In Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett, what are Vladimir and Estragon waiting for? I thought that Godot was a symbol of God and that the two...

This is the age-old question in regards to Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot; the play's first audiences were no doubt flabbergasted and flummoxed when the curtain fell and Godot (whoever he or she was) still hadn't shown up. Your idea that Godot stands for God is a good one that many critics agree with, so let's start there. 

First of all, Godot acting as a symbol for God makes sense because the play is...

This is the age-old question in regards to Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot; the play's first audiences were no doubt flabbergasted and flummoxed when the curtain fell and Godot (whoever he or she was) still hadn't shown up. Your idea that Godot stands for God is a good one that many critics agree with, so let's start there. 

First of all, Godot acting as a symbol for God makes sense because the play is chock full of references to Christianity. For instance, within the first moments of the play Vladimir and Estragon reference the thieves crucified alongside Jesus and muse upon the topic of repentance. Additionally, some scholars have taken the tree (one of the play's few set designs) as a symbol for the cross of Christianity. As such, it seems plausible that Vladimir and Estragon are indeed waiting for God, especially since the name God is rather obviously concealed within the name of Godot. If this association is correct, then the fact that Godot does not show up at the end of the play results in a rather pessimistic view of religion, and especially of Christianity.

The problem with both the play and Godot, however, is that both stubbornly resist easy applications of meaning. If one could say that Godot symbolizes God, for instance, then one could also argue that he stands for many other things and people. Some scholars might argue that Godot symbolizes the corrupt bourgeoisie who fails to arrive and take care of its laborers, as many critics have noted the play's considerably Marxist undertones. Additionally, one could argue that Godot stands for the Meaning of Life itself, the exact nature of which is always talked about but never concretely pinned down. Indeed, it's possible to even argue that Godot symbolizes any kind of meaning at all, and so it's therefore possible to see the play as a nihilist excursion detailing the meaninglessness of life. Since there are many ways to define Godot, I would caution you against making absolutist claims or arguing that Godot is only God and nothing else. Doing so would run into too many problems. Rather, try to argue that interpreting Godot as God is one possibility, and then provide plenty of examples and reasoning that backs up this claim. .com has plenty of great resources to use as secondary sources, and I've pasted the links to a few of these sources below. Good luck!