"Waiting for Godot" Explained with Philosophy | Philosophy Tube
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- Опубликовано: 19 сен 2024
- Samuel Beckett’s absurdist masterpiece “Waiting for Godot” is one of the most famous pieces of 20th Century Theatre - but what are the philosophical questions it raises? How does the story of its creation tie in with Albert Camus, and the Nazi invasion of France?
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Transcript of this Episode: tinyurl.com/gq7...
Samuel Beckett, “Waiting for Godot” tinyurl.com/gnr...
Albert Camus, “The Myth of Sisyphus” tinyurl.com/zvt...
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“Not everyone has a God but who does not have a Godot?” I once read this sentence in an article in the New Yorker.
Brilliant
I get it. Holding back the tears but I get it.
true
God? ohhh. Veruh nice
reminds me of Lacan / Dostoevsky 's "If there is a God, then anything is permitted."
As a professor of French, I truly thank Abigail for this great summary of the play and its philosophical underpinnings. I will show this to my students semester and it will save me quite a bit of class time to dedicate to more of a textual analysis.
Also, everyone who is making fun of her French needs to get ALLLLL the way off of her back. Sure, there is an accent, but for a person from the anglophone world, her French is exquisite. Part of the reason that it is hard to learn French is that people who speak it are too protective and cruel. Stop it! More in French!
Yes! My French is minimal, & she speaks slowly so I understand it without the subtitles, which I like very, very much!
Who is abigail?
Omg your video on The Struggler inspired me to read this book!!
4 months later and I'm wondering the same thing 🤣@@cara-seyun
@@LyricalFauxpas and @cara-seyun the lovely person in the video is transgender. They now go by Abigail.
I always wondered why Lucky has that name, when he should be the most miserable of the characters, and you really came with a great answer to that one!
@@xxy9420 Lucky being the irony of existence
Sounds like the message
Interesting titbit; the name 'Godot' is thought to be a franco-literation of the Irish language term 'go deo' which is pronounced almost exactly the same. This is a conceit on the part of Beckett because 'go deo' means 'FOREVER' *ominous music*
It's not pronounced the same... it's god-o v. gud-yo (i.e. go deo)
John F I’d even go as far as to say it’s ‘gu-djo’ but I’m from Kerry. All the same I’m buying into this theory big time.
'No symbols where none intended.' Samuel Beckett.
Didn't SB say that if Godot was god, he'd have said so? Godot was a famous cyclist of the day in velodromes, circular tracks.
@@DPC2424 Exactly - we should take him at his word!
Me: watches old Philosophy Tube vids to put off writing an essay on Waiting for Godot for English class
This Video: Exists
Now that's quite absurd (with a lowercase 'a')
no
brain blown
My exact same situation
Godot is whatever or who ever it is that you wait for. Ultimately, we wait for the body to wear out so we can die. Until that happens, The only thing you can do is fill up the time with distractions. The play is very popular in Prisons.
There is a better way
For liberals/democrats, we have the Mueller investigation, which gives them a reason to live by providing a false sense of hope. Upon conclusion, however, they are overcome with a renewed sense of despair.
@@aDarkNightofTheSoul Hey man I'd suggest you relax, for I wouldn't get over-involved with that kind of thing. It seems unhealthy. Being that enveloped in the Anti-Trump movement might cause some mental distress. Trump's impeachment will happen or it won't, and you must accept the fact of both and move on. On the other hand, I believe that it is based on perspective. It seems too cynical for me to accept that we all live to die and that's it, due to the fact that I can see it in a different light other than distractions or denial. My philosophy is as follows; you live your life for the benefit and well-being of others and the improvement of society, while gathering as much wisdom and knowledge as possible. For one day, it may be passed onto another generation to build upon, coming closer to the truth. We all know Socrates. Question everything!
