Quote 82
VLADIMIR
You must be happy too, deep down, if you only knew it. (2.38)
This reinforces the problem with doubt; the men can’t be happy until they are sure they are happy. Since, as Estragon so eloquently says, "nothing is certain," it follows that the men can never be happy.
VLADIMIR
Say you are, even if it's not true.
ESTRAGON
What am I to say?
VLADIMIR
Say, I am happy.
ESTRAGON
I am happy.
VLADIMIR
So am I.
ESTRAGON
So am I.
VLADIMIR
We are happy.
ESTRAGON
We are happy. (Silence.) What do we do now, now that we are happy? (2.42-9)
Vladimir and Estragon try to fake happiness, only to find that the label "happy" is as meaningless as, well, just about everything else in the play.
Quote 84
VLADIMIR
A dog came in—
Having begun too high he stops, clears his throat, resumes:
A dog came in the kitchen
And stole a crust of bread.
Then cook up with a ladle
And beat him till he was dead.
Then all the dogs came running
And dug the dog a tomb— (2.1)
Vladimir’s song is interesting for two reasons: it illustrates the endless repetition of cyclical routine, but it’s also about death. Of course, death should be the one end to the banality of Vladimir and Estragon’s existence, but is not in this backwards world. The dog dies, yet the song goes on and on.