Samuel Beckett’s dramatic language 9783111342443, 9783110991161

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DE PROPRIETATIBUS

LITTERARUM

edenda curat C. H. VAN S C H O O N E V E L D Indiana University

Series Practica, 100

SAMUEL BECKETT'S DRAMATIC LANGUAGE by

JAMES

ELIOPULOS

Ohio Wesleyan

University

1975

MOUTON THE HAGUE · PARIS

© Copyright 1975 in The Netherlands Mouton & Co. N.V., Publishers, The Hague No part of this book may be translated or reproduced in any form, by print, photoprint, microfilm, or any other means, without written permission from the publishers.

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOG CARD NUMBER: 74-84241

Printed in The Netherlands

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Subsequently, even a labor of love experiences indebtedness. I especially want to express my appreciation to my colleagues at Ohio Wesleyan University who offered significant input at various stages of manuscript preparation. Much of my interest in rhetorical analysis is traceable to the dialogues with James L. Golden and George L. Lewis, both of the Ohio State University. More than any other individual, Professor Lewis, with faith and insightful analysis, directly influenced the completion of this book. For perspective and confidence, I want to thank my parents, Mr. and Mrs. Gus Eliopulos and in particular my wife who manipulated time for encouragement. J. E.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Acknowledgements

5

1. Introduction

11

Statement of the Problem Assumptions Scope Methodology

11 11 11 12

2. Distinction of Rhetorical and Poetic Elements .

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Rhetoric and Poetics - Common Characteristics Motive and Function Audience and Occasion Method Medium Subject Matter Summary 3. Beckett and The Modern Theatre Movement

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14 16 19 20 21 24 25

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Author and Purpose The Modern Theatre Movement Messianic Revolt Social Revolt Existential Revolt Summary and Conclusions 4. Rhetorical-Poetic

27 34 34 36 39 44

Analysis

The Language of Drama Definition and Limitation of Dramatic Language . Prose-Poetry Dichotomy Problems of Language Criticism

47 .

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47 47 48 53

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

The Insignificance of Dialogue in the Drama . . . . Beckett's General View of Language Eleven Characteristics of Style Repetition Repetition by Interrogation The Technique of Exhaustive Enumeration . . . . Incremental Repetition Recurring Words Repetition of Verbal Clusters Repetitive Echo Some Effects of Repetition Effect on Situation Effect on Character Effect on Ideas Monologue as a Structural Characteristic Trends in Beckett's Monologue Technique . . . . Monologue Re-Creating Experience Monologue of Non-sequitur Monologue of Games Monologue Negating Factors of Practical Existence . Conclusions Stichomythia Function of the Stichomythic Form Conclusions Phatic Communion Classification Related to Ideas Classification Related to Plot Classification Related to Characters Conclusion Word Groupings Conclusion Intentional Dystax Stream-of-Consciousness Dystax Interrupted Dialogue of Pairs Syntactical Ambiguity Abrupt Non-sequiturs Tautologies Conclusion Contradictions Clichés and Pratfalls

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55 57 59 60 61 63 64 65 67 68 70 70 70 70 72 72 73 74 76 76 77 78 80 82 82 84 85 85 86 86 89 90 91 91 91 92 92 93 93 94

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Indelicacies of Language Structural Closure Absence of Language Conclusion 5. Summary and Conclusions Summary of Findings Rhetorical Poetic Distinctions Author and Purpose Modern Theatre Movement Rhetorical-Poetic Analysis Language of Drama Insignificance of Dialogue in the Drama Characteristics of Style Repetition Some Effects of Repetition Monologue as a Structural Characteristic Stichomythia Phatic Communion Word Groupings Intentional Dystax Contradictions Clichés and Pratfalls Indelicacies of Language Structural Closure Absence of Language Conclusions The Effects of Linguistic Style upon Dramatic Situation Rhetoric of Action Message Contradiction Conclusion The Effects of Linguistic Style Upon Ideas The Effect of Linguistic Style Upon Characters . .

9

96 98 100 101 102 102 102 102 102 103 103 103 104 104 105 105 105 106 106 106 107 107 107 107 108 108 . 108 108 109 110 Ill .114

Bibliography

117

Index

121

1 INTRODUCTION

Statement of the Problem

Rhetoric has dominated literary theory partly because every major source from which theory was drawn was either directly or indirectly rhetorical. To produce a stylistic analysis, to accurately discriminate the characteristics of any piece of discourse, a number of distinctions between rhetoric and poetic must be observed. The rhetorical-poetic elements of author, purpose, audience, subject matter and medium are employed to describe the verbal forms of Samuel Beckett's dramatic language. Assumptions

The characteristic method of rhetorical analysis has generally focused upon an examination of oral discourse. In recent years, scholars and critics have tended to formulate a marriage of rhetoric poetics to provide new insights into communication problems. It is the assumption of the study that the verbal forms of Samuel Beckett's dramatic language can be described with greater precision if both rhetorical and poetic elements are employed. Scope

To assess Beckett's dramatic art in its capacity to establish new directions in dramatic technique or its propensity to follow current trends, a description of Beckett's literary development, along with an interpretation of the modern theatre movement, is provided. The major emphasis will be directed in the dramatic genre with particular focus upon Beckett's language. The analysis of audience reaction to language, although important, must be excluded. Similarly,

12

INTRODUCTION

although the use of music, mime, and other non-verbal forms remains distinctively a portion of the "Rhetoric" of the theatre, the complexity of their forms would require extensive historical overviews along with descriptive classifications and analysis. The discourse to be examined is the internal rhetoric-poetic of the drama - that is, an anatomy of the rhetorical poetic elements. These restrictions will not infer that the relationship between the stage actor and his audience is obviously not a rhetorical concern. Instead, it is hoped that the description of language will illuminate the complexity of entirely new configurations of external rhetoric-poetic. The chapters have been arranged in logical and chronological order to form a necessary prelude to the descriptive analysis of Beckett's language. After 1, the preliminaries, the sections are as follows: 2. "The Distinction of Rhetorical and Poetic Elements". The examination of six elements: author, purpose, audience and occasion, method, medium, and subject matter, provides a theoretical basis. The intent is not to offer a basis for definitive differences between rhetoric and poetic but to illustrate distinctive characteristics of each mode as they apply to Beckett's language. 3. Pertinent biographical data and the relationship of the author to new trends are provided in "Beckett and the Modern Theatre Movement". 4. In the "Rhetorical-Poetic Analysis", a description of the most striking characteristics of Beckett's dramatic language is examined with a predominately structural approach. By tracing a linguistic thread - the most striking, idiosyncratic features of style - through an entire play, it may be possible to offer an account of the way Beckett makes language work. In 5. "Summary and Conclusions", the structural surface features will be regarded as they impose upon dramatic situation, ideas, and character. Methodology In the rhetorical-poetic description of Beckett's style, the perception of patterns, significantly recurring usage, contradictions, anti-closural devices, dystax, cliches, and any other striking surface features will be regarded as they may provide insight to a unique style. After a structural identity has been established in one Beckett play, other

INTRODUCTION

13

dramatic works will be examined to determine frequency and, more importantly, stylistic trends.

2 DISTINCTION OF RHETORIC AND POETIC ELEMENTS

Rhetoric and Poetics - Common

Characteristics

The characteristic method of rhetorical analysis has generally focused upon an examination of oral discourse. In recent years, scholars and critics have tended to formulate a marriage of rhetoric and poetics in an effort to achieve efficiency of communicative purpose and to provide new insights into the art and science of discourse.1 This commingling of rhetoric and poetics demands a rationale with some adroit but limited explanation. Throughout rhetorical tradition the close alliance of rhetoric and poetics has provoked much stimulating thought and no little controversy. The efforts to distinguish clearly between these two modes of discourse have never been altogether satisfactory. Much of the controversy has arisen from writers who assume there are such things as "pure" poetry and "pure" rhetoric, while in reality, there are few speeches which are not in some way poetic, or poems which are not in some way rhetorical.2 The following serves to illustrate: D I S C O U R S E

1

D. C. Bryant's "rationale of informative and suasory discourse" set the stage for modern rhetorical critics and Kenneth Burke's inclusion that "All dialectics, rhetoric, and poetics are to be found in the modes of symbolic action generally." 8 This position is a common one and expressed early by Hoyt H. Hudson,

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15

This discussion must not be regarded as an attempt to settle an ancient dispute, but to provide preliminary groundwork for the task ahead. As the need for a working definition increases, one thing is certain: absolute and categorical distinctions for the two modes of discourse must become a subsidiary issue else this writing should evolve into a philosophy of rhetoric as contrasted to a philosophy of poetics. Instead, it shall be the purpose of this book to employ both rhetorical and poetic elements to provide an analysis of Samuel Beckett's dramatic language. Major emphasis will be given to Beckett's verbal forms and his use of language disintegration to demonstrate man's absurdity. Having demonstrated a predisposition to employ poetics in this analysis, I feel compelled to provide certain basic assumptions which must underlie the inclusion of poetics in a rhetorical analysis. Winterowd3 is an advocate of this rhetorical alignment for the reasons, 1. That all discourse is addressed to someone, if only with the hypothetical lyric, to the author himself; 2. That discourse being discourse all of it must function in the moral universe of human society; 3. That efficacy for a purpose is a consideration.

Finally, a working definition must stipulate that the only fundamental distinctions between the two modes of discourse are relative ones - those of degree or emphasis. This may be illustrated as certain conditions of both modes of discourse may be examined in common: Rhetoric and Poetic have: Communicator - author Purpose Audience Occasion - circumstances Method - form Subject matter - ideational content Medium Style Identification Stance "Rhetoric and Poetic", Quarterly Journal of Speech Education, Vol. X (April, 1924), 143-154. 3 W. Ross Winterowd, Rhetoric, A Synthesis (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Inc., 1968), 177.

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DISTINCTION OF RHETORIC AND POETIC ELEMENTS

To establish common characteristics for rhetoric and poetics, several of these conditions will be compared in more detail. The fine distinctions between the two modes of discourse may be examined more systematically if motive and junction can be regarded as separate parts of purpose. Motive and Function Although Aristotle identified rhetoric with persuasion there is contemporary relevance in the process which is twofold and involves a motive and a function. The former is usually the desire of the maker to achieve some practical end, and the latter a function usually to move men by means of persuasion to action in accordance with the desire of the maker. Donald L. Clark sums up the general opinion of the ancient rhetoricians on the purpose of rhetoric. To the Greeks and Romans, rhetoric meant the theory of oratory. As a pedagogical mechanism it endeavored to teach students to persuade an a u d i e n c e . . . Rhetoric was defined by its function of discovering means to persuasion. 4

Another dated yet very timely analysis regards Francis Bacon: "Rhetoric is described as the method of applying reason to imagination for the better moving of the will."5 In a modern restatement, Bryant posits the rhetorical function as the process of adjusting ideas to people and people to ideas.® An even more exclusive definition is presented without equivocation, "All rhetoricians have had one purpose: The teaching of effective expression."7 To the pedagogical function he adds moral obligation. "The basic meaning of rhetoric in the Western tradition is the discovery of and persuasion to right action."8 In a similar vein, Everett Hunt illustrates clearly the axiological mission of rhetoric rooted in classical antiquity.® Toward an axiology of rhetoric, Eubanks and Baker substantiate the position 4

Donald L. Clark, Rhetoric and Poetry in the Renaissance (New York: 1922), 6. Karl R. Wallace, Francis Bacon on Communication and Rhetoric (Chapel Hill, 1943), 27. • Donald C. Bryant, "Rhetoric: Its Function and Its Scope", Quarterly Journal of Speech, XXXIX (December, 1953), 402. 7 P. Albert Duhamel, "The Function of Rhetoric as Effective Expression", Journal of the History of Ideas, Volume X (June, 1949), 356. » Ibid. • Everett Lee Hunt, "Plato and Aristotle on Rhetoric and Rhetoricians", in Studies in Rhetoric and Public Speaking in Honor of James A. Winans (Ithaca: New York, 1925), 38. 5

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17

that an important function of rhetoric is to nurture "desirable" human values.10 Similarly, Richard Murphy assigns high ethical function to rhetoric: "The art of rhetoric is used to express and activate principles we believe in, the substance of things for which we live."11 He concludes later that the central function of rhetoric is to crystallize and transmit human values.12 Although these views are only representative of the multipurpose nature of rhetoric, the persuasive, the pedagogical, and the ethical purposes offer some insight for comparison and contrast. C. S. Baldwin who studied this multipurpose nature of rhetoric and poetic observes in summary: "Rhetoric meant to the ancient world the art of instructing and moving men in their affairs; poetic the art of sharpening and expanding their vision."13 To clearly outline the motive and function of poetic discourse is not an easy task. The most distinguishing motive of poetic discourse is the "spark of genius", and "spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings carried alive into the heart by passion". Unlike the rational, selfconscious motive of the rhetorician, the poet is a free agent, a spontaneous "free spirit" overflowing with powerful thoughts, usually unmindful of the impact or effect of his work and more conscious of artistic creation and existence. There are, of course, significant exclusions to this generalization. Notably, Dante and Milton considered the end of poetry to be moral suasion, a practical function similar to that of rhetoric. For Aristotle, poetry is autonomous. It is meant to give pleasurable contemplation and should not be bent to the purpose of moral rhetoric or persuasion to conviction and action.14 To argue that the motive of poetry should be didactic is a moot question. To resolve the function of poetry appears to harbor many different answers dependent on the period of history in which the poetry is written. Unable to assign clear lines of demarcation for rhetorical and poetic discourse, many critics provided a theoretical fusion of the two modes. 10

Ralph T. Eubanks and Virgil L. Baker, "Toward an Axiology of Rhetoric", Quarterly Journal of Speech, April, 1962. 11 Richard Murphy, "Preface to an Ethic of Rhetoric", The Rhetorical Idiom, ed. Donald C. Bryant (Ithaca: N e w York, 1958), 141. 12 13

Ibid.

Charles S. Baldwin, Ancient Rhetoric and Poetic Interpreted from Representative Works (New York: Macmillan, 1924), 134. 14 John D. Boyd, The Function of Mimesis and Its Decline (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1968), 31-32.

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DISTINCTION OF RHETORIC AND POETIC ELEMENTS

Typical of this attitude was the most notable work in the field of rhetorical and literary study until after the Civil War. It is hardly possible to determine where eloquence ends and poetry begins; nor is there any occasion for being very precise about the boundaries as long as the nature of each is understood. 15

For Blair both modes arise from heightened imagination or from inflamed passion and have essentially the same purpose - persuasion. The ultimate end of all poetry, indeed of every composition, should be to make some useful impression on the mind. This useful impression is most commonly made in poetry by indirect methods; as by fable, narration, and representation of c h a r a c t e r . . . The poet must i n s t r u c t . .

Blair felt that the purpose of poetry differs from that of oratory in degree or in the means employed. When pushed to distinguish poetry from other discourse, Blair retreated to safe ground, "Poetry is the language of passion or enlivened imagination, formed most commonly into regular numbers."17 Not all critics were straddling the fence. George Campbell leaped to one side and made an explicit identification of rhetoric and poetic. In the introduction of his famous work, he provides the following classification: Poetry, indeed, is properly n o other than a particular mode or form of certain branches of o r a t o r y . . . The direct end of the former, whether to delight the fancy, as in epic, or to move the passions, as in tragedy, is avowedly in part the aim of the orator. The same medium, language, is made use of, the same general rules of composition in narration, description, argumentation, are observed; and the same tropes and figures either for beautifying or for invigorating the diction are employed by both. In regard to versification, it is more to be considered as an appendage than as a constituent of poetry. In this lies what may be called the more mechanical part of the poet's work, being at most a sort of garnishing, and by far too u n essential to give a destination to the kind. This particularly in form, to adopt an expression of the naturalists, constitutes only a variety, and not a different species. 18

15 Hugh Blair, Lectures in Rhetoric and Belles Lettres, Lecture XVIII. (Because of the various editions, many in two volumes, with varying pagination, reference will only be made to the lecture number.) " Blair, Lecture XL. 17 Blair, Lecture XXVIII. 18 George Campbell, The Philosophy of Rhetoric, ed. Lloyd F. Bitzer (Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1963), xlix, 1.

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The principles of versification upon which Blair had grounded his distinctions of the two modes Campbell disqualified completely. Campbell observed there was no real distinction between the two modes of discourse and subsumed the entire poetic function over into rhetoric. Although representing a radical view, there was no significant refutation of his position. One might presume that he was not far out of touch with current literary attitudes. Instead of entering the controversy, some critics solved the problems of the function of poetry by a matter of assigning degree. Whereas the primary function of rhetoric is suasion, the distinctive function of poetry is to give aesthetic pleasure. The issue seems clearly resolved as one of degree. "All poetry is in some degree communicative and in a sense persuasive, since no poem, if it is read with understanding, leaves a man exactly as it found him."1" While rhetoric may have the dual purpose of persuasion and pleasure, the emphasis is upon persuasion. Poetry may also please and persuade, but the emphasis is upon pleasure. Dryden proposes the ideal compromise: "Delight is the chief, if not the only end of poesy; instruction can be admitted but in the second place; for poesy only instructs as it delights."20 At this stage, the discernible distinctions between rhetoric and poetic have concerned author and purpose. In each overview only minor differences of degree have been detected. One issue is certain - without specific reference to authors or literary periods, categorical distinctions are not scholarly representations. Even with specific references, categorical differences are somewhat misleading. Audience and Occasion A secondary means of discriminating between rhetoric and poetic is to examine the effect upon audience and occasion. Bryant distinguishes a clear difference in terms of kind of effect on audiences, The purely poetic seeks the creation or organization of imaginative experience, probably providing for reader or audience some kind of satisfying spiritual or emotional therapy. The rhetorical seeks a predetermined channeling of the audience's understanding or attitude." *» Wilbur S. Howell, "Literature as an Enterprise in Communication", Quarterly Journal of Speech, XXXIII (1947), 417-426. 20 "Defense of an Essay of Dramatic Poesy", Essays of John Dryden, ed. W. P. Ker (Oxford: 1926), 113. " Bryant, "Rhetoric: Its Function and Its Scope", 405.

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DISTINCTION OF RHETORIC AND POETIC ELEMENTS

The notion of predetermined arrangement for an audience runs parallel with the classical notion of dispositio. The successful orator must be always cognizant of his audience. With consummate skill, he must arrange his rhetoric in accordance with his estimate of its effect on the audience. Similarly, the specific occasion may tend to place definite, even narrow, limits on the nature and subject of his discourse. According to Aristotle, it is the auditor who determines the speech: "The kinds of Rhetoric are three in number corresponding to the kinds of hearers to which speeches are addressed."22 Retaining this classical accent, the literary critic, C. S. Lewis, has much the same to say, Both these arts (rhetoric and poetic) definitely aim at doing something to an a u d i e n c e . . . Rhetoric wishes to produce in our minds some practical resolve and it does this by calling the passions to the aid of reason. Poetry aims at producing something more like vision than it is like action. 23

In clear contrast to the orator, the poet is to a much less degree restricted by audience and occasion. To assert that the poet is totally unconcerned with audience is faulty. It may be the artistic impulse to create "imaginative stuff" imposes greater preoccupation upon the author. The mundane regards of audience and occasion are subordinated by the rigorous demands of artistic vision. It is reasonable to assume that the process of artistic creativity utilized by poetic genius generates intense concentration. Often, the poet is speaking to himself, to a general audience, or to no audience. He may offer a cryptic message or explode with universality. Except in a comparatively broad sense, and to a mild degree, does his audience or occasion predetermine his message. Method The actual method of rhetoric and poetics is largely dependent upon the other elements of discourse just discussed (intended audience, motive and function as a division of purpose). The classical rhetorician regarded logical and orderly arrangement significant enough to advance dispositio as one of the main divisions of rhetoric. Intimately bound up with the orderly arrangement is the 22

The Rhetoric of Aristotle, trans. Lane Cooper (New York: Appleton Century Crofts, Inc., 1932), 16. 23 C. S. Lewis, A Preface to Paradise Lost (London: Oxford University Press, 1942), 52.

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use of ethical proofs and emotional appeals. Long regarded as the most powerful means of persuasion, these concepts of ethos and pathos extend into the roots of rhetorical tradition. Notably, the basic concern of method must regard the chief instrument of rhetoric - the enthymeme. In the development of his deliberative and forensic argument, the orator utilizes the enthymematic chain as the method of persuasion. The obvious exclusion is in the rhetorical method of epideictic speeches when virtuosity of expression may substitute for enthymeme, example, or other persuasive devices. Both classical and contemporary rhetoricians agree that the method of rhetoric is characteristically a logical progression of ideas.24 Baldwin defines the method as a progression from idea to idea determined logically and the method of poetry a progress from image to image determined emotionally.25 Unlike rhetoric, poetry has its own method. The arrangement of a poem is rarely determined by a chain of enthymemes. Its order may be quite random and apparently disassociative as in the stream-ofconsciousness technique. The dispositio of the poem may follow a chain of events or phenomena regarding a character or theme. The method of the poet often involves an imaginative reconstruction of experience (Keats, Shelley, and Wordsworth are typical). The order of events is not so much tied to a logical or rational method as to the necessities for exposition of plot and character. Longinus conceives "the characteristic method of poetry as selective and combining, a fusion of the most important elements of experience as opposed to the cumulation or amplification typical of oratory". 26 In summary, the characteristic method of poetic discourse, unlike that of rhetoric, is essentially alogicai, a movement from image to image determined by imagination or emotion and appealing to the imagination or emotion in the reader.27 Medium Regarded as the least dependable of all criteria, the medium of rhetoric and poetic still offers some basis for distinction between the two modes. The customary medium of poetic discourse is verse, whereas prose is more proper to the practical purpose and logical 24 25 2e 27

Longinus On the Sublime, trans, by W. Rhys Roberts (Cambridge, 1907), X, 1. Baldwin, Ancient Rhetoric ..., 134. Longinus, On the Sublime. Baldwin, 134.

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method of rhetoric. Since the Elizabethan period, another distinction has evolved, one that was not applicable to earlier periods, that poetry is generally written while rhetoric utilizes both spoken and written discourse. The concept of medium may be further discriminated if the poem may be regarded as ahistorical. Every speech is spoken by someone, sometime, somewhere to someone under the pressure of a particular occasion, as a response to immediate events, with the intent of affecting its audience. When a poem occurs, however, it is unmoored from such a context. A modern scholar elaborates this distinction of medium: When w e read a poem or hear it read to us, w e are confronted by the performance of an act of speech, not the act itself. It is not "the speaker" w h o is speaking; we are not the mistress, urn, or nightingale whom he addresses . . , 28

In contrast, the rhetorical medium is bound up in the entire communication process. The speaker's motives, his particular diction and syntax, his emphases, pauses, and repetitions, the modulations of his voice, his facial expression, gestures, all affect ultimate meanings. The auditor responds not only to what the communicator is saying, but to how he is saying it, and thereby to what is making him say it: his motives, his adjustment, all the subtle and delicate qualifications upon which the total act of speech may depend. The poem, however, must carry its context upon its own back. There is nothing but the reader, his virtuosity, and the particular linguistic structure before him. An "interpretative" reading will provide the similar vocal manipulations that occur in the total act of speech but the reading remains interpretive - that is the performer interprets thought, mood, and imagery provided by that particular linguistic structure. Verse remains one of the chief means of distinguishing poetry from other discourse. The traditional distinction between poetry and verse is, with some qualification, a useful one. Poetry is properly discriminated from either a nonmimetic use of language or from other mimetic arts; verse is properly discriminated from p r o s e . . . Verse, while not a defining characteristic of poetry, is conventionally associated with mimetic discourse, and is thus an identifying characteristic.2® !8

Barbara Herrnstein Smith, Poetic Closure (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1968), 16. Ibid.

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Smith theorizes that to the extent that principles of formal structure contribute to the internal coherence of a poem and maintain its distinct identity, they evidently strengthen the reader's sense of integrity and closure.30 Most of the concepts related to medium of poetics are rooted in language conventions. Simply the fact as soon as we perceive that a group of words has a sustained rhythm, with an operating principle of organization, we know we are in the presence of poetry. Our experiences with Mother Goose condition these discriminations and establish poetic conventions. Changing fashions in poetic medium is not altogether unlike changing clothes styles although the general development in literary history appears to stimulate one and not the other. Even as poetic styles change, one thing is certain - poetic conventions do not quite disappear, but they do fall back from prominence into the common sea of poetic devices. Most illustrative is the extensive use of figures of speech. Aristotle thought extravagant use of figurative language appropriate to poetry and inappropriate to rhetoric.31 Cicero spoke of poets being more licensed to use "grand and figurative" language, and of their having "a greater freedom in the formation and arrangement of words".82 Quintilian repeatedly allowed freer use of figures to poetry than to rhetoric.88 Longinus connects with purpose the use of figures in each mode: You will be aware of the fact that an image has one purpose with the orators and another with the poets, and that the design of the poetical image is enthralment, of the rhetorical - vivid description.®4

He adds later, It is no doubt true that those (images) found in the poets contain, as I said, a tendency to exaggeration in the way of the fabulous and that they transcend in every way the credible, but in oratorical imagery, the best feature is always its reality and truth."

Throughout Western literary history, the "fashionable" use of figures has been altered by changes in conventions. History has not affected 30 31 32 33 34 33

Herrnstein Smith, 28. Rhetoric, Op. Cit., 1405a-1408b. Orator, trans, by H. M. Hubbell (Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1931), X X , 66-68. Institutio, V i l i , vi, 20, 35, 40, 68. Longinus on the Sublime, 8. Longinus on the Sublime, 8.

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the inter-relationships of rhetorical elements since all modifications in one, e.g., medium or subject matter, ultimately affects all others. This inter-relationship of medium, purpose, subject matter, of all rhetoric elements is expressed by Yeats, "Unlike the rhetoricians, who get a confident voice from remembering the crowd they have won or may win, we sing amid our uncertainty." 36 Subject Matter Theoretically, very little distinction can be made between rhetoric and poetic on the basis of subject matter. Any serious effort to discern differences must inevitably become involved with several of the other elements of discourse, such as audience and occasion. There is one distinction which involves temporal concerns - specifically, the treatment of discourse in past time, present time, and future time. Aristotle expressed the notion that the prose writer deals with facts with what has been or what is, and the poet deals with idealized facts, with what may be. Although this generalization has numerous exceptions, the number of exclusions tends to diminish as other rhetorical considerations of audience and occasion are involved. W. S. Howell offers a mild variation of the temporal distinction involving audience, W o r d s w h i c h m a k e u p the rhetorical utterance lead the reader to states of reality, whereas the words making u p the poetical utterance lead t h e reader t o things w h i c h stand by deputy f o r states o f reality. 37

While Ong provides rhetoric-poetic distinctions of subject matter through logical connection to its purpose, as . . . poetic is distinguished f r o m rhetoric by the relative tenuousness o f its logical connections. T h e logic of these arts is directed - the f o r m e r t o the making of a thing for contemplation, the latter t o the production of action in another. 3 8

Longinus relates subject matter to yet another rhetorical element, that of author's intent?* The inter-dependency of rhetorical elements tends to the following conclusion: In keeping with their practical 86

William Butler Yeats, Essays (New York: 1924), 492. Howell, "Literature as an Enterprise in Communication", 217-226. Walter J. Ong, "The Province of Rhetoric and Poetic", reprinted in Schwartz and Rycenga, The Province of Rhetoric (New York: The Ronald Press, 1965), 55-56. 38 On the Sublime, VIII. 37

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nature, particularly as related to specific audience and occasion, rhetorical themes function in past and present time to achieve utilitarian purpose. Conversely, poetic themes which are related to a more general audience, strive for universality in future time. Moving beyond the argument of common qualities for rhetoric and poetics, one of the most prominent literary critics in the western world provides a definitive analysis: Rhetoric has from the beginning meant two things; ornamental speech and persuasive speech . . . Ornamental rhetoric is inseparable from literature itself, or what we have called the hypothetical verbal structure which exists for its own sake. Persuasive rhetoric is applied literature, or the use of literary art to reinforce the power of argument. Ornamental rhetoric acts upon its hearers statistically, leading them to admire its own beauty or wit; persuasive rhetoric tries to lead them kinetically toward a course of action. One articulates emotion; the other manipulates it.40

In a later section, Frye moves to the argument of common characteristics, "Most of the features of literary form, such as rhyme, alliteration, metre, antithetical balance, the use of exemple, are also rhetorical schemata." 4 1 Significantly, Frye wisely avoids categorical definitions and focuses quite naturally upon definitive degree. It seems reasonable therefore to posit the assertion "Discourse being of a fabric" in Frye's words, "the union of grammar and logic", there is no reason why one should not employ the techniques of either rhetoric or poetic to judge it. 42 Summary The attempt has been to illuminate the shady distinctions between rhetoric and poetics. Rhetoric has dominated literary theory partly because every major source from which theory was drawn was either directly or indirectly rhetorical. T o accurately discriminate the characteristics of any piece of discourse, a number of distinctions must be presented. The elements of author, purpose, audience, subject matter and medium have been offered to serve that purpose. One concept has remained constant throughout this discussion with precise literary-historical perspective, and on a particular level, 40 Northrop Frye, Anatomy of Criticism (Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1957), 245.