@@sneakykilla12 Getting philosophical? What about Karma and past lives? Would'nt that affect your current life, behavior especially? Lol. Couldn't help it. I love Beckett, Camus, Kafka.... the doom and bleakness, there's a beauty in that and when you add the rhythm of Beckett's works , that's beautifully genius! But I don't believe the universe is pointless. I think it feels that way sometimes and it seems impossible otherwise, but nature and her patterns & equations, science and outlandish predictions based on mathematics turning out to be real, the impossibility thatis the human body...
that can't be pointless. What's that mean for life? Idk but I know we are not in a simulation so please do dont @ me w that bullshit or flat Earth propaganda. Respect ma vibe. Lol 😎✌
At last somebody who understands!
My good friend and I performed a section of waiting for Godot for our final Higher performance and it was amazing! It was the best thing I've ever done, we got full marks, and while reading about the play I fell down a Wikipedia rabbit hole into all this absurd philosophy. It's really cool to see you talking about all these things and your interpretation is really fascinating, thank you.
yo im performing this for a serious speech duet, any tips?
@@rg-ed5fr pick a reading for the character and go for it, there's a ton of room in the script so have fun!
The way you speak, your pronounciation, the accent everything. Oh My God..!!! You as a speaker is simply awesome. Can't get over your style of speech.
Second thing, you literally just made, waiting for godot my favourite from "the least interested category".
Thanks a lot.
It's called an English accent. How English is supposed to be spoken, unless you've had a Guinness or two.
I've been doing research for days for a paper on this play and seriously nothing has been more of a help than this video omg thank you so much for this insightful, intelligent discussion.
+Kylie Blair my pleasure!
Making a short film on this? Would you like to help?
@@anubhabchatterjee7946 i would appreciate ur heeelp , are u still available?
Huge props on your French, my friend~ As a French speaker, I couldn't be more pleased with your efforts
Hi Olly
I saw Waiting for Godot in 2013 performed by the Sydney Theatre Company with Hugo Weaving and Richard Roxburgh as Vladimir & Estragon.
I went into the play not aware of the Absurdist interpretation and came out with what seemed like an entirely different experience than the rest of the audience. The most striking scene for me was Lucky’s speaking scene. While everyone around me was laughing I was more horrified than I’d ever been in a theatre at the shear degradation of the human spirit I was witnessing. I saw a once fulfilled, well spoken individual reduced to a mere puppet, barking on command.
I was struck by the similarities between Lucky and the Jewish folktale of the Golem. In the tale a creature is bought to life to serve the will of man until man grows scared of his creation and destroys it. A golems only form of protest is to perform a task ad absurdum when instructions aren’t specified clearly (e.g dig a well a mile deep, turn an entire forest into table legs, etc.)
In some versions of the myth the golem is inscribed with the word emet (meaning truth) to bring it to life and has the character aleph removed leaving met (meaning death) to destroy it. I saw clear parallels between this and Lucky’s hat which when placed on his head allows him to “think” for the other characters entertainment and when this scares the characters they wrench the hat off his head mid-sentence “killing” him.
Interesting analysis. I have often wondered if all the characters shouldn't be wearing the striped clothing of concentration camp victims/survivors/detainees. I can't help but think that absurdist philosophy is turned into nihilism in the plays of Beckett. The date of the creation of this work means that the horror stories of the camps (& those from Stalinist Russia)--in addition to the degradations suffered by the French during the Occupation--must have informed Beckett's creation. To my eyes, these characters are man stripped bare. All the world--including its philosophers and artists--must have suffered a severe self-doubt after hearing and comprehending the full horrors of WWII.
I'm autistic and I do the same thing ;) seriously though this is such a good interpretation
Very insightful video! I studied Beckett's play this semester in English, but never thought knew about the historical context and how it connects so well with Camus's philosophy. Good job!
but Lucky can't be the absurdist hero. accepting the absurd does not mean we lose our soul to the universe and act as subjects. i thought the point was to rebel and revolt. i thought it was to live despite the lack of meaning. to experience art and do things despite them providing no meaning to us. does acceptance mean slavery? submission? i don't understand
If anyone is in the acceptance state it is Vladimir. In act II he bit by bit starts realising that he is stuck in this repeating loop. And he doesnt go away, he doesn't try to follow the boy or anything. He just... keeps going... I guess.
