"Happy Days" In Despair-an Existential And Gender Analysis On Samuel Beckett's Happy Days

Samuel Beckett's Happy Days is another drama questioning human's living conditions after his famous play Waiting for Godot.On one hand,this absurdist play is filled with feelings of despair;but on the other,as Terry Eagleton puts in his A fter Theory that Samuel Beckett's dramatic tension exists in the residual hope in despair.(Eagleton 158)For example,although Godot never comes at the end of the play,the message that Godot will come keeps the two protagonists waiting with hope.And this thesis intends to explore the undiminished hope rising from the different layers of despair in Samuel Beckett's Happy Days.First,in Happy Days,the factors which contribute to the desperate atmosphere can be divided into two parts:objective factors and subjective factors.Objectively,the environment in this play is a field of isolation---sky and the mounds constitute the basic elements of the protagonists' living space,and there is no clue of other life.In this extremely metaphoric environment,the female protagonist,Winnie,is buried into the mound up to her waist,unable to move,while her husband,Willie,free to move around,willingly or unthinkingly chooses to live in a cave near Winnie and conducts his life following his basic instincts.The lack of verbal and intellectual interaction on Willie's side causes Winnie even more despair and pain.Both Winnie and Willie follow their routine every day,but gradually,Willie gives up his competence to speak and think and behave like a man.Winnie still insists on thinking about their life together by constantly calling out for Willie's response and remembering her past.Winnie makes full use of her daily routine to perform the female role and construct the meaning of herself and her life with Willie,which in the end seems to have some effect on the latter as well.Willie starts to put on his own performance as a socialized man at the end of the play.Besides introduction and conclusion,the main part of this thesis consists of three chapters,Chapter One focuses on the analysis on Winnie and Willie's living conditions;Chapter Two focuses on the analysis on the ambiguity of their names and gender and on the whole their identities,and argues that the essence of Winnie and Willie's living conditions is their interdependence.Chapter Three illustrates the process through which Winnie's distinctive feminine performance reconstructs herself and awakens Willie.Beckett capsules most people's and even the general human conditions in this minimalist play,and uses the main characters' idiosyncratic performances to reflect on different relationships of different layers in the society.It demonstrates that despite of the despair and stagnation in man's existence and human relationships,meaning is still possible and there can be tiny changes in life that may someday in the future lead to significant transformation,and perhaps hope of a better life.