all the other activities mentioned in the list involve covering distance (except conating and dying), tennis
involves a back-and-forth movement, like the back-and-forth of Vladimir and Estragon’s stichomythia.
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conating: term coined by Beckett. Con is old French slang for vagina but is generally not used literally, any more than the fword is used literally in English. Most of the time, con is a general insult meaning “stupid a-hole.” Here, it is unclear whether
Beckett is suggesting “vagina-ing” or “being a stupid a-hole” for sport.
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camogie: Celtic stick-and-ball team sport played by women, a sport nearly identical to the traditionally male sport of hurling.
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succedanea: a substitute, especially a drug or medicine taken in place of another.
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Feckham Peckham Fulham Clapham: districts in Greater London. Note that the sound of Feckham approximates the sound of
a vulgar expression spoken in Irish dialect.
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Bishop Berkeley: George Berkeley (1685-1753), Bishop of Cloyne in County Cork, Ireland, Anglo-Irish neo-platonic
philosopher whose primary achievement was the advancement of a theory he called "immaterialism,” a theory that denies the
existence of material substance and instead contends that familiar objects like tables and chairs are only ideas in the minds of the
perceivers, ideas that cannot exist without being perceived.
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Connemara: a very cold region in Ireland known for its stone-strewn wilderness areas along the sea. The name derives from
Conmacne Mara; Conmacne is the name of a large clan in the Connacht region, and mara means “by the sea,” thus designating
the location of this branch of the clan. The Irish novelist and playwright Oscar Wilde observed, “Connemara is a savage beauty.”
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much more grave that in the light of the labors
lost of Steinweg and Peterman21 it appears what is
more much more grave that in the light the light
the light of the labors lost of Steinweg and
Peterman that in the plains in the mountains by
the seas by the rivers running water running fire
the air is the same and than the earth namely the
air and then the earth in the great cold the great
dark the air and the earth abode of stones in the
great cold alas alas in the year of their Lord six
hundred and something22 the air the earth the sea
the earth abode of stones in the great deeps the
great cold on sea on land and in the air I resume
for reasons unknown in spite of the tennis the
facts are there but time will tell I resume alas
alas on on in short in fine on on abode of stones
who can doubt it I resume but not so fast I
resume the skull fading fading fading and
concurrently simultaneously what is more for
reasons unknown in spite of the tennis on on the
beard the flames the tears the stones so blue so
calm alas alas on on the skull the skull the skull
the skull in Connemara in spite of the tennis the
labors abandoned left unfinished graver still
abode of stones in a word I resume alas alas
abandoned unfinished the skull the skull in
Connemara in spite of the tennis the skull alas the
stones Cunard (mêlée, final vociferations) tennis ...
the stones ... so calm ... Cunard...
unfinished...
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TURN OVER è 21
Steinweg and Peterman: stein is German for “stone,” and weg is German for “way,” as in road. Peter derives from the Greek
petros, meaning “stone.” Thus, the title literally means stone way and stone man. But what sort of entity or persons does the
name evoke?
22
the year of their Lord six-hundred and something: Irish character actor Jack MacGowran, who often worked with Beckett,
observed that Beckett recalled reading “somewhere” that “the nearest thing to a glacial age in the earth ever got in mankind’s
time” occurred sometime in the seventh century (qtd. in Gontarski, On Beckett: Essays and Criticsim. The phrase extends the
imagery of “great cold” in lines 60 and 62.
Step 3: Do The Method on this extract. (You will likely notice motifs that are also developed elsewhere
in the play.)
1) Repetitions: Make a bullet list of words or images that repeat exactly (or nearly exactly) and number
of repetitions:
2) Strands: Color mark strands (words or ideas that have something in common) and make a colorcoded key:
3) Binaries: Make a bullet list of words or ideas that create binary opposition (things that are opposite):
4) Anomalies: Make a list of any anomalies (things that don’t seem to fit):
5) a) Rank the repetitions, strands, and binaries that seem most important or significant, create bullet list
of them below.
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•
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Most significant repetition:
Most significant strand:
Most significant binary:
b) On a separate sheet, explore this importance or significance of EACH three in a 5-minute
freewrite.
Be sure to label each freewrite as Significant Repetition, Significant Strand, or Significant Binary.