What does this intervention by Estragon mean in Samuel Beckett’s ‘En attendant Godot’?
“Je ne sais pas. Ailleurs. Dans un autre compartiment. Ce n’est pas le vide qui manque.”
Not the whole thing, only the word ‘compartiment’. What does Estragon mean by ‘compartiment’? What is he referring to? I can’t find the English translation of that part. If you have it, please let me know.
It’s approximately nine, ten pages from the beginning of Act II.
ok, the English translation goes like this, “How would I know? In another compartment. There’s no lack of void.” It was made by the same author by the way.
What I’m trying to find out is the precise reference of the word ‘compartment’, because it echoes an idea of a robotic prison in my mind. It’s almost as if the two characters felt like prisoners. The previous and following interventions don’t help clarify this. It seems this word is going to have to be filled by the reader’s imagination like many other words and expressions in this abstract play.
It seems as if the entire play is just full of words that echo the silence. Hence, the feeling of meaninglessness and desolation.
It’s a creepy work, but it’s an absolute masterpiece of literature.
Thanks everybody for your much needed and appreciated help!
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4 comments a “What does this intervention by Estragon mean in Samuel Beckett’s ‘En attendant Godot’?”
compartiment is often used to refer to a room in a train, often when it is a ‘night train”, there are variosu compartiment ‘little rooms” with a couple of bunk beds inside..I am not familiar with en attendant godot though
Please can you give me the sentence before and after because “compartiment” is something that can refer to many things. “Compartimenter” means “to sort out by dividing”, you put things into different “compartiments”. It can be used to talk about concrete things or abstract things. If I say “je compartimente mon esprit”, it means that in one place I put my feelings, in another one, I put my memories, in another one I put my responsabilities etc….
I would say that it refers to his mind, the way it sees things. They were not here in reality but here anyway, in an abstract way. The lack would refer to something inside him that needs to be fulfilled. Sorry for the poor explaination but I just don’t manage to say it better in English. I think it’s a compartiment of his “soul”.
It’s been such a loooong time since I read Aspettando Godot. I read it in Italian, and the way it was translated was similar to the original in French: compartimento. Other italian synonyms of compartimento are: separation, distribution, compartment box.
Here is a translation into english of Act II:
It’s translated as follows: “How would I know? In another compartment. There’s no lack of void.”
I hope this helps.
***Ok, I read your additions, and even though I cannot be of much help, I did find something that might help you with the interpretation, although I suspect you are right when you state it might be something you will have to apply your own judgement to:
this link it’s in spanish, but I know you speak it well, so there it goes:
Almost half way down, you will find an interesting interpretation: “¿Qué hacer? Si es Estragón quien tiene razón, no deben dudar de la evidencia sensible –el árbol en primavera– y, por tanto, se infiere que no fue ayer cuando ocurrieron los hechos que recuerda Vladimiro. Si en cambio, quien dice lo correcto es Vladimiro –y todos compartimos su certeza– las hojas del árbol restan incomprensibilidad. El entorno natural donde el hombre encontrará su identidad y sentido se ha vuelto mero compartimento, caja, parte irreconocible de un laberinto envuelto por el vacío. Y eso no es todo. Porque, saber si el árbol es el mismo es saber si ayer fue distinto de hoy. Tiempo y espacio son coordenadas que se corresponden en el acto vital de situación en el mundo. La nulidad de uno permite la del otro. De allí que desde el principio no sepan en que día de la semana viven y, sobre todo en el segundo acto, Vladimiro dude de si lo que recuerda es verdad o si, como afirma Estragón, es un sueño. El precio dramático que la expulsión del espacio y del tiempo cobra es la angustia. Debido a que la naturaleza humana es histórica, está amasada de un tiempo realizado en dimensiones corpóreas que ocupan un lugar en el espacio. Tales rasgos informan parte sustancial de lo que el hombre es en cuanto a tal. De allí el conflicto trágico de una naturaleza atada al tiempo y al espacio, pero ajena a su aprehensión espiritual. Esta angustia resuena en el grito de Pozzo….[...]”
It is indeed a powerful work of literature.
ESTRAGON:
I tell you we weren’t here yesterday. Another of your nightmares.
VLADIMIR:
And where were we yesterday evening according to you?
ESTRAGON:
How would I know? In another compartment. There’s no lack of void.
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