Krapp’s Last Tape (1958)
by Samuel Beckett
(Key Facts)
Key Facts: Krapp’s Last Tape
Full Title
Krapp’s Last Tape
Author
Samuel Beckett
Type of Work
One-act play
Genre
Theatre of the Absurd; Tragicomedy; Modern experimental
drama
Language
English
(Beckett later translated the play into French as La
Dernière Bande)
Time and Place Written
Mid–1950s; written in Paris
Date of First Publication
1958
Publisher
Grove Press (English edition)
Tone
Bleak, ironic, melancholic, tragicomic, introspective
Setting (Time)
Late evening; Krapp’s 69th birthday (implied)
Setting (Place)
A small, dimly lit room or den, sparsely furnished,
suggesting isolation and confinement
Protagonist
Krapp — an elderly, solitary man
Major Conflict
Internal conflict between Krapp’s present self and his
past selves, revealed through tape recordings; the struggle between memory and
reality, ambition and loss.
Rising Action
Krapp performs his ritualistic actions, consults his
ledger, and begins listening to an old tape recorded when he was thirty-nine.
Climax
Krapp repeatedly listens to the memory of the woman in
the boat — the emotional high point of the play — revealing his deepest loss
and regret.
Falling Action
Krapp records a new tape, rejecting his past ideals and
acknowledging emotional emptiness.
Themes
Passage of time and decay
Memory and its unreliability
Fragmentation of identity
Isolation and loneliness
Failure of ambition
Inadequacy of language
Absurdity of human existence
Motifs
Repetition and ritual
Listening and replaying
Silence and pauses
Self-judgment across time
Mechanical routine
Symbols
Tape recorder — mechanical memory; fragmented identity;
false permanence
Ledger — futile attempt to control and organize life
Bananas / banana peel — bodily decay, habit, tragicomic
frailty
Light and darkness — limited consciousness vs. oblivion
Recorded voice — alienation from one’s past self
Foreshadowing
Krapp’s ledger foreshadows the reduction of life to
meaningless records
His mocking tone toward past selves anticipates his own
future self-rejection
The repeated focus on decay and failure foreshadows the
emotional emptiness of the final tape.
 by Samuel Beckett (Key Facts)){kind=link}
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