Krapp's Last Tape

Samuel Beckett definitely did not make it easy for his audience to understand his work. I was very lost and bored while reading his play Krapp’s Last Tape. Because it was so short I read it a few times through to see if I was missing a bigger message or theme, but did not seem to get much more out of it other than Krapp dwelling on his failures. I can’t imagine going to see a play where the majority of the time nothing is taking place. It was sad that he had to move backwards and forwards on the tape to find memories that he connected with. Even when his memories did help him to travel back to his 39^th year he focused on his failures and referred to his younger self as stupid. I can’t imagine looking back on my life and only seeing failure.

I found the comparison between sporting events and Beckett’s plays that Kristen discussed in lecture to be quite intriguing. I would have never thought to compare the two from reading Krapp’s Last Tape. Sporting events are fun and exciting, I never know what’s going to happen, where as the play came across as slow and dull to me. However, when looking at the structure of sporting events and Beckett’s plays I understood the comparison Kristen was making. There is a lot of down time in football due to time outs and commercial breaks, which is similar to the lack of action in the play and then short segments of action. I grew up watching football so I always understood the game and knew what to expect when showing up at the stadium, but to someone unfamiliar to the rules it would be hard to understand. If I knew the type of work Beckett produced before reading the play I may have had a different perspective on it.