Waiting for Godot

In Samuel Beckett's play Waiting For Godot, the role of Lucky excites "thoughtful laughter" in the reader by use of satirical situations.

When Lucky first enters the story, the two main characters Estragon and Vladimir are waiting for a man they are hardly acquainted with, Godot. When Lucky enters he is in front of his master Pozzo, tied to a rope carrying a lot of baggage and other miscellaneous items while being whipped to move forward. The rope attached to Lucky creates a comedic air because ropes are rarely tied to human beings. By the same token human beings are rarely whipped, making Lucky seem more animal like than human. However, because Lucky is clearly human, the situation seems quite humorous. Pozzo yells and commands Lucky to continue carrying the heavy luggage and at one point Lucky drops the items offstage from exhaustion without a bit of sympathy from Pozzo. In this way, the laughter is not meant for hysterics because the scene also demonstrates human suffering and forced obedience.

As the scene continues, Pozzo commands Lucky to do absurd things. For example, Pozzo demands that Lucky bring him his coat, makes sure he moves his stool to the correct spot and so on. All the while Lucky is completely mute and does all actions without hesitation. The situation is so ridiculous that it seems humorous. However, the humor it induces is "thoughtful" in that it directly mirrors slavery, a very touchy and unfunny subject. Also, Lucky blindly follows Pozzo's demands without question, perhaps representing the human instinct to follow blindly without question. In this respect as well, although the situation is humorous, it is satirical as well, resulting in "thoughtful" laughter.

At one point in the play, Lucky suddenly blurts out what is called "Lucky's Tirade", his only speech or dialogue in the play's entirety. The speech is essentially the only one in the play at it is quite long, which indicates its importance. When he suddenly speaks he speaks frantically without logical syntax or order. After Lucky's mute state, the speech by juxtaposition is humorous. In addition, Lucky says a lot of names and places assuming some, or perhaps even great intelligence, but none of it seems to make any logical sense, which is also humorous. Although this is all quite funny, when broken apart Lucky is discussing a lot