Riley McMoy
English 1302
Professor Hammet
Essay 1 Argument/Proposal
3/27/2024
Word Count: 818
Samuel Beckett, The Depressed Poet
Samuel Beckett was a well-known author during the 1930s-1940s. Another thing about Samuel is that he suffered from depression and anxiety. Although, unlike most people, he used his depressive feelings for comedic purposes, and enjoyed dark humor. Later in his life, he used his depression in his writing, as he started writing absurd literature. How would Samuel Beckett view depression as it is today? Samuel Beckett was a famous playwright and poet. He was born on the thirteenth of April in 1906 and passed away at the age of eighty-three on the twenty-second of December in1989.
Samuel grew up in the protestant and went to school in a middle-class school. He loved poetry. In 1933, his father died of a heart attack, leaving Samuel to care for his mother alone. This was likely what caused his anxiety and severe depression. He lived in Ireland, which was a country that stayed neutral throughout World War II. Later in life, around 1942, he got word that his underground resistance group had been caught and arrested. Due to this fact, he fled and moved to France, where he would live out the rest of his life. He got married to a French woman by the name of Suzanne Deschevaux-Dusmesnil in 1961.
In Samuel's life, there were many things he enjoyed. He was very smart and learned both Italian and French. Later on in life, he would use both of these languages in his writings. His intelligence is later shown in his poetry, with how he can turn the darkest things into some kind of humor. He was never optimistic nor pessimistic, rather he thought about the world in a more logical view. On top of being very intelligent, he was also really athletic and excelled in sports such as cricket, tennis, and even boxing. His love for Cricket would grow as he got older, going to watch professional games. In fact, it was during a Cricket game that one of the most famous most famous phrases was said. One of his friends claimed it was a wonderful day to be alive. Samuel responded to him by saying "I wouldn't go as far as that." (M.Landers 2013-2014) However, these passions did not stop him from having a deep suffering of depression.
Samuel suffered from a mix of depression and anxiety, and it showed in his work. He usually would twist it in ways to make it seem comedic, and he was a big fan of dark humor. He would refer a lot to how meaningless life is and make it sound like he did not even want to be alive. Some of his more famous quotes would be as such: “I shall always be depressed, however, the realization that I can accept the darker sides being the ones to command my personality, brings me comfort.” (M.Landers 2013-2014)
Depression is a serious mental illness that affects many people of all ages. It is one of, if not the most common mental illness. It causes fatigue, exhaustion, lack of interest in activities you used to enjoy, feelings of sadness, regret, guilt, and many more hurtful feelings. It can be as minor as not having the energy to do simple things like washing the dishes, to as serious as self-harm and even suicide in some extreme cases. Depression is commonly misunderstood, usually by the parents of young children. It is curable, however, in bettering yourself and sticking to a positive routine.
What would Samuel Beckett think about depression today? He would likely take into consideration all the different aspects of depression from today and compare them to how prominent the symptoms were back in the mid-1900s. He would most likely find humor out of all the ways he could about it, perhaps make jokes and poke fun at how negatively impactful depression is on a person. He would write another book or poem about the differences he had noticed between depression today and back then. Would he still be depressed today? Yes, he would because his depression stemmed from how meaningless life was and how there was no point to this existence.
In conclusion, Samuel would have stayed depressed no matter what throughout his life. Despite being very bright and his joy of athletics there wasn’t anything that was directly linked to his depression. It goes to show just how serious depression is. Another thing is that he didn't really have a way to change his outlook on the meaningless nature of life since everything was going to end soon. That is backed up by his belief that in just a few decades, maybe even centuries, he and his achievements would be completely forgotten and meaningless. He would view today's depression and compare it to his own and potentially write about the humor he would find from it.
Work Cited
Team, Biography.com. “Samuel Beckett.” Biography, 20 Aug. 2020, www.biography.com/authors-writers/samuel-beckett.
Curry, Mason. “Author Quotes – Samuel Beckett & the Value of Depression.” M. Landers, 17 Mar. 2014, mlanders.com/2014/01/16/author-quotes-samuel-beckett.
Laws Delanie. “Samuel Beckett.” British Literature Wiki, July 2018, sites.udel.edu/britlitwiki/samuel-beckett/Esslin.
Martin J. “Samuel Beckett.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannicainc. 29 Mar. 2024, www.britannica.com/biography/Samuel-Beckett.
Strong, Benjamin. “Biography.” The Samuel Beckett Society, 16 Mar. 2022, samuelbeckettsociety.org/biography.