Death in Beckett’s Endgame

Endgame is an absurdist play as it deals with the theme of a meaningless life. Finding life devoid of any significance the characters are mostly pre-occupied with the idea of death. They cannot be certain of anything in life except death.


Samuel Beckett

No matter how people play the game of life the only final outcome about which they can be dead sure is death. Death is the central issue around which the whole play moves. Nell is the only female character in the play and she is also the one who dies in the course of the play. The death of female character Nell, who is the source of life makes the death the dominant idea in the play.

When the play begins, we find the word ‘finished’. The word finished refers to the end of the world or the termination of life. All the characters in the play are dependent upon others for their existence. They are not free. The words they use to talk to others are repetitive and cannot communicate anything significant. The setting is a suffocating confinement of a room symbolically standing for the imprisonment of life. The activities of the characters and their dialogue do not sound life enhancing but support the idea of the negation of life. The characters don’t find life of that kind worth living, but are trying to find the way out of it. The recurrence of words like zero, finished, nothing shows the characters preoccupation with death. When a flea is seen they want to kill it because life may begin all over again, thereby prolonging the same cycle of pain, suffering and confinement. The characters do not seem to have control over their own lives, but find themselves controlled and manipulated by some unseen power. The death of Nell hints at the end of creation. When the source dries up nothing is going to be born. Hence, death is the central issue dealt within the play and the setting, language and characters are clues that help us understand the play’s hinting at death.