The Passage of Time
Unlike all the other characters, Vladimir has a sense of the passage of time (only he says he remembers the events of Act I, although it is possible Lucky might recall them: see Lucky and Vladimir). However, he considers his memory unreliable because it can never be corroborated, due to Estragon's memory issues. At the end of the play, it is he who realizes the futile cycle that all of them have fallen into (see second quote). However, he rejects this realization when he finds that it is almost unbearable to live with ("I can't go on!"), and forces himself to dismiss it ("What have I said?"). He resolves to go on waiting for Godot.
Read more about this topic: Vladimir (Waiting For Godot)
Famous quotes containing the words passage and/or time:
“O harmless Death! whom still the valiant brave,
The wise expect, the sorrowful invite,
And all the good embrace, who know the grave
A short dark passage to eternal light.”
—Sir William Davenant (1606–1668)
“For the first time in the history of mankind, one generation literally has the power to destroy the past, the present and the future, the power to bring time to an end.”
—Hubert H. Humphrey (1911–1978)