Bam He wept? Bam Screamed? Bam Begged for merey? Bam But didn't say anything? Bom No The questioning of Bam eontinues as V direets him. Bam asks the same questions onee more and adds: Bam Then why stop? Bom He passed out. Bam And you didn't reviye him? Bom i tried. Bom i eouldn't pause. Bam It's a he pause. He said it to you pause eonfess he said it to you pause you'll be given the works until you eonfess V approves Bam's treament of Bom and then Bam orders Birn: Bam : Take him away and give him the works until he confesses.
Birn What must he eonfess? Bam : That he said it to him The time of the year has changed. Apparently, there has been a forward move in time and summer has come. Summer always brings joy to the hearts of people. The sun shines and a more colourlul atmosphere is created in this season.
But for the players the only connotation of the arrival of summer is the passing of time, the inquisition still continues.
Bam poses the same questions to Birn, but with one difference. Instead of asking "what", now he asks "where". But Birn cannot provide any answers. Then Bem is called in to do the questioning. V again is in control and announcesthat now "it is autumn". Probably this is the last chance to find the answer to the questions "what" and "where".
As before, this time Bam asks Bem about the inquisitionbut V does not repeat his earlier directions. He just says "so on", Bam is aware of his responsibility and he continues his interrogationof Bem but he finds out "nothing", upon which Bam, exits. Finally, the last phase comes and V tells that it is winter now. The cold atmosphere of winter covers the whole stage.
Bam enters again but this time his head is "bowed". V says: Good. In the present as were I stilI. That is alL. Make sense who may. I switch off With the ending of the playall the seasons have come to an end. Throughoutthe play a man's four-phases in life are presented. The first phase is spring which is the beginning or a rebirth, a reawakening in him.
At this stage, he is hopeful about the future, because he is young. He has some expectations from his future life. He probably has some plans to fulfill his goals about himself and he is impatientto start life. The second phase is summer. In summer his hope still continues. This is the time when his strugglejust begins. He is unaware of the events that life will bring him. He still thinks that he will get what he is looking for.
This season brings a cool, darker atmosphere, which remindsone of a gloomy, melancholic, sorrowful and a sad stage of life. Now that he has reaehed maturityand thathe knows better, he gradually loses his hopes and learns not to expect much. When winter amyes, there is no more hope because V realizes that he has not been able to achieve any of his goals. This is the final stage ofhisjoumey.
As he remembershis past, he confesses that life has not broughtmuch to him and that there is not much time left for him. He only feels the freezing cold of winter. Each one of the seasons symbolizes a different phase of mans's life and this is indicated by the use of different names for the players in each season. In spring, Bom, in summer Birn, in autumnBem are questionedby Bam, throughoutthe play. But since none of them can provide any "logical" answers, they leave the stage one by one until winter arrives and until V is left alone.
V, is "the controlling power" or "consciousness". V directs the action and imposes his wishes on Bam, Bem, Birn and Bom which represent different aspects of one individuaL. They presumably represent"being" in different stages of life. They receive the orders from V and get involved in an interrogation. The dilernma of "consciousness" and "being" are explored by V.
Joseph Zinker explains this situationby the help of psychology. He says that there are "two modes of consciousness", "two modes of being in the world". For example, in the play while the "Voice of Bam" is "in control", Bam is "flowing in the process", while V is "grabbing hold of', Bam is "hanging loose", and while Bam is "experieneing wants sequentially', V is "seeing the whole simultanously" For example, if a man owns "the characteristic of kindness" he also owns "the polarity of cruelty".
Moreover, a person owns not onlyone "opposite" but a lot of "related opposites", creating "multilarities". For instance, cruelty is not the only polarity of kindness; insensitivity or "callousness toward other person's feelings" may be another. Zinker, In What Where, these "interlaeed" and complex polarities in man are in conflict and these polarities are representedin the persons of Bam, Bem, Birn and Bom. Furthermore,to show that in every man's mindthere is a questioningandevaIuationof these polar forees, Beckett introduces Bam, Bem, Birn and Bom interrogatingone another.
This interrogationmay be taken as the revelation of V's search for reality. Through exploring his inner self, V tries to find his alien self which is the ultimatereality. In his explorations he needs to know the meaning of life and existence. Actually Beckett knows that what V is searching for does not exisl. But all the same, just as in complete absence of water thirsty people seek water to relieve their thirst, Bam, Bem, Birn and Bom try to find answers to their questions when there is none to be found.
Theyare torturedby the commands of V and theyare caught in a whirlpool, torturingone anotherto reach the goal of finding the answers to the questions "what" and "where". Man becomes his own enemy, because the questionsconfuse the mind and make life complicated.
In other words, while being engaged in the process of finding the truth, man tortures himself with lots of unanswerable questions; that is, the secret of existence, life and death. V makes Bam, Bem, Birn and Bom "weep, "scream", "beg for mercy' and even pass out for finding the answer to "what" and "where". This interrogation of Bam, Bem, Birn and Bom repeats itself over and over throughoutthe play.
The same questions are repeated for each one but no definite answer is giyen, thus after the interrogationof each there is a returnto the same point as if theyare all moving in a vicious cirde. This ridiculous, hopeless, and useless act of questioning takes all of V's life away from him. Without being able to enjoy life, everything comes to an end.
So, all the efforts, obviously tum out to be futile Piling, London and New York: Routledge, pp. Sheehan, P. A world without monsters: Beckett and the ethics of cruelty. Smith ed. London, New York: Continuum, pp. Steven, B. Gontarski ed. West Sussex: Blackwell, pp. Uhlmann, A. Samuel Beckett and the Philosophical Image.
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