Portrait of an Artist: The Shape of Beckett's Life, 1906-198915 -- Characters and Plot 30 -- Chapter 1 Characters and Plot of Waiting for Godot -- 1. Characters Form a Portrait of the Human Condition / Deborah B. Gaensbauer 36 -- 2. Dual Roles of Didi and Gogo / June Schlueter 44 -- 3. Plot Reveals the Illusory Nature of Man's Attempts to Create Meaning / Eugene Webb 54 -- 4. Tragic Pozzo/Lucky Subplot / Bert O. States 65 -- 5. Ambiguous Figure of Godot / Alan Astro 72 -- Chapter 2 Themes and Ideas Developed in Waiting for Godot -- 1. Unresolved Balance Between Hope and Despair / Dan O. Via Jr. 80 -- 2. Active Waiting / Andrew K. Kennedy 96 -- 3. Ironic Function of Storytelling / Kristin Morrison 108 -- 4. Net Is the Central Metaphor in the Play / John J. Sheedy 121 -- 5. Figurative Language Focuses Attention on Poetic Space, Not Dramatic Action / Thomas Cousineau 128 -- Chapter 3 Critical Approaches to Waiting for Godot -- 1. Godot's Relationship to Music-Hall Acts / Fred Miller Robinson 137 -- 2. Black Comedy at Its Blackest / Ramona Cormier, Janis L. Pallister 146 -- 3. Waiting for Godot Eludes Existing Systems of Interpretation / Charles R. Lyons 160 -- 4. Beckett Asks His Audience to Examine the Play as Text / Michael Worton 169.