Mr. Fletcher
English 12 AP
18 February 2014
The Potential Destructiveness of Repetition Life is made up of routines and patterns. Every human being has their own unique system of how they carry themselves through the day. These systems are how we survive, and they tend to become part of our subconscious. But there are those who get so caught up in their own conformity that daily life becomes much more demanding than it should be. The results of this perpetual routine can cause someone to forget who they are as a person, and what they are meant to do outside of daily life. Due to the foreboding repetition of their own daily lives, the protagonists in both Hamlet and Waiting for Godot neglect their true purpose, which …show more content…
Pozzo is the extreme version of Vladimir, since he is the impulsive, more right-brained one. Lucky is the extreme version of Estragon, since he is the left-brained, more intellectual of the two. However, they represent getting through life with someone else just like Estragon and Vladimir. Relating Pozzo and Lucky even more so to Vladimir and Estragon, Pozzo also has a moment of doubt as to whether or not he shall leave this place. “I don’t seem to be able… (long hesitation)… to depart.” (Beckett 50). The uncertainty of leaving anticipates the same way that Vladimir and Estragon are left waiting at the end of each act. Despite actually admitting that he can’t seem to leave, Pozzo actually does manage to leave, unlike Vladimir and Estragon who remain even as the curtain …show more content…
Seeing the ghost of his father raises Hamlet’s suspicions of the whole kingdom. Thinking that people will write it off as grief, Hamlet acts strangely, hoping that this will help him catch Cladius as the one who murdered his father. But all this acting and waiting takes up precious time that Hamlet simply does not have, especially as a prince who is not living up to all of his potential. At the same time, his lover, Ophelia, is forbidden to see him. Ophelia’s father Polonius takes notice of Hamlet’s apparent madness, and tells the king and queen “Your noble son is mad/ Mad I call it /for, to define true madness, / what is’t but to be nothing else but mad?” (II.ii.92-94). Now it is more about just Hamlet acting mad as a means of trying to catch Cladius, but his madness becomes so realistic that other people in the kingdom take notice. When Cladius later inquires Hamlet about his state of mind, he replies that he is “Excellent, i’faith/of the chameleon’s dish/ I eat the air/ promise-crammed” (III.ii.84-86). Since it is not the typical response one would give when one is asked about how they are doing, it only serves to further confirm the fear that Hamlet is going mad. These outrageous acts only push Hamlet further away from his true