Waiting for Godot Summary

 

Waiting for Godot Summary

The setting is in the evening on a country road with a single tree present. Estragon is trying to pull off his boot, but without success. Vladimir enters and greets Estragon, who informs him that he has spent the night in a ditch where he was beaten. With supreme effort Estragon succeeds in pulling off his boot. He then looks inside it to see if there is anything there while Vladimir does the same with his hat.

Vladimir mentions the two thieves who were crucified next to Christ. He asks Estragon if he knows the Gospels. Estragon gives a short description of the maps of the Holy Land at which point Vladimir tells him he should have been a poet. Estragon points to his tattered clothes and says he was. Vladimir continues with his narrative about the two thieves in order to pass the time.

Estragon wants to leave but Vladimir forces him to stay because they are both waiting for Godot to arrive. Neither of the two bums knows when Godot will appear, or even if they are at the right place. Later it is revealed that they do not even know what they originally asked Godot for.

Estragon gets bored of waiting and suggests that they pass the time by hanging themselves from the tree. They both like the idea but cannot decide who should go first. They are afraid that if one of them dies the other might be left alone. In the end they decide it is safer to wait until Godot arrives.

Estragon asks Vladimir whether they still have rights. Vladimir indicates that they got rid of them. He then fears that he hears something, but it turns out to be imaginary noises. Vladimir soon gives Estragon a carrot to eat.

Pozzo and Lucky arrive. Lucky has a rope tied around his neck and is carrying a stool, a basket, a bag and a greatcoat. Pozzo carries a whip which he uses to control Lucky. Estragon immediately confuses Pozzo with Godot which gets Pozzo upset.

Pozzo spends several minutes ordering Lucky around. Lucky is completely silent and obeys like a machine. Pozzo has Lucky put down the stool and open the basket of food which contains chicken. Pozzo then eats the chicken and throws away the bones. Lucky stands in a stooped posture holding the bags after each command has been completed and appears to be falling asleep.

Estragon and Vladimir go to inspect Lucky who intrigues them. They ask why he never puts his bags down. Pozzo will not tell them, so Estragon proceeds to ask if he can have the chicken bones that Pozzo has been throwing away. Pozzo tells him that they technically belong to Lucky. When they ask Lucky if he wants them, he does not reply, so Estragon is given the bones.

Pozzo eventually tells them why Lucky hold the bags the entire time. He thinks it is because Lucky is afraid of being given away. While Pozzo tells them why Lucky continues to carry his bags, Lucky starts to weep. Estragon goes to wipe away the tears but receives a terrible kick in the shin.

Pozzo then tells them that he and Lucky have been together nearly sixty years. Vladimir is appalled at the treatment of Lucky who appears to be such a faithful servant. Pozzo explains that he cannot bear it any longer because Lucky is such a burden. Later Vladimir yells at Lucky that it is appalling the way he treats such a good master.

Pozzo then gives an oratory about the night sky. He asks them how it was and they tell him it was quite a good speech. Pozzo is ecstatic at the encouragement and offers to do something for them. Estragon immediately asks for ten francs but Vladimir tells him to be silent. Pozzo offers to have Lucky dance and then think for them.

Lucky dances for them and when asked for an encore repeats the entire dance step for step. Estragon is unimpressed but almost falls trying to imitate it. They then make Lucky think. What follows is an outpouring of religious and political doctrine which always starts ideas but never brings them to completion. The three men finally wrestle Lucky to the ground and yank off his hat at which point he stops speaking. His last word is, "unfinished."

The men then spend some effort trying to get Lucky to wake up again. He finally reawakens when the bags are placed in his hand. Pozzo gets up to leave and he and Lucky depart the scene. Vladimir and Estragon return to their seats and continue waiting for Godot.

