The Couch in the Theatre:
Beckett as a Psychoanalyst of Modernity
Dr. Shraddha Deshpande
ABSTRACT
This paper explores Samuel Beckett’s theatre as a
site of psychoanalytic inquiry, positioning him not merely as a
dramatist of the absurd but as a quasi-analyst of modern existence.
Through plays such as Waiting for Godot and Endgame, Beckett
dramatizes psychic mechanisms—repression, denial, displacement, and
repetition—that echo Freud’s theorization of the unconscious. The
paper argues that Beckett’s drama not only reflects psychoanalytic
insights but actively performs them, turning the theatre into a
space where the unconscious of modernity is both staged and
scrutinized.
Keywords: Absurd Theatre, Existentialism, Psychoanalysis