" 42

Ibid. Winterowd, Rhetoric, A Synthesis, 175.

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the differences between rhetorical and poetic elements are not absolute but chiefly a matter of degree or emphasis. These distinguishing elements will be put to work in the ensuing chapters where the rhetorical-poetic descriptions of Beckett's dramatic languages are examined in close detail.

3 BECKETT AND THE MODERN THEATRE MOVEMENT

Author and Purpose The element of purpose, since it governs to some degree most of the other elements of discourse, deserves first consideration. Since purpose is intimately connected with author, these two shall be considered together in a single section. Any relevant information that provides greater understanding and insights to the author's work is necessary in a rhetorical analysis. The rhetorician is interested in the poem as art, as "message", as a human action of a human actor. Biography adds as much to the poem as the poem does to biography.1 Samuel Beckett was born in Dublin in 1906, the child of middleclass Protestant parents. In 1920 he was entered at Portora Royal School (Enniskillen, County Fermanagh), where he revealed some talent for sport and made his mark as a brilliant pupil. After three years in this boarding school, he was matriculated at Trinity College, Dublin, in 1923 to read modern languages. His record there was marked by such high distinction that, on receiving his baccalaureate degree in 1927, he was selected by the university to hold a post as lecteur at the École Normale Supérieure in Paris. He took up residence in Paris in 1928 and soon became a member of the group surrounding James Joyce. It was during this first extended period of sojourn in Paris that he won the prize for the best poem on Time in a contest which the Hours Press sponsored. The poem which he offered in the competition was his poem Whoroscope, which was published as a little booklet under the Hours Press imprint in 1930, as "Mr. Beckett's first separately published work". In 1930 Beckett returned to Dublin to teach French at Trinity 1

Winterowd, Rhetoric, A Synthesis.

28

BECKETT AND THE MODERN THEATRE MOVEMENT

College. One suspects that the rites and liturgies of academe were not to his taste, for his resignation was soon submitted, and after a few years of wandering around Europe, he was settled as a virtually permanent resident of Paris by 1937. His writings to this date included a few poems and stories in avant-gardist periodicals, a small volume of poetry (Echo's Bones and Other Precipitates), and a collection of short stories called More Pricks than Kicks. During the thirties in Paris, Beckett's relations with Joyce deepened, and, though it is not true, as often reported, that Beckett was his private secretary, Joyce was not young Beckett's only sponsor, for it was Sir Herbert Read who assisted him in finding a London publisher (Routledge) for his first novel, Murphy, which appeared in 1938. Those who do not know much about Beckett are usually very surprised to learn that he took an active part in the French Resistance for nearly two years, and for the next two and a half he was hiding from the Gestapo. The circumstances under which he came to join the Resistance are highly illuminating. When the Germans invaded Poland in 1939, Beckett happened to be in Ireland spending a month's holiday with his mother. He hurried back to his flat in Montparnasse, but declined to involve himself in a war which was of no concern to a neutral Irishman like himself. When the Germans occupied Paris in 1940, however, this attitude of detachment did not last long. Beckett soon became incensed at the Nazi treatment of the Jews, among whom he had many close friends. The constant public humiliation - every Jew was forced to wear a yellow Star of David stitched onto his clothing - and the almost daily shooting of hostages presented a situation in which, as Beckett has said almost apologetically, "I couldn't stand with my arms folded." Anger led to action. By the end of 1940 he had become actively involved with a Resistance group with agents dotted all over France gathering details of enemy troop movements. The information, some of it seemingly very trivial, found its way to Beckett scribbled on bus tickets, cigarette packets, old envelopes, anything, and his job was to collate it, edit it, type as much as possible on two sheets of paper, and forward them to another agent to be micro-filmed and eventually transmitted to London. Beckett refused to attach any importance to this work - "boy -scout stuff" he calls it — but in August, 1942, the group was betrayed, and out of eighty members, less than twenty survived. Beckett and his wife Suzanne were alerted and escaped barely half-an-hour before the Gestapo came for them. For the next

BECKETT AND THE MODERN THEATRE MOVEMENT

29

four months they were, as Beckett puts it, "on the trot", making their way through enemy territory, liable at any moment to be recognized, executed then and there, or sent to almost certain death in the concentration camps. At last they crossed into Unoccupied France ending up at Roussillon, a village high in the mountains behind Avignon. Here they remained until the German collapse, Beckett working as a farm labourer during day while in the evenings he wrote Watt, a strange, and fantastic novel set in the country round Foxrock, County Dublin, where he had been born. As Beckett relates, this preoccupation with the novel helped to take his mind off the war and the German occupation. As soon as he could move about freely again, he hurried back to Ireland to see his mother, but he was now so thin and so gaunt that many of his old friends failed to recognize him. If there is any validity in the old argument that the artist has to suffer, the stage is set. The most intense creativity in Beckett's career was to evolve in the decade following the close of the war. By 1955, his trilogy had appeared (Molloy,

1951; Malone

Dies,

1951; The Unnamable,

1953),

and his international reputation was established with En attendant Godot (1952), which, in the years immediately after its first production in Paris in 1953 was to travel around the world to become the most spectacular success of the post world war theatre. Fin de partie, Beckett's second play, was given its world premiere at the Royal Court Theatre in London in 1957. The same theatre saw the first production of Krapp's Last Tape the following autumn. It was doubtless his increasing vogue in England that led to a series of commissions by the British Broadcasting Corporation's Third Programme, of All That Fall (1957) and Embers (1959). Here is a poet who has never made the slightest concession, never sought acclaim, never explained himself, who has never bowed to the demands of fashion or publicity. He merely said what he felt compelled to say. What he had to say was difficult, obscure, repellent, but because he had something important to say, he has not lacked those who come eager to hear him. 2

People who have formed their image of Beckett only through the legend are greatly surprised to hear of his genius for companionship, a remarkable ability to make those coming in contact with him feel richer for his mere presence. This sensitivity extends far beyond those with whom Beckett has immediate personal contact. Asked by the 2

Martin Esslin, "Samuel Beckett" in The Novelist as Philosopher, ed. John Cruickshank (London: Oxford University Press, 1962), 145.

30

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American critic, Tom Driver, if his plays deal with those facets of human experience which religion must also deal with, Beckett answered: Yes, f o r they deal with distress. Some people object to this in my writing. An English intellectual - so called - asked me why I write always about distress. As if it were perverse to d o so! H e wanted to know if my father had beaten me or my mother had run away f r o m home to give m e an unhappy childhood. Then he thought me more perverse than ever. I left the party as soon as possible and got into a taxi. On the glass partition between m e and the driver were three signs: one asked for help f o r the blind, another help f o r orphans, and the third for relief for the war refugees. One does not have to look f o r distress. It is screaming at you even in the taxis of London. 3

Beckett's is today a famous and much celebrated presence, not only on the French scene, but throughout the international literary community. Along with Brecht and Ionesco and Genet, he stands as one of the major innovators in the theatre of the last forty years. He lives today in Paris, an honoured figure there. His appearance, as an American visitor has reported, . . . is rough-hewn Irish. The features of this face are distinct, but not fine. They look as if they had been sculptured with an unsharpened chisel. U n ruly hair goes straight up f r o m his forehead, standing so high that the top falls gently over. One might say it combines the man's own pride and humility. For he has the pride that comes of self-acceptance and the humility, perhaps of the same genesis, not t o impose himself upon another. His light blue eyes, set deep within the face, are actively and continually looking. He seems, by some unconscious division of labor, to have given them that one function and n o other, leaving communication to the rest of the face. The mouth frequently breaks into a disarming smile. T h e voice is light in timbre, with a rough edge that corresponds t o his visage. 4

Beckett who had experienced so much of life became a man of prophetic vision - the creator of a new concept of total theatre. When the creative artist has consummated his thought, the great task lies ' Tom F. Driver, "Beckett by the Madeleine", Columbia University Forum, IV, 3 (Summer, 1961), 21. 4 Much of the preceding biographical material has been extracted from a variety of sources and collated with particular care to insure references to those men who have had direct contact with Beckett. The most prominent Beckettian biographers from which this material was taken are: Ruby Cohn, Samuel Beckett: The Comic Gamut (New Brunswick, Rutgers University Press, 1962); Martin Esslin, Samuel Beckett (Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall, 1965); Hugh Kenner, A Critical Study of Samuel Beckett (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1968); Nathan A. Scott, Samuel Beckett (New York: Hillary House Publishers, Ltd., 1965).

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31

in the selection and arrangement of the medium to communicate a universal impact. This must not be construed to mean that the artist who communicates to a select few is not a creative genius5 but the creative impulse must eventually confront universality. With the potter that concept may be bi-directional with both functional and aesthetic purposes involved in the creation of his work. This artisan, consciously or subconsciously or at many levels of mind in between, is concerned with both utility and beauty. The reader is sufficiently forewarned that this argument tends toward a conclusion against which there will be widespread disagreement. Stated simply, "Art is functional". Not universally functional, but simple with some utilitarian purpose. For those who persist in some negative way to resist this notion consider utility even if only for the artist as therapeutic release. Beckett has explicitly admitted, I'm working with impotence, ignorance. My little exploration is that whole zone of being that has always been set aside by artists as something unusable - as something by definition incompatible with art. I think anyone nowadays, who pays the slightest attention to his own experience finds it the experience of a non-knower, a no-can-er.· In one of few published statements by the artist about his work, the Beckettian paradox becomes obvious. To employ direct expression to communicate total impotence - that of a "No-can-er" action must be eliminated. Yet without action there can be neither conflict nor resolution. To utilize direct expression to communicate meaningless and ignorance, movement must be restricted, yet a static drama becomes a paradox in terms. To develop character for a "non-knower" is to paradoxically destroy him by turning him into a "knower" thereby defeating the ideational intent. Ironically, the genre that had for centuries so magnificently transmitted universal impressions had become a nemesis for Beckett. To finalize the thinking on the author's purpose, some effort has been made to diagram rejection processes utilizing "traditional" theatre concepts and Beckett's rejection of them (see Appendix). 1

Many recognized literary "giants" including William Faulkner and Herman Melville had no mass reading audience in mind, nor indeed did T. S. Eliot who admitted frankly he was writing only for a limited audience - an "intelligensia". • Israel Shenker, "Moody Man of Letters", New York Times, May 6, 1956, Section 1, p. 1.

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Thus far, the analysis of purpose has provoked a discussion of rejection procedures. Throughout this discussion, certain terms such as: direct, aesthetic impact, direct expression, and ideational content have been employed to discuss purpose. To clearly differentiate some useful distinctions, three separate categories of purpose may be defined: 1. emotional or psychological purpose, 2. intellectual or didactic purpose, 3. aesthetic purpose.7

Uppermost with all categories is the attempt by the critic to specify the expected response. That expected response may be altogether irrelevant since if a play has as its purpose to arouse a particular response, it may evoke different responses from different audiences. While there are satisfactory methods for the critical examination of a play, that criticism which is based upon audience response is often of doubtful validity because the evidence cannot be examined adequately. A traditional assumption holds that an audience is apt to value more those plays which offer intellectual stimulation than those that merely arouse an emotional response without this stimulation. To probe for that intellectual purpose in Beckett's work, to seek some non-existent meaning is to miss the experience which is actually there. When Alan Schneider asked Beckett who or what Godot means, he answered quite simply, "If I knew, I would have said so in the play." Had he done so the play would have been radically different. 8 During a conversation in 1956, Beckett suggested that the early success of Waiting for Godot was based upon a fundamental misunderstanding, critics and public alike insisting on interpreting in allegorical or symbolic terms a play which was striving all the time to avoid definition. 9

The final category of purpose is that a play is intended to arouse an aesthetic response. The aesthetic response to literature is usually considered to result from qualities in the work such as internal consistency, self-sufficiency, wholeness, complexity, the efficient adaptation of means to end, and total form. The aesthetic response is an 7

These categories have been posed by Oscar G. Brockett in his monograph, Poetry as Instrument, presented at an invitational Conference on Rhetoric and Poetic at the University of Iowa in November, 1964. 8 Alec Reid, All I Can Manage, More Than I Could (Dublin: Dufour Editions, 1968), 31. » Ibid.

BECKETT AND THE MODERN THEATRE MOVEMENT

33

immediate one which is not referred to any prior ideas of what the work ought to do or be. To judge the work by anything outside itself is to arrive at what has previously been regarded as utilitarian judgments which have little, if anything, to do with an aesthetic response. Simply an aesthetic object should arouse an aesthetic response, and the object should be judged in terms of its ability to do so. The necessity to isolate a principle for definitive purposes often creates a false image of independent stance. No single category of purpose resides in any mutually exclusive territory. The aesthetic response may precede and even contain the other two. The aesthetic response is immediate and is felt when in direct contact with the aesthetic object. Of all the categories of purpose, the aesthetic response is most applicable to Beckett's dramatic art. When an auditor seeks to analyze the aesthetic response, he is apt to arrive at explanations which are emotional or intellectual or both. This may be illustrated by William Wordsworth's process for poetic composition. In his transcendental philosophy, Wordsworth achieves an immediate aesthetic response from direct confrontation with nature as the aesthetic object. Later, in a solemn mood, he would transcend the emotional awareness to a level of contemplation - a level of intellectual stimulation. Perhaps the only conclusion in the light of these principles is that it is somewhat misleading to establish traditional categories for an author like Beckett. The impact of Beckett's plays lies not in what they say to the world, but in what they do to each spectator. Beckett has prepared an "experience" and personal reactions to any experience must be varied. The real area of experience with which Beckett deals is a place where reason does not operate, a province of the emotions not to be entered by intellectual analysis, but by direct sensuous response. Defying interpretation, it is as pointless to look for a logical message behind Beckett's work as it is to look for a message behind a sunset. The author is presenting an experience, not an argument, and each viewer must respond in his own terms. Only the most crassly insensitive person could fail to feel intensely the essential meaning of Beckett's work. And if he is wakeful he will comprehend the basic dramatic situation, and the issues involved. Beyond this may lie "headaches" for the overzealous analyst. 10 10

Leonard C. Pronko, Avant-Garde:

The Experimental

Theater

in France

34

BECKETT AND THE MODERN THEATRE MOVEMENT

The Modern Theatre Movement To assess Beckett's dramatic art in its direction in dramatic techniques or its trends, some interpretation of the modern sary. A contemporary critic has provided the modern theatre of revolt:11

capacity to establish new propensities to follow old theatre movement is necesthree distinct categories for

1. Messianic revolt occurs when the dramatist rebels against God and tries to take his place. 2. Social revolt occurs when the dramatist rebels against the conventions, morals, and values of the social organism. 3. Existential revolt occurs when the dramatist rebels against the conditions of his existence.

Obviously, space will not permit an examination of all aspects of the drama, therefore major emphasis will be given to evolving trends in dramatic narrative. The use of dramatic language - its textual and structural aspects - will be regarded in specific detail in a later section. Messianic Revolt. - The dramatic language of the messianic drama is lofty and elevated. Some plays are written in verse, others in heightened prose. The language of the drama is often windy and rhetorical, like the revolutionist's handbook which Shaw appended to Man and Superman. The most significant cause for the narrative change came after the rise of empiricism. The subsequent development of a science of psychology was to have a profound effect on all the arts. It was inevitable that the narrative technique in the drama was to be affected. With new insights into the behavioral sciences, "A movement from rhetorical to psychological characterization in a narrative was also an inevitability."12 This is not to imply that the change in narrative technique in the dramatic genre was immediate. In fact, "Psychology, one of the great new studies of our century, gave powerful impetus to the novel while drama failed to exploit it."13

(Berkeley: University of California Press, 1962), 36-37. 11 Robert Brunstein, The Theatre of Revolt (Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1964), 16. 12 Robert Scholes and Robert Kellogg, The Nature of Narrative (New York: Oxford University Press, 1966), 188. 13 Ronald Peacock, The Poet in the Theatre (New York: Harcourt Brace and Company, 1946), 10-11.

BECKETT AND THE MODERN THEATRE MOVEMENT

35

The new interest in psychology came at a time when drama had become more and more fixed in the techniques of realism. The traditional monologue, asides, long rhetorical debates savoured of "unreality" of common language and were cast off to preserve the concept of reality. In a chapter added to the 1913 edition called "The Technical Novelty in Ibsen's Plays", Shaw made the observation that a new "technical factor" the element of discussion entered the theatre with A Doll's House and won a dominant position in the drama.14 The single, most significant event in the evolution of dramatic narrative began when "Ibsen and Chekhov first questioned reality and gained impetus when Strindberg resolved their questions with attitudes of futility and the expressionists took up their cry."15 Strindberg had taken a mighty leap. He abandoned the dramatic sequence of events for a stream of consciousness technique in which the substance of life is scattered, disjointed as in a dream. This shift from tradition, the evolving of the stream of consciousness, the distortion of conventional time sequences - all of these might be regarded as serious attempts to diminish the significance of plot in favor of what are generally ideas.16 What emerges then with the modern stream of consciousness development is a movement from praxis to lexis - from an emphasis of linear action in the drama to a disjointed dialogue. The dramatist is most concerned with the idea, the motivation, the source of inner action. Scenes will become brief without order or obvious unity. All is made to suggest the disconnected features of a psychoanalysis. In terms of narrative, Much of the un-proselike syntax of modern stream of consciousness technique seems to have established itself as a literary technique as a by product of the interest of nineteenth century in abnormal mental processes.17

The first stage of the modern theatre of revolt evolved with expressionistic technique introduced by Strindberg and that form was destined to have far reaching effect on other literature of the twentieth century. Important first with Hauptmann, it (expressionism) influenced later writers like Pirandello, Lorca, Kafka, Werfel, and Joyce. 14

George Bernard Shaw, Major Critical Essays (London, 1932), 135. Louis Broussard, American Drama (University of Oklahoma Press, 1963), 130. Charles C. Walcutt, Man's Changing Mask (University of Minnesota Press, 1966), 6. 17 Scholes, Kellogg, The Nature of Narrative, 193. 15

16

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BECKETT AND THE MODERN THEATRE MOVEMENT

It established for drama an alliance with other forms of twentieth century expressionism - with the symbolist movement in poetry, with the stream of consciousness in the novel, and with the impressionists forms in music and painting.18

That Strindberg influenced O'Neill is abundantly evident.19 However, O'Neill's major works including Emperor Jones and the Hairy Ape must be classified as expressionistic drama. In spite of this, he cannot be called an expressionist. With some 35 plays in all, his work cannot be assigned a unity of meaning. His work is basically of two types: the allegorical and the story play. Both types employ the hero who personifies the modern everyman in search of values. In this sense, O'Neill's plays bridge both Messianic and Social Revolt. Social Revolt. - The second stage of the modern theatre - social revolt characterizes the best known plays of the contemporary stage. This group would include Ibsen's modern plays, Strindberg's naturalistic drama, Chekhov's inner action and most of Shaw. Instead of imposing a radical cure on its previous movement, the emphasis of the modern drama of revolt shifts to careful diagnosis. The technical novelty of the Ibsen and post-Ibsen plays, Shaw concludes, is first the introduction of the discussion and its development until it so overspreads and interpenetrates the action that it assimilates it, making play and discussion practically identical. The substitution of a forensic technique of recrimination, disillusion, and penetration through ideals to the truth, with a free use of all rhetorical and lyrical arts of the orator, the preacher, the pleader, and the rhapsodist.20

The social dramatist concentrates on man in society, in conflict with community, government or family. Emile Zola speaks very frankly about the nature of language in the theatre of social revolt. Zola felt that the best style in the theatre is that which best sets forth the spoken conversation. The language of the theatre of social revolt places contemporary society on the stage and draws its dramatis personae from the middle class. As an essential prerequisite a complex melange of social conditions, renewed interest in the middle class, economic and cultural advances provided the necessary environment for these "hanges to occur. 18

"

20

Broussard, American Drama, 4-5. Broussard, 12. Shaw, Mayor Critical Essays, 146.

BECKETT AND THE MODERN THEATRE MOVEMENT

37

More than any other dramatist of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries Anton Chekhov was responsible for the death of linear plot sequence. Chekhov was very conscious of the existential loneliness of the human condition. In harmony with Hardy's fatalism, the central theme of all Chekhov's plays is estrangement - man's insignificance in a gigantic and impersonal universe. Chekhov knew that no matter how closely men huddled together they could never communicate.21 "The very conditions of life doom man to failure and there was nothing anyone could do about it."22 This existential fatalism which Chekhov gave birth to in the drama of social revolt was to become the fundamental idea for he next major period of theatre history. So important was his influence Chekhov has been called the legitimate father of the so-called "absurdist movement" in the theatre.23 Chekhov was not interested in presenting an action in any Aristotlean sense, but like the modern dramatists of existential revolt he was interested in dramatizing a condition. As narrative trends developed toward a more simplistic conversational style, Peacock records how a few authors tried to maintain the poetic integrity of drama against competition from outside and inside.24 Foremost in this movement were the Irish dramatists striving to avoid the "evils of conventional rhetoric." The language employed is a dialect different from the conventional idiom of the theatre, and is loaded with 'strange words' and expressions richly metaphorical in character. And because the language is popular and idiomatic, there is less danger from the evils of conventional rhetoric.25

What precisely are the evils of "conventional rhetoric" Prior fails to establish. Perhaps the most prominent of the Irish playwrights provides an explanation. Much has been written of the sparkling narrative style of William Synge which pleases, " . . . not as a heightened form of the language we ourselves use, but as a picturesque deviation from it."2« The setting of Irish character, atmosphere, and speech is exotically attractive, and is made more so by the exquisite and subtle 21

Robert W. Corrigan, "The Drama of Anton Chekhov", in Travis Bogard and William I. Oliver, Modern Drama, Essays in Criticism (New York: Oxford University Press, 1965), 74. 22 Ibid. 23 Corrigan, 79. 24 Peacock, The Poet in the Theater, X. 25 Moody E. Prior, The Language of Tragedy (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1966), 300. 2,1 Peacock, 111.

38

BECKETT AND THE MODERN THEATRE MOVEMENT

handling of the imaginative peasant language Synge discovered in the West. One final figure is important in this period of narrative development. It was to become a major literary effort of an American playwright to attempt to produce poetic speech from living speech, poetic vocabulary from the vocabulary of modern life; to seek the precise word and image for true pictures and feelings - this had always been the aim of T. S. Eliot.27 Eliot blames realistic theory for the death of rhetoric in the theatre. The realists assumed that life off stage was totally unrhetorical, unmarked by the awareness of roleplaying and imitated that version of life. "In plays of realism we often find parts which are never allowed to be consciously dramatic for fear, perhaps of their appearing less real."28 In rhetorical theatre, author, actor, character, and audience share the awareness of the machinery of the theatre and their response to the play is based on that awareness. "The interest of the performer is almost certain to be centered in himself... The performer is interested not in form, but in the opportunities for virtuosity or in the communication of his personality."29 The only checks on the actor, Eliot thought, were certain conventions of rhetorical theatre - the aside, the soliloquy, the oration, delivered both to the audience and to the character on the stage. In 1920, Eliot felt these conventions had disappeared, and now the actor tries to dispense with rhetoric and bring something called "life" to the stage. As a consequence, Eliot thought, one performance of a play will differ radically from another.30 Although a unique achievement, Eliot's new music of dramatic language was doomed to failure. Thus far in the messianic and social revolt of the theatre, dramatists have striven, like dramatists for centuries, to mold dramatic art as a viable instrument of public stimulation. The dramatist's involvement in contemporary social problems is a condition of artistic freedom and functions as a boon to creative activity. When social instruction or message transmission becomes the primary end of drama, as with Shavian dialogue, the dramatist destroys the artistic balance of his medium and ends up a rhetorician. The play of heightened language - Dorothy Sayers, T. S. Eliot, Charles Williams, - frankly embarassed the general public, and failed even with the coterie in the 27

Peacock, 17. T. S. Eliot, The Sacred Wood (London, 1920), 82. 28 Eliot, 69. 3» Ibid. 28

BECKETT AND THE MODERN THEATRE MOVEMENT

39

end, because the naturalistic settings and the characterizations were false to the dialogue.31 The revival of poetic drama faded almost before it began. Existential Revolt. - The final category of the modern drama existential revolt32 will require some extended development since the major emphasis of this study will focus within the boundaries of this movement. Concern will be afforded a working definition of the various movements within the period of existential revolt. Causes and functional aspects of the movement will also be considered. The period of existential revolt has spawned such terms as: avantgarde theatre, theatre of the absurd, expressionistic theatre, metatheatre, theatre of this ridiculous, and others. In this study, the only theatre that may be legitimately considered under the category of existential revolt is that in which the dramatist examines the metaphysical life of man and protests against it - where existence becomes the source of rebellion. There appears a strong similarity between messianic and existential revolt since both characterize the same kind of discontent with the basic structure of life. The important differences are these: While messianic revolt is potent and positive, Existential revolt is impotent and despairing. While the messianic dramatist creates superhuman characters, the Existential dramatist makes them sub-human. While the messianic dramatist exaggerates human freedom, the Existentialist dramatizes human bondage. 8 3

Even the critics of the modern theatre employ the terminology interchangeably resulting in more inexactitudes. One of the broadest and most maligned terms is avant-garde. The literary use of the term avant-garde came into being near the end of the nineteenth century and was popular by the middle of the second decade of the twentieth. Literally denoting the vanguard that precedes the main body of an army, the advance guard has come to be regarded as "way out" by the beat generation. Kay M. Baxter, Contemporary Theatre and the Christian Faith (New York: Abingdon Press, 1964), 103. 32 Not to be confused with the fashionable French philosophy. The term simply means "of and pertaining to existence". 33 Brunstein, The Theatre of Revolt, 26.

31

40

BECKETT AND THE MODERN THEATRE MOVEMENT

The term was used to describe those imaginative and talented bon vivants who scandalized the settled world of the middle class and brought about a revolution in the arts.34 The term expresses what Roger Shattuck calls a " . . . tradition of heterodoxy and opposition which defied civilized values in the name of individual consciousness".35 There remains an all-embracing aura with the term which requires additional refinement. Unlike a subsidiary, but more precisely a major appendage of the poetic avant-garde is the Theatre of the Absurd. While many modern writers still label the Theatre of the Absurd as avant-garde, there are sharp, technical differences which separate the two. An examination of these differences and a definition of the Absurd appear in order. The Absurd has been defined in many ways. It is basically that which man recognizes as the disparity between what he hopes for and what he seems in fact to be, since Man yearns for some measure of happiness in an orderly, a rational, and a reasonably predictable world; when he finds misery in a disorderly, an irrational, and an unpredictable world, he is oppressed by the absurdity of the disparity between the universe as he wishes it to be and as he sees it."