Alex van der Plas good day from Melbourne
The whole time I studied this in high school, I was worried I wasn’t “getting it”. Glad to see that my crazed ramblings were based in actual philosophy. If only I found this video before my final exam.
I learned about Nihilism way back in HS, c 1986... I have more or less embraced it since... In the intervening years, I have often said... There is no meaning, no purpose, no grand plan... Nothing matters... In 1000 years no one will remember you or anything you did or stood for... But... You're here now... Might as well make the best of it... Is this acceptance..?
Thank for a most wonderful lecture! Im an director from Sweden. Worked with Becketts plays for long time. Never came across any anyone who could nail it like you. Most helpful.
Thanks! Let me know if you're casting anything in London, haha!
I have an exam in like 37 minutes about this is so helpful, thank you so much
how’d it go
@@rg-ed5fr iirc i got an 8 or so, so pretty fine!
Albert Camus #7 response is the same thing buddha said millenia ago
I'm Godot, I have arrived.
Beezletoad You have passed the test, good sir. It is not Michael Hand, it is I, Godot.
Michael Hand
objection!!!!
Thank goodness, I've been waiting!
Get your hand off it, Michael.
It's an invisible hand so it knows the position it must be in to enable Godart to arrive. Its better that way. At least then you don't know where it's been
So this video is rather old at this point but AUGH I had forgotten about Camus since I read him in college, and I had to pause the video about halfway through and go on a rant to myself alone in my apartment.
I personally found Camus insufferable because he fails (in my view) to describe how accepting the absurd is actually a different way of life than those six methods you listed, which in practice means he completely fails to escape denial/distraction/creation/politics/etc, let alone explaining how anyone else could. Because, okay, you accept the absurd, but now what do you do with your life? Aren't you basically going to continue to choose a mixture of those six options regardless? I never really understood what acceptance of the absurd looks like in practice and how it's different from another way of life. Like, in the context of your interpretation of Waiting for Godot, should Vladimir and Estragon becomes slaves to Pozzo? Would that be the best way for them to embrace the absurd? Because they are clearly not leading fulfilling lives as it is, and if the play has any idea that resonates most clearly with an audience that seems to be the main one - that its characters are miserable due to their own inability to create or find meaning.
I studied theater and work in theater, and the most interesting insight I know of about Waiting for Godot was this: After a semester of reading a whole variety of plays, we were tasked with writing our own in small groups. One group visited the student center and simply transcribed the interactions they heard. The question was, what style of "realist" playwright would the conversation they recorded most resemble? Surprisingly, it wasn't any realist playwright, but rather Beckett's absurdism, that the transcribed dialogue most resembled.
It seems to me like this school of thought comes to the conclusion that deciding to be happy despite a miserable life is the only solution, but is unable to provide any actual means of which to find that source of happiness through willpower. Strikes me kind of like a depressed person saying "there's no meaning to anything so I must choose to be happy" and attempting to force themselves to cheer up. But speaking as someone who struggles with depression, well, that simply doesn't work. You cannot just choose to be happy when you're not, or we wouldn't have a problem in the first place.
My latest understanding is that it's not about what you do but the attitude with which you do it. If you practise a religion because you genuinely believe it to provide meaning you are denying the absurdity of the universe, but if you accept that absurdity and choose to continue practising anyway you are doing so not because it provides meaning but for other reasons (perhaps you enjoy the community aspects or find the rituals to be relaxing).
That's not to say that after discovering the absurd you must simply return to what you were doing before but with a new attitude. Sisyphus only had a mountain and a rock with which to fill his existence whereas most of us have significantly more than that (depending on our various privileges).
I'm not a big philosophy person myself but I would say that acceptance and the other 6 are not mutually exclusive - simply accepting is enough in an absurd world, the rest is whatever you make of it.
He's a self righteous tart
I think Depression is an entirely different ball game: it's a biological set point of happiness inflicted on someone, and it's very low. I got the impression from Camus that by studying philosophy and by wrangling with our own thoughts regarding how we should live, we all come to one place. We recognize that choosing to be optimistic and happy is a fine way of life, as is choosing to be pessimistic and miserable. Being rich and successful is fine, and being poor out of principle or inaction is fine. When we recognize that happiness is not inherently better than sadness, and that sadness is not inherently better than happiness, we find some wiggle room, some opportunity to choose how we'd like to be.
