Endgame as an Absurd Play

Beckett’s play, Endgame belongs to the theatre of the Absurd as it views life as meaningless and beyond human rationality to understand. It shows the influence of existentialist philosophy. With its emphasis on the idea of circularity and non-meaning Endgame highlights the theme of absurdism.

The play is both tragic and comic at the same time. One of the characters describes the experience of unhappiness as funny. It is absurd when one says that nothing is as funny as unhappiness. The minimal use of language, minimalist use of setting, self-consciousness of characters and the fact that nothing happens in the play support the labeling of the play as absurdist one.

The very beginning of the play gives us the word finished. It shows the character’s preoccupation with death. Since there is no meaning in life they are obsessed with death. The characters too are doing nothing. The setting shows imprisonment of people who can have no control over their own lives. They cannot move freely. Their lives are manipulated by some external force. There are no values and beliefs by which they can live. The conversation is full of comic overtones. The play ends where it began. There is no development in the plot. Nothing can help to bring out the existential angst of the characters so silence is better than speech. When there is any speech, it too is senseless and repetitive. The play shows the pain of life without expressing it. Hamm takes a painkiller to mitigate the pain of life. He and Clov know what they are doing and the audience also knows it. Though the play goes against the conventional idea of drama, it is intellectually appealing as it deals with the meaninglessness of life which makes the play absurd.