Objects in the Theatre of Samuel Beckett: Their Function and Significance as Components of his Theatrical Language

Abstract

This thesis is an exploration of all the plays of Samuel Beckett written for the live theatre, with a view to elucidating their meaning through a study of the objects present on the stage. The frame of reference is consistently that of the play in actual production. The Beckett stage is never cluttered: there are always very few people, words, or things in the Beckett·dramatic world. Similarly there is little movement. (The same people, words, things, and movement, however, repeat themselves obsessively.) It is proposed that every object specified as being on stage by the stage directions of the author or by the dialogue, and whether functioning as part of set, costume, or properties, makes a dramatic statement in interaction with word and gesture. What man docs and says in relationship to things largely defines his existence. As the dramatic oeuvre of Beckett progresses from Waiting for Godot (1953) to Not I (1972) the function and significance of objects becomes increasingly marked as people, words, and movement convert to things, silence (or incoherent outpourings), and stillness. As the Beckett world becomes increasingly "reifie" the bleakness of his vision is intensified. Beckett's use of objects as part of his theatrical language becomes increasingly sophisticated and complex. It is discovered that two peculiarly Beckettian contributions are made to what Artaud called "le langage concret" of the stage: character-objects, and light functioning as object. The use of both emphasizes the dehumanization of Beckett's characters: as they become progressively static and fragmented they become increasingly less the manipulators of objects and are increasingly themselves manipulated by objects. The light as object elicits the voice in Play and Not I. In Play the human being is part of the object (urn) that contains him and in Not I has herself become an object, Mouth, suspended in the light above the stage. In the last plays, then, the Beckett stage is totally dominated by objects. They make the only statement: the urns and Mouth speak. Since speech is the definitive human attribute of the Beckett hero throughout Beckett's work, objects have thus superseded human beings at the centre of the Beckett dramatic world.