I hope my essay will be done by the time Godot arrives

Here's the fruits of my labor. It's not complete, but it's taken me several days. That is misleading, because I can never just focus on writing. Anyways, here it is:

“Let’s contradict each other.” With these words, Samuel Beckett’s Estragon of Waiting for Godot encapsulates in a single sentence the protagonists’ relationship. The two men find each other intolerable, yet cannot bare existence apart. Their unlikely friendship perpetuates the play and carries the show without any mentionable events. Beckett crafts embodiments of Christian faith and skeptic thought from Vladimir and Estragon using contrasting ideologies expressed in their dialogue and uses the characters’ flaws and confusion to show the ineffectiveness of both philosophies as they relate to existence.
The better part of the play consists of bickering between the protagonists. Beckett juxtaposes the characters’ interpretations of the same event to illustrate contrast. When the two men speak of the cadavers, Vladimir calls them “corpses,” while Estragon uses the word “skeletons.” This is followed by Estragon remarking “You don’t have to look and a response from Vladimir: “I can’t help looking.” They often debate the possibility of events. When Estragon states “You think all the same,” Vladimir counters with “Impossible.” The frequent contradictions between characters reveal their differences. By analyzing the contradictions in their discourse, the significance of each ego is exposed and its meaning can be understood.
Vladimir is the believer. His vocabulary and ideas express his spirituality. Beckett utilizes a selective diction with this character; his vocabulary contains many words with religious connotations. Vladimir compares the dead voices to “wings,” “sand,” “feathers,” and “ashes” and says “they whisper…they murmur.” Wings and sand can both produce noise, but feathers and ashes do not. Sand is used to mean earth; while wings are used to describe air. He then changes his words to convey a meaning of body and spirit. The similarities between the two sets of words connect Vladimir’s initial reaction to a deeper meaning, a spiritual one. Beckett manipulates the language to inspire images of an earthly death and a heavenly life, thus cementing the idea of religion to this character. The use of the words “whisper” and “murmur” give life to the voices of the dead. The Christian tenet of life after death reverberates in these words; they describe actions reserved for human behavior, but here they are performed by the dead. Beckett’s intent in making Vladimir an apparent zealot can be seen in his most stanch example, the line “To each man his own cross,” where he inserts biblical images into Vladimir’s speech.
The faith inherent in Vladimir does not extend to his friend Estragon. Beckett’s use of diction is equally as important in understanding the skeptic as it is in understanding his counterpart. What Vladimir equates to wings, Estragon calls “leaves.” Leaves are Estragon’s metaphor for man. They bloom, mature, and die; they don’t think. He prefers to believe in nature than in divinity, saying “we should turn resolutely towards Nature.” The line “and if he does not come” epitomizes his skepticism. Beckett wrote this line as a declarative statement, not an interrogative remark, adding to the certainty of Estragon’s skepticism In addition to his cynicism and maybe as a result of it, Estragon is a pessimist. Estragon voices a dreary, melancholy idea of how he perceives life saying “All my lousy life I’ve crawled about in the mud,” following Vladimir's encouragement to look at the scenery surrounding them. Understanding Estragon's and Vladimir's qualities and ideologies allows the reader to see the criticisms Beckett has for each way of life and is essential in understanding the context of the play.
With the protagonists understood, the play is more comprehensible. Beckett’s assessments of Christianity and skepticism begin to unmask themselves. The reader can begin to recognize the disapproving tone the author intended to be heard. Vladimir, the disciple, is very cognizant of the events that came before. The past acts as a source of knowledge for him; he constantly refers to yesteryear, asking Estragon if he remembers certain events. Estragon has a terrible sense of history, stating “I’m not a historian.” This is part of Estragon’s compulsive nature, not caring for the past. His concern is with the present; he worries about the present, his mortality, and the unknowable future. Likewise, Vladimir’s lust for previous times comes from his Christian belief system. He constantly asks “do you not remember?” and distresses at his partner’s apathy toward history. The bible, while not precisely accurate, is a source of knowledge that Christians draw on, and it is a historical account of events that teach faith to the disciples of that religion. So, Estragon’s disregard for the past isn’t a result of stupidity or ignorance, it is rather a commentary on skeptics as Vladimir’s attraction to history is a commentary on Christians. With or without historical knowledge, the two men are still left without any resolve. Each ideology fails to tell the characters whether Godot will come, and that is Beckett’s point. This idea might go unnoticed, many might interpret Vladimir’s account of past events as a sign of intelligence and an advantage over Estragon, but it is not so. The two are left equally unaided, uncertain, and scared.
Beckett saw both philosophies had flaws in their treatment for the idea of existence. Beckett uses satire to speak for him. Through his characters’ flaws, he comments on the Christian tenet of faith in God and the skeptic trait of fearing death over enjoying life.