Rosencrantz and Guildenstern vs. Godot

        Didi and Gogo share a unique relationship.  The two appear as if they are not true friends, but instead together just as companionship to not be lonely.  They do no share the loving bond that is apparent in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.  Both Didi and Gogo also have an apparent memory problem.  They can not remember whether they were in a certain place the previous day.  Gogo is the physical part of this pair.  He has an impairment with his feet; an inflammation of some sort.  He has trouble taking off his boots therefore giving him smelly feet.  Gogo has extremely bad memory and has trouble remembering what they are doing until Didi reminds him that they are “Waiting for Godot”.  Didi is the psychological aspect of this pair.  He is always seen removing his hat and looking in it as if he is looking for his mind.  He has trouble urinating which could be due to a kidney infection or most likely syphilis.  

        Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are very friendly to and respectful of each other.  Though they yell at each other occasionally, it is out of love and in the end, they end up embracing and making up.  Didi and Gogo, on the other hand, don’ t have such a loving and courteous relationship.  They are constantly bickering back and forth making it hard to believe that there is truly a companionship between them.  They share company only because they each wish to not be lonely; it is not because they want to be together.

        In each respective pair, there is one member who needs the other more.  For Rosencrantz and Guildenstern it is Rosencrantz; and for Didi and Gogo, it is Gogo.  Rosencrantz is greatly dependant on Guildenstern, not only for advice, but for living in general.  He believes he is unable to think or act without the assistance of Guildenstern.  It gets to such an extreme point that in one of their feuding moments Guildenstern asks him if he can think of something for himself and Rosencrantz answers by saying he needs Guildenstern.  He can not function well without feeling that Guildenstern has had some input on his actions.  This is much more of an extreme than Didi and Gogo.  Though Gogo is strongly dependant on the actions and thoughts of Didi, it is not to the point of not functioning.  Gogo needs Didi to remind him of why he is where he is.  Without Didi, Gogo would not have an identity or sense of direction.  

        These two pairs of characters though very similar do share their differences; however, there vast similarity is due to Stoppard’s use of Beckett’s play in developing his own.  The similarities between the plays goes even further when looking at the games that were played between the characters and the minor characters, such as the Player, Pozzo and Lucky, who accentuated certain characteristics of each character.  Both of these plays also shares the common theme of fate vs. free will.  Do we control our own fate or is there some superior being that has already laid out a plan that we are all just absentmindedly following?