Name:
Student Number:
Padraig Daly
D04106393
Krapp’s Last tape
A play based on the life of an old and weary man, sitting in his den under a bright white spot light.
Krapp is a poor sighted, miserable and lonely old man who on his 69th birthday is sitting in his
den with his tape recorder. He is an alcoholic who has wasted his life by drinking. He listens to a
tape recording of himself recorded 30 years earlier as a younger man. In this tape recorded on
his 39th birthday we hear that he thinks of himself as being “Sound as bell” apart from his old
weakness. This weakness being is fondness of alcohol. He also has a bowel condition from his
indulgences and he eats far too many bananas. He mentions that he made some resolutions to
drink less and have a less engrossing sexual life -- “The last illness of my father” -- Which leads
us to believe that his father has passed away.
He also thinks he is creatively at his peak. We can deduce from this that he has started writing
his opus magnum. In this recording we hear that Krapp had been listening to a recording that he
made 10 or 12 years earlier when he was in his late twenties. He reports that he had been living
on and off with Bianca on kedar street at that time… Not much that he remembers about her
except her eyes… they were warm… he pauses to think about her… and says that he is thankful
that it is over. He also mentions his opus Magnum, which he is thinking about writing. So it has
taken 10 to 12 years for Krapp to make a start on his best work… and he thinks that now he is at
the crest of a wave i.e. maybe half way through his work.
He also records that in the previous year, When he was 38, his Mother died and that he was
throwing a black rubber ball with a white dog on the day she died. The Black and white of every
situation depicted here as Krapp sees it. He was obviously not close to his mother. He was not
with his mother when she died and he is glad that it is all over. He also mentions that she had
been a Widower a long time… His Father having died over 12 years earlier… we learn that his
father was also an alcoholic and womanizer from his recording in his mid twenties.
In his ledger, Krapp had noted that he had a memorable Equinox. From the recording we hear
that is was a year of profound gloom and indulgence until the night in March at the end of the
jetty. This is where he had a vision and saw the whole thing, his life’s goal, and he is excited to
record the details of the vision and his understanding of it… we do not however get to see it in the
play. He is not interested in listing to his own ranting and instead fast forwards to the next part of
the tape where he overshoots the desired topic. In this the final recording of Spool five from box
three we hear Krapp’s account of his break up with an unnamed girl. They had been floating on a
punt after bathing in the water when he says that there was no point in going on. He probably
found her too much of a distraction to his “Work”. later we learn that she probably was moving
away or traveling and he was not comfortable with the idea of moving way from his comfort zone.
We hear a mention of a girl in a shabby green coat on a railway platform, which is probably the
last time he sees her.
Again he pays tribute to the woman’s eyes… He broods repeatedly when listening to his
account of his break up… He realizes that this was his biggest mistake in his life… he had a
chance at being happy and threw it away. He puts a new tape on the machine and records his
views on his 69th birthday… he notes that it is hard to believe he was that stupid. He says that he
is glad that it is all over, as he had recorded a number of times before. We can see that he does
not mean it and regrets his mistakes and his chance to be happy. He now asks himself if he
could have been happy with her up on the Baltic and the pines and the dunes… and could she
have been happy with him?
He goes to church like when he was small… but he falls asleep and falls of the seat. He may be
looking or forgiveness for wasting his life, a precious gift that he knows he has wasted. He is old
now and his best years are gone but he is desperately trying to hold on to a dream… he still has
a sex life… but that is all he has… better than nothing he tells himself.
The play finishes with Krapp listening to the tape again recording his account of the break up
with his lost love…