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Research Article (General Section)

No. 9 (2025): Dossier: "Mimesis in Philosophy and Literature"

Self as a Failed Project in Samuel Beckett’s Krapp’s Last Tape

DOI
https://doi.org/10.64957/nesir.1793267
Submitted
05.02.2025
Published
23.10.2025

Abstract

This study aims to provide an analysis of Samuel Beckett’s Krapp’s Last Tape with reference to the concepts of memory, subjectivity, and selfhood, arguing that the self is a constructed idea rather than something inherent to the subject as such. Taking the monologic and dialogic qualities of the play as its point of departure, the study examines the character Krapp in light of his project of archiving his past selves in the form of voice recordings he makes over the years. In the play, it is evident that by using these recordings as a tool for fashioning himself a consistent self, Krapp ends up creating a breach between his past and present selves instead, thereby failing in his project. Focusing also on the role of time and memory in the construction of the self, the study draws the conclusion that the play succeeds in revealing the discontinuous and inconsistent nature of any such process in and through Beckett’s manipulation of the techniques of characterisation associated with realist drama.

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