Krapp's Last Tape

Light, fire, and the color white appear frequently in Krapp’s monologues and are juxtaposed with dark, night, and black. Through most of his life, he associates light with understanding and intellect, and dark with chaos. He strives for the fire, excluding what he considers chaotic, including complex emotions like love. At certain moments, he recognizes this to be a mistaken distinction.

Beckett’s stage directions specify, “table and immediately adjacent area in strong white light. Rest of stage in darkness” (3). Krapp sets up his den this way at thirty-nine, saying, “the new light above my table is a great improvement” (4). Significantly, this is the same year he says, “farewell to love” (5). To focus on his pursuit of understanding, he pushes out the dark, isolating himself. Further, light and dark figure prominently in his memory of learning of his mother’s death. He sees a nurse, a “dark young beauty…all white and starch” (8). He is also throwing a black ball to a small white dog. To his regret, he allows the dog to leave with the ball, which symbolizes his relinquishment of messy but profound human emotions.

In his forgotten epiphany on the jetty, Krapp seems to realize that the