Human Wishes (c. 1936–1937, fragment) by Samuel Beckett (Key Facts)

 

Human Wishes (c. 1936–1937, fragment)

by Samuel Beckett

(Key Facts) 

Key Facts for Human Wishes (c. 1936–1937, fragment) by Samuel Beckett

 

Full Title:

Human Wishes (fragment)

 

Author:

Samuel Beckett

 

Type of Work:

Unfinished historical verse drama (dramatic fragment)

 

Genre:

Historical-biographical drama; philosophical drama; early existential theatre

 

Language:

English (written before Beckett’s later transition to writing primarily in French)

 

Time and Place Written:

c. 1936–1937; Europe (primarily during Beckett’s early career period before his permanent settlement in France)

 

Date of First Publication:

Published posthumously in collected dramatic works (late 20th century)

 

Publisher:

Included in collections issued by Faber and Faber

 

Tone:

Reflective, ironic, introspective, melancholic, quietly tragic

 

Setting (Time):

18th century (during the period when Samuel Johnson is composing The Vanity of Human Wishes)

 

Setting (Place):

London, England—primarily Johnson’s domestic interior, with references to the broader literary society of the city

 

Protagonist:

Samuel Johnson

 

Major Conflict:

Internal conflict between intellectual awareness of the vanity of ambition and the persistent human desire for recognition, permanence, and stability; secondary tension between individual and society.

 

Rising Action:

Johnson struggles financially and emotionally while composing his poem. His reflections on ambition and mortality intensify. Domestic strain with Tetty and anxiety over reputation increase psychological pressure.

 

Climax:

No conventional climax due to the fragmentary nature of the play. The peak lies in Johnson’s heightened realization of the irony between his philosophical critique of ambition and his own longing for success.

 

Falling Action:

Absent in traditional form; the fragment ends without resolution, reinforcing the theme of incompletion.

 

Themes:

Vanity and futility of human ambition

Mortality and impermanence

Burden of consciousness

Individual vs. society

Persistence despite doubt

 

Motifs:

Illness and physical decline

Writing and revision

Silence and emotional distance

Time’s relentless passage

 

Symbols:

The manuscript (human defiance against oblivion)

Tetty’s illness (inevitability of decay)

Light and candle imagery (fragile endurance)

London Society (external validation and instability)

 

Foreshadowing:

Johnson’s anxiety about legacy anticipates the eventual fading of human achievement.

Tetty’s illness foreshadows mortality and emotional loss.

The fragment’s incompleteness symbolically foreshadows the unresolved nature of human striving.