Hearing , Seeing and Acting: A Peircean- Semiotic Perspective, on Samuel Becketts Acts Without Words I

Samuel beckett‘s, act without words ( henceforth, awwi), is one of the few slighted works in the beckett canon. often ignored, the play generally did not fare well even with those critics who do treat it. ruby cohn(1962:247 ) dismisses the work as ‗almost too explicit,‘ and ihab hassan(1967:192 ) notes that the play seems ‗a little too obvious and pat.‘ john fletcher and john spurling (1972:118 ) concur: ''compared to godot, ‗act without words i is . . . over-explicit, over-emphasized and even, unless redeemed by its performer, so unparticularized as to verge on the banal.'' then, awwi's directness (signs , e.g. cubes, rope, scissors , carafe, man, hands, sun , desert, dazzling light, whistle etc. ) is almost a source of embarrassment for critics and has prompted some forced interpretation. martin esslin( 1964:38 ) argues that the protagonist is ‗drawn to the pursuit of illusory objectives . . .. ruby cohn ( 1962:247) echoes the view, suggesting that the ‗sustenance and tools are man’s own invention, and his frustration the result of the impossibility of ever being able to reach what may be a mirage. but the objects certainly seem substantial. the protagonist stands on the cubes and engages in a tug-of-war with a force outside himself, presumably the same force which threw him on stage . the scissors and rope may be man‘s own inventions, but they are nonetheless real; if they were not, the exterior force would have little reason to confiscate them. journal.