In common usage, absurd simply means ridiculous, but this is not the sense it is used when in reference to the theatre. Ionesco defines absurd as, " . . . that which is devoid of purpose . . . cut off from his religious, metaphysical, and transcendental roots, man is lost; all his actions become senseless, absurd, useless".37 In his attempt to communicate the absurdity of man's existence, the absurdist's stage has been dominated by the imaginative use of a new metaphor. The metaphor of direct expression. The great impact of Beckett's plays lies not in what they say to the world, but in what they do to each spectator."The Absurdists have attempted to make their stage a universal metaphor - it stands directly for all the world." 38 It might be argued that all drama is metaphorical and particularly expressionistic 34

Pronko, Avant-Garde, 1-2. Roger Shattuck, The Banquet Years (New York: Harcourt Brace and Company, 1958), 19. 36 Nathan A. Scott, ed., Man in the Modern Theatre (Richmond: John Knox Press, 1965), 77. 97 Martin Esslin, The Theatre of the Absurd (New York: Doubleday and Company, 1961), xix. 38 Roderich Robertson, "A Theatre for the Absurd", Drama Survey, Volume 2, Number 1 (June, 1962), 37. 35

BECKETT AND THE MODERN THEATRE MOVEMENT

41

drama which depends as it does upon metaphors to establish its meaning. Uniquely, in the absurdist drama, man ceases to be like some strange monster and is actually presented as a rhinoceros or a bug; life ceases to be like a circle and is presented as an endless bicycle race in which characters peddle faster and faster to win prizes which are never awarded. Man does not metaphorically assume the characteristics of a chicken, he literally is transformed and the eggs which he lays on the stage testify to the transformation. However bizarre, the absurdist theatre is an attempt to search out precisely the equation between man and the world. To do this, "they have stripped down the stage metaphor to essentials and have attempted to place man squarely in his existential position at the center."3* To suggest that a view of the world is meaningless and therefore absurd is an oversimplification. If an author were totally convinced of meaninglessness, it would be absurd to go on living and certainly pointless to write plays. The mere fact of writing is an expression of meaning by imposing some kind of order or value on experience. To brand life as absurd implies a rational consciousness capable of perceiving the absurdity. If life is judged absurd, it is because what is theoretically conceived as splendid and high is regularly violated in the actuality of practice.40

While both the dramatist of the absurd and the avant-gardist demonstrate similar qualities, there remains important distinctions. The most significant of which is the attitude toward language. While both groups of writers disregard such traditional axioms as that of character development and the need for plot and conflict, . . . basically, the avant-garde represents a different mood: it is more lyrical, and far less violent and grotesque. Even more important is the attitude toward language; the poetic avant-garde relies to a far greater extent on consciously "poetic speech"; it aspires to plays that are in effect poems, images composed of a rich web of verbal associations. 41

This language de-valuation and the prose-poetry dichotomy in dramatic narrative are elaborated in Chapter IV. This dissolution of plot, character, and language on the absurdist's stage has provoked some sharp criticism, 39

Robertson, 42. Cyrus Hoy, The Hyacinth Room (New York: Alfred A. Knoph and Company, 1964), 211. 41 Esslin, The Theatre of the Absurd, xxi. 40

42

BECKETT AND THE MODERN THEATRE MOVEMENT

The low-grade realism that prevails on our (Absurdists') stage whittles down the dramatic stature of the individual until he becomes too trifling or banal to exhibit humanity on some appreciable elevation of mind and spirit. 42

In a similar vein, T h e characters in modernist French drama, whether by Giradoux or Beckett, by Anouilh or Ionesco, are essentially there in the plays for purposes of demonstration or symbolization rather than for revelation. 43

This treatment of character brings forth the issues of depersonalization and empathie response between audience and actor. Gassner views depersonalization as the gravest threat to modern theatre.44 Regardless of its threat, empathie response is not an aim of the absurdists since it is impossible to emotionally identify with characters one cannot understand. T h e theatre of Beckett and Ionesco, at the same time that it works its "magic" keeps us at a distance. We are viewing our own world f r o m the o u t s i d e . . . Ionesco's exaggeration of character and Beckett's extremity of situation are largely responsible for keeping us at this distance. 45

With characters whose motives remain a mystery, emotional identification is replaced with a puzzled, critical attention.4e As relates to function, absurdist drama demonstrates some unique and imaginative approaches to stage metaphor, language, characterization and empathie response. The "Absurdists" Beckett, Genet, Adamov, Ionesco, and Albee would not be concerned in the exploration of different relationship. Of the many interesting speculations suggesting causes for the growth of the absurdist movement none is more provocative than, T h e cumulative knowledge of the two world wars in half a century, not to mention sundry atrocities and diverse obscenities thrown in every now and then as a bonus f r o m the gods, so to speak, has made of today's intellectuals men without faith. They can n o longer scream because they can no longer hope. 47

The modern annihilation of man's will as the reason for the dis42

John Gassner, Dramatic Soundings (New York: Crown Publishers, 1968), 116. Gassner, 627. 44 Gassner, 628. 45 Pronko, Avant-Garde, 130. 4β Martin Esslin, "The Theatre of the Absurd", reprinted in Morris Freedman, Essays in the Modern Drama (Boston: D. C. Heath and Company, 1964), 79. 47 George Wellworth, The Theatre of Protest and Paradox (New York: New York University Press, 1964), x. 43

BECKETT AND THE MODERN THEATRE MOVEMENT

43

integration of self provides yet another insight. U p to our generation man had embraced the belief that he was at least partly the master of his own fate; and acting on that belief, he had often made his conviction actually work. It had the important pragmatic sanction that it had made him feel at home in his world, a world of moral choice. It is among the ruins of that world that we now grope, lost and rootless in a universe without meaning - victims of malevolently blind forces that predetermine our actions . . ,48

Such oppressive pessimism could credit the Theatre of the Absurd with accurate representation of cultural impotence. To others, the movement represents an oblique protest in regard to the societies from which the plays emerge.49 This view holds that the absurdist movement is a generic phenomenon which resulted as a direct consequence of social-political climate. If indeed factual, this casual relationship could account, in part, for the emergence of the absurdist movement in Europe during the years after the big wars where disillusionment and meaninglessness were pandemic. Whatever the causes for its transition, the absurdist movement swayed sharply from realistic theatre to a form of non-literary theatre and in the process adopted a primitive kind of spectacle, Medieval farce, circus, music hall in the case of Beckett or Ghelderode, the guignol with Ionesco, ceremony in the theatre of Genet, a ballet or pantomime in Adamov's. The result has been a theatre that reaches us through our senses.50

Rejecting any notion that the avant-garde theatre is transitional, Ionesco claims that all theatre is transitional. He sees absurdist drama as a restoration, which constitutes a rediscovery of the fundamental models of theatre, a return to primitive theatre and a return to man rather than society as the center of the dramatic universe.51 Supporting Ionesco's view is the total concept of function for the absurdist's drama, The Theatre of the Absurd has renounced arguing about the absurdity of the human condition; it merely presents it in being - that is, in terms of concrete stage images of the absurdity of experience. 52 48

Walcutt, Mart's Changing Mask, 311. Harold Clurman, The Naked Image (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1967), 31. 50 Pronko, Avant-Garde, 198-199. 51 Eugene Ionesco, "There is No Avant-Garde Theatre", cited by Pronko, 3. 52 Esslin, The Theatre of the Absurd, xx.

49

44

BECKETT AND THE MODERN THEATRE MOVEMENT

Since precise character development is avoided by: actual separation of the speaker from his words, burping and hiccuping to defeat heroic proportions the character may assume, third person address, asides, and anonymity, real emotional identification is made difficult. Instead, a new form of empathie response is produced - one of direct experience. In place of emotional identification with the character on stage, the spectator is thrust into direct experience with him. The dramatists of the absurd, Beckett, Ionesco, Genet and Adamov seek not so much to create an imitation of absurdity as to conceive a work of art which, when heard or read will transport the audience into the very sense of absurdity - will draw them into the very experience. The broad distinction between arguing about the absurdity of the human condition and actually presenting it is succinctly represented by Esslin's analogy, While the social philosopher advances logistic morality and the necessity for the "good life," the social worker is participating in the ghetto. The presence of one does not negate the need for the other. Both are essential both derive strength from the other's existence.53

Communicating an experience of being sums up the purpose of absurdist drama. This essence of existence has provided some new ways of looking at old ideas. Particularly in the modern theatre, there has been a search for lost individuality, for escaping the reductive claims of society, the need for "retribalization" of modern man. The allegorical theme of twentieth century man journeying through the confusion of his period is the most unifying element to appear thus far in American Drama, and it is this element which most closely identifies American Drama with other forms of artistic expression in our time.54

Summary and Conclusions. - A semi-summary, semi-conclusion may hopefully bring this discussion of the modern theatre movement to a profitable end. The modern theatre of revolt has evolved in three general movements, not spasmodically, but with evolutionary precision. Each movement nurtured by its predecessor, each drawing strength from centuries of theatre tradition. In one sense, the course of the modern theatre might be regarded as a period of dialectical drama since the theatre remains dynamic and inexhaustible. 58 54

Ibid.

Broussard, American Drama, 4.

BECKETT AND THE MODERN THEATRE MOVEMENT

45

With all its intellectual vitality, the most recent period of the drama finds itself split by two natural forces. "These forces - one tugging toward tradition, the other pulling toward change - have become so polarized they have ceased to work as countervailing powers."55 Instead of the modern movement thriving off the influence of each force, the theatre's two halves are flying apart. Nevertheless, in spite of this schism, some positive growth has come from the division of "liberal and conservative" elements in the theatre. One characteristic has been a climate of cultural ferment which has been provocative for stimulating innovation. In this mood, the absurdists have looked hard at the most profound realities of man's existence, they have found a means of communication, and they have communicated with vigor. In reference to these "modern" ideas, it has been somewhat of a revelation that all those fundamental attitudes embraced by the "modern" absurdist are essentially rooted in classical drama. It has been somewhat deflating to discover that, instead of being on the track of really new ideas, the trend of the absurd copies a number of ancient and respectable traditional modes of literature and theatre. Sophocles and Euripides had chosen to treat a cultural phenomenon strongly related to growing selfish individualism, a decay of positive societal and moral values - precisely as modern man is portrayed with his values congealed through habit. As language and communication become non-functional in the modern theatre, so did the classicists demonstrate the decay of feeling for the meanings of words themselves - each man became his own interpreter - rationalizing language to suit his own special ends. Within the framework of the classical tradition, Beckett's mutilated characters produce much the same effect on the audience as did Sophocles with his contemporaries. More directly stated, Beckett has restored the theatre to its classical function; "in his hands it ceases to be a soporific and has become a stimulant, it is no longer an engine of escape, but a source of illumination".5· The analysis and examination of the modern theatre movement was instituted initially to determine the impact of Beckett's art - specifically his influence as an innovator of trends or a follower of existing movements. Two basic considerations must preface the final conclusions. First, there remains a great body of evidence to be collated, 55

Martin Gottfried, A Theatre Divided (Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1967), 3. Reid, All I Can Manage, More than I Could, 58.

56

46

BECKETT AND THE MODERN THEATRE MOVEMENT

and finally, the controversial nature of the theatre as subject matter provides many divergent view points and even the most discriminating critic is suspect. With the focus of evidence on a limited aspect of dramatic dialogue examined in this overview, the following assertions are rendered: 1. Beckett's unique contribution lies in his creation of a new concept of drama which was to substitute situation for story and direct experience for indirect description. Regarded as a modern innovator, more precisely, he must be considered as an artist who does imaginative things with old ideas. 2. Specifically, as relates to dramatic narrative and its disintegration in the modern period, Beckett was to give powerful impetus to a classical idea that was given new birth by Chekhov and developed by Jarry and Artaud. 3. Rejecting the label of a didactic dramatist, Beckett nonetheless strikes a universal chord with his concept of impotence and its subsequent implications for morality, society, and communication. Obviously not an innovator of the impotence concept, Beckett imaginatively creates situations which demonstrate rather than rhetoric which describes.

4 RHETORICAL-POETIC ANALYSIS

The Language of Drama Much of the previous analysis regarding the modern theatre movement has focused upon an examination of dramatic language. The inherent weakness in such an overview is compensated by the illumination of many provocative and fruitful areas for exploration. In this spirit a more detailed insight into the language of drama is necessary for the following reasons: 1. Specific definitions regarding the language of the theatre, its theory, contemporary function and purpose must be assigned to ease future communication efforts. 2. To more clearly evaluate the conditions which Beckett has imposed on dramatic language in the theatre, some existing theories must be considered. 3. To regard in more thorough detail the prose-poetry dichotomy in dramatic narrative. 4. To facilitate transition, the introduction of these definitions and theories will form the prelude for the following section on the dramatic language of Samuel Beckett. Definition and Limitation of Dramatic Language. — The theatre speaks many languages. The use of pantomime, music, dance, and spectacle is employed to communicate the most subtle and profound meanings. Other conventions, symbols, even allegory, can be regarded as "language". The necessity to limit this concept is readily apparent since any one actual theatre would require a lifetime's study and practice to explore fully the properties of its "language". It may be impossible, Anshen suggests, to speak with scientific authority of the language of the theatre.1 No attempt will be made to redefine the 1 Ruth N. Anshen, Language, An Inquiry Into Its Meaning and Function (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1957), 285.

48

RHETORICAL-POETIC ANALYSIS

"language" of the theatre, instead, some exclusions will be offered in order to sustain a manageable topic. Unless otherwise specified, dramatic language will be considered as verbal communication in the theatre. Music, dance, mime, and other non-verbal forms remain distinctively a portion of the "language" of the theatre, but only the verbal forms will be considered in this discussion. The terms: "language of drama", "poetic drama", "dramatic monologue", "dramatic dialogue", "dramatic prose", and "dramatic verse" will be employed hereafter and intended to exclude non-verbal forms. The Prose-Poetry Dichotomy. - Centuries of theatre tradition have complicated the data regarding the effects of prose or poetry in dramatic dialogue. For example, there is widespread evidence to support the thesis that the kind of play and the ideational content will dictate the specific form and tempo of dramatic dialogue. J. L. Stylan has proposed a rough guide to demonstrate the effect of convention on the quality of dialogue. In the poetic drama of Shakespeare, the speech tends to be lyrical and rhetorical with a fast pace, while Galsworthy and Ibsen's naturalistic drama produced a mannered, stylized speech with much slower tempo.2 While the convention of poetic drama, with its increased tempo, may permit far more surface emotion with the use of vocal music, it is erroneous to imply that poetic drama has more audience impact, or that characters are better delineated than in prose drama. One conclusion, however is warranted - " . . . verse is used not so much to identify character but to mark the convention of feeling required by each scene".3 The thematic concern of drama also dictates the employment of conventional forms for, "An elaboration of psychology demands a great deal of self-revelation in speeches both in monologue and dialogue."4 The critic stretches his imagination to produce more magnificient self-revelation than expressed in Hamlet and Macbeth. As the thematic concern was to shift to unconventional forms, subject matter was again to dominate, since, The habit of implying that the human being can no longer act has already had a debilitating effect on the novel and the drama... In the theatre, the regressive habit has tended to substitute the static for the dynamic, to 2

43. s

4

J. L. Stylan, The Dramatic Experience (Cambridge: the University Press, 1965), Stylan, 50. Peacock, Avant-Garde, 56.

RHETORICAL-POETIC ANALYSIS

49

exalt the "interesting" or the decoratively anaemic. Pathos rather than

praxis.5

Not only does subject matter tend to influence dramatic dialogue, but traditional forms have asserted a powerful influence, particularly with their resistence to change. "It was perhaps the Abbey Theatre dramatists who first patterned each speech of prose into something near to the poetry."® It was centuries before Synge could finally shake loose from the Elizabethan traditions and develop his own idiom with impressive simplicity. In the preface to his masterpiece, he writes, "In a good play every speech should be as fully flavoured as a nut or apple, and such speeches cannot be written by anyone who works among people who have shut their lips on poetry."7 The limitations of the prose form did not prevent the dramatist from creating "poetic" impressions of life. In the modern theatre of revolt, the great prose dramatists, Ibsen, Chekhov, Strindberg, Pirandello, O'Casey and Brecht created vivid dramatic impressions with a prose dialogue. This heightened prose was taken over from Synge by Sean O'Casey who wrote his three farces - Juno and the Paycock, The Shadow of a Gunman, and The Plough and the Stars, in the twenties. T. S. Eliot had experimented with the form in his dramatic fragment, Sweeney Agonistes (1927). Finally brought to its highest peak, and in this case it really can be said to be poetry, by Samuel Beckett in the mouths of his two tramps in Waiting for Godot (1952). 8 Illustrations of the method and a discussion of the rhythms will be provided in Chapter 4. Once the break from conventional forms had begun, some inartistic side effects were produced for, "The general use of prose in the contemporary theatre resulted in stage speech that tends to be flat and pedestrian, filled with the clichés of commonplace conversation."· There were those who felt the subject matter of drama demands a more elevated language, "Not much can be said for non-rhythmical utterance in serious drama. Prose undoubtedly drags the play in which 5

Denis Donoghue, The Third Voice (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1959), 255. • Bamber Gasciogne, Twentieth Century Drama (New York: Barnes and Noble, 1966), 68-69. 7 John M. Synge, in his preface to Playboy of the Western World (New York: Barnes and Noble, 1962), 12. 8 Gascoigne, Twentieth Century Drama, 70-71. • Theodore W. Hatlen, Drama, Principles and Plays (New York: AppletonCentury-Crofts, 1967), 23.

50

RHETORICAL-POETIC

ANALYSIS

it appears down overfar into the levels of ordinary life."10 The playwright with grandiose illusions about bringing the language of the drama closer to the language of ordinary life was to invoke criticism from all quarters. While some critics offered a blanket rejection of ordinary conversation in drama, others broadened definitions, as, There is, in all dramatic language, an inclination toward poetry, if only toward poetry as the extreme f o r m of highly structured and carefully chosen language. All dialogue is carefully chosen. All dialogue has moved a step closer to poetry. 11

Not all movement was in one direction. While some strained to achieve moving colloquialism, others remained faithful to the verse tradition or something close to it. The verse proponents offer diverse arguments for the retention of their medium, such as, natural rhythm, Verse permits of a fluidity of syntax which is nearer to the movement of thought and emotion, and can be nearer to the cadence of actual speech than any but the most masterly dramatic prose. 12

And human nature with a sort of oscillating prose and poetry, H u m a n nature is divided into two parts - prosaic and poetic. T h e prosaic or colloquial can be rhythmically just sufficiently charged to resolve into the implication of verse at a moment's notice, even halfway through a sentence and back again, without disturbing the unity of the speech. 13

The most famous advocate, T. S. Eliot, supplies the advantage of subconscious impact. Verse, he maintains, has several advantages over prose, The exciting effect of verse rhythms operating on the mind of the listener without his being conscious of it; and the possibility of reinforcing and deepening the dramatic effect by the musical effect of a varied pattern of style. 14

Yet unadvanced, the most formidable argument for rhythmical expression in dramatic language seems to be that of emotional impact, "It has been, however, by the practice of long ages and of diverse 10

Nicoli, An Introduction to Dramatic Theory, 147. George B. Tennyson, An Introduction to Drama (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1967), 44. 12 William A. Armstrong, Experimental Drama (London: G. Bell and Sons, Ltd., 1963), 54. 13 Christopher Fry, "Why Verse", in Playwrights on Playwriting, Toby Cole, editor (New York: Hill and Wang, 1960), 124-130. 14 Donoghue, The Third Voice, 17. 11

RHETORICAL-POETIC ANALYSIS

51

races, that the emotions invariably find their fittest literary expression in rhythmical form."15 One of the reasons that the prose-poetry controversy remains unsettled may be that definitive categories cannot be established. Instead of "pure" poetry and "pure" prose in dramatic narrative, there exists characteristics of poetry in prose dialogue while poetic drama demonstrates some of the effects of prose. In a paradoxical sense, the real poetic drama of this century is in prose. Common, ordinary language (can be) patterned and heightened, arranged to impose rhythmic qualities until it achieves the emotional effect which is characteristic of much poetry. Later, the need will arise to examine stylistic idiosyncracies, and in that context, Beckett's treatment of conversational dialogue will be regarded in detail. Whether Beckett's language will submit to the test of prose or poetry should be subordinated to the concept of function. Does his language do what the purpose of dramatic dialogue demands? A partial answer lies in the theory of dramatic dialogue. Admittedly, it is poor tactics to seek out the past to demonstrate the validity of an artistic principle, since art should not be bound by bygones. Nevertheless, so prominent has been the impact of classical tradition in the theatre, to neglect it would be unwise. Aristotle's general theory of the arts reveals, There are six constitutive elements according to the quality of which w e judge the excellence of the work as a whole. In order of their importance . . . 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

The plot is the first principle. The characters come next. Third in importance comes intellect. Next in importance comes the diction. Then music, and Spectacle. 19

Awarding diction a fourth position, Aristotle was by no means overwhelmed by the discursive or verbal element. Kitto put the case more firmly, "Aristotle is empathie - that of the six parts he finds in tragedy - the most important is 'mythos'."17 According to Stylan, a great variety of cultural factors, including the size of the Greek theatre, demanded rhetorical speech and grand, unreal acting.18 Moody Prior, in his Language of Tragedy, traces the 15 18 17 18

Nicoli, An Introduction to Dramatic Theory, 141. Cooper, The Rhetoric of Aristotle, 187. H. D. F. Kitto, Poiesis (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1966), 26. J. L. Stylan, The Dramatic Experience, 55.

52

RHETORICAL-POETIC ANALYSIS

historical development of dramatic language and its evolution. The obvious complexity of such factors as: general interest in ornament, the cultural changes which encouraged metaphysical language, common misreading of Aristotle, development of suitable verse forms, raising the nature of discourse to artful rhetoric to achieve verisimilitude to formal court address, all serve to illustrate cultural effects on the language of drama. A significant amount of controversy continues regarding the relative importance of dramatic language to the other elements of the drama. Donoghue asserts that too few dramatists today believe that the vehicle of a play is not character but language. Maeterlinck agrees that, "Indeed it is not in the actions but in words that are found the beauty and greatness of tragedies that are truly beautiful and great." 19 To relegate primary, secondary or tertiary significance to dramatic language is not a moot concern. Since words are the material with which a play is created, the relative position afforded language is of great importance to the dramatist. Galsworthy has assigned a kind of religious significance, The art of writing true dramatic dialogue is an austere art. From start to finish good dialogue is handmade, like good lace; clear of fine texture, furthering with each thread the harmony and strength of a design to which all must be subordinated. 20

Perhaps as Hatlen suggests the dramatist needs the poet's feeling for language - a rich imagination, a felicity for provocative imagery, an awareness of the weight, texture, and arrangement of words.21 One form of dramatic language has emerged in the modern theatre as everyday conversation. Its severest critics deny its effective range, You cannot play Beethoven's Opus III on a child's five note piano; and you cannot display the full range of character, thought, and passion in a language founded upon what the ordinary man thinks, feels, and says in an ordinary situation. 22

Allardyce Nicoli agrees that "Everyday conversation would be intolerable, tedious and no great drama, however realistic it may seem to employ such speech." 28 18 Maurice Maeterlinck, in European Theories of the Drama, ed. Barrett H. Clark (New York: Crown Publishers, Inc., 1965), 393. 20 John Galsworthy, "Some Platitudes Concerning Drama", The Inn of Tranquility: Studies and Essays (New York: Charles Scribners and Son, 1919), 189-202. 21 Hatlen, Drama, Principles and Plays, 22. 22 Olson, Tragedy and the Theory of the Drama, 245. » Nicoli, 81.

RHETORICAL-POETIC ANALYSIS

53

Considering the relative importance of language in the drama tends to create some faulty side impressions. To be avoided particularly is the notion that words alone create the play. It is not the verse which is important, but the consequences in the diction, the vivid dramatic impressions which the words create. The actual purpose of dramatic language needs to be considered prior to a structural analysis of Beckett's style. Roman Ingarden has distinguished four functions of the language of the drama: statement, other.24 It may readily be noticed that each function may act independently or in combination with others. In the actual production of the drama, complex relationships are constantly being formed between the characters themselves and between the characters and the audience. In the modern drama, the characters can speak to each other without communicating anything, for the experience has become incommunicable. There is little use of language as a means of influence, for the desire to influence another presupposes a definite purpose in the mind of the speaker, and lack of purpose is a major concern of the absurdist. Without the presentational force of language, that is, language which means, characterization is difficult. It may be that the modern dramatist has refused to accept these four functions of dramatic language. The purpose of Beckett's language must be regarded in this context. Two necessary concerns must precede the actual analysis of style: 1. There remains a need to examine some of the difficulties inherent in language criticism with an attempt to resolve issues; 2. Beckett's literary development requires explication, with particular emphasis upon his emergent theory of language. After these two matters have been regarded, an examination of the structural characteristics of Beckett's verbal language will follow. Problems of Language Criticism Most rhetorical-poetic criticism is carried out in the teeth of methodological difficulties, which seem to bite particularly hard on criticism concerned with language. This problem runs through the entire range of literary and rhetorical genre. Language analysis is extremely difficult in the case of epic poetry whereas the problem diminishes conM

Wolfgang Iser, "Samuel Beckett's Dramatic Language", reprinted in Modern Drama, IX, 3 (December 1966), 251.

54

RHETORICAL-POETIC ANALYSIS

siderably in the analysis of verbal language in interpersonal communication. Further, the problem is complicated as the number of critic-observers increases, as in the case of the dramatic genre, where several critics may hear the same language and offer opposite responses. In the case of a Browning sonnet or a Strindberg play, there is only an illusion of an instantaneous comprehension of its complex functioning, an illusion which is dispelled by the very next reading in which something new is discovered. Add to this interpretation the myriad complexities involved in the communication of the actual production - the effects of light on language, of volume, of pace, of mime, of music, of characterization, of mood, and allegory, - and the possibilities for rational interpretation of language are obscured. Since the critic's experience of the verbal language in an actual production is so extended in linear time, so complicated by other production media, it is extremely difficult for the mind to conceive of the language as a whole without blurring or forgetting the parts through the accumulation of which this totality has been communicated. To illustrate: A rhetorical critic should strive to examine a rhetorical transaction in its actual setting. Observations of speaker, audience, and the interaction between the two must be conducted under performance conditions to accurately describe speaker qualities and the immediate effects upon the audience. To some extent, each observer-critic is affected by stereotypes, by illusions, by vantage point and other variable factors. The point is simply: While the critic can derive certain judgments from observation of performance, his intellectual analysis of the speaker's style, language, and ideas is greatly enhanced by textual and structural analysis from the manuscript. In the area of language criticism, the degree of difficulty is significantly diminished if the language critic can isolate the object to be examined from its intricate web of associations. There are two alternative procedures open: (1) to isolate, deliberately or at random, several passages and submit them to close analysis or, (2) to trace significant threads through the language of an entire play. These approaches might be labeled "textural" and "structural" respectively. While the textural approach may yield valuable insights, its limitations are obvious: The meaning of any passage in a poem, a play or a novel is largely determined by its immediate and total context.25 25

78.

