by Le Quebecois

Created on: January 04, 2007   Last Updated: March 06, 2012

In life, we are often confronted with tasks that seem meaningless and downright cruel. They serve us no purpose apart from burdening our schedules and preventing us from doing the things that we enjoy. When times become so tedious, we ask what the point of being is. A response offered by Samuel Beckett's Endgame is that the point of being is simply to be. Throughout the play, there is a sense of dismal pointlessness. However, we realize that the characters are there, and that is the point. Clarifying Endgame's theme of existence are the stories of "Sisyphus", as interpreted by Camus, and Hemingway's "A Clean, Well-Lighted Place".

Endgame opens with a man nonsensically laughing at his own dispositions. In a dark, lonely room, Clov recognizes that everything is the "same as usual" (Beckett, Endgame). While he searches for meaning, he seems to discover that there is nothing more essential to his life than his life itself when he argues with Hamm about his reason for staying. "There's nowhere else," (Beckett) he says. Accepting this was a turning point in the plot, as it freed Clov from his own negative mentality. Suddenly, he realizes that his only concern is survival.

Beckett shows the audience that existence is the theme of the play by leaving almost no plot to analyze-without a defined story, the characters are more easily understood. At one point, Clov says, "I can't be punished anymore." It is a symbol that he liberated himself from wallowing in self pity and agreed to embrace that his only important task is survival. "[W]ait for him to whistle for me," (Beckett) he repeats several times, a sign that he has embraced his fate and is no longer concerned with why he must accept it. This positive, no-complaint attitude is probably best expressed when Clov says that he won't complain about the rain. He has realized that complaining is useless because it won't improve the condition, however his being is still essential.

Demonstrating the opposite, Nagg has been metaphorically limited to a pile of refuse because he hasn't been able to accept this idea. He's consistently thinking of the former days when his fate was something comprehensive to him, and never realizes that mere existence is the only important fact. Whilst Nell and Nagg are speaking with one another, Nell says, "Why this farce, day after day?" By showing her negative attitude toward the situation, she is confirming that the elderly couple are condemned to their fate because they have not accepted it.

• 1
• 2
• 3
• Next Page >>