That isn't to say that it's like a light switch. It's simply a feeling that one may, through their actions, change the way they think. The feeling that one can choose comes from the empowerment of getting better with a mental health issue. I have OCD, and after struggling a lot for a few years, I have gotten better, which is to say that I worry less. But I have a baffling new perspective: I worry less, but I also don't think I'm happier. And so, my conclusion is that both mental health and mental illness are fine ways to live, each with an infinite list of benefits and drawbacks. But I believe this is something that the mentally ill need to learn themselves.
From this point, now that I've reduced anxiety, I've simply shifted to the bigger questions of how will I go on living? And I believe this is where Camus was at in his writing. Not saying that one should choose to be happy in the face of absurdity, but that by recognizing how little capable we are of doing objective good or bad in this world, we may find an empowerment we didn't always know existed.
I know your comment is 3 years old, but I'm glad I could type lol
I am convinced myself that, at the end of the day, accomplishing goals seem to be the most satisfying thing to me. WHAT I'VE STRUGGLED WITH was making reasonable goals along the way to an ultimate successful goal (I just taught myself something here as I type by the way). In the fog of "waiting to accomplish a goal", that's where those other 6 responses could certain come in and interrupt the wavelength towards those goals. That's why I'm convinced that focus, tuning-out negative folks, and making consistent self-proclamations about the success you desire MAY help towards eliminating distractions from the outside, as well as those self-destructive thoughts on the inside.
The HOF Great Michael Irvin said that along the way to grinding along the road to the endzone for a touchdown, you must be able to complete those first-downs, and "CELEBRATE those small moments".
Damn, what I just realized is that you even have to have a defined meaning of what a small first-down looks like in your own life, AND THEN a defined plan to reach that small first-down goal. All this en-route to achieving your ultimate goal (which gives you meaning in living).
Hence, let me get started.....
This is brilliant! Makes me LOVE Godot and the absurd even more. Plus he's lovely to hear and look at.
I enjoyed your enthusiasm.
Thanks!
Was totally not interested at all in waiting for Godot. Is now near the top of my to watch list. Thank you muchly.
+Taylor Adams hah, awesome!
And when we get there the Irish in me is going to claim it for France!
This is exactly how I perceived the play, thank you you are the first I've seen that connected myth of Sisyphus
I think that the optimal response to the Absurd is not merely acceptance, but rather the combination of acceptance and denial. Life is a pointless task in the end, this is true, and should be accepted as reality. However, this acceptance does not actually assist one in pursuing the task of life. Towards that end, denial is quite clearly the most beneficial solution - How can one get anything done in life, when it is seen only as a burden? Even if one imagines Sisyphus happy, that does not necessarily mean that they too can be happy when confronted with the Absurd. It is a monumental act of willpower which is at once impressive, being reminiscent of the qualities attributed to Nietsche's Overman, and yet also daft and inefficient. It is far easier to simultaneously hold two contradicting truths than it is to gladly hold true the certainty of one's own despair. Accept the Absurd nature of life, but also adamantly deny it, and turn oneself towards whatever meaning helps one best deal with life's lack of meaning.
wow this is beautifully written. well said
Idk man i think im fine with just acceptance, rip to you but I'm different
That is Camus' whole argument. The absurd is a product of the conflict between human desire for meaning and a meaningless universe. If you accept that the universe is meaningless and completely deny a search for meaning, the absurd falls apart. If you convince yourself that life has a meaning, the absurd falls apart. The absurd cannot exist without both of them, so both must be accepted (if you want to live authentically).
Lot of thanks! I've enjoyed your enthusiastic comparison between myth of Sisyphus and waiting for Godot. Love love. It helped a lot for making my notes on it.