David Lodge, Language of Fiction (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1966),

RHETORICAL-POETIC ANALYSIS

55

The structural approach tries to discuss the work as a whole, with a beginning, a middle, and an end. By tracing a linguistic thread - a cluster of syntax, grammatical constructions or rhythms - throughout the entire play, it is possible to offer an account of the way language works. More specifically, an account of the way Beckett makes language work. In the analysis which follows, I have relied principally on the structural approach. The perception of patterns, some significantly recurring usage, contradictions of language, all the factors which may provide insight to a unique style. After a structural identity has been established in one Beckett play, other works will be examined to determine frequency of use. The Insignificance of Dialogue in the Drama The actual discussion of how Beckett's language works requires a perspective in terms of the avant-garde dramatists. The new dramatists found in the Theatre and its Double ideas which led them towards a drama of discovery and revelation, in which dialogue was no longer all-important..

The chapter on the Modern Theatre of Revolt revealed that the late nineteenth-century playwrights were concerned with reaffirming the reality of the Idea as against ideas, that is, the totality of an essence grasped by intuition as against analytic categories. In a similar way, mood is opposed to discourse. Whereas discourse gradually develops in time, advancing through the moments of an action, mood is immobilized in order to evoke an eternity. It becomes a "Static drama", a drama which does not move forward but is charged with electricity. In extreme cases, it has been reduced to a painting onstage.27 So frequently are they employed in the avant-garde theatre, these static techniques have almost become a new convention. One interpreter of the modern theatre offers an analysis: "The concrete object has to some extent replaced the audible word as a means of communication in the modern theatre. Where one language has broken down, a new one has been devised to take its place." 28 This 26

John Fletcher, Samuel Becketfs Art (New York: Barnes and Noble, 1967), 42-43. Jacques Guicharnaud, Modern French Theatre (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1961), 195. 28 Pronko, Avant-Garde, 203. 27

56

RHETORICAL-POETIC ANALYSIS

d o e s n o t imply that the avant-gardists h a v e r e n o u n c e d verbal language entirely, but they d o attempt to call our attention t o the w e a k n e s s e s a n d inadequacies of our language. Susanne Langer offers o n e reason, Language, in its literal capacity, is a stiff and conventional m e d i u m , u n •»dapted to the expression of genuinely new ideas, which usually have t o b r e a k in u p o n the mind through some great and bewildering m e t a p h o r . " E l d e r O l s o n c o n c u r s and extends the analysis, T h e language of the inarticulate does not permit the expression of subtle or p r o f o u n d thought or emotion, consequently, d r a m a has h a d to forego the subtler and p r o f o u n d e r thoughts and emotions. A n d since language and thought and emotion enter into the subtler expression of character, d r a m a has h a d to forego the latter as well.®0 O l s o n p r o c e e d s to o f f e r a test of the theory. T h e author requests a c o m p a r i s o n of E l i z a b e t h a n and m o d e r n drama simply by reference the language.

to

H i s claim is that the reader c a n use language to identify

dramatist, play, and characters in the former but n o t the latter. S o m e of the reasons for rejecting verbal f o r m s in the

modern

theatre are intimately b o u n d u p in the ideational c o n t e n t a n d are precisely d e v e l o p e d w i t h relation to

reality.

Language is f a r t o o straightforward an instrument t o express the multiple, complex and multi-dimensional aspects of reality. Reality can only be conveyed by being acted out in all its complexity. H e n c e it is the theatre which is the only instrument t o express the bewildering complexity of the h u m a n condition. 8 1 L o n g recognized as o n e of the m o s t authoritative analysts of

the

Absurdist m o v e m e n t , Martin E s s l i n o f f e r s c o m p l e t e agreement, T h e d e f i a n t rejection of language as the m a i n vehicle of the d r a m a t i c is by n o m e a n s the equivalent of a total rejection of all m e a n i n g . . . O n the contrary, it constitutes an earnest endeavor to penetrate to deeper layers of r e a l i t y . . ,32 E s s l i n summarizes the rationale for this argument clearly, If all our thinking is in t e r m s of language, and language obeys the arbitrary *· Susanne Κ. Langer, Philosophy in a New Key (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1942), 69. 30 Elder Olson, Tragedy and the Theory of the Drama (Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1961), 244-245. 31 Morris Freedman, Essays in the Modern Drama (Boston: D. C. Hearth and Co., 1964), 331. »! Ibid.

RHETORICAL-POETIC ANALYSIS

57

conventions of grammar, we must strive to penetrate to the real content of thought that is masked by grammatical rules.33

The essential purpose in relating the general breakdown of language is to demonstrate its relationship to one of the main themes in Beckett's plays - where there is no certainty, there can be no definite meanings. A secondary concern has been to reaffirm the positive association between thought and language. In this preface to Beckett's style, the critics have generally agreed that the playwright has devalued language masked by convention. This stylistic analysis means to probe the specific techniques which the author employs. A brief description of language "habits" will be followed by a detailed structural examination of style. Beckett's General View of Language The most lucid analysis of Beckett's terse style may be developed by relating language to idea Beckett's literary development, his changes in attitude, his radical shift to other genre develop clearly in relation to his intellectual change. Beckett's literary development has been summarized in four distinct stages by Federman. Beckett's early fiction is compared to Swiftian social satire. The early novels expressed dissatisfaction with the real world and an absurd region they define as a world of fiction. In its second stage, Beckett's heroes assume complete indifference to the human condition. As they are gradually dehumanized, they become more and more irresponsible to the affairs of man. At the third stage of its evolution, Beckett's fiction draws toward a single image, the creation of a unique being caught in absurd immortality, in total ignorance and impotence. In this state of character annihilation, Beckett, for the first time, extends his experimentation to the theatre, " . . . where he succeeded in presenting plays devoid of plot, decor, action, psychological development, climax, denouement, and in which he even eliminated some of man's most essential functions".34 The theatre, more than the novel, created a problem. The theatre cannot function without the presence of human elements. Therefore, the dramatist is never quite able to present complete physical disintegration on stage. In spite of this restricting condition, in his fourth stage of develop33 Freedman, 330. 34 Raymond Federman, Journey to Chaos (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1965), 86.

58

RHETORICAL-POETIC ANALYSIS

ment, Beckett succeeded in abstracting the human body from his drama by relying on only the use of voices. To achieve this, he turned to an obsolete medium and wrote the radio plays, All That Fall, Embers, Words and Music, and Cascando in which physical reality is suggested by sounds. In the play, Krapp's Last Tape, Beckett replaced human relationship, essential to dramatic impact, with a character confronted by a voice speaking from a tape recorder. Seeking another mode to disintegrate the human condition, Beckett presented short dramatic works in which human speech is totally excluded: Act Without Words, I and Act Without Words, II. An obvious trend is indicated in the great difference between the novels and the plays. Beckett's torrent of words in the novel diminishes, and in fact - as more recent plays testify - ceases altogether. Ruby Cohn alludes, "In spite of his extraordinary vocabulary and impressive command of several languages, Beckett deliberately limits the words of Endgame, charging each word with an enormous burden."35 Among other critics, Fletcher agrees that Beckett's fiction has progressed towards a more and more "total emptiness" in which plot, characters, and language itself crumble to nothing, leaving only a voice awaiting the silence in fear and trembling.36 There are significant causal factors for the actual reduction in the use of words. These factors are bound up with Beckett's philosophy of language. As early as 1929, Beckett observed in his essay on Joyce, "No language is so sophisticated as English. It is abstracted to death."37 An outstanding Beckettian authority, Ruby Cohn, clearly outlines the dramatic shift that occured in Beckett's writing. Beckett exhibits little of the more obvious virtuosity of the earlier English fiction: instead, there is an insidious undermining of language as a means of communication or expression of intelligence. 38

In an attempt to demonstrate the breakdown of language, Niklaus Gessner has tabulated ten different modes of disintegration of language observable in Waiting for Godot.39 They range from simple misunderstandings and double entendres to monologues (as signs of in35 Ruby Cohn, Samuel Beckett: The Comic Gamut (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1962), 234. 36 Fletcher, Samuel Beckett's Art, 144. 37 Shenker, "Moody Man of Letters", 1. 38 Cohn, Samuel Beckett: The Comic Gamut, 216-217. 3 » Reported in Martin Esslin's Theatre of the Absurd (New York: Doubleday and Co., 1961), 45.

RHETORICAL-POETIC

ANALYSIS

59

ability to communicate), cliches, repetitions of synonyms, inability to find the right words, and "telegraphic style" (loss of grammatical structure, communication by shouted commands) to Lucky's farrago of chaotic nonsense and the dropping of punctuation marks, such as question marks, as an indication that language has lost its function as a means for communication. While it may be likely that Beckett's use of language is designed to devalue language as a vehicle of conceptual thought, his continued use of language must, paradoxically, be regarded as an attempt to communicate on his own part, to communicate the incommunicable.40 Most of the characters in Beckett's plays speak a language that is not disintegrated. Even though he dipicts a universe of physical disintegration and moral torment, language has not yet decayed so far that it falls apart.41 Something of the frailty is illustrated in the following analogy: Words, on which a man may so lightly traverse the space of a thought, may be compared to a fragile bridge thrown across a chasm. They may permit crossing but no stopping. A person in rapid motion can use them to get away. But if he hesitates even slightly, this infinitesimal fraction of time breaks them down, and they are plunged into the abyss. The one who rushes must be acrobatic; he must not dwell heavily, for if he does, he soon finds that the most lucid speech is nothing but a tissue of obscure terms.42

The use of sterile words is but one manifestation of the theatre of the absurd to show the sterility in society. If there is no meaning in life, why exalt an artificial meaninglessness of language? The moment has come to examine precisely how Beckett has exploited the insignificance of language for the communication of ultimate truths. Eleven

Characteristics

of

Style

The design of this chapter has evolved from a general overview of language in the theatre through an analysis of the breakdown of language to a description of Beckett's literary development. These preliminary data must continue to support the analysis of style which follows. An examination of the structural characteristics in Beckett's verbal language reveals the following eleven qualities with functional prominence. 40 41 48

Esslin, The Theatre of the Absurd, 45-46. Pronko, Avant-Garde, 125. Ruth Anshen, Language, An Inquiry Into Its Meaning and Function, 5.

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RHETORICAL-POETIC ANALYSIS

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11.

Repetition Monologue Stichomythia Phatic communion Word groupings Intentional dystax Contradictions Clichés and pratfalls Indelicacies Structural closure Absence of language (silence)

Each of the eleven stylistic qualities has been afforded structural significance in the analysis which follows. The precise manner in which the eleven features impose upon dramatic situation, ideational content, and character is developed in the Conclusion. The description of Beckett's style will proceed on two levels of analysis: First an idiosyncratic analysis will define those features of Beckett's style which strike most obviously. In this sense, the analysis will deal with surface features. Finally, on a deeper level, those structural idiosyncracies will be regarded as they impose upon dramatic situation, ideas, and characters. Repetition

The first step to understanding the nature of Beckett's dialogue lies in the analysis of his repetitive devices. Since repetition is one of Beckett's favorite stylistic devices, two concepts become important: 1) to understand how Beckett employs the technique of repetition, and (2) to examine the effects of repetitive techniques upon situation and ideas. Four principles regarding the significance of repetition are offered by Lodge: Firstly, the significance of repetition in a given text is not conditional on its being a deliberate device on the author's part. Secondly, the significance of repetition in a given text is not conditional on its being consciously recognized by a majority of intelligent readers. Thirdly, the significance of repetition is not to be determined statistically. Fourthly, repetition of any kind does not in itself, confer value on literary texts.43 43

Lodge, Language of Fiction, 82-85.

RHETORICAL-POETIC ANALYSIS

These principles are proffered in jections may arise to the validity of dence on repetition. The repetitive techniques which enough to be classified according to Repetition by: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.

61

the anticipation that certain obconclusions drawn from the eviBeckett employs are distinctive their function:

Interrogation Exhaustive enumeration Incremental accumulation Recurring word Recurring verbal cluster Echo Recurrent situation Recurrent idea.

Each of the eight devices will be considered in turn. Repetition by Interrogation. - The technique of repetitive questioning is one of Beckett's favorite language "tricks". The question and answer formula about Waiting for Godot will be heard, with slight variations, some twelve times before the end of the play. The following exchange is characteristic of the technique: VLADIMIR: ESTRAGON: VLADIMIR: ESTRAGON: VLADIMIR: ESTRAGON: VLADIMIR: ESTRAGON: VLADIMIR: ESTRAGON: VLADIMIR: ESTRAGON: VLADIMIR: ESTRAGON:

Is it not? I think it is I think so too. And we? I beg your pardon? I said, And we? I don't understand? Where do we come in? Come in? Take your time. Come in? On our hands and knees. As bad as that? Your worship wishes to assert his prerogatives? We've no rights any more?44

A stubborn sort of repetitive questioning is evidenced by "Why doesn't he put his bags down?" repeated three times and "You want to get rid of him?" repeated seven times in a short sequence.45 44

Samuel Beckett, Waiting for Godot, translated from the French by the author (London: Faber and Faber Limited, 1955), 18-19. Quotations in subsequent pages are from this translation. 45 Godot, Act I.

62

RHETORICAL-POETIC ANALYSIS

In Endgame, Beckett announces the technique and then pursues the device: HAMM: CLOV: HAMM: CLOV:

Do you remember when you came here? Too small you told me. Do you remember you father? Same answer. (Pause) You've asked me these questions millions of times.46

The opening scene is controlled by the technique of repetitive questions, HAMM:

. . . Can there be misery - loftier than mine? No doubt. Formerly. But now? My father? My mother? My dog?47

Nagg appears from his ashcan and repeats three times that he wants his "pap".48 Appropriately named, Nagg continues to annoy with repetitive questions, NELL: NAGG: NELL: NAGG: NELL: HAMM: NAGG: NELL:

What hollow? The hollow! Could you not? Yesterday you scratched me there. Ah yesterday! Could you not? Would you like me to scratch you? Are you crying again? I was trying. Perhaps it's a little vein. What was that he said? That means nothing. Will I tell you the story of the tailor? To. What for?4»

Later, Hamm adopts the technique and asks twelve questions in eleven consecutive speeches.50 In Happy Days, Winnie provides a string of questions, WINNIE:

. . . Can you, Willie? Can you recall this having occurred before? Do you know what has occurred, Willie? Have you gone off on me again?51

Similarly, Mrs. Rooney, in AII That Fall, uses the same device, MRS. ROONEY:

48

"

48

« 50

«

Endgame, 38. Endgame, 2. Endgame, 9. Endgame, 20. Endgame, 30-31. Happy Days, 37.

Dung? What would we want with dung, at our time of life? Why are you on your feet down on the road? Why do you not climb up on the crest of your manure and let

RHETORICAL-POETIC ANALYSIS

63

yourself be carried along? Is it that you have n o head f o r heights? 52

Many other illustrations of repetitive questioning could be provided. It is hoped that sufficient evidence has been provided to establish stylistic patterns. The Technique of Exhaustive Enumeration. - Another of Beckett's language devices is what he calls the comedy of exhaustive enumeration. The French have a word for this, marrant, which means both tiresome and funny, and is the exact word for Beckett's books. 53 The most famous illustration is in Lucky's speech in Godot. LUCKY:

. . . that m a n in Essy that m a n in short that m a n in brief in spite of the progress of alimentation and defecation wastes and pines and pines and concurrently simultaneously w h a t is m o r e f o r reasons u n k n o w n in spite of the strides of physical culture the practice of sports such as tennis football running cycling swimming flying floating riding gliding conating comogie tennis of all kinds dying flying sports of all s o r t s . . .54

The horrors of home life, in All That Fall, are presented with the same device, MR. ROONEY

. . . T h e dusting, sweeping, airing, scrubbing, waxing, w a n ing, washing, mangling, drying, moving, clipping, raking, rolling, scuffling, shovelling, grinding, tearing, pounding, banging, and slamming . . .®5

Apparently the author felt that the impact of this device could be increased if enumerations were relatively close. Immediately preceeding the above illustration, Mr. Rooney provides another repetitive listing of home expenses.56 Avoiding the obvious cataloguing, the device is employed with a duologue in Endgame, HAMM: CLOV: HAMM: CLOV: HAMM: CLOV: 52

With the glass? N o need of the glass. Look at it with the glass. I'll go get the glass! (Exit) N o need of the glass! (Clov enters) I'm back again with the glass, I need the steps.

All That Fall, 35. William York Tindall, Samuel Beckett (New York: Columbia University Press, 1964), 36. 51 Waiting for Godot, 43. ss All That Fall, 79. 5 « All That Fall, 77. 5S

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HAMM: CLOV: HAMM: CLOV: HAMM:

ANALYSIS

Why? Have you shrunk? (Clov exists) I don't like that, I don't like that. I'm back again with the steps. I need the glass. (violently), But you have the glass. No, I haven't the glass. This is deadly.

In his later plays, he employs the device mercilessly, Words and Music opens with, WORDS:

. . . Sloth is of all the passions the most powerful passion and indeed no passion is more powerful than the passion of sloth, this is the mode in which the mind is most affected and indeed . . . the mode in which the mind is most affected and indeed in no mode is the mind more affected than in this by passion . . . 58

On the very next page, with specific directions to be delivered in an orotund voice, WORDS:

Love is of all the passions the most powerful passion and indeed no passion is more powerful than the passion of love. This is the mode in which the mind is most strongly affected and indeed in no mode is the mind more affected than in this by passion.. .59

Incremental Repetition. — One of the most unique and powerful language devices which Beckett employs is incremental repetition. The principle is most clearly defined by illustration. Note the precise cumulative effect achieved, the magnificent crescendo of simple language, ESTRAGON: VLADIMIR: ESTRAGON: VLADIMIR: ESTRAGON: VLADIMIR: ESTRAGON: VLADIMIR: ESTRAGON: VLADIMIR: ESTRAGON: VLADIMIR: ESTRAGON: VLADIMIR: ESTRAGON: 57 58 59

A kind of prayer. Precisely. A vague supplication. Exactly. And what did he reply? That he'd see. That he couldn't promise anything. That he'd have to think it over. In the quiet of his home. Consult his family. His friends. His agents. His correspondents. His books. His bank account.

Endgame, 28. Samuel Beckett, Cascando (New York: Grove Press, Inc., 1963), 23. Cascando, 24.

RHETORICAL-POETIC ANALYSIS

VLADIMIR:

65

Before making a decision.80

In another example, incremental power is achieved by name-calling which begins modestly and builds to the most vulgar and profane concept Beckett can contrive, VLADIMIR: ESTRAGON: VLADIMIR: ESTRAGON: VLADIMIR: ESTRAGON: VLADIMIR: ESTRAGON:

Moron! Vermin! Abortion! Morpion! Sewer-rat! Curate! Cretin! Critic!61

There are at least eleven separate examples of the incremental technique in Godot - none more highly stylized than, ESTRAGON: VLADIMIR: ESTRAGON: VLADIMIR: ESTRAGON: VLADIMIR: ESTRAGON: VLADIMIR: ESTRAGON: VLADIMIR: ESTRAGON:

All the dead voices. They make a noise like wings. Like leaves. Like sand. Like leaves. They all speak together. Each one to itself. Rather they whisper. They rustle. They murmur. They rustle.62

A more detailed description of this technique will be rendered in two sections entitled "Stichomythia" and "Sentence patterns". Recurring words. - Single word repetition is most pronounced as a textual device in Endgame. However, there are numerous other examples throughout Beckett's later dramatic pieces. The riding master in Embers, RIDING MASTER: Now Miss! Elbows in Miss! Hands down Miss! Now Miss! Back straight Miss! Miss! Knees in Miss! Now Miss! Tummy in Miss! Chin up Miss! Now Miss! Eyes Front Miss! Now Miss! Now Miss!63 Ada's double entendre with the word, "don't",

«» Waiting for Godot, 18. « Godot, 75. "2 Godot, 62-63. 63 Samuel Beckett, Embers (New York: Grove Press, Inc., 1957), 109.

66

RHETORICAL-POETIC ANALYSIS

ADA:

Well why don't you? Don't stand there thinking about it. Don't stand there staring. Don't wet your good boots. HENRY: Don't D o n ' t . . . ADA: (twenty years earlier, imploring) Don't Don't! HENRY: (do., urgent) Darling! ADA: (do., more feebly). Don't! HENRY: (do., exultantly), Darling!64 The literary allusions which Winnie repeats are analyzed by Ruby Cohn. Three of Winnie's quotations paradoxically contain "woe".65 At the end of the first act of Godot, the boy messenger repeats the word sir thirty-four times before he departs.66 Henry's opening monologue in Embers employs recurring word techniques with obviously different functions. Note first the repetitive impact of the word fire, then observe how the author utilizes single repetition of the word no to negate ideas. HENRY:

. . . There before the fire. Before the fire with all the shutters . . . no, hangings, hangings, all the hangings drawn and the light, no light, only the light of the fire, sitting there in t h e . . . no standing there on the hearthrug in the dark before the fire with his arms on the chimney-piece and his head on his arms, standing there waiting in the dark before the fire in his old red dressing gown and no sound in the house of any kind, only the sound of the fire . .

In Endgame, recurring words patterns frequent most of the dialogue. Much of the Hamm-Clov conversation is preceded by a then of resignation. CLOV: HAMM: CLOV: HAMM: CLOV: HAMM: CLOV: HAMM:

So you all want me to leave you? Naturally. Then I'll leave you. You can't leave us. Then I won't leave you. Why don't you finish us? I'll tell you the combination of the cupboard if you promise to finish me. I couldn't finish you. Then you won't finish me.88

"It is finished" paradoxically announces the beginning of Endgame. Clov's "Finished, it's finished, nearly finished, it must be nearly M

Embers, 110. «5 Cohn, Samuel Beckett: The Comic Gamut, 254.

·« Godot, 49-51. Embers, 97-98.

88

Endgame, 37.

RHETORICAL-POETIC ANALYSIS

67

finished", produces a stark effect.69 A final illustration demonstrates the deadening impact of recurring words, CLOV: HAMM: CLOV:

No I, Let's s e e . . . Zero (he looks) Zero (he looks) Zero (he looks) and Zero. Nothing stirs. All is — Zer —70

Repetition of Verbal Clusters. - There are word clusters repeated from time to time in Beckett's plays, but they are repeated within a pattern like the "Let's go - We can't - Why? - We're Waiting for Godot", exchange. > Or they are used to stress a given idea or theme, for example, the numerous repetitions of "we're getting on" and "there are no more . . . " in Endgame. Other refrains in verbal clusters hold implications subject to thematic interpretation. Phrases such as: "It's not certain", "It hurts?", "It's inevitable", "What'll we do now?" are frequently repeated. The effect of their repetition depends in a large degree upon the particular interpretation imposed. To illustrate: In Lucky's three page, one-sentence tirade, is a labyrinth of repetitive passages. Ruby Cohn has deciphered a sentence behind the cunningly combined repetitions. She has stated that the repetitive passages summarize or parody several of the play's themes: the erosive effect of time, the relativity of facts, the futility of human activity, faith in God, and proof through reason.71 The most frequently repeated phrase in Endgame is Hamm's "Is it not time for my pain-killer?" Although it appears that Hamm is asking Clov for a pill, it becomes evident that the only true pain killer is death. Phrasal repetition increased in the final version of Endgame.12 Three times Hamm exclaims to Clov, "Use your head can't you?" In the revised version there are more repetitions - a greater of quantity of phenomena are "running out" or "taking their course". While pause is by far the most frequent scenic direction in both versions of the play, several As befores are injected into the final product. Other phrasal repetition appears as non-sequiturs as, o» Endgame, 1. 7 ® Endgame, 29. « Samuel Beckett: The Comic Gamut, 217. 72 The Ohio State University Library has procured five of the original manuscript groups, including English translation of Endgame (1958). The notebooks contain extensive rewriting of words and phrases demonstrating the mathematical precision with which Beckett chooses his words.

68 NAGG: NELL: HAMM: NAGG: NELL: NAGG:

RHETORICAL-POETIC ANALYSIS

. . . Are you crying again? I was trying. Perhaps it's a little vein. What was that he said? Perhaps it's a little vein. What does that mean? (Pause) That means nothing.73

Hamm employs the phrase "Perhaps it's a little vein" three times and on each occasion as a non-sequitur. Many of the examples classified earlier under techniques of exhaustive enumeration could also be listed in this category. Specifically, the recurring shreds of philosophical jargon in Words and Music, Love is of all the passions the most powerful passion and indeed no passion is more powerful than the passion of love.74 While the intent is not to investigate dual classifications, such categorical overlapping is not uncommon when dealing with language descriptions. Repetitive Echo. - The immediate imitation of verbal language can stimulate a variety of responses. In Godot, one of the two characters, generally the weaker, will frequently echo what the stronger has just said, VLADIMIR: And didn't they beat you? ESTRAGON: Beat me? Certainly they beat me. VLADIMIR: The same as usual? ESTRAGON: The same? I don't know.75 Many other examples, "What did we do yesterday?",76 "Tied", 77 dot the dialogue. An interesting variation of the echo form is demonstrated by Lucky, when he begins to think, in his famous monologue. The dignity of anthropology becomes comical through the repetitive echo of the central syllable, anthropopopometry. This stuttering repetition is employd again with the word academy which grows into Acacacacacdemy. Still another variation of the echo form is found in the structure of the dialogue. Estragon and Vladimir use language as tennis players use a ball. Note precise echo formation in the following exchange,

»

Endgame, 20. Words and Music, Godot, 9. ™ Godot, 14. 77 Godot, 20.

74

75

23.

RHETORICAL-POETIC ANALYSIS

VLADIMIR: ESTRAGON: VLADIMIR: ESTRAGON: VLADIMIR: ESTRAGON: VLADIMIR: ESTRAGON: VLADIMIR: ESTRAGON:

69

Charming evening we're having. Unforgettable. And it's not over. Apparently not. It's only the beginning. It' awful. It's worse than being at the theatre. The circus. The music-hall. The circus.78

The examples of echo structure are so numerous that the whole play seems minted in echoes. These factors will be regarded in greater detail under word groupings and stichomythia. As stated earlier, the effects produced are dependent upon interpretation. A comical effect might be assigned to the following echoic exchange in Godot, ESTRAGON: POZZO: ESTRAGON: VLADIMIR: ESTRAGON: POZZO: VLADIMIR: POZZO: VLADIMIR: POZZO: ESTRAGON: POZZO: VLADIMIR: ESTRAGON:

The adieu. Adieu. Adieu. Adieu. (Silence, No one moves.) Adieu. Adieu. Adieu. (Silence) And thank you. Thank you. Not at all. Yes yes. No no. Yes yes. No no. (Silence)79

A final illustration in Happy Days is designed to produce more profound response, WINNIE:

?8 ι* 80

. . . That day. What day? I used to pray. Yes, I must confess I did. Not now. No. No. Then . . . Now . . . what difficulties for the mind. To have been always what I am — and so changed from what I was. I am the one, I say the one, then the other. There is so little one can say, one says it all. All one can.80

Godot, 34. Godot, 46. Happy Days, 51.

70

RHETORICAL-POETIC ANALYSIS

Some Effects of

Repetition

Effect on Situation. - Beckett employs both textual and structural devices to develop an effect on situation, people, and ideas. In one of his later dramatic works, specific directions are given to repeat the exact dialogue three times. The actual text of Play is approximately 2,250 words but the triple repeat can produce a deadly monotony. In both Godot and Endgame textual repetition serves to convey the impression of possible indefinite repetition of the same recurrences. On the surface, Act II of Godot seems merely a comic repetition of Act I. Precisely the same situation is repeated. Each act closes with the words, "Yes, let's go." Both acts implement structural repetition to produce a static situation. "What passes in Endgame and Godot are not events with a definite beginning and end, but types of situation that will forever repeat themselves."81 Effect on Character. - Similarly, with character, the trivial matter of Estragon's preference for carrots, over turnips and radishes, or for pink radishes over black ones, by repetition becomes revealing. By repetitive emphasis on child-like concerns, the dialogue reveals significant character qualities. The hell of a Beckett character is the unrelenting repetition of the same moment, with only the most occasional variations in suffering to raise delusive hopes.82 Effect on Ideas. - More desolating than the destruction of situation and characters is the death of ideas. Bringing into play the full range of his genius, Beckett assaults the reader with reiterative patterns of language to underline the tedium of this world. Leonard Pronko believes that Beckett employs repetition to emphasize the interminable futility of the world.83 The structural repetition of the basic situation in Godot is sufficient to evoke the monotonous recurrence inherent in the human condition. The destruction of ideas can be accomplished with the extended use of textual repetition. Once the basic phrase is well established, Beckett can even go so far as to omit parts, even essential segments of a recurrent phrase, thereby forcing the audience into an active role in the closure process. "All that's a lot of bloody - " demands closure and the audience must supply the missing word, "lies". 81 82 83

Esslin, The Theatre of the Absurd, 39. Eugene Goodheart, The Gulf of the Ego (University of Chicago Press, 1968), 2. Pronko, Avant-Garde, 57.

