Three Approaches To The Art Of Silence In Samuel Beckett's Plays

Silence is such a prominent entity of Samuel Beckett's art, especially his theatre, that to overlook it is to miss the core of his work. Silence not only constitutes a dominant theatrical device in Beckett's theatre but also forms an important theme of his plays. The task of this dissertation is to study silence in Beckett's plays from three distinctive approaches, namely, linguistic, philosophical, and psychological, so as to shed important light to the study of Beckett's plays. Each approach is focused on one major play by Beckett and the three plays under discussion are, Waiting for Godot, Endgame, and Krapp's Last Tape.Introduction points out the importance of silence in Becket's theatre and the fact that silence is a multi-layered and multi-faceted concept open to various approaches of interpretation. It also introduces the method to take to approach silence which is the close study of the lines and images in the plays.Chapter one addresses silence in Beckett's plays from the linguistic perspective. In this chapter, Beckett's skepticism of language as a means of communication and artistic creation is revealed, which explains the massive employment of silence in Waiting for Godot as well as in other plays by Beckett. The speech analysis of the play manifests the characters'ego-centric and chaotic manner of speaking, which allows for the emergence of silence within and between their speeches. Furthermore, silence as a theatrical device helps to bring out the stage images as no words can; it reveals the poverty of human speeches as well as the difficulty of communication; it also undermines and amplify human speeches in Beckett's theatre. Chapter one also touches upon Beckett's attitude towards writing, which is a constant struggle with words and silence.Chapter two is devoted to the discussion of silence from the philosophical perspective as Beckett's plays are best understood as"ontological parables". Beckett's literature has been influenced by the philosophy of Descartes and Schopenhauer, and his works serve as the literary exemplifications of the Existentialist thoughts. Endgame as the epitome of Beckett's bleakest outlook of human existence presents the ending process of humanity in which the sound and fury of human existence is punctuated by the silence of nihility. Silence in this play embodies Beckett's pessimistic view of the human condition as well as the concepts of nihility, absurdity, and meaninglessness.Chapter three approaches silence from the psychological perspective and bases the study on the most autobiographical play by Beckett, Krapp's Last Tape. Connections are attempted to be built between the character's psychological state and that of the writer at the later stage of his life. On the other hand, the play reveals the state of mind of modern man characterized with loneliness, depression, and the nihility of love.Conclusion summarizes the significance of silence in Beckett's art and points out that Beckett's philosophy of writing is to fail better by waging a persistent war with both words and silence.