... but the clouds ...: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 22:47, 10 July 2023

Revision as of 15:16, 20 July 2023

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The play opens in darkness and gradually reveals M, a “man sitting bowed over an invisible table.”<ref name="multiref4">{{cite book |first=Samuel |last=Beckett |date=1984 |title=Collected Shorter Plays of Samuel Beckett |___location=London |publisher=Faber & Faber |page=257 |isbn=978-0-5711-3040-5}}</ref> He is dressed in a [[nightshirt|gown]] and [[Nightcap (garment)|nightcap]], and this is the only way he appears in the present throughout the play. The camera revisits this image fifteen times.

As the play unfolds, we hear a voice that we assume belongs to M, as it reflects his thoughts. He recalls past encounters with a woman and simultaneously visualizes his remembered or imagined self, referred to as M1, acting out the described motions within the circle of light. M contemplates what triggers the woman's appearance. At first he says, "When I thought of her..."<ref>{{cite book |first=Samuel |last=Beckett |date=1984 |title=Collected Shorter Plays of Samuel Beckett |___location=London |publisher=Faber & Faber |page=259 |isbn=978-0-5711-3040-5}}</ref>but later realizingrealizes that she simply manifests to him, always at night. He reflects on his routine, starting with his return home after walking the roads since daybreak.<ref> In “Damned to Fame” (p. 364) and “Frescoes of the Skull” (p. 261), James Knowlson draws a parallel with Beckett’s protagonist and the type of characters written by [[John Millington Synge|Synge]].</ref> He changes into night attire, enters his sanctum, attempts to summon the woman without success, and at dawn, he dresses once again and sets out on the road.

In summary, the play begins with M in darkness, seen in a recurring pose at his invisible table. We hear M's thoughts as he reminisces about encountering the woman, while M1 acts out these recollections in the circle of light. M reflects on the cause of her appearance, his routine, and his continuous cycle of summoning her at night and leaving at dawn.