Structure
In Waiting for Godot, Beckett uses aspects of Judeo-Christianity as the template for his play, in Film the template is the writings of Bishop Berkeley, and in Krapp’s Last Tape, according to Anthony Cronin, he uses Manichaenism as a structural device:
The dichotomy of light and dark … is central to Manichaean doctrine … Its adherents believed that the world was ruled by evil powers, against which the god of the whole of creation struggled as yet in vain … Krapp is in violation of the three seals or prohibitions of Manichaenism for the elect: the seal of the hands, forbidding engagement in a profession, the seal of the breast against sexual desire, and the seal of the mouth, which forbids the drinking of wine … Beckett seems to have known no more about Manichaenism than is contained in the eleventh edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica, which he possessed.
Read more about this topic: Krapp's Last Tape
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