A young boy arrives having been sent by Mr. Godot. Estragon is outraged that it took him so long to arrive and scares him. Vladimir cut him off and asks the boy if he remembers him. The boy says this is his first time coming to meet them and that Mr. Godot will not be able to come today but perhaps tomorrow. The boy is sent away with the instructions to tell Mr. Godot that he has seen them. Both Estragon and Vladimir discuss past events and then decide to depart for the night. Neither of them moves from his seat.

The Life of Galileo Summary

 

The Life of Galileo Summary

Next Scene 1

Life of Galileo opens on Galileo Galilei, a professor of mathematics at Padua University. He’s talking to Andrea (his housekeeper’s young son), who has just brought him breakfast. They’re discussing the solar system and how it works. Galileo shows Andrea a wooden model that illustrates the current, generally accepted understanding of the planets. In it, the Earth is in the middle of the universe and is surrounded by eight crystal spheres. These spheres represent the moon, the sun, and all the planets. People have believed this model for two-thousand years, Galileo says, but as mankind progresses in technology and knowledge, he suspects they won’t believe it for much longer. He teaches the ideas of Nicolaus Copernicus to Andrea (who calls Copernicus “Copper Knickers”). The new ideas place the Sun at the center of the solar system, with the Earth and planets revolving around it. All the other stars in the night sky are at the center of their own systems. Galileo uses the wooden model as well as a series of common-sense demonstrations with an apple to show Andrea how Copernicus’ theory could be true. Andrea believes him somewhat, but also questions Galileo whenever an argument seems weak. When Andrea’s mother, Mrs. Sarti, arrives, she expresses serious concerns about what Galileo is teaching Andrea, since it goes against the Church’s approved model and could therefore get Andrea into trouble at school.

Throughout all of this, another concern repeatedly appears: money. Galileo doesn’t have any, but he needs it—not just to continue his research and buy books—but also to do simple tasks like pay the milkman. So when Ludovico arrives, hoping to hire Galileo on as a tutor, Mrs. Sarti insists that Galileo accept the offer. He does, though not happily. Shortly afterwards, Galileo’s supervisor at Padua University (the Procurator) arrives to tell Galileo that his recent request for a raise has been denied. The Procurator suggests that, if the mathematician needs more money than his teaching job provides, he should invent something useful. He reminds Galileo that, while Padua (and more broadly, Venice) might not pay much, it at least offers freedom from persecution by the Church, which he might experience in other, better funded places (like Florence). Galileo responds that such freedom of thought may be nice, but it is meaningless if he spends all of his free time working to make ends meet instead of thinking.Download

 

Ludovico, however, provides a possible solution to Galileo’s problem: a new invention by the Dutch called the telescope. It’s still unheard of in Italy, but Ludovico has seen it put to wondrous uses abroad. Galileo instantly understands the mechanics behind the device and quickly replicates one, pawning it off as his own original invention. The Procurator, seeing the great many uses that the telescope could be put to, guarantees Galileo his raise. Shortly thereafter, however, a Dutch merchant arrives in Venice with a boatload of telescopes and Galileo’s deception is revealed. It doesn’t matter, though. He’s already used the telescope to empirically prove Copernicus’ theory (which he’d previously only been able to prove theoretically using mathematics). He excitedly tries to show this proof to his friend Sagredo, but Sagredo only reminds him that a man was burned at the stake for quoting Copernicus only a few months before. Undeterred, Galileo remains confident that the Church will be unable to avoid the truth when it’s right before their eyes. This confidence causes him to move to Florence where, despite being under strict religious censure, he believes he will have the time and money to explore his new findings.

With Galileo newly settled in, Cosimo Medici, the Grand Duke of Florence (who is still just a child), is brought by his counsellors to see the telescope at work. Among Cosimo’s party are a theologian, a mathematician, and a philosopher. All of them are wholly skeptical of Galileo’s latest findings and, after some heated debate with him, they decide that he’s a waste of time at best if not an outright lunatic. In the end, they won’t even look through the telescope to see the simple, observable evidence that Galileo presents as proof, though they do agree (in a way that seems less than sincere) to present Galileo’s information to the Church’s chief scientist, Clavius. Shortly thereafter, a deadly plague rips through Florence. Galileo, his daughter Virginia, Mrs. Sarti, and Andrea are given the chance to flee, but Galileo declines it, citing his need to work. Mrs. Sarti decides to stay behind with him, but they send Virginia and Andrea away. Andrea, however, opts to return despite the danger so that he can continue assisting Galileo.

