➡️ paper no: 107 The Twentieth Century literature: from World war ll to the end of the century.
💠 Assignment paper no.107
This blog is an assignment paper no.107 The Twentieth Century literature: from World war ll to the end of the century. in this assignment I am dealing with ' Exploring Self-Entrapment in Samuel Beckett's'
🔷 Personal information:
Name: Gohel Dhruvika G.
Paper no:107 The Twentieth Century literature: from World war ll to the end of the century.
Subject code: 22400
Topic name: 'Exploring Self-Entrapment in Samuel Beckett's'
Batch: M.A sem 2
Roll no: 04
Enrollment no: 5108240012
E-mail address: dhruvikagohel252@gmail.com
Submitted to: smt, S.B Gardi Department of English MKBU
💠 About author:
Samuel backett (1906–1989) was an Irish writer best known for his play Waiting for Godot. Born in Dublin, he studied French and Italian at Trinity College before moving to Paris, where he became close to James Joyce. During World War II, he joined the French Resistance and was later honored with the Croix de Guerre.
Writing in both English and French, Beckett gained international fame with Waiting for Godot (1953), a defining work of the Theatre of the Absurd. His minimalist, philosophical style continued in plays like Endgame and Krapp’s Last Tape. In 1969, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.
Beckett spent much of his life in Paris, where he died in 1989. His legacy endures as a key figure in modernist literature and existential drama.
💠Self-Entrapment in Waiting for Godot
In Waiting for Godot, arguably Beckett’s most famous play, two characters Vladimir and Estragon spend the entire narrative waiting for a figure named Godot who never arrives. Despite their constant talk of leaving, they never do. This scenario symbolizes a powerful form of self-entrapment: the characters are free to go but choose to stay, paralyzed by the hope that something or someone will change their lives.
Beckett illustrates how the fear of the unknown and the comfort of routine can lead people to trap themselves. Vladimir and Estragon’s endless waiting becomes a metaphor for individuals who delay action, clinging to vague promises or beliefs instead of confronting the emptiness or freedom of their condition. The characters’ repetitive dialogue and physical actions mirror this stagnation. Their situation is absurd, yet deeply human, reflecting the inner psychological prisons people construct out of fear, dependency, or habit.
💠 Language and Inertia as Forms of Entrapment
Beckett often portrays language itself as a tool of self-entrapment. In Waiting for Godot, much of the characters' dialogue seems meaningless, circular, or contradictory. Language, traditionally a means of communication and progress, becomes a trap that reinforces inaction. Vladimir and Estragon speak not to convey new ideas but to fill the silence, avoid reality, and distract themselves from their helplessness.
This theme continues in Krapp’s Last Tape, where the protagonist listens to old recordings of himself reflecting on his past. Instead of learning from these reflections, Krapp becomes obsessed with them, unable to move forward or redefine his life in the present. Here, Beckett shows how people become imprisoned by their own memories and narratives, replaying them instead of evolving.
In both plays, characters remain stuck not by external forces, but by their own psychological patterns and the language they use to reinforce them. Beckett suggests that self-entrapment is not just about physical space but about mental loops from which one cannot escape.
💠 Endgame and the Static Nature of Existence
In Endgame, another of Beckett’s important plays, the theme of self-entrapment is made even more explicit. The characters Hamm, Clov, Nagg, and Nell are confined to a bleak, possibly post-apocalyptic setting. Hamm is blind and confined to a chair, while Clov cannot sit down. Despite their dysfunction and mutual resentment, they are completely dependent on each other.
Like Waiting for Godot, Endgame features characters who are caught in a cycle they are unwilling or unable to break. Hamm orders Clov around, and Clov complies, although he constantly threatens to leave. Yet, he never actually does. Their existence is repetitive and mechanical, dictated by an internal need to continue, despite the lack of hope or progress. The setting reinforces this theme gray, barren, closed off from the world, just like the characters' mental states.
Beckett’s vision here is even bleaker than in Godot: not only are the characters trapped, but they are also painfully aware of their entrapment. They talk about ending things, about the futility of their lives, yet they persist. Beckett seems to argue that awareness alone is not enough to break the cycle of self-entrapment. Action—true change—is nearly impossible when one is emotionally and psychologically paralyzed.
💠 Philosophical Implications
Beckett’s portrayal of self-entrapment is deeply tied to existentialist philosophy. Thinkers like Jean-Paul Sartre and Albert Camus explored the idea that individuals are free to define themselves through actions, but often fail to do so because of fear, anxiety, or the burden of responsibility. Beckett takes this a step further: his characters are aware of their freedom, but they either reject it or are unable to act on it.
In this sense, Beckett's works become case studies in existential paralysis. Rather than bold heroes who confront the absurdity of life, his characters represent the average person—unsure, hesitant, clinging to habits and beliefs that offer security but no fulfillment. Their entrapment is self-created, and therefore, all the more tragic.
💠 Conclusion
Samuel Beckett’s exploration of self-entrapment is central to his literary legacy. Through minimalist settings, fragmented language, and repetitive actions, he captures the human tendency to create psychological prisons. Whether it's Vladimir and Estragon’s endless waiting, Krapp’s obsession with the past, or Hamm and Clov’s toxic dependency, Beckett shows that the walls most people face are not external but internal.
His work invites readers and viewers to confront the ways in which they might be trapping themselves—through fear, routine, language, or memory. Though bleak, Beckett’s vision is also a call to awareness: by recognizing these patterns, there may be the possibility, however faint, of escape.
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