Waiting for Godot - The Boots

Like I mentioned in my last blog post, the scenery and plot are very scarce in the play Waiting for Godot.   The very few inanimate object props, like Vladimir’s hat, are important in determining the motives and personalities of the two main characters.  Estragon seems to be obsessed with his boots like Vladimir is obsessed with his hat.  Estragon is always trying to take of his boots and is constantly complaining about how they fit.  Instead of symbolizing his eager for knowledge and answers, like Vladimir’s hat, these boots help show Estragon’s more realistic, hopeless approach to life and the arrival of Godot.  Because boots remain on the ground, one could interpret this object as standing for Estragon’s grounded, practical, yet kind of pessimistic  approach to life than that of Vladimir.  As the men are struggling and waiting for Godot, Estragon struggles with his boots.  These struggle with the boots are parallel to the struggle of the men’s lives.  Estragon wants to leave and does not see a purpose in waiting for Godot, yet Vladimir and the ideas he received from his hat always convince Estragon to stay and wait.  While Vladimir peers inside of his hat to find answers to problems and the future, Estragon looks inside of his boots and sees emptiness, which seems to not only represent how he feels inside, but also represents his lack of position and role in life.