Style and Techniques in Endgame

A play is a space where a dramatist depends on the dramatization of the interrelationships between and among the styles, techniques and the thematic content. One kind of style and techniques is purposefully chosen to corroborate and support one particular theme picked up by the playwright.

Beckett’s use of repetitive chronological development and symbolic characters succeeds in supporting the theme of horror, stagnation, powerlessness, death, meaninglessness of life and a loss of faith and emptiness which come together to characterize the condition of modern man in a world threatened by nuclear wars.

To talk about the language first, Becket uses meaningless clichés and repetitive dialogues to show the failure of communication. The agonies of every individual are locked within himself and his attempt to communicate them to others fails badly. People can’t understand each other well and the impact of horror and the destructive activities of man are unspeakable. Through the use of minimal language Beckett communicates the inability to communicate meaningfully. Many of the words used by the characters refer to the lack of mobility, endings, death, extinction and comic situations of life in the modern world. The setting of the play is a closed room signifying the inability of the modern man to move freely. The characters are tied to certain things. They are physically unfit and dependent upon others for their movement. Hamm cannot move without help from Clov. Clov too cannot move beyond the bounds of the room, though he is the only character who moves more than any other character in the play. They are like the chess pieces and cannot move the way they like. Their movement is highly restricted. Nagg and Nell are in the ashcan and cannot come out. It is an allusion to the imprisonment of modern man. The chess pieces can move only in a given way. The rules of the game impose restriction on their movement. It seems as if the movement of the characters is preprogrammed and cannot move the way they please.

The names of the characters refer to nails and the hammer. Through this Beckett could possibly be trying to refer to the nations participating in the war. They are the builder of the world with their won tools, but they cannot build the world but destroy it. The characters in the play accomplish nothing during the course of the play. They suffer from stagnation and the play ends where it began. By using characters with physical deformities the playwright may be referring to the spiritual paralysis which is so very characteristic of the modern world. Unlike the conventional notion of plot, Endgame has no clear cut beginning, middle and ending. At the end of the play things are where they were in the beginning. It symbolically stands for the lack of evolution and progression in the life of modern people and the world as a whole. Neil is the only female character in the play and her death suggests the end of life as she is the source of life as a female character in the play and her death suggests the end of life as she is the source of life as a female. When Clov looks outside through the window all he sees is zero and emptiness.

Thus, Beckett uses languages and other dramatic techniques that vividly explore the issues of the modern world. To a great extent the themes are well backed by the styles and techniques chosen. The formal elements suit the meaninglessness and absurdity of life in the contemporary times. The play is really a great success in this regard.