Making Choices And Suffering Losses Essay, Research Paper

Krapp s Last Tape and Antigone

MAKING CHOICES AND SUFFERING LOSSES

Sometimes in our lives, through the natural course of events, we come to a critical moment where all past choices and the circumstances that arise from them converge together with only one choice to make. Knowing that the two paths most likely will not lead them to the same place, how are people to know which path to take? They say, also, that no one can control their own fate but why then are we held responsible for our own misfortunes? The answers to these questions will not be found in this essay, however, hopefully we can shed light in that direction to gain some clarity.

In the plays, Krapp s Last Tape and Antigone, classic stories of love and loss were portrayed. The main characters of both plays each made a choice in which they suffered its consequence. Specifically, Antigone choose to bury her brother, Polynecies, after his death which in turn caused her own. According to her sister, Antigone was not making the wisest decision because Ismene knew it would cost their lives. But, as the townspeople were saying, no other woman that they knew of ever died with such honor. Also, Creon, King of Thebes, made a bad decision of forcing his rule on Antigone because the sentencing caused the death of his wife and son directly. Creon s sin of pride was a deep transgression in which his son, Haimon, could not except because Antigone was Haimon s wife. Krapp sometime in his life had also made a bad choice regarding his love because in the play Samuel Beckett showed the pain and guilt Krapp was feeling through the relentless playback of the tapes.

Although in both plays the main characters had suffered loss after they had made their choices, in Antigone, the main character had made the crucial choice of her life due to a loss she had suffered prior. The plays differ further by the specific reasoning of the choices made. Krapp wanted his love but for whatever reason he was unable to stay with her. Perhaps there was a mutual collapse of the relationship or maybe the communication was bad, but either way he suffered the loss of her. Antigone s choice, on the other hand, was mainly an unselfish one. There was nothing really good in the burial of her brother for herself. Also Antigone dealt with the gods of the time where Krapp s Last Tape was a self-centered play only dealing with Krapp s own problems.

The writing styles of the plays were also extremely different with respect to the plots of each. In Krapp s Last Tape the only thing that happened was that Krapp listened to some reels of tape. In Antigone, things were happening throughout which makes for a more exciting play. It was more of the traditional type of play with the traditional effect. Furthermore, Krapp s Last Tape had more of a lasting impact due to the unique way the piece was written. Although it was short, the point Samuel Beckett made in that play did not need to be elaborated on any further.

In conclusion, the works dealt with serious issues of life were love, self-respect, honor, belief in God, making choices, taking a stand for what you believe and dealing with consequences all came into play. In some way or other the two plays dealt with all of the important puzzles in life and like anything else that does; they generate introspection without any substantive conclusion as to a general rule for all things.