Endgame by Samuel Beckett

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Beckett is the founder of exploring the meaning of theatrical absurdity. Beckett’s effortless writings over the years, created a unique dramatic persona in his plays that won him the Noble Peace prize. After receiving one of the highest awards known to humanity, he kept a low profile. This period alludes to the satisfaction of reaching his peak. Yet, in his later work, the Endgame makes a direct correlation with the satisfaction of making your peak a plateau. He creates a philosophical predicament in the Endgame of trying to discover the true reasoning for existence, when he could not find one reason why life exists. Throughout the play, he uses repetitive word usage, symbolism, emptiness seen in the characters to convey this message.
The Endgame does not offer a beginning as the first line of the play is already an ending. “Finished, it’s finished, nearly finished it must be nearly finished”, said by Clov to describe death as an ending moment of life (Beckett 767). The irony of beginning the play with the ending it conveys the dark misery of the story. The repetitive usage of the word ‘finished’ throughout this play helps the reader to understand that death was the life everyone looked forward too. “I hesitate to. . .to end. Yes , there it is, it’s time it ended and yet I hesitate to- to end (Beckett 768).” The repetitive word usage creates a vivid meaning that the thought of death keeps the characters alive. The main characters, Clov and Hamm, were both unhappy, but Clov was worst off. One thing that made them feel somewhat reassurance about their miserable lives is the numerous references to ‘Christ’ throughout the play.
“Bare interior. Gray Light...covered with an old sheet, HAMM (Beckett 767).” Aderholt suggested that symbo...

... middle of paper ...

... was very repetitive to give the reader a deeper meaning to show how the characters felt as they went through life. The symbolism help define the setting. As Clov and Hamm got older less events occurred which caused these feelings of sadness. They were frozen in time in a cyclic pattern ready for death each day but time seemed to slow down each day. There was no life, but death is what kept them alive.

Works Cited

Aderholt, Abby “Stage 2 Interpretation Essay”, World Literature 2, November 21, 2013. University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa.
Beckett, Samuel “Endgame”, The Norton Anthology: World Literature Volume F, 2012. New York, NY.
Rowden, Taylor “A King and His Pawns: Samuel Beckett’s Endgame”, World Literature 2, November 21, 2013. University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa.
Stoves, Ashely “Endgame”, World Literature 2, November 21, 2013. University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa.

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