Repetitive movements and gestures are central to the play. You might have noticed, also, how mundane or everyday his actions are – although some are quite strange as well. What might these movements and repetitions suggest? On one level, the repetitiveness underscores the endlessness and timelessness of human existence.
The repetitive movements might also suggest habit. Beckett called habit “the ballast that chains the dog to his vomit. Breathing is habit. Life is habit.” Not necessarily the most upbeat view of life indeed. But Beckett often portrays his characters as surviving and glossing over the deeper, tragic implications of life through habit and ritual. Do you think this is true of the mime? Why does he stop and contemplate so often? Perhaps he is trying to find another way of doing things?
The mime continually fails in his endeavours – especially in obtaining the carafe. This failure is dramatized in various ways – for instance, every time he falls down. Beckett often uses what are called “pratfalls” in his plays – these are comic by nature and were most often used in vaudeville at the beginning of the 20th century. Do you think the falls are comical in this play? They might seem funnier in performance. However, there is also something despairing and pathetic in these falls – and his ultimate failure to get what he wants (and probably needs).
Repetitive movements and gestures are central to the play. You might have noticed, also, how mundane or everyday his actions are – although some are quite strange as well. What might these movements and repetitions suggest? On one level, the repetitiveness underscores the endlessness and timelessness of human existence.
The repetitive movements might also suggest habit. Beckett called habit “the ballast that chains the dog to his vomit. Breathing is habit. Life is habit.” Not necessarily the most upbeat view of life indeed. But Beckett often portrays his characters as surviving and glossing over the deeper,...