Topic > Nothingness is Death - 1083

Samuel Beckett's Endgame highlights the concept of existentialist philosophy. Existentialist philosophy emphasizes the isolation of individual experience in an apathetic universe. It emphasizes the inexplicability and purposelessness of human existence and accentuates the freedom of choice. In Europe in the 1960s, the rise of the theater of the absurd gave impetus to existentialism. Endgame reflects almost every aspect of existentialism. Samuel Beckett offers in this comedy a raw and spare representation of the human condition in its emptiness. Beckett's characters experience a desperate attempt to find or create meaning for themselves. This play draws attention to the existentialist concept of desperation, loneliness, purposeless living, and emotionless relationships. Furthermore, the title of the work Endgame emphasizes that the game begun will one day end. This highlights the fact of human existence and the notion of death and mortality and represents nothingness as death. First of all, the setting and use of language in this work employs existentialist concepts of desperation and anxiety. The setting of the work appears to be a partially underground bomb shelter, perhaps after the occurrence of a nuclear holocaust, and depicts nothingness. A room with a bare interior serves as a refuge for the four characters: Hamm, Clov, Nagg and Nell. There are two windows that are of no use because Clov opens them at Hamm's request. He repeatedly scans the horizon with a telescope only to report on the waves and the sun, but utters “Zero… Grey” (Beckett 778). Zero means nothing, but its deeper meaning is non-existence or absence and in this play it represents the absence of life. Likewise, gray symbolizes darkness; he is emotionless, bori...... middle of paper ......sits the teeth, hair and sight and eventually the body dies. Hamm says, "One day you will be blind like me. You will sit here, a speck in the void, in the darkness, forever, like me" (Beckett 779). The concept of morality is something that no one can deny and everyone has to go through this old age phase in life like Nagg, Nell and Hamm and one day they have to die. In conclusion, Samuel Beckett's Endgame reflects the concept of meaninglessness and purposelessness of human existence. It depicts absurd characters and their emotionless relationship. Furthermore, the show highlights the prevailing fact of human extinction; represents the notion of death and mortality. This material world is left behind when man dies and only the soul survives in the eternal world. God created this world and will end it like the game Endgame means the game started will end one day.