Nick Mount on Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot

It is the beauty of internet that I am taking a lecture like this for free. That audience is lucky to sit there and listen your thoughts about this play in person.

This is one of the greatest lectures I've ever heard on any subject from any person.

You've illuminated what matters most about this play and its playwright. I've loved it for years, but couldn't quite articulate to myself or others what (beyond the bleak humor) moves me. The San Quentin anecdote is a wonderful starting point.

This is the most outstanding commentary I have ever heard on Waiting for Godot. Thank you Nick...you're spot on. I was first introduced to this play 35 years ago at Canterbury University in Christchurch, New Zealand. In my 3rd year and I have held on to it ever since as a life compass - the other thing is I have a firm belief in God and huge faith in what will eventually happen to me and my soul - how bizarre is that......... Philip Kubiak

This is one of the most impeccable works I have seen on Beckett's play, Waiting For Godot. Thankyou so much for taking this initiative Sir Mount.

Amazing lecture! I have seen this play live (in Philadelphia/US), and throughout I grew frustrated watching the two men go on and on and watching them wait and wait. I was with a friend who had the same sentiments; at intermission she asked if we should leave, and because the intermission was after more than half the play, I wanted to stay to see how things played out. I just had to see Godot. Was he/she God? Death? A dream realized? 🤷🏽‍♀️ So we stayed. Of course I left the play disappointed and unfulfilled because of its ending. That was a year ago. I have frequently thought of the play from time to time, smirking at the time wasted in seeing it. It wasn’t until this very moment (about 20 mins ago at 6:39AM Saturday mourning/morning) that I realized how clever Sam B was; not only was his audience thrust into the play themselves to casually see which character they identified with, but for me and my friend, we actually became the two main characters if but for one moment. “Do you wanna leave?” “No...let’s WAIT and see.” And to that end I’ll say, live in every moment; whatever’s coming will come anyway, if it’s meant to; but don’t waste your time watching the time, waiting to act, waiting for Godot. In doing so (waiting) you will upset the balance of your suffering. Just live in the meantime ❤️#waitingforgodot

Absolutely brilliant exposition...suffice to say I keep coming back to this, as a way of consoling my own sense of the absurdity of existence.

This lecture is so enriching and I feel so blessed to be able to hear it, thank you very much for this wonderful work and for uploading!

My AP Lit teacher is making me watch this and I'm glad she did. :))

Correction - Waiting for Godot (performed in St Quentin) was not an obscure avant-garde French play. Its an Irish play. The narrator says that Beckett's play was a hit with the prisoners because the play was unpretentious as was its author, Becket. I would suggest that his unpretentousness is hardly a French characteristic but it is an Irish one.

Sir, I sincerely wish that we had more professors like you. Thank you for such an illuminating insight on the play....And u summed it up brilliantly by saying that Godot represents "any belief system that promises a complete explanation to life!"

Like the way Mr Mount keeps glancing at his watch ...

I watched this thinking I would be given an explanation of the strange-seeming events in the play that I watched recently, and found so deeply compelling but so inexplicable. Instead you explained that there is no explanation, and that somehow makes the play all the more appealing and brilliant.

Such a great lecture, and a wonderful complement to my watching Godot yesterday (for the first time). Thank you!

my god this is a genius, extremely informative, enriching lecture. i wish it were longer. so many points that you mentioned, i noticed while reading the play, and it's amazing to have you analyze it and share your knowledge. teachers like yourself are the ones who make me love learning. thank you a ton, can't wait to watch your lecture on woolf's to the lighthouse!

Please count me in the people who were clapping in the last two seconds of the video. You deserve the loudest applaud.

Really excellent, Nick - Thank you for sharing

This is such an excellent explanation of people now waiting for President Godot in the time of the Corona virus.

Really made me appreciate this play a lot more! Thank you so much!

This is the best lecture on Waiting For Godot...thank you for making me fall in love again with literature with your commentary.Will be looking forward to more of your commentaries Sir.