Time Void Of Meaning

Beckett's drama has been a puzzle to many readers and scholars as well,and not a few comments have been made from various perspectives on his drama.In many of Beckett's dramatic works,time is often closely linked to the protagonists' fate.It is the expected yet unreachable existence,the only unchangeable and unmanageable truth,which turns life into a tedious and endless game of waiting.Beckett in his plays deliberately exaggerates the merciless aspect of time and lets his characters fall victims of time.All we can see on his stage are scenes of desperate people,with blank expressions,whose enthusiasm and hope have been deprived by the passage of time.Beckett's time concept presented in his plays is contrary to that in Christianity, especially in Eschatology.In the Beckettian world,no Millennium or new era is to come, nor a Christ-like savior is to appear as been expected.The formation of Beckett's concept of time is worthy of studying,and there must be a series of underlying theories which have great impact on his thoughts.Influenced by postmodern context,Beckett also adopts many a technique such as deconstructing the certain meaning,procrastinating time and the narration,in order to create a suffocating and unbearable reading experience. Enlightened by the analyses and theories of Beckett experts like Martin Esslin and Lois Gordon,this thesis makes a tentative exploration into the time theme in Beckett's four plays:Waiting for Godot,Endgame,Krapp's Last Tape,and The Happy Days.The author argues that among the perplexing plots and seemingly nonsense babblings in his plays,Beckett has revealed the most merciless aspects of time and life to the readers by virtue of the radical treatment of the scenes and the characters.The thesis divides into five chapters.Chapter one as the Introduction provides background information on the selection of the topic and the theoretical framework of the thesis,as well as presents a literature review.Chapter two starts with the familial and social influences on Beckett which prove to be of great importance to his later writings.Being a witness of brutal warfare,Beckett grew to hold a pessimistic view of human nature,a reason for his disclosing the merciful aspect of life in his works.Chapter three begins with the review of the concept of time as stated at different ages, and narrates the significant time theories underlying Beckett's standpoints.Chapter four analyzes Beekett's time concept as presented in his dramatic works,and interprets his philosophy from a perspective relevant to his attitude toward time.In this chapter,waiting and time,being and time,as well as the relationship between birth and death are to be probed into.Also,Beckett's strategies in treating time problem are studied in this chapter.The last chapter,which is the conclusion,sums up the characteristics of Beckett's plays and points out probably the mere positive aspect therein:the calmness in confronting the mercilessness can be taken as a symbol of courage.