Absurdity in Beckett's Endgame

Samuel Beckett’s “Endgame” explores an existence in an era when the importance of being is incessantly challenged by man’s newfound recognition of the universes absurdity and lack of observable meaning. Written in 1957, the context of the world at the time of this work’s creation sheds much insight on its themes. In a time of continuous social and technological change scientific observations began yielding a more accurate picture of causality for the world and its phenomena; and the concept of god became ever less relevant. The recent world wars had left ruins in not only cities, but in the concepts driving the nature of man. With the implicit destruction of deities and sets of traditional rules to govern man’s behaviour, humanity found itself at a need to define a different purpose to its existence. Enter existentialism: A belief in existence despite any discernible meaning, existence for its own sake; heralding with it an implied freedom of choice in both perception and action. As with the then contemporary world view, the characters in Beckett’s “Endgame” are left to survive in the wake of a crumbled world. Free to devise their own world view, the characters respond by developing life affirming routines - demonstrating that creation persists even in destruction. Destruction, it would seem does not eliminate an object or idea, but only redefines its form, beginning its existence anew. Rather ironically, the play begins with Clov repeating the world “finished”. Consequently, this theme of beginnings and endings as interrelated, cyclical, mutually necessary, and conclusively futile comes to prevail over the course of the play. As with the classic case of the chicken and the egg, the cyclical pattern of creation and destruction is eternal in its supposed nature. However, to the goal of inciting drama or motivation, a story must begin with destruction; a motif with which “Endgame” is rife. The very setting of the play immediately evokes a