Editing Waiting for Godot (section)

=== Christian ===
Much of the play is steeped in scriptural allusion. The boy from Act I mentions that he and his brother mind Godot's [[The Sheep and the Goats|sheep and goats]]. Much can be read into Beckett's inclusion of the story of the two thieves from [[Gospel of Luke|Luke]] 23:39–43<ref>{{sourcetext|source=Bible|version=King James|book=Luke|chapter=23|verse=39|range=–43}}</ref> and the ensuing discussion of repentance. It is easy to see the solitary tree as representative of the [[Christian cross]] or the [[tree of life]]. Some see God and Godot as one and the same. Vladimir's "Christ have mercy upon us!"{{sfn|Beckett|1988|p=92}} could be taken as evidence that that is at least what he believes.

Another, perhaps less conspicuous, ''potentially'' religious, element in the play, is Pozzo's bout with blindness, during which he comes to resemble the biblical figure of Bartimaeus or [[Healing the blind near Jericho|'The Blind Beggar']].{{Original research inline|date=February 2021}}

This reading is given further weight early in the first act when Estragon asks Vladimir what it is that he has requested from Godot:{{sfn|Beckett|2006|pp=10–11}}

:{{Dialogue|Vladimir|Oh ... nothing very definite.
|Estragon|A kind of prayer.
|Vladimir|Precisely.
|Estragon|A vague supplication.
|Vladimir|Exactly.}}

Other explicit Christian elements that are mentioned in the play include, but are not limited to, [[repentance]],{{sfn|Beckett|2015|page=7}} the [[Gospel]]s,{{sfn|Beckett|2015|page=9}} a [[Messiah|Saviour]],{{sfn|Beckett|2015|page=11}} human beings made in [[Image of God|God's image]],{{sfn|Beckett|2015|page=35}} the [[Christian cross|cross]],{{sfn|Beckett|2015|page=117}} and [[Cain and Abel]].{{sfn|Beckett|2015|page=163}}

According to biographer [[Anthony Cronin]], "[Beckett] always possessed a Bible, at the end more than one edition, and Bible [[concordance (publishing)|concordance]]s were always among the reference books on his shelves."{{sfn|Cronin|1997|p=21}} Beckett himself was quite open on the issue: "Christianity is a [[mythology]] with which I am perfectly familiar so I naturally use it."<ref>Duckworth, C., ''Angels of Darkness: Dramatic Effect in Samuel Beckett with Special Reference to Eugène Ionesco'' (London: Allen, 1972), p. 18. Quoted in Herren, G., "''[[Nacht und Träume]]'' as Beckett's Agony in the Garden" in ''[[Journal of Beckett Studies]]'', 11(1)</ref> As Cronin argues, these biblical references "may be [[irony|ironic]] or even [[sarcasm|sarcastic]]".{{sfn|Cronin|1997|pp=20, 21}}

"In answer to a [[Defense (legal)|defence counsel]] question in 1937 (during the [[As I Was Going Down Sackville Street#Libel lawsuit|libel action]] brought by his uncle against [[Oliver St. John Gogarty]]) as to whether he was a Christian, Jew or [[atheism|atheist]], Beckett replied, 'None of the three{{'"}}.<ref>Knowlson, James, ''Damned to Fame: The Life of Samuel Beckett'' (London: Bloomsbury, 1996), p. 279. Referenced in Bryden, M., 'Beckett and Religion' in Oppenheim, L., (Ed.) ''Palgrave Advances in Samuel Beckett Studies'' (London: Palgrave, 2004), p. 157.</ref> Looking at Beckett's entire œuvre, Mary Bryden observed that "the hypothesised God who emerges from Beckett's texts is one who is both cursed for his perverse absence and cursed for his surveillant presence. He is by turns dismissed, [[satire|satirised]], or ignored, but he, and his tortured son, are never definitively discarded."<ref>Bryden, M., ''Samuel Beckett and the Idea of God'' (Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave MacMillan, 1998), introduction.</ref>