All manage to avoid the plague and Galileo soon finds himself at the Vatican awaiting Clavius’ review of his work. The scene plays out in much the same way that the confrontation in Florence did: the Church’s scholars are simply too dedicated to the Church’s existing understanding of the universe to entertain alternatives. They all feel that Galileo’s telescope is a dangerous object and that his questioning of age-old wisdom is even more dangerous. A kind of fever overtakes the discussion and at one point an older cardinal faints while berating Galileo. Nevertheless, the scene ends with Clavius confirming that Galileo is correct. His words are followed up by “deadly silence.”

Though Galileo understandably feels that his work has been vindicated by Clavius, he soon discovers that the Inquisition has other ideas. They’ve decided that Copernicus remains heretical and cannot be taught. Paradoxically, though, they’ve accepted Galileo’s findings. What this means is that the Church has decided to allow Galileo to continue his research but not to publish it to the outside world. Galileo is upset by this, but also slightly overwhelmed—he is, after all, a devout Catholic who doesn’t wish to go against his Church, and these orders come from the highest levels of authority.

In the following scene, the Little Monk visits Galileo. He has looked through a telescope and observed the same things Galileo has. The discovery has shaken his faith, and in order to recover that faith, he has decided to abandon astronomy. He visits Galileo to explain why—perhaps in an effort to convince Galileo to do the same. Their long conversation doesn’t go quite as planned, however, and Galileo ends up converting the Little Monk into one of his students by offering him his manuscripts. Galileo compares these to “an apple from the tree of knowledge,” something he knows the Little Monk won’t be able to resist. Kept from publishing, Galileo has instead spread his knowledge to his students, who now include the Little Monk, Andrea, and Galileo’s telescope lens manufacturer, Federzoni.

Meanwhile, the Pope is dying and it seems likely that his successor will be Cardinal Barberini, a mathematician with whom Galileo has had favorable interactions in the past. Assuming that Barberini will be far more receptive to his work than the previous Pope, Galileo resumes publication. His ideas spread far and wide, seemingly overnight: he even becomes the subject of ballads sung at public fairs and carnivals. Naturally, this catches the eye of the Inquisition, who summon Galileo to the Vatican. While Barberini does indeed agree with Galileo, the politics behind supporting him are just too risky and complicated. Therefore, the new Pope has given the Inquisition the right to imprison Galileo, and even to threaten him with torture, in order to force him to renounce his work. Their plan succeeds, and Galileo recants his doctrine. His students can hardly believe it, and they turn their backs on him. They feel that Galileo has abandoned their hard and important work to save his own skin.

Nearly a decade passes. Galileo has been imprisoned in his home by the Inquisition and will remain so for the rest of his life. He’s forced to write dissertations approving the Church’s opinion on a number of banal matters, all of them below his abilities. These texts are carefully checked by a monk for any heresies they might contain, and any other writing is forbidden. Nevertheless, Galileo has, in secret, finished his magnum opus, The Discourses and Mathematical Demonstrations Relating to Two New Sciences. One day, Andrea comes to visit (the first of his old pupils to do so). At first, Andrea is cold towards his old mentor. Galileo reveals, however, that he did not recant his work in order to save his life. Rather, he recanted it so that he could continue it in secret. With Andrea’s help, Galileo manages to sneak The Discourse out of the country and into Holland, where it is published without censure.

