Beckett's Play Between Poetry And Performance

Abstract

WHEN VIEWING BECKETI'S PLAYS IN chronological order, one notices that the characters' mobility and the impact of natural lights tend to decrease. This points not only to a diminuendo of dramatic illusion and realism but also to a gradual moving towards the zone where death impinges on life. Hamm, Clov, Nell and Nagg are more severely handicapped than Vladimir and Estragon, or even than Pozzo and Lucky during the second act of Godot. Hamm of Endgame can be moved around in his wheelchair whereas Winnie of Happy Days is buried up to her waist in Act I, up to her neck in Act II. In Play only the heads of the three nameless characters M, WI and W2 emerge from the urns which suggest death even more than the scorched land of Happy Days.