The incarnation of Hegel's forms of consciousness in the works of Samuel Beckett

Abstract

Out of volumes of criticism on Beckett's work, very few critics relate him to Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit, which is one of the most important theoretical works on the ontological relations of consciousness to life in the objective as well as the subjective world. This thesis entwines Hegel's analysis of consciousness in the phenomenal world with Beckett's Watt through a close reading of both texts. It also shows the incarnation of Hegel's shapes of self-consciousness in the theatrical works of Beckett including Endgame, Happy Days, Waiting for Godot, and Krapp's Last Tape. Chapter One of this thesis analyses the three stages of Hegel's consciousness in relation to Watt and his exhaustive and alienating experiences in Mr Knott's house that lead him finally to a mental institution. In Chapter Two, the discussion moves to the representation of consciousness in search of its independent, individual self, moving through all the stages of self-consciousness that Hegel presents in the second chapter of his Phenomenology. Both chapters demonstrate the processes that consciousness as an instrument of knowledge undergoes in the worlds that Beckett creates for his characters. This thesis shows that while Hegel puts the instrument of knowledge in his lab of scientific experiment, Beckett gives it a coat and a hat and sends it on its journey to squirm in whatever worlds it happens to exist.