8. Show your bilingual ability on RUclips by speaking French
He doesn't need to list all "career choices" because in this Philosophy life is absurd and nothing ever can feel the void. Humans try all sorts of diversions to not look into the void directly but its still there and our compulsion in doing stuff and getting somewhere every day of our lives is the way we do it. Accepting this reality, this Absurd, is Camus' way of dealing with the Absurd. I think that Accepting or Not Accepting the absurd is equally pointless.
you still don't get it
hey sammy2629.. look what I found!!! there's a stick up your ass
And his pronunciation is horrible... Why can't any f*ckin' Englishman or American pronounce a trilled or an uvular R?? This really pisses me off more than it should.
It's because native English speakers do not have that sound in their own language, and the ability to produce that sound is lost in early childhood with the development of English speech. I suggest you look into a basic linguistics class to cure you of irritation with speakers of other languages who study for years to speak French but are unable to speak like a native, because they ARE NOT NATIVE FRENCH SPEAKERS.
Excellent and thought provoking. I never thought of that comparison nor the other conclusions you drew. Great!
Amaaaaaaaazing. Im extremely shocked by your description and I'm sooo impressed, you helped me to love this play a lot more. Thanks.
I've always considered Waiting for Godot to be an early work of ASMR. I'm personally very relaxed every time I watch it.
Awesome video! As I'm reading "Waiting for Godot" for a play analysis class at my university, I really appreciated this.
This was really well done and well spoken. Great evidence and reasoning.
Spot on, I think large elements of what you describe is exactly what Beckett was attempting to portray. Also you have a knack for explanation that exceeds many more famous critics.
This is a Wonderful Video! Thank you for taking the time to make it! I have two questions for you though: 1) IF history had played out differently, would Camus' choice of response to the absurd have changed? 2) What role does choice have in responses to the absurd? You say that Lucky, in "Waiting for Godot" is an ideal candidate for Camus' version of Acceptance by willingly continuing to live on in spite of absurdity. But in being a slave, what choice does he have?
I think his choice is the same as that expressed by Viktor Frankl in " Man's Search for Meaning,"in describing his concentration experience. He said the Nazis could take everything from him except his attitude, that is he could choose resentment or acceptance, and so on. The Nazis had no control over his spirit.
Thought in a very clear and concise manner. Extremely helpful. Thank you!!!
I like how your education to be an actor has influenced your videos so much. It is nice to see you trying new things and getting more creative with your online lectures. The french talking part was, for me personally, a bit too much, but that is just me.
However, I must say I do miss the oldfashioned introduction to a philosophical idea, like you used to make them. Those videos were a major reason for choosing philosophy for my current education.
I thoroughly enjoyed your breakdown and background. Well done.
A very entertaining lively And truthful explanation, with the parallel comparison Camus, of Godot...totally agree, an artistical manner of expression plus the bonds we make with other fellow humans gives meaningfulness in this whole absurdity that we are nonetheless "lucky" to Live....living Life well seasoned with humour, taking ones work but not ourselves seriously is what can make us most happy...That's indeed what Beckett but also Prévert or Quéneau for example showed us too.....thanks again fellow resilient philosophizing artist
Mr PeanutButter as Camus' interpretation of the absurdist hero go go go
Insightful analysis of the play. Crystalline exposition of the philosophy. Positioning Lucky as icon of Absurdism with firm foundation. A must for every Professor of Literature. Simply delightful.
The production at Spoleto 2017 is absolutely first-class. I have served as a house manager for 34 years for the festival, and this production is in my top three plays during that time.
You're so god at explaining it with so much fun man! Congrats for your enthusiasm and good luck with you drama career! ;) Greetings from Spain.
Thanks!
when you were speaking in French I was reading the french text and translating it in my head into english LOL.
I did a paper on this play, because I read it, then I started studying philosophy, came back to the play to do the paper and realised there were all these philosophy jokes in it and there are also religious jokes too. I didn't get introduced to philosophy of the absurd sadly, so I didn't see the connection. Camus is definately someone I should read up on.
Really clear summing up of the play. Thanks
Thanks for this video. This play came up in one of my literature classes in college, but it wasn't handled by the lecturer as well as it was by you. I never knew that this was something that is connected to concepts that I am deeply interested in and if I hadn't seen your video, waiting for godot would be staying in that "boring and unnecessary information" shelf in my mind. Instead now, I want to go watch it . Thank you.