RHETORICAL-POETIC ANALYSIS

71

The precise means by which repetitive patterns destroy thought has been dificult to isolate. In fact, there are many techniques operating concurrently. For example, any return to a starting point may evoke the concept of circularity and to this end, innumerable repetitions and returns to early motifs, phrases, and situations serve effectively to destroy any sense of linear progression.84 The disturbance of the natural order is presented as being quite normal. The textual repetition helps to emphasize the characters' unawareness of problems. This acceptance of abnormality tends to puzzle our rational understanding. To illustrate: Krapp interrupts his last tape for a replaying of the end of his love affair. As might be expected, repetition could supply emphasis to the incident. However, any audience-anticipated sentimentality is destroyed as Krapp seeks his own image in the eyes of this beloved. Similar results are produced as, Beckett plays the old game of a word repeated until it ceases to mean, until it becomes a sound. "Pot", he says, looking at the object. But the more he says "pot, pot," the less sure he is of the connection between the sound he makes and the identity of the object he observes. 85

In Krapp's Last Tape, the spool of the recorder, which had been identified as the mysterious echo of the sound of a rowboat's keel smothered in the bullrushes, disintegrates into a dismal noise, as Krapp reiterates, " s p o o l . . . spool!!.. ."8e Ruby Cohn demonstrates how the constant repetition in Endgame destroys ideas and traditional values, There are succesively, incongruously, repetitively, "no more" bicycle wheels, pap, nature, sugarplums, tides, rugs, pain-killer, and, finally, coffins. The dramatic action presents the death of the stock props of Western civilization — family cohesion, filial devotion, parental and connubial love, faith in God, empirical knowledge, and artistic creation. 87

Comparing the two works in a broad sense, the cumulative repetition is largely structural in Godot, while in Endgame it is more textural. Whether operating independently or together, these repetitive tech84

Lawrence E. Harvey, "Art and the Existential in Waiting for Godot", reprinted in Casebook on Waiting for Godot, ed. Ruby Cohn (New York: Grove Press, 1967), 145. 85 Josephine Jacobsen, William R. Mueller, The Testament of Samuel Beckett (New York: Hill and Wang, 1964), 18. 88 Krapp's Last Tape, 12-13. 87 Cohn, Samuel Beckett: The Comic Gamut, 228.

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RHETORICAL-POETIC ANALYSIS

niques of language provide a saturation of monotony. Through the reiterative process, Beckett's sophisticated conditioning demonstrates ad nauseam the power of language to destroy thought. Monologue as a structural characteristic* Beckett's emphasis of the monologue technique can be observed shifting through distinct stages. From intense deployment in the later novels (Watt, 1953, Molloy, 1951), to greatly diminished use in the early plays (Godot, 1953, Endgame, 1956), increasing in the middle plays (Words and Music, 1962, Happy Days, 1961, and Krapp's Last Tape, 1959) and finally achieving full power in the later plays (Cascando, 1963 and Eh, Joe?, 1967) where the entire drama is one extended monologue. Like his repetitive devices, most of Beckett's monologistic style is unique and can be classified according to function. The variant forms of the monologue are: 1. Monologue re-creating experience 2. Monologue of non-sequiturs 3. Monologue of games 4. Monologue of negative factors of practical existence. A general discussion of Beckett's monologue form will be followed by specific textual evidence of the four variant forms, and finally, conclusions regarding the effect of monologue form. Trends in Beckett's Monologue Technique. - "The central theme of Beckett's philosophy 'drove him' necessarily in the novel toward the form of the extended monologue."88 Turning to the theatre, Beckett was forced, for obvious reasons, to abandon the technique. Waiting for Godot, Endgame, and All That Fall subsequently employ a form of dialogue which, for all its originality, is basically traditional. Beckett's first experiment with a monodrama is Krapp's Last Tape. As he lived his life, Krapp recorded degrees of pastness and confronts his own tape in an extended monologue. In a later play, the dramatic presence is increased to three, but no one in the triangle hears what the others * A monologue is defined as either a long speech delivered by one actor, or a performance by a single actor. The soliloquy, the aside, and direct address are all forms of the monologue. Source: Sylvan Barnet et al., Aspects of the Drama (Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1962), p. 256. 88 Richard Coe, Samuel Beckett (New York: Grove Press, 1964), 102-103.

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73

are saying. None of the characters in Play is cast as spectator or partner. Some textual illustrations of variant forms will be arranged in the order of their significance in Beckett's style. Monologue Re-Creating Experience. - Re-creating experience is, by far, the most widely prescribed function of the Beckettian monologue. Vivid examples of this technique are exhibited in Eh Joe? and Krapp's Last Tape where all the re-created memories are emitted from a single source. Krapp controls the most beautiful memories with the rewind button on his tape recorder. Three times during the play, he re-creates an erotic scene with a girl in a canoe; her bare thigh shows a gooseberry scratch, I lay down across her with my face in her breasts and my hand on her. We lay there without moving. But under us all moved, and moved us, gently up and down, and from side to side.89 Both the image and the language are elevated to the level of poetry. With the ingenious technique of using the tape recorder as a mnemonic device, Beckett arranges 95 percent of the language as a kind of oral mirror in which the various selves of his protagonist might be reflected through re-creating experience. The sister-piece of Krapp is a television play entitled, Eh Joe? In his late fifties, Joe is seen in his room but never speaks. A girl's voice re-creates Joe's life in an extended monologue. Apart from these two plays, all of Beckett's other dramatic works have at least two voices. In Happy Days, Willie's voice is so insignificant that Winnie provides a monologue for 98 percent of the language spoken. In the first act, Winnie is implanted in a mound up to her waist. Her main business is to pass each "happy day" in pointless chatter. For her, re-creating experience dominates her dialogue. The earth slowly swallows her up for in the second act, she is up to her neck in the earth. Her most formidable weapon of defense against the absurdity of her condition is her indifference. With such a grim metaphor for the human dilemma, Beckett's task was to devise language techniques that would communicate with as much impact as the idea demanded. To elude reality, to deny the ongoing nature of dialogue, Beckett chose the monologue recreating experience. Few variations of the monologue technique are as imaginative as β» Krapp's Last Tape, 27.

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those in Play. With three nameless characters immobilized in burial urns, Beckett arranges a single spotlight to signal conversation. What may be discerned as narrative, early in the play, disintegrates to three separate monologues, each re-creating its own experience. The following sample is typical of three separate monologues running concurrently in dialogue form, M: W2: Wl: M: W2: Wl: M: W2: M:

Have I l o s t . . . the thing you want? Why go out? Why go — And you perhaps pitying me, thinking, Poor thing, she needs a rest. Perhaps she has taken him away to l i v e . . . somewhere in the sun. Why not go down? Why not — I don't know. Perhaps she is sitting somewhere, by the open window, her hands folded in her lap, gazing down out over the olives. Why not keep on glaring at me without ceasing? I might start to rave and — (hiccup) bring it up for you. Par — No. — don. 90

To heighten the monologue effect, Beckett interrupts not only the speeches of the characters, but the words as well. Note the syllable interruption of par - don in the example above. Beckett has shifted from his subtle commentary on language and the inadequacy of communication for here he creates a situation of language breakdown. Similar situations are created with the monologue in Words and Music where the dramatis personae are reduced to Words, Music, and Croak. Henry's eight page monologue in Embers opens the play re-creating experience. The four page soliloquy at the end of the play reproduces some of the same events. Although the monologue form is less pronounced in Godot and Endgame, there are examples in each play.91 Monologue of Non-sequitur. — With this technique, Beckett has modified a specific form of dramatic convention. He has altered the stream-of-consciousness device to jar coherence at every level. With the non-sequitur form, Beckett assaults our sense of time, place, and order. He uses the monologue to disdain sequence and proportion, and even authenticity of the character speaking. 9

° Play, 58. Specifically, monologues recreating experience may be found in Godot, 90, and Endgame, 52.

91

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75

The most striking example of the non-sequitur form is Lucky's three page destruction of logic in Waiting for Godot. Lucky's attempt at thought stands as a brilliant monument to man's entanglement in uncertainties, . . . of a personal God quaquaquaqua with white beard quaquaquaqua outside time without extension Who from the heights of divine apathia divine atambia divine aphasia loves us dearly with some exceptions for reasons unknown but time will tell and suffers like the divine Miranda with those who for reasons unknown but time will tell are plunged . . . 9 2

With this non-sequitur prose, Beckett poses the apparent nonsense of a mind gone mad, yet here are the qualifying fragments of a language with which man tries to patch together the impossibilities of his discourse. What appears on the surface to be complete nonsense eventually evolves into three, long, complicated dependent clauses. The linked subjects of the clauses are the three possible dooms for man. Each long clause promises disintegration, swift or slow: the firing of the firmament, the blasting of hell to heaven; "and considering what is more", the fiery death of the sun and consequent doom of the earth and its life. The non-sequitur monologue becomes a familiar technique to Happy Days where Winnie employs the social ritual for her self-deception. The failure of any meaningful reference is underscored again and again. Winnie interrupts her metaphysical reflection with the unmotivated concern to find out what it is about the toothbrush that is "genuine pure", . . . So much to be thankful for — no pain — hardly any — wonderful thing that — nothing like it — slight headache sometimes — guaranteed . . . genuine . . . pure . . . what? genuine pure . . . ah yes — occasional mild migraine — prayers perhaps not for naught — first thing — last thing.. ."3

In the face of personal annihilation, toothbrushing is nearly obscene. As her "happy day" progresses, " . . . the very number of words is reduced, the tension is tautened between knowledge and ignorance, between sense and non-sense".94 Obviously, the use of the nonsensical monologue is restricted to the production of certain literary or dramatic effects as those of alienation, 92 93 94

Waiting for Godot, 42. Happy Days, 11. Cohn, Samuel Beckett . . . , 295.

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ANALYSIS

insanity or communication breakdown. The ideational content of Happy Days lends itself to the judicious treatment of non-sequiturs while Endgame sports only one example. Monologue of Games. - Distinguished by its function, the monologue of games may be defined as quasi-communication. "Conscious of the esthetic quality of their monologues, Pozzo, Hamm, Mr. Rooney, and Krapp play and watch themselves play."95 In Godot, Vladimir and Estragon never succeed in taking themselves seriously. Variations of the gaming monologue are present throughout Beckett's plays and the characters will often address themselves, in a spirit of honest inquiry, to a consideration of the commonplace. Winnie's pointless chatter in Happy Days is typical of the quasiexpression which she confuses with thought. Quietly she observes, " . . . Yes, something seems to have occurred, something has seemed to occur, and nothing has occurred, nothing at all. . ."ββ In order to pass the time, Winnie invents word games. She even invents a story about a child named Mildred. She frightens the fictional child with a fictional mouse. Winnie herself screams with fright at the authenticity she has created. Relieved by her shrieks, Winnie prepares to sing to end another happy day. In the second act, spirited by her desire for word play, Winnie reflects on the sadness after intercourse and compares that to the melancholia derived from singing.97 At least ten other distinct examples are present in the text. In All That Fall, Mr. Rooney engages in similar mental exercises, talking just to pass the time or to hear himself speak. In Embers, Henry enjoys a canter talking about talking to himsef.98 Monologue Negating Factors of Practical Existence. - This final classification of the monologue is less widely used, but still distinctive enough to warrant separate title. This form may be distinguished by the negative assertions which are directed toward those small concerns of practical life. Widely used in Happy Days, the device provides Winnie with the futile consolations of her sexuality - her lipstick, her hat, her bosom, her nail file - and her apparent indifference. Contrasted to her early response to these practical concerns, Winnie eventually begins to question and even negate their existence: " . . . I say I used to think 95 98 97 98

Guicharnaud, Modern French Theatre, 214. Happy Days, 39. Happy Days, 57. Embers, 97.

RHETORICAL-POETIC ANALYSIS

77

that all these things - put back into the bag - if too soon - if needed but no - no no - what I have said is strange - yes strange - were it not that all seems strange. . . " " Early preoccupation with her physique leads to, . . . My arms . . . My breasts, What arms? What Breasts? . . . a hint of lip . . . (pouts) if I pout him o u t . . . (sticks out tongue) if I stick out, (sticks it out a g a i n ) . . . the tip . . . (eyes up) suspicion of brow . . . eyebrow . . . imagination possibly . . . cheek no . . . no . . . even if I puff them o u t . . . no, no.100

So pronounced is the pattern ence of her environment, " . . . . . . (pause) that d a y . . . the What reeds? (long pause.)"101 own speech,

of negation, Winnie questions the existThe sunshade you gave me . . . that day l a k e . . . the reeds. What day? (Pause) And finally, as the end approaches, her

. . . Then you may close your eyes and keep them closed. Why say that again? I used to t h i n k . . . I say I used to think there was no difference between one fraction of a second and the next. I used to s a y . . . I say I used to say, Winnie, you are changeless, there is never any difference between one fraction of a second and the next. Why bring that up again?102

Beckett creates a situation with his language which corresponds to the idea to be communicated. In Waiting for Godot, Vladimir questions his awareness, "Was I sleeping while the others suffered? Am I sleeping now? Tomorrow, when I wake, or think I do, what shall I say of today?"103 Conclusions. - The trend in Beckett's dramatic style has been toward increased usage of the monologue form. The reasons appear to be three: 1. Beckett's drama proceeds without interaction of characters hence the monologue form suits his expressive purpose. Much of the conversation between characters comes about as the result of dramatic necessity; each may be viewed as a monologue in dramatic form (which reverts to a single voice when there is no dramatic necessity). 2. All Beckett's characters seem cruelly aware of what is happening to them. "This is why they must talk, find a sounding board in someone, or at least monologue endlessly, to prevent the discourse from coming to an end."104 99

i»» 101 102

104

Happy Days, 45. Ibid. Happy Days, 53. Happy Days, 59-60. Waiting for Godot, 90. Pronko, Avant-Garde, 43.

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3. The monologue, with its intrinsic alienation effect, is a more powerful, more authentic device to project the situational intensity of man's suffering and despair. Stichomythia

The prose-poetry distinction, elaborated earlier as a matter of degree, reaches a crisis in Beckett's use of the stichomythic "lyric". This idiosyixracy of style is most widely employed in Waiting for Godot, (ten, fully developed examples), however, the form can be observed in Endgame.

Stichometry is characterized by the staccato effect of dialogue made up of short, balanced remarks. This type of dramatic dialogue is usually a duet - two voices set the rhythm going and then round it off. The interjections of a third voice may sustain the rhythm, but is likely to obscure the meaning. Like other Beckettian concepts, the stichomythic lyric was adopted from the ancient Greek drama where the practice achieved its purest form in the expression of successive ideas in single lines of length corresponding to natural cadence or sense divisions.105 The most famous modern example is the stichomythic monologue of T. S. Eliot's "Hollow Men". Eliot has remained faithful to the classical form as successive images correspond to natural rhythms, . . . Between the desire And the spasm Between the potency And the existence Between the essence And the descent Falls the shadow.. . loe

Adapting the form for his purpose, Beckett retained the cadence but seriously modified the classical stichometric requirement that accumulative progression of thought was necessary. While the form with its natural rhythms, presented an opportunity for Beckett to regulate his fundamental sounds, the cumulative growth of ideas, the logical progression of thought was antithetical to his dramatic purpose. The great 105 Webster's New World Dictionary, College Edition (New York: World Publishing Company, 1955). 106 Thomas S. Eliot, "The Hollow Men", in England in Literature, Robert C. Pooley, et al. (Chicago: Scott, Foresman and Company, 1963), 642.

RHETORICAL-POETIC ANALYSIS

79

task was to elevate prose to the level of poetry without glorifying language or constructing beautiful metaphors. In the following illustration, the form is employed with a grotesque subject. Vladimir comments on seeing Lucky's neck, VLADIMIR: ESTRAGON VLADIMIR: ESTRAGON VLADIMIR: ESTRAGON VLADIMIR: ESTRAGON VLADIMIR: ESTRAGON VLADIMIR:

A running sore. It's the rope. It's the rubbing. It's inevitable. It's the knot. It's the chafing. He's not bad looking. Would you say so? A trifle effeminate. Look at the slobber. It's inevitable .. ,107

In another example, the repetitive echo is used precisely as a verse form, VLADIMIR: ESTRAGON: VLADIMIR: ESTRAGON: VLADIMIR: ESTRAGON: VLADIMIR: ESTRAGON: VLADIMIR: ESTRAGON:

Charming evening we're having. Unforgettable. And it's not over. Apparently not. It's only the beginning. It's awful. It's worse than being at the theatre. The circus. The music-hall. The circus . . .10e

A third illustration demonstrates the lack of any sustained argument, VLADIMIR: ESTRAGON VLADIMIR: ESTRAGON VLADIMIR: ESTRAGON VLADIMIR: ESTRAGON VLADIMIR: ESTRAGON

You're right. We're inexhaustible. It's so we won't think. We have that excuse. It's so we won't hear. We have our reasons. All the dead voices. They make a noise like wings. Like leaves. Like sand. Like leaves .. ,109

There are several characteristics which grace each example: 107

"β «»

Waiting for Godot, Godot, 34. Godot, 62.

25.

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1. There is formal rhythm in the music of intersecting voices. 2. The use of transparent words, rapid subject shifting, and the listener's unconcern tend to defeat any possibility for the logical development of thought. 3. There are no majestic figurative images constructed, only the dullness of the commonplace repeated. 4. There is no accumulative development in the actual images constructed, instead, an actual antithesis of the concrete figures exemplified in illustration three, above. The dead voices are compared by Vladimir to wings and sand, by Estragon to leaves; then, after a digression, Vladimir compares them to feathers and ashes, and Estragon again to leaves and leaves. 5. Behind the words, independent of them yet emphasizing them, is vague movement, an ebb and flow of action reflected in the tempo of the speeches. This apparent contradiction is partially explained since Beckett defines his work as "a matter of fundamental sounds made as fully as possible".110 6. One final ephemeral quality is characteristic of each of the ten examples in Godot. The concrete images, the rhythms, the antithesis, the intersecting voices, each disintegrates into silence. Function of the Stichomythic Form. - The actual function of the lyric is a subject of no little controversy. The interpretations vary widely, Stichomythy is an antiphonal chant of misery.111 The empty, monotonous stichomythy constitutes the source of one of Beckett's major comic techniques. 112 Beckett uses stichomythy as concentrated efforts to stave off the inanimate silence. 113 Stichomythy suggests a lack of communication as each man follows his own train of thought almost oblivious to what the other is saying.114 The technique of the duet is another means of calling attention to the existential to transmute the order of everyday reality to a new order of artistic reality.115 110

"i

112 113 114 115

Samuel Beckett, quoted in Reid, All I Can Manage, More Than I Could, 27. Guicharnaud, Modern French Theatre, 200. Scott, ed., Man in the Modern Theatre, 107. Hoy, The Hyacinth Room, 261. Pronko, Avant Garde, The Experimental Theatre in France, p. 129. Harvey, "Art and the Existential", 161.

RHETORICAL-POETIC ANALYSIS

81

Endgame boasts the only other examples of the rhythmic duet in Beckett's plays. The form is not as fully developed as in his earlier work, in fact this writer would speculate that he fully intended to depreciate the form. In Endgame, the rhythms are not so resurgent, the actual dialogue of the stichomythia assumes a decrescendo in striking contrast to the earlier forms. Instead of allowing the form to develop fully and to impose its rhythmic power upon the reader/spectator, Beckett hints of an impending rhythmic pattern, then smashes it before any established rhythm can produce poetic effects. The defeat of the form can be examined in the following examples: CLOV: So you all want me to leave you. HAMM: Naturally. CLOV: Then I'll leave you. HAMM: You can't leave us. CLOV: Then I won't leave you. HAMM: Why don't you finish us? (Pause) I'll tell you the combination of the cupboard if you promise to finish me.116 The destruction is obvious in this example for the pattern is splintered by the insertion of a long unrhythmic speech by Hamm. In the next example, Nagg interrupts the nature of the duet with three, short speeches of his own - each designated with a time-lapse, NAGG: NELL: HAMM: NAGG: NELL: NAGG:

Are you crying again? I was trying. Perhaps it's a little vein. What was that he said? Perhaps it's a little vein. What does that mean? (Pause) That means nothing. (Pause)117

In the final example, Hamm interrupts the word cadence with three sustained pauses and a prolonged speech: CLOV: HAMM: CLOV: HAMM: CLOV: HAMM: CLOV: HAMM: CLOV: HAMM: 118 117

He would have climbed the trees. All the little odd jobs. . All then he would have grown up. Very likely. Keep going, can't you, keep going! That's all. I stopped there. Do you see how it goes on. More or less. Will it not soon be the end? I'm afraid it will.

Endgame, 37. Endgame, 20.

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CLOV: HAMM:

ANALYSIS

Pah! You'll make up another. I don't know. (Pause) I feel rather drained. (Pause) The prolonged creative effort. (Pause) If I could drag myself down to the sea! I'd make a pillow of sand for my head and the tide would come. 118

In Endgame, there are at least ten strong illustrations of the rhythm defeat and a weak case could be established for half a dozen more. While the pattern is clearly distinguished, the reasons are not. Conclusions. - In Godot, stichomythia is reserved for Estragon and Vladimir only, while in the only other play in which Beckett uses the device, a "suggested" stichomythia is produced by all four characters. Stylistically, the arrangement of conversational irregularities into rhythmic patterns elevates Beckett's dramatic language to various levels for interpretation. By patterning and imposing rhythmic qualities with consummate skill, Becket has transformed common, ordinary language to produce the emotional effect characteristic of much poetry. Beckett has subscribed to Eliot's notion,119 regarded earlier, of deepening and reinforcing the dramatic effect by the musical effect of a varied style. With his strong background in Elizabethan drama and the literature of classical antiquity, Becket has demonstrated that the most profound emotions invariably find their fittest literary expression in rhythmical patterns. Phatic

Communion

Another very prominent feature of Beckett's style is the use of varied forms of phatic communion. Some working definitions will be followed by classification according to specific function. Phatic communion is defined by Bronislaw Malinowski as that speech which is used to establish the bonds of social communion between individuals. Inclusive are greetings, jests, pleasantries, compliments, all serving to create a pleasant social atmosphere.120 The technique, with slight modifications, appears in all Beckett's dramatic writing and a definite pattern can be established. Generally, the use of phatic communion is most prominent in the 118

Endgame, 61. Donoghue, The Third Voice, 17. 120 John W. Black, Wilbur E. Moore, Speech (New York: McGraw-Hill and Company, 1955), 162-163. 118

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83

early plays diminishing to variations (including monologues and intrapersonal communication) in the later plays. The reduction of usage is due largely to a decrease in the number of characters, for in some plays, the dramatis personae are reduced to one character. Since "social communion" is difficult to conceive with only one character, Malinowski's definition will be extended to embrace intra-personal communication. It it hoped that illustrations will help offer clarification. In Beckett's writing, there are repeated examples of second person address to an inanimate object. Winnie talks to her revolver,121 Krapp to his spool,122 Henry to the sea,123 Hamm to the stuffed dog,124 The Opener speaks to Music,125 in most instances, there are repetitions. In each case the concern of the speaker is as intense as if other characters were the intended recipient of the message. Whether or not the inanimate address can be called intra-personal or quasi-communication is not important. The important notion is that there are frequent and recurring patterns of communication distinguished as uncommon forms. Winnie distinguishes a very common form of intra-personal communication in Happy Days. She will ask herself a question fully aware there will be no response other than the one she provides. This same kind of word play occurs frequently in Endgame, in fact, Hamm's last soliloquy has seven questions - all answered by himself. Vladimir uses the device six times in his penultimate soliloquy. Henry's opening and closing monologue in Embers employs the question and self-answer form. While these idiosyncracies of style establish the pattern of a single form, these similarities are not to be confused with the total language function in different plays. For instance, the language tissue of Henry's existence is very different from that of Hamm or those waiting for Godot. Each has uniqueness in situation, characters, and ideas. Categorized by its function, the conventional "aside" has been exploited by Beckett as phatic communion. Alone in his wheelchair, Hamm interrupts his last soliloquy to interject, "Nicely put that". 128 When Clov interrupts a metaphysical speculation, Hamm scolds, "An aside ape! Did you never hear an aside before?" 127 There are many 121 122 123 124 123 128 127

Happy Days, 33. Krapp's Last Tape, 12. Embers, 95. Endgame, 82. Cascando, 16. Endgame, 83. Endgame, 48.

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such examples in Godot. Estragon cries out for words to fill the void. "Let's make a little conversation." But even the proliferation of words which follows cannot guarantee communication. Often the so-called dialogue degenerates into two distinct monologues - what began as inter-personal communication fades into individual logorrhea. One delivers a heavy recitation and the other punctures his pretensions, "Many of the duologues are conducted in the pattern of patter associated with the irrelevancies and antics of a frivolous medium, even when the topics are serious."128 Although regarded in an earlier section, some of the monologue forms (particularly monologue of games), should be included in this section of phatic communion. Obviously, the monologue answers to many functions and a monologue of games might also be regarded at phatic communion. Classification Related to Ideas. - The single, most significant reason for the development of phatic communion appears to be that the form corresponds to Beckett's ideational content. Molloy sums up the attitude of most of Beckett's writing, Not to want to say, not to know what you want to say, not to be able to say what you think you want to say, and never to stop saying, or hardly ever, that is the thing to keep in mind, even in the heat of composition. 129

Communication is not necessary in a Beckettian community where, "Man's situation cannot be defined by his communion with others, nor by an absolute absence of relations with other, but by a fluctuation between the two extremes."130 Nevertheless, words continue to flow Krapp communes with his own voice canned, re-creating experience in an interpersonal monologue. In Happy Days, Winnie never stops talking. Her need for phatic communion is beautifully illustrated as, Bless you Willie, just to know that in theory you can hear me even though in fact you don't is all I need, just to feel you there within earshot and conceivable on the qui vive is all I ask . . , 131

While it remains inconceivable to Winnie that speech should not reach toward another person, late in the play, she ponders her communication difficulties,

128 128 130 181

J. L. Stylan, The Dark Comedy (Cambridge: The University Press, 1968), 228. Esslin, The Theatre of the Absurd, 43. Guicharnaud, Modern French Theatre, 203. Happy Days, 27.