 

The Birthday Party Summary

 

The Birthday Party Summary

Act I

The play begins in the living room of a seaside boardinghouse in 1950s England. Petey, the boardinghouse owner, and his wife Meg, both in their sixties, sit at the living room table and engage in tepid conversation while eating breakfast. Meg is an inquisitive character who peppers Petey with repeated questions concerning his food, his job, etc. Petey informs his wife that two gentlemen will soon arrive to stay at the boardinghouse; he met them the night before. Meg is flustered by the news at first, but quickly recovers to promise she will have a room ready for them.

She then calls out to Stanley Webber, their boarder who is asleep upstairs. When he doesn’t answer, she goes upstairs to fetch him, and then returns a bit disheveled but amused. Stanley, a bespectacled, unkempt, surly man in his thirties, soon follows. Petey and Stanley speak of mundane topics while Meg prepares cornflakes and fried bread for Stanley’s breakfast. After Petey leaves for work, the atmosphere changes. Meg flirts with Stanley, who jokingly calls her “succulent” while criticizing her housework. When Meg becomes affectionate, he rudely pushes her away and insults her. Meg then informs him that two gentlemen are coming. The news unsettles Stanley, who has been the only boarder for years. He accuses Meg of lying, but she insists that she speaks the truth.

Before Meg leaves to shop, Lulu, a young girl in her twenties, arrives with a package. Meg instructs Lulu to keep the package from Stanley, and then she leaves. Lulu and Stanley chat for a little while, mostly about Stanley’s lack of enthusiasm and his appearance. Lulu calls him a “wash out” and then quickly exits. Stanley washes his face in the kitchen, and then leaves by the kitchen door. In the meantime, Goldberg and McCann enter the living room. They are the two gentlemen who had requested rooms for the evening.

It becomes immediately apparent that Goldberg and McCann have come under mysterious circumstances to “finish a job.” The job in question seems to be Stanley, though details are scarce. Goldberg reassures McCann that they are at the right house, and that this job will cause no more stress than their jobs usually cause them. Goldberg rambles on about his uncle until Meg arrives, and introductions are made.

Goldberg’s sweet temperament and suave demeanor soon set Meg at ease. Goldberg asks after Stanley, and Meg tells him that Stanley was once a successful pianist but had to give it up. Meg also reveals that it is Stanley’s birthday, and Goldberg suggests they have a party. Thrilled with the idea, Meg shows the gentlemen to their room. Later, Stanley returns to the living room as Meg arrives to put the groceries away. She tells him about the two gentlemen, and Stanley is visibly upset to learn Goldberg’s name. To cheer him up, Meg suggests he open his birthday present, even though Stanley insists that it is not his birthday. To humor Meg, he opens the package and finds a toy drum with drumsticks. He hangs the drum around his neck and parades around the table beating the drum merrily until his rhythm becomes erratic and chaotic. He beats the drum possessively and looms over Meg with a crazed expression on his face.

Act II

Later that same evening, McCann sits at the living room table shredding a newspaper into five equal strips. Stanley arrives, and the two men awkwardly greet one another. McCann, in a calm tone of voice, congratulates Stanley on his birthday, and says it is an honor to be invited to his party. Stanley replies that he wants to spend the evening alone and tries to leave, but McCann will not let him.

Stanley sits at the table and touches one of the newspaper strips, which upsets McCann. Stanley speaks of his past, and suggests he has never been one to cause trouble. Stanley insists that he has met McCann before, and grows upset when McCann denies the connection. Stanley wants to know why he and Goldberg are at the boardinghouse, and grows frantic when McCann claims they are there on a short holiday. Desperate, Stanley grabs McCann’s arm, who violently hits him off. Shocked into submission, Stanley calms himself and speaks of his love for Ireland, for its people, its sunsets, and its police. He asks McCann to accompany him to a nearby pub, but is interrupted when Petey and Goldberg enter the room.

Petey introduces Stanley to Goldberg, and then leaves. The situation in the room grows tense, as Goldberg yammers on about his past. Despite Goldberg’s soothing words, Stanley remains on edge and refuses to sit down when McCann asks him to. It is not McCann's threats that convince him to sit, but rather Goldberg's quiet insistence.

