Quote 79
Vladimir breaks into a hearty laugh which he immediately stifles, his hand pressed to his pubis, his face contorted.
VLADIMIR
One daren't even laugh any more.
(1.45-6)
That Vladimir feels pain when he laughs is a cruel joke, but representative of the play’s nature as a tragicomedy. Tragicomedy should mean a marriage of the tragic and the comic, but Waiting for Godot goes one step further in suggesting that the tragedy (in this case, the pain) is the result of the comedy (in this case, Vladimir’s laughter).
VLADIMIR
A running sore!
ESTRAGON
It's the rope.
VLADIMIR
It's the rubbing.
ESTRAGON
It's inevitable. (1.348-51)
Estragon literally says that chafing is inevitable when you’ve got a rope around your neck. But he also makes the point, whether intentionally or not, that suffering is inevitable. For everyone.
Quote 81
VLADIMIR
You're not unhappy? (The Boy hesitates.) Do you hear me?
BOY
Yes Sir.
VLADIMIR
Well?
BOY
I don't know, Sir.
VLADIMIR
You don't know if you're unhappy or not?
BOY
No Sir. (1.803-8)
Much of the suffering in Waiting for Godot is the result of uncertainty.