The Imagery & Tone of a Play:
The Use of Literary Devices Imagery & Tone in Krapp’s Last Tape
In the play Krapp’s Last Tape, there is one protagonist who is described as sitting at a small table, listening to tapes. Krapp is an impaired and “broken-down” elderly man who spends his time listening to his younger voice on tapes. He is egotistical and subjective towards his younger self and critiques the way he acted in a certain place or time. He is lonely, but okay with it as he would rather focus on things that he has already experienced, rather then engage in new ones. He is essentially stuck in the past.
The essay written below disputes the literary devices of imagery and tone in order to provide background and symbolism in the play. In Krapp’s Last Tape, the most important literary devices are imagery and tone because they provide human-like characteristics in the character. They also strive to portray one of the main themes of the play that is self-reflection and attraction towards past recollections. In this essay the use of these two literary conventions most effectively conveys Krapp’s underlying emotions through his contemplations and attitudes to his self-provided recordings.
The play Krapp’s Last Tape, by Samuel Beckett is a literary work that gives a brief background into the past life of an older man. Krapp has a lonely and dull life, as he spends most of his time at his small table, listening to his younger self talk about particular recollections. It is as if his only focus is on the person he once was, rather then the person he has become. His subjective personality and contemplative mindset are portrayed through different literary devices. In Krapp’s Last Tape, Samuel Beckett uses imagery and tone as...
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...the reader with a sense of awareness as to how he thought of the actions and thoughts he once made. Beckett accomplished this through the use of tone and self-reflection, which is very essential to the play itself.
Krapp is a compelling character that lures the reader in with his reflective habits and fascination with tapes. His strong selfish personality helps to focus on the main undertones of the play, that which are meditation and detachment. Beckett’s centers on imagery to bring liveliness into Krapp’s character, while the infusion of tones contribute to the representation of excitement in Krapp’s attitude and opinions. Krapp’s Last Tape is an excellent play with a profound and intriguing character that expertly utilizes the literary conventions of imagery and tone in order to provide the reader with a play that focuses one a man’s obsession with the past.
Hamlet throughout the play lives in a world of mourning. This bereavement route he experiences can be related to Elizabeth Kubler-Ross’s theory on this process. The death of Hamlet’s spirit can be traced through depression, denial and isolation, bargaining, anger, and acceptance. The natural sorrow and anger of Hamlet’s multiple griefs include all human frailty in their protest and sympathy and touch upon the deepest synapses of grief in our own lives, not only for those who have died, but for those, like ourselves, who are still alive. Hamlet’s experience of grief, and his recovery from it, is one it which we ourselves respond most deeply.
words so that the sound of the play complements its expression of emotions and ideas. This essay
A general air of superficiality invades the production. Why? Unless done with reality, the play loses its “tam” (Yiddish for taste), fringes on mockery of the way of life being depicted, and weakens the accomplishment of the author’s purpose.
Venkova, Savina. “Theatrical Analysis: Hamlet, Shakespeare.” Rev. of Hamlet, by William Shakespeare. Helium. Helium Inc., 2011. Web. 20 Apr. 2011.
Beckett's major and the only theme appearing and recurring in all his works, is exclusively the theme of man. Beckett is interested in man as an individual, in his subjective attitude to the world, in confrontation of individual subject with the objective reality.
Whether a person’s life is something experienced authentically, or factually written down as literature, there are more complexities faced then there are simplicities on a daily basis. This multifariousness causes constant bewilderment and hesitation before any sort of important decision a person must make in his or her life. When it comes to characters of the written words, as soon sensations of ambiguity, uncertainty, and paranoia form, the outlook and actions of these characters are what usually result in regrettable decisions and added anxiety for both that character as well as the reader. Examples of these themes affecting characters in the world of fiction are found in the novel The Crying of Lot 49 by Thomas Pynchon, and the play Glengarry Glen Ross written by David Mamet. Throughout both of these texts, characters such as Oedipa Maas who allows these emotions to guide her in her journey of self discovery, and Shelly Levene who is so overcome with these emotions that they become his downfall. For both of these characters, these constant emotional themes are what guide their most impulsive actions, which can generally also become regrettable decisions. Even though it is a distinguishing factor of human beings, when these characters are portrayed in print, it somehow seems to affect the reader more, because they are able to see the fictional repercussions, and also know how they could have been avoided.
to a comprehension of Krapp’s character. A clear example of the internal monologue would be
Shakespeare’s Hamlet is arguably one of the best plays known to English literature. It presents the protagonist, Hamlet, and his increasingly complex path through self discovery. His character is of an abnormally complex nature, the likes of which not often found in plays, and many different theses have been put forward about Hamlet's dynamic disposition. One such thesis is that Hamlet is a young man with an identity crisis living in a world of conflicting values.
Hamlet makes extensive use of the idea of theatrical performance; from revealing characters to not be what they seem - as they act to be - to Hamlet’s play The Mousetrap and his instruction of acting to the players. The extensive use of the stage in the stage directions, as well as numerous monologues and asides, have Hamlet itself acting as a literary device for the motif of theatrical performance.
In a more extreme version of the play, directed by Baz Lurhmann, some of the weapons such as swords were replaced by modern day guns, but despite this he still managed to keep it all in context by cleverly placing words, or using other satire. With this paper I hope to produce my own unique version of the play.
Samuel Beckett’s Endgame is a complex analysis of politics in a seemingly apolitical and empty world. As Hamm and Clov inhabit the aftermath of Marxism, they display characteristics of the bourgeoisie and proletariat respectively, but only retain them so they can define themselves as something. The work implicitly argues- through the setting, and by defining Hamm and Clov as the bourgeoisie and proletariat- that political platforms are simply human rationalizations in futile opposition to a meaningless world, pointing towards Beckett’s ideological message of existential nihilism.
The three stories, The Endgame (Beckett), The Dumbwaiter (Pinter), and The Horse Dealer's Daughter (Lawrence) all deal with the themes of repression, repetition, and breakdowns in communication. The stories show us the subjectivity of language and exemplify the complexities of the human condition.
As the play’s tragic hero, Hamlet exhibits a combination of good and bad traits. A complex character, he displays a variety of characteristics throughout the play’s development. When he is first introduced in Act I- Scene 2, one sees Hamlet as a sensitive young prince who is mourning the death of his father, the King. In addition, his mother’s immediate marriage to his uncle has left him in even greater despair. Mixed in with this immense sense of grief, are obvious feelings of anger and frustration. The combination of these emotions leaves one feeling sympathetic to Hamlet; he becomes a very “human” character. One sees from the very beginning that he is a very complex and conflicted man, and that his tragedy has already begun.
Esslin's book consists of eleven chapters each of which touches on a dramatic phenomenon or critical issue. His book is opens with a preface and is appended a general index of plays and secondary resources. There are three explanatory diagrams in the book through which Esslin clarifies his theory on suspense. The book discusses the common definitions of drama in the first chapter, goes over the theories and critical aspects of drama as a genre in the following chapters, and concludes by declaring some statements about the truth of drama in the last chapter. Esslin often follows a pattern throughout his chapters; he undermines a critical thought or unravels a common critical confusion then injects his own notions and critical thoughts.
William Shakespeare’s dramatic and poetic techniques and his use of hyperbole are used to describe the characters emotions and weaknesses. The use of dramatic irony is used to create personal conflict. This is done throughout the play to describe the characters concerns and their situations.