It's human nature to look at your ignorant younger self in disbelief. In Samuel Beckett's one-act play, Krapp's Last Tape, he does a wonderful job of portraying this human element. Beckett develops an interesting story by giving the current views of a seventy-year-old man and a thirty-nine-year-old man using a smart tape recorder. Becket creates an incredibly relatable character, Krapp, emphasizing the differences between the character's younger and older persona. There are striking and obvious differences between Krapp's thirty-nine and seventy year old self. The production presents the current Krapp as a “tired old man”. (1403) and describes the young Krapp as having a “loud, rather pompous voice”. (1404). The young Krapp declared it “a hopeless affair”. (1405) while bitching about living with Bianca, a former lover. Krapp, at this age, finds work more rewarding than the company of a loved one. On the other hand, the older Krapp claims that he "could have been happy with her" (1408), speaking of an unnamed woman with whom he broke off his relationship. The older Krapp sits and remembers his past life while the younger dreams of his future. Work is an important part of the play and Krapp takes very different positions on it at different stages of his life. Krapp, thirty-nine years old, spends his birthday alone “separating the grains from the hulls” (1404). This is later clarified by Krapp when he says: "I suppose I mean those things that are worth owning when all the dust has settled." I close my eyes and try to imagine. »(1405). Separating the kernels from the hulls means deciding which things in your life are worth having. When all my dust has settled there is a reference to the Bible and...... middle of paper...... talking about that stupid bastard I thought I was thirty years ago , hard to believe I was ever as bad as that. Thank goodness it's over anyway. (1407). He feels the same as he did at thirty-nine; his current ideas and beliefs are the right ones and he was stupid to always think otherwise. The theme of the play was that you should not let your own plans get in the way of your own life. Krapp's view on life and the things that were valuable to him changed as he grew older and, in his opinion, became wiser. By embodying the human element of regret, Beckett created a relatable character who radically changed his own opinions, just like people do every day. Works Cited Beckett, Samuel. Krapp's last tape: a one-act play. Introduction to literature. Ed. Sylvan Barnet, William Burto and William E. Cain, sixteenth ed. New York: Longman, 2011. 1403-1409. Print.