The irony in Happy Days is not what we usually call "tragic irony." We do not know more than Winnie knows; and whatever emotions we mobilize in order to rise above her drama of self-awareness and delusion returns to us.

We cannot look at Winnie with pity or condescension. She is one of the most sympathetic characters ever created in theater. She endears herself to us with a deep but awkward sympathy because she simply resonates with our deepest, most irredeemable concerns.

At the core of all of Beckett's work lies a tragic perception of the world and the human condition, from which, however, kindness, irony, and laughter refuse to disengage – the laughter of the philosopher and the laughter of the clown; but never the sarcasm of the mocker.