*** Welcome to piglix ***

Pozzo (Waiting for Godot)


Pozzo is a character from Samuel Beckett's play Waiting for Godot. His name is Italian for "well" (as in "oil well").

On the surface he is a pompous, sometimes foppish, (he claims to live in a manor, own many slaves and a Steinway piano), cruelly using and exploiting those around him (specifically his slave, Lucky and, to a lesser extent, Estragon). He wears similar clothes to Vladimir and Estragon (i.e. a bowler and suit), but they are not in the dire condition theirs are. He sometimes wears a heavy "greatcoat" that is usually carried by Lucky. His props include a whip, a pipe, a monocle, a breath freshener, and a pocket watch. Beckett indicates in the stage directions that he is completely bald, although this direction is rarely taken in productions of the play.

While by no means a villain in a conventional sense of the word, Pozzo is sometimes considered (nominally) the "antagonist" of Waiting for Godot. Although he is not technically in opposition to the so-called heroes of the play (Vladimir and Estragon) he does bring chaos into their sheltered world. Upon his first entrance, he immediately goes about attempting to exert authority on the hapless "Didi" and "Gogo" by shouting at them, ordering them about, and generally making a nuisance of himself. Along the way he mercilessly abuses Lucky (physically and mentally) into performing menial and sometimes pointless tasks. However, despite his authoritative presence, he has the tendency of falling to pieces at the (literal) drop of a hat. At certain points in the first act (and for most of the second act; see below) he has minor nervous breakdowns when things don't go his way (e.g. when he misplaces things, when Vladimir and Estragon don't understand him/berate him, etc.). Pozzo should not be seen, however, as merely a mindless, weak oppressor. He has a developed intellectual side: he philosophises intelligently and optimistically.


...
Wikipedia

...