Beckett, Samuel,--1906---Criticism and interpretation

Samuel Beckett's plays reverberate with a recurring memory motif. Recollections offer hope, rejuvenation, or in some cases simply the strength to carry on through what Beckett calls the "mess of life." The memories of Beckett's characters help them to transcend or to at least deal with the past. Close study of the plays points out this glimmer of hope in reminiscent memories, sensory memories, and creative memories. Even the bleakest recollections offer the possibility of future memories. In the ten plays examined, the use of memory varies. An exploration of the plays in terms of Proustian memory, autobiographical documentation, and psychological research offers insight into the often hopeful memories of Beckett's characters.

Critics of Beckett's trilogy (Molloy, Malone Dies, The
Unnamable) have long puzzled over the profusion of
bilabials in the characters' names: Molloy, Moran, Malone,
Macmann. They all share a common initial. "Les Tripedes
de la Trilogie" attempts to offer yet another
interpretation: with its three bases, the letter M suggests
in the context of the trilogy a man and his stick,
reminiscent to Beckett of the three-legged "animal" in the
riddle of the Sphinx. The omnipresent stick, in both its
physical and symbolic functions, is shown to be the crucial
instrument keeping the unstable Beckettian creatures
briefly upright in their "struggle for life." As an
extension of the body, it allows them to fight and to
survive. As a cylindrical rod, it acquires metaphysical
associations with divine or supernatural power.

Samuel Beckett is generally considered to write in the
pessimistic tradition. For his characters, life is a
process of "dying on" in a chaotic universe. God, if
he exists, is cruelly indifferent. Death has no purpose,
and therefore life is pointless. Suffering is
real, however, and made more painful by the knowledge
that there is neither Savior nor Salvation. Nevertheless Beckett repeatedly examines the Christian concept
of Salvation in his work. Indeed, it has become framework,
linguistic storehouse, source of metaphor, and
spiritual yardstick in much of his canon. The doctrine
of Salvation raises "the old questions" regarding man's
destiny which so preoccupy Beckettian man; their
contemplation has provided the matter for Beckett's
writing, and that writing itself has perhaps saved him
from despair.