Krapp Will Always Be Krapp

It isn't until the very end of the play that Krapp mentions he's listening to old tapes of himself. But before he does, there are many details (clues, we'll call them), which lead us to believe the man we are looking at, and the man inside the tape are the same person.

Clue #1:
The bananas.
The voice in the tape recorder says: "Have just eaten I regret to say three bananas and only with difficulty restrained a fourth. Fatal things for a man with my condition." Prior to this, we saw the old man do the same, therefore we assume that the man we hear through the tape recorder is the same man who listens to it. But, how can it be? Both voices are so different from one another. The man in the tape seems to be young, with an almost eloquent voice, while the other man's voice is "cracked," with a "distinctive intonation." Although the voice has changed, the habits haven't. Apart from this compulsive need of eating bananas, we encounter a second similarity.

Clue #2:
Both seem to have the habit of recording and listening to tapes. These recordings function as a diary.
Tape Krapp says:
"Just been listening to an old year, passages at random."
Later, Old Krapp records:
"Just been listening to that stupid bastard I took myself for thirty years ago, hard to beleive I was ever as bad as that."
Both consume themselves in these tapes, which are after all, the past.
Old Krapp seems to be mad at his young self. He seems to have hard feelings towards the past. Towards the way he used to think and act. Towards the way he used to love.

Clue #3:
The light above the table. It's something that stands out through all that loneliness and darkness. "The new light above my table is a great improvement." Says the tape, and Krapp looks above, where he finds the light. "With all this darkness around me I feel less alone. (Pause.) In a way. (Pause.) I love to get up and move about in it, then back here to . . . (hesitates) . . . me. (pause.) Krapp." Even this young version of Krapp was lonely. He goes into the light, but then goes back to himself. Krapp. He says his name with despise, with repugnance. not to mention Krapp is oddly similar to crap, thus making us see him in such a manner.

Although both are the same person, they have slight differences (the voice was mentioned already) which can be attributed to the experiences Krapp had in different moments of his life.

Difference #1:
The tape speaks: "Shall I sing when I am her age, if I ever am? No. (Pause.) Did I sing as a boy? No. (Pause.) Did I ever sing? No." Singing, in this context, seems to be an act of happiness. We've agreed that both tape Krapp and old Krapp are gloomy, therefore what tape Krapp says makes sense- he doesn't sing. But in the play, old Krapp does sing. Twice. His song isn't joyful,
"Now the day is over,
Night is drawing nigh-igh."
but it still is a song.

Difference #2:
There are moments where Krapp looks up words in the dictionary he hears in the tape. If it was he who made the recordings and said those words, why is he looking them up?

Difference # 3:
There comes a point where the man in the tape speaks poetically, in such a beautiful manner.

"Past midnight. Never knew such silence. The earth might be uninhabited."

Although the old man seems touched by words he said years ago, and uneasy with how everything turned out, he was another side to him with which he struggles. A determined side, one that tries to convince himself that he wouldn't relive those years, "when there was a chance of happiness."


This whole situation: a man listening to his young self speak, captures the transformation of the human being as he experiences new things. The differences between the tape and Krapp mentioned above emphasize a change in the character. Both obsessively ate bananas, recorded tapes, and felt lonely. But the voice in the tape, so clean and clear, used complex words, and phrased his ideas in such a way, that we were lead to believe he was a smart man. We imagine something very different to what we see: a creaky voiced, filthy man. We can refer to the voice in the tape and the man listening to it as two separate characters, but they are after all, the same person. The same Krapp at different times.