Editing Act Without Words I (section)

==Interpretation==

On one level ''Act Without Words I'' “seems a [[Behaviorism|behaviourist]] experiment within a [[Greek mythology|classical myth]]”,<ref>Ackerley, C. J. and Gontarski, S. E., (Eds.) ''The Faber Companion to Samuel Beckett'', London: Faber and Faber, 2006, p 3</ref> that of [[Tantalus]], who stood in a pool of water which receded every time he bent to drink it, and stood under a fruit tree which raised its branches every time he reached for food. In the 1930s Beckett read [[Wolfgang Köhler]]’s book, ''[[The Mentality of Apes]]'' about the colony of [[ape]]s in [[Tenerife]], where experiments were conducted in which the apes also placed cubes on top of another in order to reach a banana”<ref>Knowlson, J., ''Damned to Fame: The Life of Samuel Beckett'' (London: Bloomsbury, 1996), p 419</ref> and is clearly referenced in this piece.

Tantalus was punished for stealing [[Ambrosia|ambrosia and nectar]]. It is not certain that the man ''is'' being punished for a crime other than that of existing in the first place. The situation is similar to that of the narrator in Beckett's 1955 ''The Expelled'', whose story begins with him being jettisoned from the place he was living (“The fall was … not serious. Even as I fell I heard the door slam, which brought me a little comfort … [for] that meant they were not pursuing me down the street with a stick, to beat me.”<ref>Beckett, S., ''The Expelled and Other Novellas'' (London:Penguin Books, 1980), p 34</ref>) “into an environment where he cannot exist but cannot escape … Whereas [[Waiting for Godot|Godot’s]] existence remains uncertain, here an external force exists”<ref>Ackerley, C. J. and Gontarski, S. E., (Eds.) ''The Faber Companion to Samuel Beckett'', London: Faber and Faber, 2006, pp 3,4</ref> “represented by a sharp, inhuman, disembodied whistle”<ref name="Lamont, R. C. 1987 p 60"/> which will not permit him to leave; “like [[Jacob]], [he] wrestles with it to illustrate its substance.”<ref name="Gontarski, S. E. 1993 pp 29-34"/> In simplistic terms the man's actual fall could be seen to represent the [[Fall of man]].

The fact that the man is literally, as far as the audience is concerned, thrown into existence brings to mind the [[Heideggerian terminology|Heideggerian]] concept of ''[[Geworfenheit]]''<ref>The German word ''geworfenheit'' means 'thrown down' and was used by Heidegger to describe the accidental nature of human existence in a world that has not yet been made our own by conscious choice. We have no control of much of our existence. Some of the obvious but ignored facticities include the era in which we are born, our gender and sex, our mother tongue, and our body type. [http://definitions.therapytoronto.ca/geworfenheit.phtml]</ref> (‘Throwness’).”<ref>Oppenheim, L., ‘Anonymity and Individuation: The Interrelation of Two Linguistic Functions in ''Not I'' and ''Rockaby''’ in Davis, R. J. and Butler, L. St J., (Eds.) ''‘Make Sense Who May’: Essays on Samuel Beckett’s Later Works'' (Gerrards Cross: Colin Smythe, 1988)', p 42</ref> Heidegger is clearly using the expression [[metaphor]]ically as is Beckett; the man is expelled from a womb-like condition, from non-being into being. This is not the first time Beckett has used light to symbolise existence: “They give birth astride of a grave, the light gleams an instant, then it’s night once more.”<ref>Beckett, S., ''Waiting for Godot'', London: Faber and Faber, [1956] 1988, p 89</ref> The protagonist is nameless, he is [[Everyman]]. “As Beckett told [[Barney Rosset]], his longtime U.S. publisher,  in 1957: he is just ‘human meat or bones.’”<ref>Ackerley, C. J. and Gontarski, S. E., (Eds.) ''The Faber Companion to Samuel Beckett'', London: Faber and Faber, 2006, p 4</ref>

When he first looks at his hands it is “”as though [he is] noticing his own body for the first time … Having become cognisant of his ''[[Dasein]]'' … [he is willing to] accept the presence of various ''Seiendes''”,<ref>Lamont, R. C., ‘To Speak the Words of “The Tribe”: The Wordlessness of Samuel Beckett’s Metaphysical Clowns’ in Burkman, K. H., (Ed.) ''Myth and Ritual in the Plays of Samuel Beckett'' (London and Toronto: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 1987)', p 60</ref> as Heidegger calls existing objects, that start to appear beginning with the tree.

When the scissors arrive the man begins to trim his nails “for no other reason than the sudden availability of the correct object. The scissors of course could stand for any other useful object of daily living such as a house or car, objects whose "thereness" is most often taken for granted.”<ref name="Lamont, R. C. 1987 p 60"/>

The play is a [[parable]] of resignation; a state one reaches only after a series of disappointments. The man has learned ‘the hard way’ that there is nothing he can rely on in life other than himself.

G. C. Barnard argues the prevalent interpretation of the ending; the protagonist does not move because he is simply crushed: ‘the man remains, defeated, having opted out of the struggle, lying on the empty desert.’<ref>Barnard, G. C., ''Samuel Beckett: A New Approach'', (New York: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1970), p 109</ref> “But within this obvious, traditional ending, Beckett works his consummate skill, for the real play begins with its terminus. The climactic ending of the mime may signify not a pathetic defeat, but a conscious rebellion, man’s deliberate refusal to obey. [[Lucky (Waiting for Godot)|Lucky]] has finally turned on [[Pozzo (Waiting for Godot)|Pozzo]]. Ironically then, the protagonist is most active when inert, and his life acquires meaning at its end. In this refusal, this cutting of the [[Umbilical cord|umbilical rope]], a second birth occurs, the birth of Man.”<ref name="Gontarski, S. E. 1993 pp 29-34"/> Man has given birth to himself even though it appears it will mean the death of him.<ref>”Birth was the death of him.” – ''A Piece of Monologue'' in Beckett, S., ''Collected Shorter Plays of Samuel Beckett'', London: Faber and Faber, 1984, p 265</ref> It is a victory of sorts, albeit a hollow one.

===Beckett on Film===
[[File:Sean Foley in a scene from Samuel Beckett's "Act Without Words I".gif|framed|[[Sean Foley (director)|Sean Foley]] in Karel Reisz's film of the play]]
A filmed version of ''Act Without Words I'' was directed by [[Karel Reisz]] for the 2001 ''[[Beckett on Film]]'' project, with music specially composed by [[Michael Nyman]].