Ted Hughes and Samuel Beckett

Paper Summary:

This paper takes a look at Samuel Beckett's "Endgame" and Ted Hughes' "Crow". According to the paper, after World War II, authors were faced with the difficulty of creating written works of meaning in a world that seemed so cruel that any attempt at making meaning or moral sense of human behavior seemed futile. This paper discusses Beckett's and Hughes' attempts at making, and failing to make, a new mythology in a world vacant of belief.

From the Paper:

"No one could describe Beckett's characters as attractive, and this deliberate impulse towards ugliness is also seen in Ted Hughes creation of the mythological, ugly character in the form of "Crow." A crow, the traditional trickster character of mythology, is a harsh-voiced bird, and Hughes himself said he selected this solitary feeder upon the bones of the dead as his protagonist quite deliberately--just as Beckett's characters feed upon the bones of a cultural system of meaning and a personal past that now has no shape or structure--"it's like the funny story we have heard too often, we still find it funny, but we don't laugh any more," says Nell of the "Endgame" dialogue--the animal Crow feeds upon what is left behind, feeding upon the dead in a world that is based upon death. The crow is a "nightmare" creation, a defiant voice in the wilderness against God. (Sagar, 1975) "

Sample of Sources Used:

• Hayman, David. "Endgame: Overview" From The Reference Guide toEnglish Literature. 2nd ed. Edited by D. L. Kirkpatrick, St. James Press,1991.
• Hoffman, Daniel. "The Art of Ted Hughes. "The New York Times Book Review. April 18, 1971, pp. 35-6.
• Sagar, Keith. Ted Hughes Poetry. 1975.

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• Research Paper # 93052 : "Samuel Beckett"

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