Similarities Between Krapp And Waiting For Godot - 1638 Words

Chloe Martinez ENGL 3000 Professor Richard Joines 31 October 2017 Play Analysis Samuel Beckett’s plays illustrate the concepts of existentialism, such as identity, authenticity, and anxiety. A primary idea throughout Beckett’s plays is the character’s need to do something in order to feel fulfilled. This provides a false sense of purpose, and some characters are aware that they are just going through the motions, whereas others are not. The two plays that I will be using to develop this idea are Krapp’s Last Tape and Waiting for Godot, with Krapp representing the former type of character and Vladmir the latter. Include our innate need for companionship, which is shown in both plays, in Krapp’s Last Tape through the lack of companionship†¦show more content†¦He maintains the facade that he is improving upon himself by making these tapes, but in reality he uses them to fuel his self-pity. The scene is set in his office, which is completely dark, as is described in the tape from when Krapp was 39: â€Å"With all this darkness round me I feel less alone. [Pause.] In a way. [Pause.] I love to get up and move about in it, then back here to [hesitates]†¦me. [Pause.] Krapp.’† He is incapable of feeling fulfillment in himself because the only aspect of his life he derives happiness from is his past, but this also makes him feel an intensely negative sense of nostalgia. In addition to Krapp’s tapes showing no indications of self-improvement in his mental health, they also show that his poor physical health has remained the same. When Krapp listens through his old tapes, the version of him in the present and the version of him in the past perform the same actions. For example, Krapp states in the tape that he has eaten â€Å"three bananas and with difficulty refrained from a fourth,† and which were bad for his health, and Krapp was eating a second banana while listening to the tape. Similarly, the way that Vladmir and Estragon try to find a sense of purpose is through their waiting in vain for Godot. They do this in spite of their uncertainty about the meeting place, the time, and