In Krapp’s Last Tape by Samuel Beckett, light and its opposite, dark, are used to represent Krapp’s rejection of intellectual, physical, and emotional interactions for his transient comfort of the dark. He disregards these important aspects of life by using the dark as a place where he can confine his addictions, memories, and remorse. Krapp views the dark as a source of freedom and a place of work while light is synonymous of love and his previous chances of happiness. The contrast between light and dark demonstrates the eternal consequence of Krapp’s failed aspirations and his decision to live in a world of solitude rather than creating a balance between a life of privacy and of emotional content.
Darkness provides Krapp with freedom in which he can confine his addictions without having to face the consequences or the disapproval of others. Krapp has two obsessive addictions, bananas and alcohol, which he indulges in the dark of his “den” (Beckett 178). Krapp puts a banana into his mouth in the dark until “finally he bites off the end, turns aside and begins pacing to and fro at the end of the stage, in the light” (Beckett 178). Krapp is trying to quit eating bananas, shown when 39 year old Krapps says “Have just eaten I regret to say three bananas and only with difficulty refrained from a fourth” (Beckett 179). Krapp starts to eat his banana in the dark to conceal one of his unfulfilled goals to quit this addiction but he begins to walk in the light as if he is searching for light from the fruit (Wilson 136). Bananas provide him with memories from the past and every time he eats one, he can reinstate his mind to the memories that control his present life. Krapp’s addictive consumption of alcohol occurs only when he “goes bac...
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...onship, which remind him of the life he could have had and the man he once was. The dark has offered Krapp a satisfactory life of solitude but his lack of fulfillment and failed aspirations generate an eternal consequence and a state of remorse which arises from his neglect towards everything that has ever offered light in his internal world of darkness.
Work Cited
Beckett, Samuel. Krapp’s Last Tape. Literature: A World of Writing. 2nd ed. Ed. David L. Pike and Ana M. Acosta. New York: Pearson, 2014. 178-182. Print.
Scholz, Amiel. “The Dying Of The Light: An Actor Investigates Krapp’s Last Tape.” Theatre Research International 16.1 (1991): 39-53. JSTOR. Web. 9 Nov. 2013.
Wilson, Sue. “Krapp’s Last Tape And The Mania In Manichaeism.” Samuel Beckett Today/Aujourd’hui: An Annual Bilingual Review/Revue Annuelle Bilingue 12.1 (2002): 131-144. JSTOR. Web. 9 Nov. 2013.
I think the main idea the narrators is trying to emphasize is the theme of opposition between the chaotic world and the human need for community with a series of opposing images, especially darkness and light. The narrator repeatedly associates light with the desire to clear or give form to the needs and passions, which arise out of inner darkness. He also opposes light as an idea of order to darkness in the world, the chaos that adults endure, but of which they normally cannot speak to children.
This extract emphasises the lonely, outworld feeling that would have been felt living in such settings. This puts into perspective the feeling that will be felt during the coarse of the plot development.
Updike, John. “A&P.” Literature Craft and Voice. Ed. Nicholas Delbanco and Alan Cheuse. 2nd ed. New York: McGraw, 2013. 141-145. Print.
The use of light and dark motifs by Mulisch explains many reactions of Anton when encountered with problems of his past. Perception of darkness Anton Steinwijk, the main character, experiences such assault by soldiers during the Occupation and his family being shot by them. His desire to leave what has happened to him in the past has been influenced thoroughly by some of the people he encounters as well as the trauma. Light and darkness symbolizes Anton's sense perception as well as moral issues conveyed by people he met, which influences him observing the war and his past years of life, and the desire to leave the past behind and move on.
Schlegel, August Wilhelm. Criticism on Shakespeare s Tragedies . A Course of Lectures on Dramatic Art and Literature. London: AMS Press, Inc., 1965.