I did not expect to see the 7 stages of grief here, they took me by surprise xD
Very interesting analysis, You've really enlighted me on this play!
Excellent!!! Superb!!! None else has ever explained or can explain so easily, correctly, lucidly The Theatre of the ABSURD and the Philosophy concerned......................look forward to hearing more analytical discussions from you...........
This is awesome! Thank you so much for posting this video.
Aren't responses 4, 5, and 6 to Absurdism just specific expressions of 3?
i find "try and make your own meaning" being bundled with "well god creates meaning" as a lazy way out, too.
Perhaps because Camus kind of bundled or dismissed them equally? It has been a long time since I read the Myth of Sisyphus, but I recall Camus was pretty critical of Kierkegaard in it who I guess kind of had a Christian response to absurdity.
sammy2629 probably has something to do with the romanticism of the arts.
nope, its that you just dont't deny , you embrace it (not fully as in 7) but cope in a practical way
(someone a name as stupid as yours don't deserve an answer)
This helped me understand Godot a bit better, thanks! I've read Camus separately but I didn't make the connection between the two.
There's surely the time element too. God has already appeared and yet they're still waiting for Him.
Your pronounciation of the English language is brilliant 👌
I was well trained!
Just three extra points. Well, two and a half. The half is in agreement that the piece is very much about theatre. These two men only see each other two hours a day ("Where did you sleep last night?) as sunset approaches. That's when we perform plays. Wicked. Small ploint one: Lucky's speech makes total sense - it is a ruin, and ruins make sense - as ruins - and Pozzo and Lucky are linear, not cyclic (they go around, yes, but with big changes). Small point two: we seem to believe that Didi and Gogo are both waiting for Godot. When I played Estragon it became clear that Didi is waiting for Godot; Gogo is waiting for Didi. Because he loves him. Voluntarily (as per Camus)
This is a very good exploration of the philosophy of the play. I've watched it a number of times on film, and twice at the theatre (the first with Max Wall), and each time it reveals itself more fully. And I think you have it spot on.
Your voice is soothing on the regular, but the French is curing my anxiety.
A brilliant interpretation of both Camus and Beckett.
Extremely helpful. I had never thought incorporating philosophy into the play. But it perfectly makes sense. Thank you so much.
I'd like to thank you for helping me understand this play. I watched your video just before watching the play (probably a mistake if I wanted to form my own opinions, but at least I wasn't hopelessly confused) and I don't think I would have understood anything without.
As a playwright I cannot other than LOVE this play
Well, you convinced me to buy and read this book/play. I like your channel and think that you are doing a great job!
Plays are not written to be read. You should see it performed.
This guy just explained what I was looking for!!! I've a test on this play after two days & this helped me a loooottttt!!
Thank you❤🌻
Wow man, that's a good video .. keep it up with the philosophy man, one love
I'm reminded of Black Narcissus : when Sister Clodagh says ,"There are only two ways of living in this place ; either ignore it like Mr Dean or give yourself up to it like the Holy Man".
(I've paraphrased).
I notice Know-it-all doesn't include "Giving yourself up to it" in his list of
options for dealing with the Absurd.
I think Sister Clodagh had the more profound insight.
Oh wow, so Waiting for Godot is not confusing at all, people just don't know the context.
That's like a general rule for everything.
No it's still a confusing, oblique play with many mysteries within. Grasping the concepts behind and comprehending the specifics are two different things.
Sorry for the late response.
Folks generally will consider context, right up to the moment it's in their perceived interest not to...
(as with all earnest opinions)
I wish this was out like 4 days ago, wrote a paper on this. I interpreted Godot was either God or Knowledge.
I absolutely agree. It seems as though a person that does not accept religion would depict the idea of God in such a way.
dude, im doing a comparative text study in extension english, you have no idea how bloody helpful this vid was
Great deconstruction?! I also think Beckett clues us in a bit by how he let's us know that the actions of the play have been played before and Gogo and Didi and they know it. All the characters are content not to let on. You get the sense it will repeat again ..and again... Brilliant.
