A Rereading of the Play Endgame by Samuel Beckett based on Existentialist Principles

Document Type : The Quarterly Jornal

Authors

1 Director general of printing and publishing

2 Visiting Professor, Department of Philosophy, School of Law, Theology and Political Science, Science and Research Park, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran.

3 Assistant Professor, Faculty of Science and Research, Islamic Azad University

Abstract

Existentialism is a philosophical school based on freedom, choice, and responsibility, which seeks a definition for human authenticity. This philosophical attitude is reflected in the plays written by Samuel Beckett, the Irish-French author of the twentieth century and a noble laureate in literature in 1969, including his Endgame. Beckett did not adopt any left or right political positions, and was always an independent intellectual. He never spoke about his own works, which is why everyone interprets his work in their own perspective. People who fail to properly understand Beckett believe that he was disappointed and his works were ambiguous. The present article draws on the library, descriptive, and analytical method to show that in his Endgame, Beckett describes the human condition to criticize statics, depression, and passivity. Most humans, while free, avoid thinking and trying to advance the society and shun their responsibility. Without a will, they are reluctant to change their own and other people’s lives, and with idleness and ignorance, they acquiesce to exploitation. Just like other existentialists, Beckett believes that the human freedom or emancipation lies in self-construction, awareness, and the power of will and choice.

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References

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