RHETORICAL-POETIC ANALYSIS

85

. . . I say I used to think that I would learn to talk along (Pause) By that I mean to myself, the wilderness. But no. No. No. Ergo you are there.132

Her specious logic is predicated on an earlier remark, insisting that Willie must be there to listen, Ergo you are there. Oh no doubt you are dead, like the others, no doubt you have died, or gone away and left me, like the others, it doesn't matter, you are there.133

Her distorted reasoning may be translated into a syllogism. Winnie's delusion lies with the power of the word as a means of communication, therefore, the word spoken without a listener would be absurd. Since she speaks all the time, Willie must be there to listen. Classification Related to Plot. - Beckett's concept of plot-avoidance has created a situation where language must be employed to pass time and to avoid the significance of change. One or the other of the two tramps in Godot suggests something to pass the time - making conversation, repenting, hanging themselves, telling stories, insulting one another, or playing at Pozzo and Lucky. But each time the attempt founders, after a few uncertain exchanges, give up, admit failure. Vladimir needs someone to talk to - a sounding board for his verbal disgressions. With word games, Becket uses sound to fill the silence. At one stage, there is a five page elaboration of phatic communion, after which Estragon comments with justifiable pride, "That wasn't a bad little canter.134 Later, when the communication threatens to break down, Estragon becomes irritated and pleads, "Expand, Expand!"135 Since Beckett has no intention of advancing the action, phatic communion is a perfect anti-plot device. Classification Related to Characters. - Consistent with his principle of plot-avoidance, Beckett's heroes use words and perform gestures that are intended to be amusing, in order to pass time. "In a selfdelusional process, [Beckett's hero] seeks not to amuse others but to cheat his own boredom."136 In desperation, the characters force a running conversation, even if what they say is false, VLADIMIR: ESTRAGON: 132

Say you are (happy) even if it's not true. What am I to say?

Happy Days, 50. Happy Days, 38. 134 Waiting for Godot, 65. 135 Godot, 86. is· Fletcher, Samuel Beckett's Art, 243. 133

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VLADIMIR: ESTRAGON: VLADIMIR: ESTRAGON: VLADIMIR:

Say, I am happy. I am happy. So am I. So am I. We are happy. What do we do now we are happy?137

Behind this sort of word play, one senses that the characters of Beckett are somehow aware that they are seeking only a brief diversion through phatic communion. Conclusion - Phatic communion is in evidence in different functions as: word games, asides, intra-personal communication and the monologue of games. As Hamm points out, " . . . babble, babble, words, like the solitary child who turns himself into children, two, three, so as to be together and whisper together in the dark . . .",138 communion plays an important role in Beckett's language system. Whether Beckett intended phatic communion as an ironic illusion of communication, a stylistic device for undermining the stability of the world as we know it, or perhaps an attack on conventional language, whatever his intent, this dynamic mode serves as one more stylistic device to drain language of any meaning. Word Groupings Of the remaining rhetoric-poetic ingredients in Beckett's style, none strikes more obviously than the syntax and the arrangement of word "clusters". The most prominent arrangement of language in all of Beckett's prose is the stichomythic lyric. The section devoted to stichomythia has only partly described the ambiguous language of poetic imagination. Remaining is the main body of Beckett's dramatic writing. Even as the stichomythic application shifted from extended use in the early plays to later extinction so did word groupings with strong rhythms diminish. The tight syntax characteristic of Godot and Endgame degenerates to mere disjointed monologues in Embers and Eh Joe? Beckett's problem was similar to that of T. S. Eliot in his search for a verse form which could admit ordinary speech while being able to rise to the intensity of poetry when needed. Beckett solves the problem by incorporating various poetic devices into prose forms. The most important devices are: 137 138

Waiting for Godot, 60. Endgame, 70.

RHETORICAL-POETIC ANALYSIS

1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

87

a duologuistic tempo a refrain repetition speech patterns connotative power of words

Obviously, these stylistic traits are not peculiar to poetry, however, skillfully collaborated with word groupings, a rhythmic quality is produced which often achieves a poetic intensity. In a personal interview, Beckett confided to Richard Coe that he was afraid of English because he "couldn't help writing poetry in it".130 This explanation offers a clue to one of the more puzzling qualities of Beckett's style. Coe concludes, "Whereas much of his prose is superb poetry, much of his poetry is second rate verse."140 Prior to any discussion of poetic features, some description of Beckett's dramatic prose is necessary. The actual word groupings in Beckett's early plays are characterized by extremely short speeches. In ten random samples of twenty consecutive speeches from Godot and Endgame, the average speech is 3.4 words. In one of the middle plays (Winnie's monologue in Happy Days), word groupings are seldom interrupted and the average speech jumps to 560 words. In one of the late plays, Eh Joe? the average speech is 1050 words. The entire play is one monologue. The long monologue trend is contradicted in another late play, Play, where the average speech is 7.5 words. Another quality of Beckett's prose is its economy of expression. Not only are the speeches brief in the early plays but the actual number of different words in greatly restricted. Words of Anglo-Saxon origin dominate the usage. The most striking method with which Beckett achieves his poetic intensity lies in the tempo of the speeches. Particularly in Godot, Endgame, and Play, there is a strong rhythmic quality imparted by the duologuistic tempo of the speeches in elemental lumps. The actual diction and the connotative power of the word is subordinated to rhythmic progression. In Play, words are used in the manner of a drum and Beckett conducts his symphony with a spotlight - signaling rhythmic response from the actor. Contrasted to the pace of Endgame, Play achieves its poetic power from syncopated words while the spotlight probes from one 139 140

Coe, Samuel Beckett, 14. Coe, 11.

88

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ANALYSIS

character to another beating out the precise cadence. The sound patterns do not depend on any "interpretation" imposed by the actor or director as Alec Reid directs, "The sound patterns are inevitable, deliberately constructed by Beckett through the words he has chosen, the way he has arranged them, and the pauses which he has put down to separate them."141 In Krapp's Last Tape, Reid distinguishes three distinct sound patterns: an even-paced measure for narrative speech, a slower, long-drawn-out lyrical tempo, and a brisker, harsh sardonic tone.142 There are also distinct periods of silence marking the change from one rhythm to the next. Characteristic of the prose in the early plays is a rhythm established by repetition in vocal refrain. Classified by function in an earlier section, repetition serves yet another purpose. The effect is clearly seen in the following illustration as Vladimir addresses the boy. VLADIMIR: BOY: VLADIMIR: BOY: VLADIMIR: BOY: VLADIMIR: BOY: VLADIMIR: BOY: VLADIMIR: BOY: VLADIMIR: BOY:

D o you not recognize me? N o sir. It wasn't you that came yesterday? N o sir. This is your first time? Yes sir. You have a message from Mr. Godot? Yes sir. He won't come this evening? N o sir. But he'll come tomorrow? Yes sir. Without fail? Yes sir.14'

rhe boy's reply produces a refrain of hypnotic effect reminiscent of rhythms in certain liturgical services. A strong cadence is produced with word clusters in the form of refrains particularly in the early plays. There are many illustrations in Godot. Typical is, POZZO:

I can't bear it any longer . . . the way he goes on . . . you've no i d e a . . . it's terrible . . . he must go . . . I'm going mad . . . I can't bear i t . . . VLADIMIR: He can't bear it. ESTRAGON: Any longer. 141

Reid, All I Can Manage, More Than I Could, 22. Reid, 21. «« Godot, 91. 141

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89

VLADIMIR: He's going mad. ESTRAGON: It's terrible.144

The same technique is recurrent in Endgame, HAMM: Extinguished! CLOV: Naturally it's extinguished. If it's not on it's extinguished. HAMM: No. I mean Mother Pegg. CLOV: But naturally she's extinguished.143

And in All That Fall, MRS. ROONEY: MR. ROONEY: MRS. ROONEY: MR. ROONEY: MRS. ROONEY:

Sit down on what? On a bench for example. There is no bench. Then on a bank, let us sink down upon a bank. There is no bank.148

When the refrain is no longer possible between characters as in the monologue plays (Krapp, Eh Joe?, Happy Days), a vocal refrain is self-induced by the monologuist. The description of "word clusters" is relative simple contrasted to the difficulty explaining precisely how clusters produce sound patterns and rhythms. Underlying each principle is the connotative power of words so important in poetry. Beckett's use of clusters may be regarded as an associative one where ideas are not arranged in precise, orderly patterns but as word clusters in a kind of thematic arrangement. Pronko has compared these clusters to a recurrent theme in a musical composition.147 Conclusion. - Beckett's word groupings are characteristic of the nature of clean, poetic dialogue. The words are flowing and bounding in duets that resemble the language of music with the idea woven in between. In the early plays Beckett achieves poetic intensity with the use of refrain, repetition, speech patterns to establish rhythms, connotative power of words and the duologue with tempo. As Beckett's theatre evolved toward the monologue, a sort of poetic alienation has resulted. In the plays, the poetic devices which were employed to achieve rhythmic power have, like man's communicative ability, all but disappeared.

144 145

»«

147

Godot, 33. Endgame, 42. All That Fall, 76. Pronko, Avant-Garde,

203.

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Intentional

Dystax

The stylistic techniques thus far have demonstrated Beckett's precise workmanship. There are however, several characteristics of Beckett's prose which serve to destroy literary grace. The most obvious is intentional dystax. Beckett's most prominent critics generally agree that the dystax is rooted in Beckettian philosophy. Federman concludes that, "Beckett delights in abusing the vocabulary, distorting the syntax, torturing the diction, until linguistic complexities are made to demonstrate the inadequacy of language as a means of communication." 148 Susan Sontag offers a similar view, "The point of Beckett is to show how diction, punctuation, syntax and narrative order can be recast to express impersonal states of consciousness." 149 Wellworth suggests that man's increased knowledge has only served to make him aware of the uselessness of knowledge and Beckett garbles language into stream-ofconsciousness monologues to parody logical thought. 150 Beckett's syntax is often the syntax of nonsense, the grammar of absurdity. Like the hero of Malone Dies, Beckett might well say, "There is no use indicting words they are no shoddier than what they peddle." 151 In the broken fragments of near-nonsense, Beckett contrives a verbal play with its function to mime the impossibility of genuine communication between men. 152 The interruption of logically connected utterance assumes many different forms in Beckett's style. The different forms function in different ways depending often upon contextual and thematic interpretation. The most common forms of dystax are represented as: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

stream-of-consciousness monologues, interrupted dialogue of pairs, syntactical ambiguity, abrupt non-sequiturs, and tautologies.

There is widespread use and numerous illustration in early, middle, and late plays. It is hoped that one example of each will be sufficient to assign positive significance. 148

Federman, Journey to Chaos, 139. Susan Sontag, Against Interpretation (New York: Farrar, Straus, Giroux, 1966), 101. 150 Wellvvorth, The Theatre of Protest and Paradox, 42. 151 Samuel Beckett, Malone Dies (New York: Grove Press, 1956), 19. 152 Scott, Man in the Modern Theatre, 107. 149

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ANALYSIS

91

Stream-of-Consciousness Dystax. - Frequently, Beckett's language bears witness to a mind out of control. What Hoy identified as, "a monstrous computer disgorging nonsense along with fragments of whatever meaningful data might once have been fed into it as Lucky's demonstration of thinking the first act of Godot". 153 It is ironic that Wellworth identifies this stream-of-consciousness monologue as the clearest statement of Beckett's belief in the uselessness of thought.154 A segment of Lucky's fragmented monologue aptly illustrates the form, LUCKY:

. . . in spite of the tennis on the beard the flames the teams the stones so blue so calm alas alas on the skull the skull the skull in Connemara in spite of the tennis the labours abandoned left unfinished graver still the abode of stones in a word I resume alas alas abandoned unfinished the skull the skull in Connemara . . .155

To allow one character to clutter the dialogue with three full pages of surface gibberish, the author demonstrates his irreverence for logically connected thought. Interrupted Dialogue of Pair. - Beckett contrives many instances of verbal claptrap in the exchange between dramatic pairs. Frequently, a character appears genuinely concerned about advancing an idea of some magnitude. In the face of that sincerity, his counterpart always interrupts the attempt at thought with dry banality, comic routine, or some trivial gesture designed to rupture what might have evolved into a sustained dialogue. When the possibility of a sustained exchange occurs in Endgame, Hamm interrupts with, HAMM: We're not beginning to . . . to . . . mean something? CLOV: Mean something! You and I, mean something! HAMM: I wonder. Imagine if a rational being came back to earth, wouldn't he be liable to get ideas into his head if he observed us long enough... To think perhaps it won't all have been for nothing! CLOV: (scratching himself) I have a flea!15" To interrupt contemplation is one thing - to interrupt a philosophical contemplation with a pediculosis problem is vulgar. Syntactical Ambiguity. - There are many striking examples of ambiguous syntax. Outstanding not only because they detract from clarity, but because they call attention to themselves. Since Beckett regards 153 154

iss 156

H o y , The Hyacinth Room, 92. W e l l w o r t h , The Theatre of Protest and Paradox, Waiting for Godot, 44. Endgame, 32.

42.

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ANALYSIS

language as a dead habit, his disjointed rhetoric forms strange configurations when he feels the need for appropriate development. One such typical confusion is evidenced by Winnie's cry for Willie, WINNIE:

Willie! Willie! Ah well, not to know, not to know for sure, great mercy, all I ask. Ah yes . . . then . . . now . . . beecchen green . . . this . . . Charlie . . . kisses . . . t h i s . . . all that deep trouble for the mind.157

The ambiguous use of past and present time with no referrent, the placement of this, all that in general reference help to communicate doubt and uncertainty in the character and also in the spectator viewing the character in confused situation. Abrupt Non-Sequiturs. - The non-sequitur is suited to Beckett's communication theory and is most widely exploited in the monologue plays. In Play, lines like, "That poor creature who tried to seduce you, what ever became of her, do you suppose?" are followed by, "Personally, I always preferred Lipton's."158 In Embers, Henry's abrupt change of topic jars the imagination, Henry:

Very unhappy and uneasy, hangs round a bit, not a soul about, cold wind coming in off sea, goes back down path and takes tram home. Christ! "My dear B o l t o n . . . If it's an injection you want, Bolton, let down your trousers and I'll give you one, I have a panhysterectomy at nine," meaning of course the anaesthetic. Fire out, bitter cold . . . white world, great trouble, not a sound.158

Tautologies. - This device has been classified under dystax since tautology often functions to create syntactical ambiguity. The needless repetition of the tautology appears in a variety of ways, often completing itself in single speeches. Other examples require the duet to complete the device. The early and middle plays seem to provide the greatest abundance of the form, while the device tends to diminish in the monologue plays. Pozzo dramatically illustrates the form in Godot, POZZO:

157

"»

What is there so extraordinary about it? Qua sky? It is pale and luminous like any sky at this hour of the day. In these latitudes. When the weather is fine. An hour ago roughly having poured forth ever since say ten o'clock in the morning tirelessly torrents of red and white light it began to lose its effulgence, to grow pale, pale, even a little paler, a little paler, until pppfff! finished!

Happy Days, 51. Play, 56. Embers, 119.

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93

it come to rest. But behind this veil of gentleness and peace night is charging and will burst upon us . . , leo

Conclusion. - Beckett's intentional dystax is a precise arrangement oí language which becomes readily apparent in the examination of his revisions. The successive versions of Endgame in the Ohio State University Library contain no modification in the abrupt non-sequiturs. Regarding Beckett's revisions, Ruby Cohn has indicated that "There are many phrasal changes in order to achieve ludicrous incongruity, syntactical ambiguity, symbolic ambivalence, and more intense rhythms."161 While the interrupted dialogue, non-sequiturs, and ambiguities are stumbling blocks to clarity, all the variations of dystax collaborate with Beckett's design to strip the human story of any high significance. Contradictions The use of contradiction is another characteristic of Beckett's prose which functions as an anti-clarity device. The principle of contradiction evolves from varied aspects of Beckett's theatre. For example, the action of the stage often contradicts the words spoken by the characters. A distinction must be made between (1) contradictions of verbal language and (2) contradictions between language and action. The latter form will be regarded in another context, "The Effects of Language upon Dramatic Situation", in the last chapter. The contradictions in Beckett's language system are basically of two types: those existing in the duet, and those internal contradictions of the monologue form. Separate examples will be provided for each form. There are many examples in Beckett's dramaturgy where the value of language is depreciated. Notably in the early plays, the dialogue poses striking contradictions between characters. In Godot, there are numerous lines which obliterate what was said in the preceeding speech. In his thesis on Beckett, Niklaus Gessner developed an entire list of passages from Godot in which assertions made by one of the characters are gradually qualified, weakened, and hedged in with reservations until they are completely taken back.162 Like all other ingredients of Beckett's style, contradictory «o Godot, 37. »" Cohn, 295. 168 Esslin, The Theatre of the Absurd, 43.

94

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language evolved as Beckett's literary purpose changed. Coe confirms that, His subject matter begins to drift further and further away from the realms of common "reality" toward that nothingness which is ultimate reality. And the Nothing is that which, by definition, cannot be expressed directly in terms of language All language is specious. 163

Specifically in Godot, Hoffman agrees, the contradictions of language serve to undercut all efforts to make the play's meaning sombre or significant. 164 The most frequent arrangement of verbal contradiction is found in sentences which conclude by denying the assertions with which they began. In Happy Days, Winnie contradicts her own weak assertions five times in one speech. 165 In Embers, Henry constantly contradicts his composition, "Shutters . . . no hangings", "the light, no light", "sitting there in the . . . no standing", "conversation then on the step, no in the room". I n his ultimate soliloquy, Henry uses six, striking contradictions. Two examples are sufficient to convey the notion, "Bolton starts playing with the curtain, no, hanging, difficult to describe, draws it back, no, kind of gathers it toward h i m . . ." 1ββ Other less frequent usage of contradiction is evidenced by the use of questions that are answered by additional questions often of a frivolous nature. Although not as precise in its contradictory function, this interrupted questioning serves to work against the effectiveness of language. To comprehend fully the literary power of a stylistic device such as contradiction, the nature of the character, in situation, must be experienced. When Henry and Winnie are experienced in the light of their predicament, contradiction becomes a reality - an absolutely essential literary contrivance - to communicate precisely Beckett's ideas. Clichés and Pratfalls The dystax and language contradictions just concluded serve as a fitting prelude to another stylistic contrivance of Beckett's prose. Both cliche 163 184 11,5

Coe, Samuel Beckett, 13. Hoffman, Op. Cit., p. 144. Happy Days, 51. Embers, 119.

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95

and pratfall have been united under one section since they often function in close relationship. While the pratfall may be designed to express unwarranted or at least unexpected pain, it is a comic destruction of cliche sentiments. Hoffman defines the pratfall as, "A disgusting or vulgar defeat or collapse of sentimental expectations."167 When Estragon asks Vladimir to embrace him, Vladimir obliges, but the effect is anything but sentimental, " . . . (Estragon recoils.) You stink of garlic!"1"8 Also related to the pratfall is the conventional simile which Brown and Harris distinguish as a transfigured cliche. A clear illustration is offered as Pozzo tells the tramps, "I woke up one day as blind as fortune" and the cliche takes on poignancy as Pozzo's individual blindness is identified with the blindness of the world process. Cliche and pratfall function together when Estragon has been kicked by Lucky and Vladimir protests angrily, "He's bleeding", Pozzo comments, "It's a good sign." Richard Schechner distinguishes another function of the cliche, Cliches are converted into game/rituals by dividing the lines between Gogo and Didi, by arbitrarily assigning one phrase to each. Thus we have a sense of their "pairdom", while we are entranced by the rhythm of their dialogue.1*9

A final function of the cliche gives emphasis to repetition. Everything Winnie says she says again. Her first line is a cliche, "another heavenly day". Throughout the play, she repeats stale cliches, "genuine pure", "nothing like it", "there is so little one can do", "this is what I always say", and "great mercies". The repetition of cliches can produce a deadly monotony. A similar example of the olfactory pratfall in Godot ("You stink of garlic!") is repeated as a vulgar defeat of sentimentality in Endgame. Hamm asks sincerely, "You won't come and kiss me goodbye?" Quickly realizing that his remark has created a tender display of emotion, Hamm states abruptly, "You stink already. The whole place stinks of corpses." Beckettians do not display tender human emotions for sustained periods. In Godot, when Estragon goes to comfort Lucky, who is weeping because his master has spoken of killing him, he receives a kick in the shins for his pains. This is to destroy all pretense of human »« "β 108

Hoffman, Op. Cit., 142. Godot, Π. Casebook on Godot, 184.

96

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ANALYSIS

sentiment. When Nell and Nagg rise from their ashcans in Endgame, the pratfall slaps hard at any possibility for emotional development, NELL: NAGG: NELL: NAGG: NELL: NAGG: NELL: NAGG:

What is it my pet? Time for love? Were you asleep? Oh no! Kiss me. We can't. Try. Why this farce, day after day? I've lost me tooth. 170

While the predominate usage of the pratfall appears in the early plays, the cliche continues to appear frequently in the monologue plays. In the later radio-dramas, Ruby Cohn distinguishes an interesting phenomenon, "Mrs. Rooney attempts to resist the pat phrase by employing an exotic vocabulary (ramdam, merde), and phrases which tend to mean more than she seems to be saying." While it has been demonstrated that the style of Beckett's stage speech is often intentionally pedestrian and hackneyed, it is nevertheless powerfully evocative. At times, the use of cliches and pratfalls serves to satirize the vacuity of everyday conversation. With Winnie, the cliche is a desperate cover to conceal the fear of silence. At other times the very dryness of dialogue works hard to express the breakdown, the disintegration of language. Indelicacies of Language While contradictions, dystax, and pratfalls may be regarded as direct frontal assaults on language, indelicacies should be considered as an oblique attack. Beckett's strategy has been to arrange stylistic indelicacies to function as "anti-embellishment" features in an effort to produce and vivify a comic shock effect. Indelicacies of language appear in a variety of forms: fecal puns, scatalogical speech, irreverencies toward the classico-Christian tradition, obscenities of language, and obscenities of situation. Much of the language in Godot reverts to nonsense or evinces inopportunely a scatological meaning.171 Grossvogel testifies to the quantity of indelicate language, "Puns, frequently fecal, dot the dialogue; names betray the namesakes . . . two metaphysicians whose contribu170 171

Endgame, 14. Grossvogel, Op. Cit., 101.

RHETORICAL-POETIC ANALYSIS

97

tion to mankind has been primarily rhetorical, are named Fartov and Belcher."172 The abundance of indelicacies has resulted from the fact that Beckett's humor is grotesque and vaudevillian. As Hassan has suggested, "Because Beckett's humor is reductive and sadistic, it tends to focus upon scatological rather than erotic functions."173 "The works of Beckett abound in indelicacies", Tindall agrees and establishes a possible debt to Joyce in this connection.174 A variety of examples will help to illustrate the diverse ways in which Beckett employs indelicacies. Hamm blasphemously distorts the Scripture, "Get out of here and love one another, . . . Lick your neighbor as yourself... Peace to our arses . . . " Hamm requires that God be prayed to in silence and then berates Him ("The bastard") for not existing. Beckett mocks the theme of creation as he destroys the flea in Clov's trousers lest a new evolutionary line develop an entire new race of humans. Fecal and urinary puns are common in Godot and Endgame. Vladimir cannot laugh and urinates torrentially. Hamm discloses, "My anger subsides, I'd like to pee." Ten pages later, Clov asks, CLOV: HAMM:

What about that pee? I'm having it.175

In Godot, one of Lucky's dances is called the Hard Stool. Kenner identifies Lucky's stuttering on the word Acacacademy has a fecal pun {caca, Fr. colloquial, excrement). Not all the indelicacies are in the early plays. Embers and Eh Joe? contain obscenities of language and situation. There are many humorous references to sex in All That Fall. When Mrs. Rooney's two hundred pounds are being hoisted into the motor car, Beckett seizes the opportunity to pun on sex, MRS. ROONEY:

O h ! . . . L o w e r ! . . . Don't be afraid! We're past the age when . . . There! . . . N o w ! . . . Get your shoulder under i t ! . . . O h ! . . . (Giggles.) Oh glory!... Up! Up! . . . Ah! I'm in! (Panting of Mr. Slocum. He slams the door.)17®

Beckett installs her innermost desires with a fine rhetorical finesse, "Oh cursed corset! If I could let it out without indecent exposure." "2 173 174 175 17

°

Ibid., 101. Hassan, Op. Cit., 135. Tindall, Samuel Beckett, Endgame, 34. All That Fall, 47.

36.

98

RHETORICAL-POETIC ANALYSIS

While some of Beckett's indelicacies reflect artistic treatment, others strain to produce a humorous effect. One such ineffectual example is represented by Hamm's recreation of the tailor's story, HAMM:

Good, that's all right. A neat seat can be very ticklish. A week later. (Tailor's voice) Frightfully sorry, come back in ten days, can't be helped, a snug crotch is always a teaser. Ten days later, (Tailor's voice) Dreadfully sorry, come back in a fortnight, I've made a balls of the fly. Good as a pinch, a smart fly is a stiff proposition.177

Since "punning" is regarded as low-level humor, there is great risk of offending the literary standards of "good taste". True to form, Beckett has remained oblivious to those dangers. His indelicacies manifest themselves in the comedy of disgust which stresses the absurd isolation of all human concerns. Structural

Closure

There remain but two formal signs of the disintegration of language in Beckett's literary style - structural closure and silence. Much of the evidence for structural completeness in the sentence lies in the nature of the dialogue and has been exhibited in the sections on phatic communion, dystax, repetition, and the monologue. The language breakdown has been evidenced by a loss of meaning in the words themselves, by the inability of the character to remember what has just been said, or the dialogue becoming a mere game to pass the time. Demonstrated earlier with the kind of stubborn repetition that the author employs, the principle of anti-closure is evidenced by the omission of terminal features of a sentence, even the essential parts of a recurrent phrase. The closural principle forces the audience into an active role in the expansion of the phrase to its "natural conclusion". "All that's a lot of bloody - " remains unfinished, and the reader must fish back into his memory for the important missing word, "lies". Structural closure occurs when the concluding portion of a phrase or sentence creates in the reader a sense of appropriate cessation. It announces and justifies the absence of further development for that utterance. As Beckett shifted from fiction to dramatic writing, closural characteristics changed abruptly. In the later fiction long, internal monologues 177

Endgame, 22.

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99

exploit thousand word sentences with abrupt shifts in thought. In the early plays, structural closure dominates the style and complete sentences are a prominent feature. Random samples of Godot and Endgame demonstrate seventy consecutive utterances with terminal punctuation signaling completed thought. As the prose style shifted to the monologue plays (Happy Days and Krapp's Last Tape) the stream-of-consciousness technique permitted an opportunity for a breakdown in logical thought but the number of completed utterances diminished only slightly. While the form of the internal monologue offers great opportunity for anti-closure, Beckett develops no stylistic tendency toward anti-closural structural devices until the introduction of his radio plays. With the viewing audience removed, a kind of stylistic incongruity evolves. To demonstrate, the following radio plays have been sampled to illustrate the variety in terminal closure. In Cascando (1963), only three of thirty utterances have terminal closure. In Words and Music (1962), twenty-five of thirty are complete. In Play (1964), five of thirty are complete. Finally in Eh Joe? (1967), the representation of a constant state of tension does not permit structural completeness and thirty of thirty utterances are incomplete. Even though the radio plays demonstrate wide differences in terminal closure, these cannot be represented as a definite shift in Beckett's stylistic development. Contradictory evidence does not permit positive conclusions about Beckett's use of anti-closure, particularly in the dramatic genre. In spite of the inconsistency of evidence, Leonard Meyer places Beckett's writing in an anti-closural category. With the presumption that anticlosure may be a recognizable impulse in all contemporary art, Meyer compares Beckett's work to modern music which, "directs us toward no points of culmination - established no goals toward which to move. It arouses no expectations, except presumably that it will stop."178 Although Meyer's thesis is directed toward an aesthetic of modern art, the anti-closural principle can be applied to plot and stylistic features as well. Beckett's fiction can be classified with strong anti-closural plot, theme, even sentence features. In his plays, the anti-closural principles are most apparent in theme, plot and frequently, in sentence structure.

178

Leonard B. Meyer, "The End of the Renaissance? Notes on the Radical Empiricism of the Avant Garde", Hudson Review, Vol. 16 (Summer 1963), 174.