Nice video, it helps to know the influences that helped to create this play, i dont think its meant to be a philosophical piece, its so open to interpretation that it could be many things. But I see your point about Lucky, he is the most intelligent character, but he’s not accepted that life is pointless as he clearly struggles with accepting his position in life, hence the violence, you could also interpret this as being the intelligent people who were conscripted into the army to fight, enslavement to the frontline to die a meaningless death at the orders of a man of high self confidence/worth but utter incompetence. Good video though so thanks.
I really appreciate this video because for my theatre history class I have to write an absurdist play and this video gave me so many ideas. Great vid!
There is a good reason the hero is called Lucky, he found the way through acceptance.
And I quote: "Hand in hand from the top of the Eiffel Tower, among the first."
This is clearly descriptive and definitive. Shortly after the completion of the Tower, nets were put up to discourage the unprecedented number of suicides happening which surely M. Beckett was aware of as it was front page news in all of the newspapers at the time.
What's the next line?
"We were respectable in those days. Now it's too late. They wouldn't even let us up."
Because, clearly respectable people were forbidden from paying a few sous to go up the Tower. Or perhaps, umm, because they were dead.
Didi and Gogo aren't considering suicide, they are dead from jumping from the top of the Eiffel Tower and are now in Purgatory.
And then the tree. Have you read Dante? It is the forest of the suicides.
Waiting for Godot makes perfect (absurdist) sense in relation to 'Il Pugatorio.
I think you may be underestimating the depth and genius of M. Beckett.
... or, perhaps you have overestimated your own powers of deductive reasoning and you are wrong!
I'll bet you didn't consider that (extremely likely) possibility.
The movie "Groundhog Day" is another great example of this type of thinking.
Groundhog Day doesn't end in acceptance though. Sure, he ends up "living life anyway", but just before the ending when he's lying with his coworker, he still desires strongly, albeit futilely, that he could stay with her forever. Acceptance would be accepting that he'd have to go through the motions of courting and losing her over and over again for all eternity.
Nope.
I have seen SO many theories about this play, and I know that isn't the point, but hell, I thought it would be fun if I could list some.
1: Vladimir and Estragon are actually a gay couple trying to escape the persecution of their village, with Pozzo and Lucky signifying an abusive relationship.
2: Vladimir and Estragon are actually criminals trying to escape persecution, set up by a man named Godot to wait at a stop to escape whilst Godot himself makes away with the loot.
3: Vladimir and Estragon have dementia, having a good memory of the distant past but not the present. (An alternative of this being that the boys who Vladimir and Estragon meet in the play are actually theirs and the boys have played on the old mens dementia to save them from beating them)
4: Vladimir and Estragon are actually Kane and Abel from the Bible story in the land of nod or Limbo.
5: The play is about class, Vladimir and Estragon representing the middle class, Pozzo representing the upper class, and Lucky representing the working class.
6: Vladimir and Estragon are representative of Samual Becketts own Ego and Id, Vladimir being the Id as he is obsessed with his body (his feet) and Estragon being the mind (obsessed with his hat)
7: Vladimir and Estragon are representative of the audience waiting for any kind of meaning to come along and give them purpose.
8: Vladimir and Estragon (and I know this sounds weird) are actually animals reinterpreted by the stage form. Vladimir and Estragon are actually two birds waiting in the tree for spring, hence the leaves on the tree, and Pozzo and Lucky are the birds reinterpretation of a man walking his dog. When they bump into Pozzo again in the second act, its not Pozzo, just a blind man walking his dog, but the birds don't see any difference between human to human.
When I used to tutor high school English, I had one kid base a draft essay around the general concept of 'I feel like they should, like, just leave? Ya get me?'
Dear Olly (and others reading this), I am not sure if you are familiar with the band La Dispute (a USAnian melodic hardcore band), but they have made a series of spoken word recordings and songs in some of which they reproduce texts of famous authors. Their recording called 'Six' touches on the myth of Sisyphus in a beautiful way which I think you might find worth having a listen to. Their other albums are of a great introspective, philosophical and social commentary level too.
