The Role of Setting in Krapp’s Last Tape

Abstract

This study involves the explanation of the role of setting in revealing the theme with reference to Samuel Beckett's Krapp’s Last Tape in relation to the components of time, place and social circumstances. One of Samuel Beckett's main concerns is the polarity of existence. In, Krapp's Last Tape, such characteristic polarities as sight versus blindness, life versus death, time present versus time past, body versus intellect do exist in those works significantly. One of Beckett's main concerns, then, seems to be characterizing man's existence in terms of these polarities. The appearance of the absurd theater comes as a result of the desperate man living during the great wars and during their aftermaths, which

have made him hopeless, desperate and fearful of future events as in the case with

the main character Krapp. The action of the play has been greatly affected by its setting which limits the movements of character, his way of thinking and finally the end of the action of the plays in which he appears. The stage on which an old man is sitting on chair is symbolic of the fact that man is made only to wait for his end as is the case of Krapp.