by Merve Cavus

Created on: September 03, 2008

Samuel Beckett (1906-1989) is a highly significant playwright of the 20th century Absurd Drama. Beckett is mostly celebrated for reflecting the spirit of his time in his works in terms of the individual's reaction to overwhelming social and political changes of the 20th century. As Yksel points out, "Beckett's works are the productions of an ironic golden age [20th century], in which the developing technological and economic power was used as a means of oppression on man, the balance on earth was subverted, two World Wars and many local wars, where all facilities were mobilized for the mass extermination of human beings, took place, religion and philosophy failed to explain the meaning in human life" (14). Beckett explores the destructive effects of these circumstances which include the loss of meaning, the feeling of isolation and alienation, the uncertainty of identity and existence.

Beckett depicts the characters of his plays as they are in constant search for meaning in a meaningless universe, uncertain of their identities and existence, and feeling isolated and alienated in an insecure world. All of them cause painful anxieties in the characters. L.A.C Dobrez explains the anxieties in Beckett's characters through Heidegger's concept of angst (anxiety or uneasiness) as: "Living in anxiety is experiencing the sorrow that the Conscious, which is imprisoned within boundaries of human Existence, sufferBeckett's characters are confined to such an action which is "to be conscious of the self" (as cited in Yksel 29). Beckett's Endgame can be given as a good example for reflecting that the characters are burdened with the anxieties of isolation, uncertainty, and ending. Each of these existential anxieties is reflected overlapping each other in the play.
Anxiety of isolation is mainly reflected through the main characters, Clov and Hamm. Between them, there is a master-servant relationship which has been going on for many years. Clov is the servant to Hamm and Hamm is the master to Clov. Each one of them hangs on to the role he adopts for the sake of having a role because in that way each asserts a kind of identity by acting upon one another. Hamm and Clov depend on each other because they both have physical disabilities; Hamm is crippled and blind hence Clov wheels him around the room, and reports on the outside by looking out of the window. Clov can see and walk but he cannot sit. Clov's inability to sit is compensated with the fact that Hamm is confined to sitting

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