The troublesome themes

Hello J          

            Endgame is absurd play that does not make much senses, still there are hints that might give us some idea. After all, the purpose of theatre of the absurd is to make audience thinking.  All of us can get it in different way; there is never wrong one (usually) so each of us can have our own interpretation on the play.

How I see it:

            The plot of Endgame is kind of creepy. It’s basically about crippled people, one is blind and cannot stand and the other one cannot sit. Other two lives in rubbish bins and are probably legless.All the characters in the play are depended upon others for their existence. And all this craziness happens in one darken room. The atmosphere of the play is really gloomy and somber. Don’t forget, that it is tragic-comedy. Well the tragic is already explained, what about comedy. The characters are speaking and behaving in absurd way, which can evoke humor.

            One of the themes is isolation and loneliness. All the characters are trap in one room and also feel lonely. Take example of Nell and Nagg; they are wife and husband; they live next to each other (literally) but in two separated bins.  They cannot even touch each other due to lack of proper movement.            

Nagg: Kiss me

Nell: We can’t

Nagg: Try (Their heads strain toward each other, fail to meet, fall a part again.)  

Nell: Why this farce, day after day

            Another theme is cycle. Some dialogues are repeating over times (example: Hamm asking for painkillers). Some of characters’ actions are also repetitive. One and only female character in play Nell notes that they must do “this farce, day after day.”Another evidence of cycle is Hamm. Hamm seems to be scared of dead and he rather lives miserably for ever than die. Hamm many times claims he wants to be finished but he also admits that he hesitates to do so.

            The last theme is Death. There are three really old characters (at least they seems so) that have lifeless life. Their conversation is full of emptiness and desperate. All characters repetitiously use words like “zero, finished or nothing. Maybe, they are trap in life itself and they are waiting for the death. The idea can be also reverse, they might try to avoid dead but still show morbid behavior.

(Example: living in dustbin= rubbish is in dustbin= rubbish is not useful anymore= not useful=comes to its end= dead)