Staging memory and trauma past voices and bodies haunting the present in the theatre of Samuel Beckett

Abstract

The main objective of the current thesis is to provide thorough research on the workings of memory, especially traumatic memory in Samuel Beckett¿s theatre. In the universe of Beckett¿s theatre memory and trauma are fully interwoven. To demonstrate this, psychological and psychoanalytical theories are applied. The objects of the current research include the physical stage language, disembodied voices and fragmented bodies on stage, as well as the language of trauma itself. Different types of trauma are analyzed, such as trauma of loss and mourning, failure, etc., but the most prominent trauma in Beckett¿s theatre is Otto Rank¿s trauma of birth. The plays that are focused upon in this thesis are Endgame, Krapp¿s Last Tape, Embers, Footfalls, Eh Joe, That Time, Happy Days, Play, Not I and A Piece of Monologue.