Alan Bennett presents his characters in Talking Heads by writing the plays in the form of monologue. By employing this technique he has managed to create a rich and detailed World in which his stories unfold but, he only allows us to see it through the eyes of a single narrator. When reading a play that is presented in this manner it is possible to lose sight of the fact that you are only getting one person’s version of events and you may start to believe that you are having conversations reported to you verbatim. This is a clever mechanism because the narrators can often be unreliable and lead the reader to form opinions and draw conclusions that quite often turn out to be unfounded and false. The term “Talking heads is a synonym in television for boredom” (Bennett, 2007, p, 10) yet, these talking heads are certainly not boring, the settings may be drab and ordinary, the characters are not exciting or inspiring yet, the gossipy way in which the stories are told hooks the reader in. Fitting neatly into the genre of tragicomedy it is perhaps fitting that the ‘tragic’ comes before the ‘comedy’, certainly the dramatist infuses the plays with a rich dose of humour but the melancholy subject matter and the often quite sad and lonely characters always counter balances the laughs with a tinge of sadness.
It is said that no man is an island, and no man stands alone. Hence, true human existence can not prevail positively or productively without the dynamics of society. Yet, this concept is very much a double-edged sword . Just as much as man needs to exist in society and needs the support and sense of belonging, too much social pressures can also become a stifling cocoon of fantasies and stereotypes that surround him. He becomes confined to the prototype of who or what he is expected to be. Thus, because society is often blinded by the realms of the world, its impositions in turn cripples humanity. If he does not conform, he becomes a social out cast, excluded and excommunicated from the fabric of life. The theme alienation in a small society is depicted primarily through setting by both authors Conrad and Kafka in Metamorphosis and Heart of Darkness. This depiction demonstrates how this isolation has a negative impact on the individual and ultimately leads to his destruction and decadence.
The literary works of Samuel Beckett and Franz Kafka have created environments in which the characters are implanted into ludacris and gloom filled realities. The characters are in absurd situations with no explanation of the events that are happening, or going to happen. The question stands, why did these authors place the characters in these destroyed worlds with no hope of resolution? I argue that the history of the authors and the environments in which they lived has a direct correlation to the charactaracters and the dark writing styles of the authors. To relate the characters and environments of the stories to the authors lives, one must first take a look at the history of the authors as well as characters. Looking at the lives of Beckett and Kafka at the time these stories were being written can help to determine the mindset and styles of both authors and how they relate their own real life problems to their characters fictional settings.
Lipking, Lawrence I, Stephen Greenblatt, and M H. Abrams. The Norton Anthology of English Literature: Volume 1c. New York: W.W. Norton & Co, 2006. Print.
Goldman, Emma. The Social Significance of the Modern Drama. Berkeley. Edu, n.d. Web. 09 May 2012.
Styan, J. L. "The Drama: Reason in Madness." Theatre Journal 32 3 (1980): 371-85. Print.
Samuel Beckett’s Endgame is a complex analysis of politics in a seemingly apolitical and empty world. As Hamm and Clov inhabit the aftermath of Marxism, they display characteristics of the bourgeoisie and proletariat respectively, but only retain them so they can define themselves as something. The work implicitly argues- through the setting, and by defining Hamm and Clov as the bourgeoisie and proletariat- that political platforms are simply human rationalizations in futile opposition to a meaningless world, pointing towards Beckett’s ideological message of existential nihilism.
Written in 1962-3, Play depicts three characters, a man (M), and two women (W1 and W2) trapped in urns with only their heads showing. These characters each present their own version of a love triangle, which once occurred between them. It becomes clear during the play that the characters, once tortured by each other, are now tortured by their situation. A spotlight acts as a "unique inquisitor," compelling each to speak when it shines on them, and to stop when it goes out. As this assault continues, the characters become increasingly maddened by the light, and increasingly desperate to make it stop. The play repeats itself, providing the audience with a sense that these characters have been saying the same words for an eternity, and will continue to do so until the light decides they can stop. Beckett demonstrates how "A style of living, theatrically communicable, is used to express a state of mind."
Abcarian, Richard, Marvin Klotz, and Samuel Cohen. Literature: the Human Experience. Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martins, 2010. Print.
...s in The Heart of Darkness, Conrad reflects the true nature of man. He concludes that within every man lies a heart of darkness. "This heart is drowned in a bath of light shed by the advent of civilization. No man is an island, and no man can live on the island without becoming a brutal savage. Inside his heart lies the raw evil of untamed lifestyle" (Heart of Darkness: A systematic evaluation).