After Stanley submits, Goldberg and McCann interrogate him about his past - they accuse him of betraying their “organization,” of killing his wife, of leaving his bride at the altar, of being a waste of space, and more. Stanley answers at first, but is soon struck dumb by the sheer number of questions being thrown at him. The questions grow progressively more ridiculous and nonsensical. Finally, Stanley hits Goldberg in the stomach. McCann and Stanley threaten each other with chairs, but are cooed back into civility when Meg arrives, beating Stanley’s toy drum. She is dressed for his birthday party. Goldberg compliments her, and the tense atmosphere quickly dissipates as Meg makes a moving tribute to Stanley in a toast while McCann flashes a torch in Stanley’s face like a spotlight. Lulu arrives, and Goldberg gives a second toast which includes more reminiscing.

The party begins in earnest. Lulu and Goldberg flirt, while Meg and McCann speak of Ireland. Stanley sits alone at the table until Meg suggests they all play blind man’s buff. During Stanley’s turn, he is blindfolded by McCann, who breaks his glasses and puts the toy drum in his path so that Stanley’s foot smashes through it. When Stanley reaches Meg, he begins to strangle her. Goldberg and McCann pull him off, but then the lights suddenly go out. In the darkness, the two gentlemen cannot find Lulu, who has screamed and fainted. McCann shines his flashlight on the table to discover Stanley standing over Lulu as though about to sexually assault her. He giggles manically as the men slowly approach him and the curtain closes.

Act III

The next morning, Petey sits at the living room table reading a newspaper, while Meg frets about having no breakfast food left. Her memory is hazy from the night before, and she forgets that Petey was not there as she tries to remember what happened. When she leaves to shop, she sees Goldberg's car in the driveway, and grows frightened. Petey calms her down.

As Meg prepares to leave again, Goldberg enters the room and sits at the table. Meg asks him about the car, but he ignores her. She finally leaves. Petey asks Goldberg about Stanley, and Goldberg explains that Stanley suffered a nervous breakdown, and needs to be taken to a doctor whom Goldberg knows. Petey wants to see Stanley when he wakes, despite Goldberg's insistence that he should simply leave for work.

McCann enters with two suitcases, and tells Goldberg that Stanley is trying to fit his broken glasses into his eyes. When Petey suggests a way to fix the glasses and offers to fetch a doctor, Goldberg dismisses him. Petey departs to tend to his peas, insisting he be told when Stanley wakes, and Goldberg sits slumped over the table.

McCann demands they expedite the job, but Goldberg ignores him. Angry, McCann shakes Goldberg's chair and calls him "Simey," which causes the latter to attack him. McCann pacifies Goldberg, who then admits he feels poorly and is confused by the feeling. He tells McCann about his father and about his own principles on family, and finally makes a strange request by asking McCann to blow into his mouth twice. McCann does so without question, and Goldberg is calmed.

Lulu enters, and McCann leaves them alone. Lulu accuses Goldberg of having taken sexual advantage of her the night before. They argue over blame until McCann reenters and tells Lulu to confess her sins. Startled by this bizarre turn of events, Lulu flees. McCann then leaves to fetch Stanley, who enters cleanly shaven and nicely dressed. The two men seem to take pity on Stanley, and Goldberg promises to buy him new glasses. In a reprise of the interrogation from Act II, they pepper Stanley with gentler questions and comments. Goldberg asks Stanley if he wants to leave with them, but Stanley can only muster gurgling sounds. They begin to exit with Stanley, but Petey arrives and tells them to stop. Menacingly, they ask Petey if he wants to accompany them. Petey allows the two men to take Stanley away, but before they leave, he cries out “Stan, don’t let them tell you what to do!”

Afterward, Petey returns to the living room table and picks up his newspaper. Meg arrives and asks if Stanley has come down to breakfast yet. Petey lies and tells her Stanley is still sleeping.