Abstract :
The term ‘endgame’, standing for the final stage of the game of chess, which might end either in a checkmate terminating the game, or a stalemate leading to its endless continuation, received its development in the play carrying the same name Endgame by Samuel Beckett. Published in 1957, the zenith of the Cold War and nuclear conflict, the play is permeated with the feeling of emptiness of existence and depicts a universe after a nuclear disaster that is coming to its end, but which might, nevertheless, keep on replicating itself. Consequently, by employing the method of literary analysis, the paper aims to examine the ways Beckett’s characters, confined in a nuclear shelter and representing nothing but wretched shadows of their former selves, are obstinately trying to assert their identities in the world devoid of meaning. In addition, the paper argues that the fear of nothingness and desire to live makes them prefer the stalemate of meaningless existence to the checkmate of death.
NaturalLanguageKeyword :
Endgame , Beckett , meaning , stalemate , checkmate