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ANALYSIS

Absence of Language The final, striking characteristic of Beckett's style is, paradoxically, the absence of language. Susan Sontag offers insight to the concept, In the greatest art, one is always aware of things that cannot be said, of the contradiction between expression and the presence of the inexpressible. Stylistic devices are also techniques of avoidance. The most potent elements in a work of art are, often, its silences.179

The frequent silences which isolate the words in Beckett's plays serve to isolate the characters from one another and to intimate that the final answer will be silence. Federman distinguishes this desire for silence, for annihilation of one's being, as a form of creative impotence.180 Beckett's struggle to demonstrate the ineffectiveness of language, the disintegration of thought, finds its ultimate expression in an absence of language. Beckett has regarded mere words as powerless to express the dialogue of man and his theatre has evolved from limited dialogue through monologues to profound silence. In the early plays, Hoy has defined Beckett's concerted effort to stave off the inanimate silence in which all human voices will eventually be drowned. The silence that is forever threatening to descend on the characters in Godot, Endgame, and Happy Days is always a felt presence in tragedy.181 From Chekhov's notion of the near-impossibility of effective verbal interchange, Beckett's theatre has evolved toward an Act Without Words. In the short play, a man is flung onto the stage, mysteriously and gradually is supplied with various tools. He is frustrated in his desire to return whence he came, in his several efforts to enjoy his gifts, and even in a suicide attempt. Involved in vain activities to conquer invisible opposing forces, he refuses to rise any more to the bait, and indifferently examines his own two hands. An ironic futility of action is conveyed without words. Beckett has exceeded Steiner's earlier expectations, "Beckett is moving toward a form of the drama in which a character, his feet trapped in concrete and his mouth gagged, will stare at the audience and say nothing."182 Beckett's latest play is called Breath and lasts thirty seconds. "The play, presented at Oxford University Playhouse as part of a tribute to this years winner of the Nobel Prize in literature consisted of a baby's am"·

180 181

182

Sontag, Against Interpretation, 36. Federman, Journey to Chaos, 201. Hoy, The Hyacinth Room, 261. George Steiner, Language and Silence (New York: Atheneum, 1967), 7.

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101

plified cry and breathing against the background of a pile of trash."183 In the recent Royal Court Theatre production of Godot, supervised by the author, the actors maintained during pauses the stance and attitude they had adopted as the last words were being uttered; they did not fidget or budge, but stared before them until the time allowed for the pause had elapsed. A burst of activity followed a still silence.184 To illustrate the frequency, one stichomythic lyric in Act One of Godot is interrupted seven times by the specific direction, Silence, and twice by Long silence. These nine silences in thirty two short speeches strive to secure a means of expression beyond language.185 It may be that the sense of the human predicament which Beckett seeks to express may be achieved most profoundly in the dramatic medium through the mime plays. Conclusion The description of Beckett's stylistic devices has advanced through the first stage - an idiosyncratic analysis of those surface features which strike most obviously. A structural analysis has traced significant threads through Beckett's use of dramatic language to offer an account of the way the author employs language devices. Finally, on another level, these structural surface features of Beckett's style must be regarded as they impose upon dramatic situation, ideas, and character.

183

The Columbus Dispatch, Sunday, March 22, 1970, p. 7. Fletcher, Samuel Beckett's Art, 65. 18 « Waiting for Godot, 62-63.

184

5 S U M M A R Y A N D CONCLUSIONS

Summary of Findings Rhetorical Poetic Distinctions. - The discrimination of the six elements - author, purpose, motive, audience, subject matter and medium - has helped to define the multi-purposeful nature of rhetoric and poetics. One significant principle has emerged from this discussion with precise, literary-historical perspectives, the distinctions between rhetoric and poetic elements are not categorical, but chiefly a matter of degree or emphasis. These elements are particularly helpful where the rhetorical-poetic descriptions of Beckett's dramatic language are examined in detail. Author and Purpose. - One of Beckett's great problems was the selection and arrangement of a medium to communicate impotence. In the traditional dramatic genre, the audience has been accustomed to a powerful plot with conflict and resolution along with strong development of character. These traditional characteristics proved antithetical to his artistic intent since Beckett felt the meaninglessness and despair of the atomic generation demanded a more articulate and profound medium. Thwarted by traditional guidelines which failed to communicate by direct expression, Beckett turned to a medium which was to substitute situation for story and direct, aesthetic impact for indirect, logical description. Modern Theatre Movement. - To assess Beckett's dramatic art in its capacity to establish new directions in dramatic technique, some interpretation of the modern theatre movement has provided valuable insights. Major emphasis has been afforded to evolving trends in dramatic narrative. The period of Messianic Revolt reflects a decline in the importance of plot in favor of ideas. With the development of the stream-of-consciousness technique, there is a movement from praxis to lexis - from

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS

103

an emphasis of linear action in the drama to a disjointed dialogue. Narrative trends developed toward more simplistic styles during the period of Social Revolt. In the period of Existential Revolt, the dramatists of the Absurd seek to create a unique form, not so much directed to imitate absurdity, but a work of art which will transport the audience into the very sense of absurdity, - draw them into the very experience. With the main body of evidence focused upon a limited aspect of dramatic dialogue in the Modern Theatre of Revolt, the following conclusions are rendered: 1. Beckett's unique contribution lies in his creation of a new concept of drama which substitutes situation for story and direct experience for indirect description - a story told in action. Regarded as a modern innovator, more precisely, he must be considered as an artist who does imaginative things with old ideas. 2. Specifically, in relation to dramatic narrative and its disintegration in the modern period, Beckett was to give powerful impetus to a classical idea that was given new birth by Chekhov and developed by Jarry and Artaud. 3. Rejecting the label of a didactic dramatist, Beckett nonetheless strikes a universal chord with his concept of impotence and its subsequent implications for morality, society, and communication. Obviously not an innovator of the impotence concept, Beckett imaginatively creates situations which demonstrate rather than rhetoric which describes. Rhetorical-Poetic

Analysis

Language of Drama. - Some theories of dramatic narrative are regarded in relation to the actual purpose of dramatic language. Four functions of the language of drama: statement, expression, communication, and the influence of one character on another, are distinguished. Insignificance of Dialogue in the Drama. - The avant-garde theatre has tended to immobilize mood - to create the static drama. The concrete object has replaced the spoken word as a means of communication. These antilinguistic tendencies become one of the major ideas in Beckett's dramatic philosophy. Since man's existence poses no certainties, there can be no definite meanings. While it may be certain that Beckett's use of language is designed to devalue the spoken word as a vehicle of conceptual thought, his continued use of language and the

104

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS

eventual shift to mime must, paradoxically, be regarded as a strong attempt to communicate on his part. Characteristics of Style. - The precise, stylistic techniques which Beckett employs are presented on two levels of analysis. First, an idiosyncratic analysis of striking surface features, and ultimately, structural features have been regarded as they impose upon dramatic situation, ideas and characters. There are eleven distinctive stylistic qualities with functional prominence. In order of their approximate relative importance, they are: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11.

Repetition in eight variant forms, classified according to their function Monologue in four variant forms, classified according to their function Stichomythia Phatic communion Word groupings Intentional dystax with five variant forms, classified according to function Contradictions of two types Cliches and Pratfalls Indelicacies Structural closure Absence of language.

Each of the eleven stylistic qualities has been afforded structural significance in the analysis which follows. The precise manner in which the eleven structural features impose upon dramatic situation, ideas, and characters is developed in the Conclusion. Repetition. - The stylistic favorite of all Beckett's verbal play is repetition. The repetitive techniques which the author employs are distinctive enough to be classified according to their function. They are: Repetition by: 1. Interrogation 2. Exhaustive Enumeration 3. Incremental Accumulation 4. Recurring word 5. Recurring verbal cluster 6. Echo 7. Recurrent situation 8. Recurrent idea.

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105

Some Effects of Repetition. - In Godot and Endgame, textual repetition serves to convey the impression of possible indefinite repetition of the same recurrences. The triple repeat of an entire text of 2.250 words (Play) produces a deadly monotony. With repetitive emphasis on childish concerns and structural repetition which produces a stasis situation, Beckett assaults the reader/spectator with reiterative patterns to underline the tedium of this world. The repetition of the basic situation in Godot, Endgame, Play, and Happy Days is sufficient to emphasize the interminable futility of the world. Monologue as a Structural Characteristic. - Beckett's emphasis of the monologue technique can be observed shifting through distinct stages. From intense deployment in the later novels to greatly restricted use in the early plays, increasing in the middle plays, and finally achieving full power in the later plays where the entire drama is one, extended monologue. Classified according to their function, four variant forms of the monologue are: 1. 2. 3. 4.

Monologue re-creating experience Monologue of non-sequiturs Monologue of games Monologue of negative factors of practical existence.

The trend in Beckett's dramatic style has been toward increased use of the monologue form. The reasons appear to be three: 1. Beckett's drama proceeds without interaction of characters, hence the monologue suits his dramatic purpose. 2. All Beckett's characters seem cruelly aware of what is happening to them. This is why they must talk, find a sounding board in someone, or at least monologue endlessly, to prevent the discourse from coming to an end. 3. The monologue, with its intrinsic alienation effect, is a more powerful, more authentic device to project the situational intensity of man's suffering and despair. Stichomythia Adapting the form for his purpose, Beckett retained the stichomythic cadence, but seriously modified the classical stichometric requirement that accumulative progression of thought was necessary. The natural rhythm of the form has provided the author an opportunity to regulate

106

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his "fundamental sounds" by transforming common, ordinary language to produce the emotional effect characteristic of much poetry. Phatic Communion There are several strong reasons for the deployment of this form. Phatic communion appears to correspond precisely to Beckett's idea that communication is not necessary. Further, Beckett's plot-avoidance techniques create a situation where the significance of change must be avoided. Since the author has no intention of advancing the action, phatic communion becomes the perfect antiplot device. The final reason is bound up in function. Since the Beckettian character has lost his identity, the form serves to provide a non-significance in the form of word games, asides, intra-personal communication and in the monologue of games. Whether Beckett intended phatic communion as an ironic illusion of communication, a stylistic device for undermining the stability of the world as we know it, or as an attack on conventional language, this dynamic mode serves as one more stylistic device to drain language of any meaning. Word Groupings Beckett's problem was a search for a form that could admit ordinary conversation while being able to rise to the level of poetry when needed. He solves the problem by incorporating various poetic devices into prose forms. The most important are: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

a duologuistic tempo refrain repetition speech patterns connotative power of words.

In the early plays, a poetic intensity is achieved with the use of these five forms. As Beckett's theatre evolved toward the monologue, a sort of poetic alienation has resulted. In the later plays, the word groupings which were employed to achieve rhythmic power have, like man's communicative ability, all but disappeared. Intentional Dystax. - Beckett contrives a verbal play to mime the

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS

107

impossibility of genuine communication between men. The interruption of logically connected utterances assumes many different forms in Beckett's style. The most common forms of dystax are: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

stream-of-consciousness monologue interrupted dialogue of pairs syntactical ambiguity abrupt non-sequiturs tautologies.

The examination of the successive versions of Endgame in the Ohio State University Library indicates that there are many phrasal changes in order to achieve ludicrous incongruity, syntactical ambiguity, and non-sequiturs. While intentional ambiguities in interrupted dialogue provide the deterrent to clarity, all the variations of dystax collaborate with Beckett's design to strip the human story of any high significance. Contradictions. - There are basically two types of contradictions in Beckett's style - those existing in the duet, and those internal contradictions of the monologue. The contradictions serve to undercut all efforts to make the play's meaning sombre or significant. One of the most frequent forms is the arrangement of verbal clusters in sentences which conclude by denying the assertions with which they began. Cliches and Pratfalls. - The use of cliches and pratfalls serves to satirize the vacuity of everyday conversation. In Happy Days, the cliche becomes a desperate cover to conceal the fear of silence, and the repetition of the form produces a deadly monotony. Both cliche and pratfall serve to destroy any pretense of human sentiment. Indelicacies of Language. - Indelicacies are prominent and appear in a variety of forms: fecal puns, scatalogical speech, irreverencies toward the classico-Christian tradition, obscenities of language, and obscenities of situation. Beckett's stylistic strategy arranges indelicacies to function, along with other anti-embellishment devices, to produce and vivify a comic shock effect. While some of Beckett's indelicacies reflect artistic treatment, others strain with low-level puns to produce a comic effect. Structural Closure. - As Beckett shifted from fiction to the dramatic genre, the stylistic closural characteristics changed abruptly. In the later fiction, long, internal monologues exploit thousand word sentences with abrupt shifts in thought. In the early plays, structural closural dominates the narrative style in short crisp sentences. As the prose style

108

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS

shifted to the monologue form, the opportunity for anti-closure increases. Some contradictory evidence in the middle and later plays does not permit positive conclusions regarding anti-closure trends. Anti-closural principles are utilized with dramatic situation, ideational content, and frequently, with sentence structure. Absence of Language. - Beckett's task to demonstrate the ineffectiveness of language finds its ultimate expression in an absence of language. Mere words are powerless to express the dialogue of man and Beckett's theatre has evolved from limited dialogue through monologues to profound silence. The sense of the human predicament which Beckett seeks to express may be achieved most profoundly in the dramatic medium through the mime plays. Conclusions The Effects of Linguistic Style upon Dramatic Situation. - Beckett's verbal language has revealed stylistic qualities which are specifically coordinated with his treatment of dramatic situation. Indicated is a closer examination of the relationship between style and dramatic situation and the effects which each has upon the other. The term, dramatic situation, is used instead of plot since there is no rising action, no climax, no traditional plot sequence of events. Instead, there exists only a form of static drama where the real content of the play lies in its action. Rhetoric of Action - After two decades of working in poetry and fiction, Beckett was confronted with a problem as he turned to the theatre. In this genre he uses action to undermine language - an undermining, that Ruby Cohn affirms is "more insidious on the stage than in print". 1 In Beckett's drama, action is explored to the limit of the normally admissible and beyond. Fletcher offers that " . . . the smallest acts of existence are reacted boringly and monotonously, as if to emphasize the derisory nature of our everyday mechanical gestures".2 Even buried up to her waist, Winnie performs the menial tasks since they fill her day. Together with her soliloquy, these trivial actions form the whole substance of the play. Endgame has only two characters - one of them remains in a chair. "In Endgame", Cook notes, "The language circles 1 2

Cohn, Samuel Beckett: The Comic Gamut, 208. Fletcher, Samuel Beckett's A rt, 243-244.

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS

109

action, rises out of action, becomes action, falls back into the total ground of action." 3 A later work, Play limits physical action entirely as three characters speak hollowly from burial urns. Finally, language is discarded altogether in Beckett's mimes where the real content of the play must depend entirely on the action. Beckett has said in conversation with Charles Marowitz that his interest is "not so much in Mime but in the stratum of movement which underlies the written word", and he went on to amplify his meaning in these words: Producers don't seem to have any sense of form in movement. The kind of form one finds in music, for instance, where themes keep recurring. When, in a text, actions are repeated, they ought to be made unusual the first time, so that they are repeated — in exactly the same way — the audience will recognize them from before.4 The statement reveals the importance that Beckett attaches to mime in his plays. Message Contradiction. - In keeping with his philosophy to devalue language as an effective means of communication, Beckett often arranges a dramatic situation with very specific directions to contradict the words spoken by the characters. Beckett suggested that actors in Godot employ the trick of "contrapuntal immobility"; lines like, "I'm going", were to be accompanied by complete stillness on the part of the speaker. The final lines in both acts of Godot are identical: Vladimir and Estragon repeat, "Yes, let's go." and the stage directions in both instances read: (They do not move). They will be there again the next day, and the next day and the next, and the day after that - "Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow" - standing alone, superfluous, without past, without future, ubiquitously there. This inversion of the natural order between language and action is presented as being quite normal. While the stage directions force a breakdown of the coordinates of speech and action, the characters are not aware of what is happening to them. The formidable nature of the contradiction, to want to go and yet to remain, makes obvious the absurdity of such behavior. Since there is already a "natural" tendency for the spectator to grant more credibility to visual stimili than to auditory, the conflict of the message produces a situational absurdity. Placing the language of a scene in contrast to its action is not a technique peculiar to Godot. Endgame has several examples of contrapuntal immobility, 3

Albert Cook, Prisms (Bloomington, Indiana University Press, 1967), 144-145. John Fletcher, "Action and Play in Beckett's Theatre", Modern Drama, IX, 3 (December 1966), 243.

4

110 NAGG: NELL: NAGG: NELL:

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS

I'm freezing. D o you want to go in? Yes. Then go in. (Nell does not move) Why don't you go in? I don't know. 5

Clov's immobility at the close of the play puts his verbally expressed desire to leave in serious doubt. Through these inconsistencies between the language and the behavior of the character, the author demonstrates his artistic effort to find a means of expression beyond mere verbal language. Verification is offered in the form of Beckett's stylistic devices which assist in the creation of a means of expression beyond "ordinary" language. The repetition, intentional dystax, contradictions, pratfalls, cliches, and ultimately, silence all unite with artistic achievement to produce an ironic portrait of humanity. As Beckett's theatre shifted from the narrative to the mime, the stylized gestures (pacing up and down in agitation, reflection, concentration, brooding, gazing into the distance with the hand screening the eye) frequently turn into slapstick pantomime. Krapp throws banana skins off stage, knocks tapes off the table, and slips on a banana peel. "Beckett's characters silently struggle toward forms of being that are suddenly disclosed by a gesture", Guicharnaud and Stylan both affirm the importance of the mime: "In performance, it is evident that Beckett's lines were written for fully gestic acting, written with gesture and movement in the conception of the parts."® The destruction of dialogue was completed when Beckett turned his medium toward the dumb show. Generally the style of the dumb show is governed by the necessity of replacing the spoken word with powerful and even exaggerated movement and action. Dieter Mehl admits that, "Indeed such a silent scene is even more effective than it would be if accompanied by dialogue."7 With his transition into the mime form, Beckett was to arrive at a dramatic medium where the powerful expression of his ideas through visual means could not have been conveyed with equal effect through dialogue. Conclusion. - Movement is one of the essentials of drama and Beckett has remained faithful to the credo of action. The characters' actions may not be spectacular as Reid suggests, but - and this is inherent in the 5

Endgame, 16. Stylan, The Dramatic Experience, 226. 7 Dieter Mehl, The Elizabethan Dumb Show (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1966), 22. •

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS

111

idea of total theatre - every move is a part of an overall experience, as eloquent as any words.8 While some linguistic stylistic contrivances (stychomythia and some monologue forms) rise to the level of poetry, most of the author's style forces a rift, an isolation of characters from their situation. Beckett has demonstrated his capability to arrange precisely, through dystax, contradiction, repetition, clichés and pratfall, the dissolution between what is said and what is expected. The resultant feelings - monotony, disgust, confusion, despair - tend to negate the expression of warm, human relationships. As if the disgrace to language was not sufficient Beckett modified his form to specialize in projecting man's limitations in shocking forms with mimed action that transmits experience unencumbered by verbalized concepts. Although never a formidable part of this investigation, the concept of mimed action as a powerful rhetoric has grown increasingly more important in Beckett's language system. So significant as to completely dominate the communication of several later plays. Man's ultimate disgrace, his despair in a world absurd, is finally complete. The Effects of Linguistic Style Upon Ideas Not only does Beckett defeat the coordinates between speech and dramatic situation, but he arranges language to reflect his ideational content. These stylistic configurations affecting ideas do not appear in isolation, instead their design affects both character and dramatic situation. For example, Beckett demonstrates again and again the uselessness of all human activity. The idiosyncracies of style (word grouping, dystax, anti-closural devices, and some monologues) which produce positive signs of language disintegration have a correlation to ideational content. When the pratfall is employed to defeat sentimental expectations and indelicacies of language abound in anti-closural forms, the derivative thought must be influenced by the style. In Beckett's theatre, a thematic development is not permitted in the traditional sense, or any other sense, and the author's arrangement of language serves to defeat the process of thought as a possibility for mastering even the most simple situations. These stylistic configurations 8

Reid, All I Can Manage, More Than I Could, 28.

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SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS

appear as continual shifting of conversation through dystax, contradictions, phatic communion, and repetitions. In Godot, that dissolution of speech and dramatic situation spills over into implications for language as a vehicle for ideas. The continually shifting dialogue cannot sustain an idea for a sufficient length of time to allow the spectator to relate the concept to the basic situation of the play: the wait for Godot. Consider the stylistic pains Beckett has taken to impede the motion of linear narrative. H e has confided to Martin Esslin, " I am interested in the shape of ideas even if I d o not believe in them." 9 A philosophic insight is provided by Coe who advances the notion that Beckett was attempting to resolve the conflict between "Awareness" which is instantaneous, and the linear progression in time of that same awareness when translated into language, Because words "take time" they are fundamentally ill-adapted to the task of defining any aspect of absolute reality, since all "reality" — in any metaphysical sense — is in the present, that is, is instantaneous.10 This is one of the great paradoxes in Beckett - his urgency to communicate the despair of the human predicament through an impotent and static vehicle. Or as Reid has interpreted, "How can the inherently irrational and formless be given shape and order and still remain true to itself?" 11 The separate techniques which Beckett employs to create the chronically impotent are apparent if they can be examined in isolation. Complications emerge in the attempt to give shape and order to the inherently irrational processes working together to form the total rhetoricpoetic process. Beckett's stylistic endeavors operate in reverse and have been likened to the sculptor, Like Michelangelo, who chipped away the rock to reveal the delicate beauty that had always been imprisoned within it, Beckett works by discarding layer upon layer of conventional narrative material; description, character, psychology, incident, plot, to lay bare the secret workings of the human mind.12 A n illustration of an isolated process is evidenced in Beckett's play, Play where linear narrative is destroyed and the stylistic obscurity becomes dramatically obvious. In the production notes, Beckett has in» Esslin, The Theatre of the Absurd, 19. Coe, Samuel Beckett, 17. 11 Reid, 12. 12 Cruickshank, Op. Cit., 144-145.

10

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS

113

sisted upon a rapid rate of delivery with no vocal inflections for the trio in their burial urns. Each character is prompted to speak only when the light shines upon him. Each talks as loud and fast as he can before the light is extinguished or moves to another character. The quick shift of light and subject produces confusion and futility in this damned trio - futility of communication and futility of idea. Although the presentational style is unique, the situation is absurd, the characters absurd, and attempt at projection of ideational content absurd. Beckett has accomplished what he set out to do - to avoid the traditional dramatic theme, he has thrust the audience into a dramatic situation so that they might directly experience despair, frustration, and impotence. Beckett employs style in yet another way to defeat the traditional dramatic theme. There are various illustrations where serious subject matter is introduced and quickly broken up with a carefully construed comic routine. The attempts to talk about salvation are quietly and neatly set aside by humor in Godot. The constant tug between style and ideational content is brought to conclusion in the final twist of irony, at the end of Godot. When Estragon suggests suicide by hanging, his rope belt is removed and his trousers fall. It is absurd to allow the slightest myth to develop and Beckett's stylistic devices work with dramatic situation to void any statement and mock the most rudimentary attempts of existence. The attempt at thought has been frustrated for so long that even existence is questioned. Vladimir poses, "So there you are again", and Estragon counters with a rhetorical question, "You really think so?" Beckett has something real and important to say. His great problem lay in the construction of a medium to communicate impotence and despair. To communicate a powerful idea and yet to deny the worth of thought, to maintain some semblence of dramatic art, and yet to destroy traditional plot and character development, these are the Beckettian paradoxes. The author solves his problem by substituting a new medium which was capable of transmitting ideas through experience. The author has devised a construct of words and dramatic situation based upon a void. Thought structures are destroyed by kicking out the word supports and the audience is projected into an experience of absurdity. The most articulate means of communication became direct expression. Instead of ideational content which projects the futility of the atomic generation, cast the audience into an experience of helplessness, of meaninglessness and despair. To date, his last play, Breath, runs for

114

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS

thirty seconds and has only a giant pile of garbage on the stage. A recorded baby's cry is followed by anguished breathing. Can despair grow more profound than this? The Effect of Linguistic Style Upon Characters The final effect of Beckett's dramatic style may be observed in relation to his characters. Although both dramatic situation and ideational content are artistically coordinated with character formation, Beckett uses terse style with miraculous accuracy to serve every nuance. He employs dystax, contradictions, and pratfalls to dissolve and change characterization; he uses anti-closural devices, repetition, and silence to defeat the notion that his characters are capable of thought; he employs indelicate noises as belching, whistling, burping and farting to destroy any heroic proportion the character might achieve; and, when Beckett wishes, his character dialogue crisps into brilliant stichomythia. In Beckett's theatre, characterization or the creation of a non-person is associated with the author's notion of dramatic language and Beckettian philosophy. The extended use of phatic communion, repetition, and varied monologue forms blends with Beckett's theory that characters can talk to themselves and each other without communicating anything, for experience has become incommunicable. Secondly, there is the limited use of dramatic language as a means of character influence, since the desire to influence another pre-supposes a definite purpose in the mind of the speaker, and lack of purpose is a vital part of Beckett's people. "If indeed", Hoy offers, "language has ceased to function as a vehicle for conveying thought, it is because the characters have ceased to think."13 The stylistic influences which tend to weaken language also have an effect on the fullness of character by making the dramatis personae mere mouthpieces. After completing Godot, the author moved strongly toward character anonymity, limiting first, character movement and then the physical from his plays. Winnie's predicament in Happy Days - buried first to the waist, then to the neck - is characteristic of the trend. Man's impotence of thought must be reflected in an impotent character incapable of physical acivity. There are other unique and interesting language "tricks" which Beckett employs to weaken character. 1S

H o y , The Hyacinth

Room,

243.

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS

115

The author is prescriptive in his techniques to use language confusion to weaken character. In the following illustration Celia talks to Murphy of the device, Spattered with words that went dead as soon as they sounded, each word obliterated, before it had time to make sense, by the word that came next; so that in the end, she did not know what had been said. It was like difficult music heard for the first time.11 Another stylistic trick to de-personalize characters is the use of monosyllabic names for dramatis personae: Pirn, Pam, Bud, Drapp, Dust, are names for objects, not people. Also, punning with names like: Miss Fitt, Croak, Opener, Willie, Winnie, Fartov and Belcher, Hamm, Nell and Nagg, brings a level of comedy to destroy any serious overtones. Finally, anonymity with names like: Music, W1 (First Woman), W2 (Second Woman), and M (Man), and Voice destroys any possibility of empathy, for character identification with a non-person is difficult. Much of the interest that is created in the characters of Godot arises from the crude efforts they make to reason. Each attempt is thwarted by a stylistic maneuver designed to separate the characters from their goal. In many places the trick of contrapuntal immobility is employed to have the characters act in dialectical contrast to the dialogue. The language then, which becomes detached from the speakers themselves, loses its dramatic character since it does not represent any real communication. The disasterous effect on character is more emphatic in actual production than in textual analysis. Style affects character in yet other ways. The brevity of each speech, the abrupt exchange of trivialities, the phrasal changes in subject all tend to weaken and isolate characters from their situations. Frequently separating the character from his words, Beckett strains the isolation device when he refuses to give names to his characters. Finally, style defeats the illusion of character reality by audience address. In Endgame, the asides to the audience are frequent. Comments on the meaning of the play are addressed directly to the audience and Clov's ultimate soliloquy is in audience address. Although not a stylistic feature, Beckett employs another force to defeat character. Physical predicament and even total immobility are commonplace in Beckett's theatre.

14

Murphy, 40.