This has literally helped me so much for multiple English assessments and my exams thankyou so much !
I haven't read the play (yet), so I can't really agree or disagree with you, but it's quite cool to see a philosophical interpetation of a play anyway :)
The idea of the time back then, that philosophers, artists (and resistance fighters) get fused in one person, has become an idea of history, I think. Nowadays, philosophers usually don't speak of themselves as artists. Philosophy has beome a discipline in academia, with lots and lots of technical terms, and some philosophers just write horribly. Maybe we could be inspired by this idea of philosophers being artists, at least a little bit. Philosophy has lost its artistic aspect in analytic philosophy.
whenever I need courage to continue your lecture's points keeps me going.
"Death smiles at us all, all a man can do is smile back."
Marcus Aurelius
I know nobody in the UK reads him, especially in philosophy departments, but Theodor Adorno has the best commentary on Beckett I know of, and it is not "existentialist" nor "absurdist". He was friends with Beckett, who appreciated his writing. Adorno's major essay on Beckett is "Understanding Endgame", in Notes on Loterature vol2, and there are discussions of Beckett's work throguhout Aesthetic Theory.
Fantastic analysis and explanation! Thank you!
Had to watch this for a class, love it
I really enjoy your discussions; thank your for presenting.
Smart kid, some very insightful concepts and contexts that will deffo help me in my journey towards examinations. Oi get a King Lear philosophical analysis in there!
Would you consider to do an update long form video on absurdism? Would love that ❤
You said in "Denial" giving yourself a meaning is some sort of a denial, but isn't that exactly what being an actor, an artist or a conquerer is?
Fucking hell, as a french person it was such an awakward delight to listen to your french... "Voilà !" "Simone de Bouvoir !" oh gawd I'm melting.
That's part of the philosophical background to the play. The entire play is a criticism of existentialism as a whole. Pozzo and Lucky are the passive men, and Didi and Gogo are the active men. The reference to the dead bodies, the skeletons, lying around in the second act is to the WWII thinking that Germany became the way it did because of Nietzche's philosophy. Existentialism is, overall, life affirming, and Beckett is arguing, via the reference to WWII, that the theory was death affirming. Not so, though, Nietzsche would not have supported the Nazis because they revalued values, at least.
I'm no expert but I think there's a part of your demographic that loves French: an unexpected treat for them
I have never had someone explain waiting to godot un such a manner. Its lovely😊 thank you
You connected well to the myth of Sisyphus and the characteristics of the Absurdism!
How come I've seen three performances of Waiting for Godot and can't remember a single programme guide that mentioned this?
Saying they are played by actors means little, but they play at acting now and again by insulting each other or saying they are happy without fully meaning either.
I don't understand the last bit "we must imagine Sisyphus happy" - wouldn't it be the same as the other distractions?
other distractions will end somehow like this. being happy won't.
There is (perhaps) a difference between attempting to be happy and actually accepting things fully and being truly happy.
Forcing / faking happiness is not true acceptance.
The distractions in and of themselves are not the problem, the denial of reality is the problem. Camus says you must accept that the universe is meaningless and search for meaning anyway in order to live authentically.
Thank you, Olly, this is very good. I will show it. Put Camus in the title, and thank you, again, for the compelling summary of that masterwork.
Thank you!! Loved it!! Need it for my gr12 Drama students and you are ticking all the boxes!
i understand it as the argument against seeing happiness as a place, instead of making all sorts of conditionals that would result in happiness doind that gandhi (?) thing of seeing happiness as the road, as a way to live, instead of a goal to reach, is much more satisfying that waiting for happiness to happen to you
Thank you very much, I'm going to use this video on Monday morning with my class in high school. Je sais déjà qu'ils vont adorer!
I really loved this video. In our last year of secondary school, we read the play by having some classmates 'perform' it without ever having read it themselves, just reading the script out loud and attempting some form of acting. It made it both hilarious and maybe even more absurd, and I still think of the particular classmates that played a particular character when reading it.
WOW YOUR VIDEO JUST CHANGED MY WHOLE LIFE. THANK YOU!!!
You're welcome!