The Truth Behind Krapp.

I find Krapp interesting, the whole plays is interesting and intriguing. It’s short, and about an old man listening to some recordings of himself years before. As readers or viewers we can’t be sure why he acts that way and why he listens to his recordings. There are several options that one may come up with. As I mentioned in my last blog the character could be desperate and unsatisfied with the outcome of his life or as my classmate Mariana wrote in her blog he is crazy and at the same time driving himself crazy.

He may also be seen as funny character, like those old people that are just simply confused and don’t know what they are doing that decide to look at their things from the past. Or the play can also show the characters regret. Life is about that, and when you are old, at least in my family, my mom, aunt, grandmother and so on are always nagging about the mistakes they made and they regrets they have. They tell me what they did and then why they regret. When Krapp says “just been listening to that stupid bastard I took myself for thirty years ago, hard to believe I was ever as bad as that” (Beckett), it’s like when a family member tell their story to me, the difference is that in this case, Krapp does not want anyone to learn from his mistakes except himself, it is only know thirty years later that he understands and realizes that he does not agree with the way he lived before, he regrets it.

There’s no way of being sure that old man Krapp regrets his life, still it is a possibility and watching him alone at his basement made me think about the movie Seven Pounds. Where this man Tim Thomas makes a mistake and not only hurts himself but seven other people including his fiancée. And then full of regret he donates his organs to the point of killing himself so that he could save the life of seven strangers. So there are two types of regrets, or better yet, two ways of feeling regret. With one, you make a mistake and try to make it up like Tim Thomas did, or like Krapp that knows he made them but accepts it. And imagines the “What if” or the “could have” of the situation.

Krapp can also be seen as the readers “puppet” we deduce or create a situation for him. I have two that are linked together. He is a desperate old man because he regrets the way his life has been up to now. But at the same time is confused and can’t decide which Krapp he wants to be the guy from the tapes or the man that is listening to them. He reveals the uncertainties that a person has to always deal with. Every choice you make has a consequence and every person will always doubt if he chose the right one. What we have to do is follow Krapp advice and don’t “want them back” (Beckett).