116

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS

The characters in Beckett's theatre are constantly caught between their own clumsiness and the resistance of objects, including their own bodies. Shoes that are too narrow, hats too small, car doors too low, windows too high, prostate conditions, hemorrhages, itching,... Beckett's universe is one of perpetual irritation.15 Through precise stylistic management of dramatic situation, and ideational content, Beckett has rendered his characters anonymous. "Beckett's people", Cook concludes, "are negligible in identification with any class of people less than mankind in general." Since clearly defined human relationships are never extant in Beckett's theatre, clearly defined characters are non-existent. In spite of character deficiencies, Beckett's protagonists dramatically express the poignancy of the human predicament. Seeking sense in an indifferent world, Beckett's bums become a cursed metaphor for modern man who cries out in the frustration of his humanity. Superbly controlling his medium, Samuel Beckett paints an ironic portrait of man. BECKETT'S REJECTION OP TRADITIONAL DRAMATIC FORM

15

Guicharnaud, Modern French Theatre, 215.

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PERIODICALS Brockett, Oscar G., "Poetry as Instrument", Conference on Rhetoric and Poetic at University of Iowa (November, 1964). Bryant, Donald C., "Rhetoric: Its Function and Its Scope", Quarterly Journal of Speech, XXXIX (December, 1953), 402. Driver, Tom F., "Beckett by the Madeleine", Columbia University Forum (Summer, 1961). Duhamel, Albert, "The Function of Rhetoric as Effective Expression", Journal of the History of Ideas, X (June, 1949), 356. Eubanks, Ralph T. and Virgil L. Baker, "Toward an Axiology of Rhetoric", Quarterly Journal of Speech (April, 1962). Fletcher, John, "Action and Play in Beckett's Theatre", Modern Drama, IX, 3 (December, 1966), 242-250. Howell, Wilbur S., "Literature as an Enterprise in Communication", Quarterly Journal of Speech, XXXIII (1947), 417-426. Hudson, Hoyt H., "Rhetoric and Poetic", Quarterly Journal of Speech Education, X (April, 1924), 143-154. Iser, Wolfgang, "Samuel Beckett's Dramatic Language", reprinted in Modern Drama, IX, 3 (December, 1966). Meyer, Leonard B., "The End of the Renaissance? Notes on the Radical Empiricism of the Avant Garde", Hudson Review, XVI (Summer, 1963). Murphy, Richard, "Preface to an Ethic of Rhetoric", The Rhetorical Idiom, Donald C. Bryant, ed. (1958), 141. Robertson, Roderich, "A Theatre for the Absurd", Drama Survey, II, 1 (June, 1962). Shenker, Israel, "Moody Man of Letters", New York Times, Section 2 (May, 1956), 1.

TNDEX

Abbey Theatre Dramatists 49 Abrupt non-sequiturs 90, 92-93, 107 Absence of language 60, 100, 104, 108 Absurd immortality 57 Absurdist movement 37, 43 Absurdist theatre 41 Absurdists 40, 42 Absurdist's drama 43 Absurdity: imitate 103 of behavior 109 of experience 43 of grammar 90 of human condition 43-44 sense of 103 Accumulation, incremental 104 Accumulative development 80 Action 31 Action, ironic futility of 100 Act Without Words: I 58, 100 II 58 Adamov 42-44 Aesthetic response 32-33 Albee, Edward 42 Alienation: effect 78 poetic 89, 106 Alliteration 25 All That Fall 29, 58, 62-63, 97 Ambiguity, syntactical 90-93, 107 Ambivalence, symbolical 93 Analysis: rhetorical 11, 15 structural 54-55, 101 textural 54 Anglo-Saxon origin 87 Annihilation of man's will 42 Anonymity 114 Anonymous characters 116

Anouilh, Jean 42 Anshen, Ruth 47, 59 Anti-clarity device 93 Anti-closural: principles 98-99, 108 structural devices 99 Anti-closure 99, 107-108, 111, 114 Beckett's 99 Anti-linguistic tendencies 103 Anti-plot device 85 Antithetical balance 25 Antithesis 80 Aristotle 17, 20, 23-24, 52 general theory of arts 51 Armstrong, William A. 50 Artaud, Antonin 45, 103 Artistic creation 31 Aside 38, 83, 106, 115 Association 57 Atomic generation 102, 113 Attempt to communicate 104 Audience: address 115 occasion 19 Author and purpose 102 Author's purpose 31 Avant-garde 39, 41 dramatists 55 poetic 40 theatre 39, 55, 103 Avant-gardist 41 Average speech 87 Bacon, Francis 16 Baker, Virgil L. 17 Baldwin, Charles S. 17, 21 Baxter, Kay M. 39 Beckett, biography of 27-33 Beckettian: community 84

122

INDEX

monologue 73 paradox 31, 113 philosophy 90 Beckett's: anti-closure, use of 99 characters 42, 45, 77 dramatic art 33-34, 102 dramatic language 82, 101 dramatic philosophy 103 dramatic prose 15, 87 dramatic style 77 dramatic writing 82, 86 dramaturgy 93 fiction 57, 99 general view of language 57 heroes 57 humor 97 ideational content 84 indelicacies 98 intentional dystax 93 language system 59, 86, 103, 111 literary development 77, 82 literary style 12, 60, 87, 90 mimes 109 monologistic style 72 people 114, 116 philosophy of language 58, 72, 114 plot-avoidance, concept of 85 plot-avoidance, techniques 106 prose 86 stage speech 96 style 12, 60, 87, 90 stylistic endeavors 112 stylistic strategy 107 theatre, stage action 93 treatment of conversational dialogue 76, 82, 86, 101 urgency to communicate 112 verbal play 104 Biographical data of Beckett 27-33 Black, John W. 82 Blair, Hugh 18-19 Boyd, John D. 17 Breakdown: in logical thought 99 of coordinates of speech and action 109 Breath 100, 113 Brecht 30, 49 Brockett, Oscar G. 32 Broussard, Louis 35-36 Brustein, Robert 34, 39 Bryant, D. C. 16-17, 19

Campbell, George 18-19 Cascando 58, 64, 72, 83, 99 Character 60, 111 annihilation 57, 115 anonymity 114 formation 114 Characterization 42 Characters: absurd 113 Beckett's 42, 45, 77 classification related to 85 contradiction between 93 depersonalized 115 isolation of 111 Chekhov, Anton 35, 37, 45, 49, 100, 103 inner action 36 Cicero 23 Circus 43 Clark, Donald L. 16 Classical rhetorician 20 Classico-Christian tradition 107 Classification: related to characters 85 related to plot 85 Cliché function 95 Cliché's 59, 110 and pratfalls 60, 94, 96, 104, 107 of commonplace conversation 49 repetition of 95 transfigured 95 Closural: characteristics 98 principle 98 structural 60, 98, 104, 107 Clurman, Harold 43 Coe, Richard 87, 94 Cohn, Ruby 30, 58, 71, 93, 108 Colloquialism 50 Comedy of disgust 98 Comic: destruction of cliché sentiment 95 routine 91, 113 shock effect 96, 107 Common language 35 Common qualities 25 Communicate: Beckett's urgency to 112 Communication 84-85, 115 attempt 104 Beckett's theory 92 breakdown 76 difficulties 84

INDEX

effective means of 109 futility of 113 illusion of 86, 106 in modern theatre 55 lack of 80 quasi 76, 83 Communion, social 82-83 Connotative power of words 87, 89, 106

Contradictions 60, 93, 104, 107, 112, 114 between characters 93 between language and action 93 in Beckett's language system 93 of language 55, 94, 110 usage of 94 Contrapuntal immobility 109, 115 Convention of feeling 48 Conventional: language 86 rhetoric, evils of 37 simile 95 Conventions, poetic 23 Conversation: everyday 52 shifting of 112 Conversational irregularities 82 Cook, Albert 109 Cooper, Lane 20, 51 Corrigan, Robert W. 37 Creative impotence 100 Critic, rhetorical 54 Croak 74 Cultural impotence 43 Dance 47 Dante 17 Deadly monotony 95 Definition of dramatic language 47 Delivery, rapid rate of 113 Depersonalization 42 of characters 115 Destruction of dialogue 110 Dialectical drama 44 Dialogue 110 Beckett's treatment of 51 continually shifting 112 contradictions 93 destruction of 110 dialectical contrast 115 dryness of 96 limited 100 nature of 98

123

poetic 89, 111 quality 48 Shavian 38 staccato effect of 78 sustained 91 verse rhythms 50 Dichotomy, prose poetry 41, 47 Didactic dramatist 45 Direct experience 31, 44-45 Direct expression, metaphor of 40 Discourse 14-15, 24, 55 Disintegrate the human condition 58 Disintegration of thought 100 Disjointed dialogue 103 Dispositio 20-21 Distinction: prose-poetry 78 Distorted reasoning 85 Doll's House 11 Donoghue, Denis 49, 82 Double entendre 58 Drama: absurdists 43 dialectical 44 discovery of 55 importance of language in 53 in ordinary conversation 50 metaphorical 40 poetic 48, 51 static 31, 55, 103, 108 thematic concern 48 Dramatic: Beckett's style 77 Beckett's writing 82, 86 purpose 78 silence 100 situation 60, 108, 111-112 technique 102 universe 43 verse 48 Dramatic art: Beckett's 33-34, 102 Dramatic convention 74 Dramatic dialogue 46, 48, 52 effect of convention on quality 48 effects of prose or poetry in 48 heighthensd prose 51, 87, 98, 107 language of ordinary life 51-53 purpose of 51 staccato effect of 78 subject matter influence 49 tempo 48 theory of 51

124

INDEX

verse rhythms 50 Dramatic language 52 Beckett's 82, 101 definition of 47 historical development 51 limitation of 47 purpose of 34, 53 rhythmical expressions in 50 Dramatic monologue 48 Dramatic narrative 41, 45, 102 poetic integrity 37 Dramatic philosophy: Beckett's 103 Dramatic prose: Beckett's 15, 87 Dramatic purpose: rejection of 32 Dramatis personae 36, 74, 83, 114-115 Dramatists: avant-garde 55 didactic 45 of the absurd 44, 103 prose 49 Dramaturgy: Beckett's 93 Driver, T o m F. 30 Dryden, John 19 Duhamel, Albert 16 Dumb show 110 Duologues 84 with tempo 89 Duologuistic tempo 87, 106 Dystax 92, 98, 106-107, 110, 112, 114 of abrupt non-sequiturs 107 of interrupted dialogue of pairs 107 of stream-of-consciousness monologues 107 of syntactical ambiguity 107 of tautologies 107 variations of 93 Echo formation 68 Echo; by repetition 61 Echo's Bones and Other Precipitates 28 Effects: of allegory 54 of characterization 54 of mime 54 of mood 54 of pace 54 of volume 54 Effects of light on language 54

Effects of repetition: on character 70-71 on ideas 70-71 on situation 70-71 Eh Joe? 72-73, 86, 89, 97, 99 Elevated language 49 Eliot, Thomas S. 38, 49-50, 78, 86 Elizabethan: drama 82 period 22, 56 Embers 29, 58, 65-66, 74, 76, 83, 86, 92, 94, 97 Empathie response 42, 44 Empathy, possibility of 115 Emperor Jones 36 En attendant Godot 29 Endgame 58, 62-67, 70, 72, 74, 76, 78, 81-82, 86-87, 95-97, 100, 105, 108109, 115 Enthymematic chain 21 Enthymeme 21 Enumeration, exhaustive 104 Essence of existence 39 Esslin, Martin 29-30, 40-42, 56, 5859, 84, 93 Eubanks, Ralph T. 17 Euripides 45 Everyday conversation 96 Example, use of 25 Exhaustive enumeration 104 Existence 39 attempts of 113 Existential: fatalism 37 revolt 34, 37, 39, 103 Exotic vocabulary 96 Experience 32-33 of absurdity 113 of being 44 of despair 113 of direct 31, 44-45 of helplessness 113 of re-creating 72 transmitting ideas through 113 Expression: beyond language 101, 110 rhythmical 50 Expressionistic: technique 59 theatre 39 Extended monologue 72-73 Fecal 97 Fecal puns 96, 107

INDEX

Federman, Raymond 57, 100 Fiction: Beckett's 57, 99 Figurative images 80 Figures 23 poetic 23 Figures of speech 23 Fin de partie 29 Fletcher, John 55, 58, 85, 108 Formal rhythm 80 Frailty 59 Freedman, Morris 56 Frye, Christopher 50 Frye, Northrop 25 Function of stichomythic form 80 Fundamental sounds 106 Galsworthy, John 48, 52 Gascoigne, Bamber 49 Gassner, John 42 Genet 30, 42, 44 Genre, rhetorical 53 Genuine communications: impossibility of 90, 106 Gessner, Niklaus 58, 90 Gestic acting 110 Gestures 22, 85, 110 trivial 91 Giraudoux 42 Ghelderode 43 Goodheart, Eugene 70 Gottfried, Martin 45 Grammar of absurdity 90 Greek Theatre 51 Grossvogel 96 Guicharnaud, Jacques 55, 80, 84, 110 Guignol 43 Hairy Ape 36 Hamlet 48 Happy Days 62, 69, 72-73, 75-77, 8384, 89, 92, 94, 100, 105, 107, 114 Harris 95 Harvey, Lawrence E. 71, 80 Hassan 97 Hatlen, Theodore, W. 49, 52 Hauptmann 35 Heroes: Beckett's 57 Hoffman 94 Howell, Wilbur S. 19, 24 Hoy, Cyrus 41, 80, 91, 100, 114 Hubbell, H.M. 23

125

Hudson, Hoyt H. 14 Human activity: futility of 67 Human predicament 108 Humor: Beckett's 97 Hunt, Everett Lee 16 Ibsen, 35-36, 49 naturalistic drama 48 Ideas: classification related to 84 destruction of 70 futility of 113 recurrent 104 Ideational content 60, 108, 111, 113 Idiosyncratic analysis 60, 101, 104 Ignorance 31, 57 Immobility: contrapuntal 109 total 115 Impotence 31, 57, 114 concept of 103, 113 creative 100 cultural 43 Inability 59 Inconsistencies: between language and behavior 110 Incremental 104 accumulation 104 power 65 repetition 64 Indelicacies 60, 104 Beckett's 98 of language 111 stylistic 96 Indirect description 45 Ingarden, Roman 53 Insignificance of dialogue in drama 55 Intentional dystax 60, 90, 104, 106 Beckett's 60 Inter-personal: communication 83-84, 106 monologue 84 Interrogation 104 by repetition 61 Interrupted dialogue of pairs 90-91, 93, 107 Intrinsic alienation effect 105 Inversion of the natural order 109 Ionesco 30, 42, 44 Ironic illusion 106, 110 Irrational processes 112

126

INDEX

Irreverencies 96, 107 Iser, Wolfgang 53 Jacobsen, Josephine 71 Jarry 45, 103 Joyce, James 27, 35, 97 Juno and the Paycock 49 Kafka 35 Kellogg, Robert 34-35 Kenner, Hugh 30, 97 Kitto, H.D.F. 51 Krapp's Last Tape 29, 58, 71-73, 83, 89 Langer, Susanne Κ. 56 Language 56, 59, 106, 109-110 absence of 60, 100, 104, 108 and action 109 analysis 53 artificial meaninglessness of 59 attack on conventional 106 Beckett's general view of 11, 55 Beckett's philosophy of 58, 72, 114 Beckett's system 59, 86, 103, 111 breakdown of 57, 98 common, ordinary 51 confusion 115 continued use of 103 contradictions of 55, 94, 110 conventional 86 defiant rejection of 56 definition of 47 description of habits 57 direct frontal assaults 96 disintegration of 15, 96, 98, 111 dramatic 52 general overview 59 historical development 51 importance of drama in 53 inadequacies of 56, 90, 96, 107 ineffectiveness of 100 insignificance of 59 limitation of 47 nature of 36 obsenities of 96, 107 of the theatre 48 presentational force 53 purpose of 34, 53 rational interpretation 54 relation to reality 56 rhythmical expression in 50 total function of 83

tragedy 51 tricks 114 Language and communication 45 Language critic 54 Language criticism 53-54 problems of 53 textural and structural 54-55 Language devaluation 41 Language of drama 34, 47-48, 52, 103 communication 53, 103 expression 53, 103 influence of one character upon another 53, 103 statement 53, 103 Language of inarticulate 56 Language of the theatre 36, 48 Lewis, C.S. 20 Lexis 35 Limitation of dramatic language 47 Linear: narrative 112 plot sequence 37 progression 112 Linguistic style: effects of 111 Linguistic thread 55 Literary 53 Beckett's development 53, 57, 59 Beckett's style 98 contrivance 94 Lodge, David 54, 60 Logorrhea 84 Longinus 21, 23 Long silence 101 Lorca 35 Lyric: stichomythic 78, 86 Lyrical tempo 88 Macbeth 48 Maeterlinck, Maurice 52 Malinowski, Bronislaw 82 Malone Dies 29, 90 Man and Superman 34 Man's communicative ability 89 Marowitz, Charles 109 Meaningless 31 Medieval farce 43 Medium 102 rhetorical 22 Mehl, Dieter 110 Message contradiction 109 Messianic revolt 34, 36, 102

INDEX

Metaphor: stage 41-42 Metaphorical drama 40 Meta theatre 39 Meyer, Leonard B. 99 Milton 17 Mime 48, 109-110 Beckett's 109 plays 101, 108 Mimed action 111 Modern dramatist 53 Modern stream-of-consciousness development 35 Modern theatre movement 27, 34, 102 Modern theatre of revolt 103 evolved 35, 55 Molloy 29 Monologue 48, 58, 60, 68, 78, 84, 89, 92, 98, 100, 104-106 Beckett's style 72 disjointed 86 dramatic 48 effect 74 fragmented 91 functions of 72 of games 76, 84, 86, 105, 106 internal 98, 99, 107 negative factors of practical existence 105 of non-sequiturs 74, 105 plays 96 re-creating experience 73, 105 structural characteristic 72 stichomythic 78 technique 73 traditional 35 trend 87 Monologue form: 107, 114 in dramatic necessity 77 internal contradictions of 93, 107 Monotony: deadly 95 Mood 55 More pricks than kicks 28 Motive and function: poetic discourse 17 Movement 31, 110, 114 Murphy, Richard 17, 28, 115 Music 48, 74 Language of 89 Music hall 43, 55 Mythos 51

127

Narrative: dramatic 41, 45, 102 poetic integrity 37 Narrative order 90 Narrative speech 88 Narrative technique in: drama changes 34 revolution 35 Narrative trends 37 Naturalistic drama 48 Negative assertions 76 Negative factors of practical existence 72 Nicoli, Allardyce 52 Nobel prize 100 Non-knower 31 Non-literary theatre 43 Non-sensical monologue 75 Non-sequitur monologue 75 Non-sequiturs 67-68, 72, 74-75 dystax by abrupt 107 Non-verbal forms 48 O'Casey 49 Ohio State University Library 93 Olson, Elder 52, 56 O'Neill 36 Ong, Walter J. 24 Oration 38 Ordinary language 82 Ordinary speech 86 Ornamental rhetoric 25 Ornamental speech 25 Pantomime 110 Paradox: Beckettian 31, 113 Past and present time: ambiguous use of 92 Pathos 48 Pattern of negation 77 Patterns: perception of 55 reiterative 70 speech 87, 89, 106 Peacock, Ronald 34, 37 People: Beckett's 114, 116 Persuasive speech 25 Phatic communion 60, 82-86, 98, 104, 106, 112, 114 Phrasal changes 115 Phrasal repetition 67

128 Physical: action 109 disintegration 57 predicament 115 Pirandello 35, 49 Play 70, 72, 74, 87, 92, 99, 105 Plot 108 classification related to 85 Plot-avoidance: Beckett's concept of 85 Beckett's techniques 106 Plough and the Stars 49 Poem: international coherence of 23 Poetic: alienation 89, 106 avant-garde 40 conventions 23 dialogue 89, 111 distinctions 22 drama 48, 51 figures 23 intensity 87, 89, 106 internal 12 motive and function 17 power 87 subject matter 112 themes 25 Poetic analysis, rhetorical 47 Poetics: characteristic 14, 16-17 effect on audiences 19 medium 23 method of 20 purpose of 18 rhetoric 14-15, 25 subject matter of 24 Poetic discourse: method of 21 motive and function 17 rhetorical 17 Poetry: function of 19 method of 21 purpose of 17 versification of 19 Poetry and verse: distinctions of 22 Pratfall 95-96, 110-111, 114 Praxis 49 Praxis to lexis 35, 102 Prior, Moody E. 37 Production media 54

INDEX

Profound silence 100, 108 Pronko, Leonard C. 33, 42, 59, 70, 77, 80, 89 Prose: Beckett's 86 dialogue 49 dramatic 48 Prose dramatists 49 Prose-poetry: controversy 51 dichotomy 41, 47 distinction 78 Puns 96-97 Purpose: direct, aesthetic impact 32 direct expression 32 dramatic 78 emotional 32 ideational content 32 intellectual 32 Quasi-communication 76, 83 Question, rhetorical 113 Quintilian 23 Read, Sir Herbert 28 Reality 56 Reasoning, distorted 85 Re-creating experience 72 Recurrent: idea 104 situation 104 Recurring: usage 55 verbal cluster 104 words 65, 104 Refrain 87, 89, 106 Reid, Alec 32, 88, 110-111 Reiterative patterns 70 Rejection of dramatic purpose 32 Repetition 60, 65, 67, 83, 87-89, 98, 104, 106, 110-112, 114 of clichés 95 by echo 61 effects of 70, 105 effect on character 70 effect on ideas 70 effect on situation 70 emphasis to 95 exhaustive enumeration 61 incremental accumulation 61 interrogation 61 phrasal 67

INDEX

recurrent idea 61 recurrent situation 61 recurring verbal cluster 61 recurring word 61 of significance 60 stubborn 98 synonyms 59 techniques of 60 textual 70-71 unrelenting 70 verbal clusters 67 vocal refrain 88 Repetitive: devices 60 echo 68, 79 emphasis 70 patterns 71 techniques 60, 62, 72 Response: aesthetic 32-33 Retribalization of modern man 44 Rhetoric 11, 17, 20, 45 of action 108 comparison of 12 conventional evils of 37 disjointed 92 ethical function of 17 function of 16-17 medium of 21 motive and function 16 multi-purposeful nature of 16-17, 19, 102 subject matter of 24 Rhetoric and poetics 14—15, 25 characteristics 14, 16-17 distinctions 19, 24 effects on audiences 19 internal 12 medium of 21 method of 20 motive and function 16 subject matter 24 Rhetorical: analysis 11, 15 critic 55 finesse 97 genre 53 medium 22 poetic analysis 47 poetic criticism 53 speech 51 question 113 theatre 38

129

transaction 54 Rhetorical and poetic discourse 17 Rhetorical and poetic elements 15 Rhetorical and poetic elements, distinctions of: degree 15 emphasis 15 function 16 motive 12, 14, 16 Rhyme 25 Rhythm defeat 82 natural 50 Rhythmical expression 50 in dramatic language 50 Rhythmic: pattern 81 power 81 progression 87 quality 87 Rhythms 89, 93 Robertson, Roderich 40-41 Royal Court Theatre 101 Sayers, Dorothy 38 Scatological speech 96, 107 Schechner, Richard 95 Schneider, Alan 32 Scholes, Robert 34-35 Scott, Nathan A. 30, 40, 80 Scripture 97 Second person address 83 Sentence structure 99 short 107 Sentimental expectations 111 Shadow of a Gunman 49 Shakespeare 48 Shattuck, Roger 40 Shavian Dialogue 38 Shaw, George B. 34-36 Shenker, Israel 58 Significance of: change 106 plot 35 Silence 80, 85, 88, 96, 100-101, 110, 114 dramatic 100 fear of 107 periods of 88 profound 100, 108 Simile: conventional 95 Simple language 64 Simple misunderstandings 58

130

INDEX

Single repetition 66 Situation 45 absurdity of 109, 113 dramatic 60, 108, 111-112 obscenities of 96, 107 recurrent 104 Smith, Barbara Herrnstein 22 Social communion 82-83 Social revolt 34, 36, 103 Soliloquy 38, 108 penultimate 83 Sontag, Susan 90, 100 Sophocles 45 Sound patterns 88-89 Speech: dissolution of 112 patterns 87, 89, 106 scatological 96, 107 Stage metaphor 41-42 Stage speech: Beckett's 96 Stasis 105 Static 70 drama 31, 55, 103, 108 Steiner, George 100 Sterile words 59 Sterility in society 59 Stichomythia 60, 78, 82, 104-105, 111, 114 Stichomythic: application 86 lyric 78, 86 monologue 78 Stichomythic form: function of 80 Stichomythy 80 Stratum-of-movement 109 Stream-of-consciousness: dystax 91 monologues 90, 107 technique 99, 102 Strindberg 36, 49, 54 naturalistic drama 36 Structural: analysis 54-55, 101 characteristic 105 closure 60, 98, 104, 107 completeness 98-99 idiosyncrasies 60 repetition 70 significance 104 Structural devices: anticlosural 99

Structural examination: of style 57 Structural significance 104 Stubborn: repetition 98 Stuttering 97 Stylan, J.L. 48, 51, 84, 110 Style: analysis of 59 Beckett's 12, 60, 87, 90 characteristics of 59, 104 structural examination of 57 telegraphic 99 Stylistic: contrivances 110 endeavors, Beckett's 112 incongruity 99 indelicacies 96 management 116 obscurity 112 qualities 60 strategy, Beckett's 107 techniques 104, 114 Stylistic analysis 57 early plays 87 idiosyncratic features 111 structural idiosyncracies 60 Stylistic closural characteristics 107 Stylistic effects on: characters 114 dramatic situations 108 ideas 111 Subject matter 112 Suicide 113 Summary of findings 102 Sweeney Agonistes 49 Swiftian social satire 57 Symbolical ambivalence 93 Synge, John M. 49 Synge, William 37, 49 Synonyms: repetition of 59 Syntactical ambiguity 90-93, 107 Syntax 86 nonsense of 90 Tautologies 90, 92, 107 repetition of 92 Technique: dramatic 102 of exhaustive enumeration 63

131

INDEX of repetition 60 Telegraphic style 59 Tempo: duologuistic 87, 106 of the speeches 87 Tennyson, George B. 50 Terminal punctuation 99 Textual repetition 70-71 Textural analysis 54 Theatre: of the absurd 39-40 avant-garde 39, 55, 103 Beckett's stage action 93 communication in modern 55 of Genet 43 of ridiculous 39 Thematic: development 111 interpretation 90 Theme of creation 97 Themes: poetic 25 Thought: disintegration of 100 and language 57 Tindall, William York 63, 97 Traditional: monologue 35 theatre concepts 31 Transfigured cliché 95 Transparent words 80 Trivial gesture 91 Trivialities: exchange of 115 Universe: dramatic 43 Unnamable, The 29 Unrelenting repetition 70 Urinary puns 97 Usage: of contradiction 94 recurring 55 Uselessness of thought 111 Verbal claptrap 91 Verbal clusters:

arrangement of 107 recurring 104 repetition of 67 Verbal contradiction 94 Verbal language: contradictions of 93 Verbal interchange: near-impossibility of 100 Verbal play: Beckett's 104 Verse 22, 50 dramatic 48 rhythms 50 Versification 19 of poetry 19 Vocal refrain: repetition in 88 Waiting for Godot 32, 49, 58, 61, 63, 65-66, 68-70, 72, 74, 76-80, 82, 84, 86-88, 91, 93, 95-97, 100-101, 105, 109, 112-113 Walcutt, C.C. 35 Wallace, Karl R. 16 Watt 29, 72 Well worth, George 42, 91 Werfel 35 Whoroscope 27 Williams, Charles 38 Winterowd, Ross 15 Word: clusters 86, 88-89 games 76, 106 groupings 60, 86, 104, 106 recurring patterns 66 Words 74 connotative power of 87, 89, 106 and music 58, 64, 68, 72, 74, 99 recurring 65, 104 sterile 59 Wordsworth, William 33 Yeats, William Butler 24 Zola, Emile 36