What Exactly are Estragon and Vladimir Afraid of?

In Samuel Beckett’s tragicomedy, Waiting for Godot, Estragon and Vladimir,

nicknamed Didi and Gogo, are constantly keeping themselves busy with games and
discussions which prevent the onset of silence. If not for dramatic effect, silence is
usually a very undesirable occurrence in most theater performances, perhaps indicating a
forgotten line, a missing cast member or some form of technical failure. During school
theater productions, a reversal of desired emotions occurs within the cast and production
members; horror, confusion and anxiety runs rampant throughout those involved back
and onstage, replacing anticipation and excitement within a few seconds of deafening
silence. There is a different kind of fear in silence while waiting for Godot, a fear which
persists throughout the entirety of the dramatic metaphor of Estragon and Vladimir, the
fear of contemplating their situation of timeless waiting.
Outside of the individual, the avoidance of contemplating is often seen in daily
interactions, or more commonly known as awkward silences, can be seen as the
avoidance of contemplating the situation. Most often between a stranger or new
acquaintance, a moment of awkward silence entices questions towards my personal
motivations, questions such as “Why exactly am I talking to this person?”. As mundane
as that question may seem, it leads to speculation of the other’s thoughts, and what that
may reflect on me, and my experiences which have shaped them.
Contemplating or thinking of one’s present situation as a sum of what one has
experienced before is consistently called upon throughout one’s life, an example of which
is perhaps this present assignment. It is quite safe to assume that every member of the
human race or perhaps even those of different animal species, have committed acts
inciting regret or sorrow. Most of us would rather these acts be left alone in the back
closets and spare rooms of our memories to collect hefty and handsome coatings of dust,
lest those regrets return and manifest to pleasantly surprise the present. Yet for all of its
potential in opening up our deepest and darkest fears of what we have or have not done
with our ever so short lives, silence also provides us with the opposite, joy and
satisfaction. As much as we have made unbeneficial decisions and misjudgments, there
are always positive decisions. Of all of life’s infinite decisions, one is eventually bound to
stumble across a moment of fortune or a correct mistake. It is this entourage of both the
good and the bad which, through logic and contemplation, leads to “What do we do
now?” (12). For the average person leading the average life, the “now” will most likely
have some relation to the past: “Since I have done (or have not done), I will now…”. For
Estragon and Vladimir, however, this is not the best of topics to contemplate. Having
done nothing or remembered nothing prior to waiting for Godot, their decisions on what
to do now only relies on their only past experience, waiting, thus leading to the present
act to be done: “Wait” (12), which leads to yet more waiting. It is this very cyclical effect
and monotony where time cannot be measured which is disconcerting to imagine, and
even more so to realize as part of one’s existence.