That the protagonist is introduced simply with ‘The man is flung backwards on stage from right wing’ dramatises Beckett’s firmly held concept of human birth as an involuntary entry into this world as a consequence of being forcibly ejected from the womb.

Finding no escape from his human condition, the man is tempted, teased and tormented appallingly by some indefinable external force that is beyond his control. He is continually tempted to look, wonder, perceive, respond and suffer as a consequence of fancying that the world holds out any hope for a better existence. Only gradually does he become conscious of various personal limitations that leave him ill-equipped to remedy his condition.

‘The man’ is man - lonely humanity, transported to a state of consciousness that is both disconcerting and inescapable. He finally perceives the futility of relying on anything beyond or within himself. Such knowledge, however, offers no solution to the existential problem.