At first glance, Samuel Beckett's Endgame has absolutely nothing in common with the model proposed in Aristotle's Poetics. Where Aristotle claims that the most important element of any tragedy is plot, Endgame seems to have no plot at all. Where Aristotle discusses the importance of speeches conveying purpose and moral character, Endgame has characters who speak metalanguage (language that speaks about language) and only speak to pass the time. Where Aristotle views action as a movement of the mind, Endgame seems completely devoid of characters going through a movement of the mind. But after looking at the structure of the play, Martin Esslin's essay The Theater of the Absurd and, especially, Endgame in the context of the period in which it was written, Endgame seems to have several points of contact with the model proposed in Poetics. and can be called a tragedy for the post-World War II era. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why violent video games should not be banned"?Get the original essayEndgame, written in French, was first produced in 1957. Esslin explains that the absurdism movement emerged in France after the Second World War as a rebellion. against the traditional values ​​and beliefs of Western culture and literature (878). The absurd drama creates an environment in which people are isolated and characters go through life ineptly because they don't know what else to do. The post-WWII era was filled with people demanding meaning in their lives and that's exactly what the characters in Endgame are looking for. In Endgame, the characters stay together simply because they're afraid of being alone in such an incomprehensible world. They also live in a world of interdependence (Clov cannot sit, Hamm cannot stand or see; they depend on each other). Aristotle says: "...poetry tends to express the universal... By universal I mean how a person of a certain type will speak or act on occasion, according to the law of probability or necessity ... »(68) . Aristotle believes that it is important to educate the emotions, so that the viewer understands that what he is looking at is universal. The only difference is that the "universal" in Aristotle's time was that destiny is the great equalizer of man, while in Beckett's time it is death and dependence that are the great equalizers of man. In terms of structure, Endgame's presentation strongly coincides with that of Aristotle. notions of mimesis. Poetics deals a lot with the idea of ​​mimesis, or imitation, and Aristotle believes that truth is rooted in imitation. Esslin talks about many writers who wrote about the absurdity of life before the Absurdists, but they differ from the Absurdists in that their plays contain logical, rational characters speaking and reasoning about their absurd lives. Absurdists, however, present the absurdity of the human condition by abandoning rational characters, actions, and plot. "The Theater of the Absurd has given up arguing about the absurdity of the human condition; it simply presents it in being, that is to say in terms of concrete scenic images. This is the difference between the approach of the philosopher and that of the poet..” (Esslin, 877). With reference to Aristotle and his history, the difference between the philosopher and the poet can be seen as the difference between Plato and Aristotle. The first was a philosopher who explains why he is against theater and why theater should not be on stage; the latter was a theater theorist who considered imitation to be the highest formof the truth. If Aristotle considers imitation to be the highest form of truth, then Endgame is a perfect example of imitating what the era believed in (rather than discussing the ideas of that era). In chapter IV of the Poetics, Aristotle raises the question of the origin and development of poetry. He thinks that this comes from two instincts of human nature: that of imitation and that of harmony and rhythm (55-56). Here, Aristotle recognizes both the content (imitation) and the form (harmony and rhythm) of art. Imitation has already been discussed. Harmony and rhythm are clearly visible in Endgame: the characters speak in prose and the language is metalinguistic - it's dialogue about dialogue; the characters only talk to pass the time. One of the most frequently used words in Endgame is "Pause", creating a monotonous, drawn-out rhythm. All this is done for a rational purpose; Beckett wants the theme of death, repetition and absurdity to be conveyed to the viewer. Many might argue that Endgame does not follow Aristotle's model at all because Aristotle emphasizes the importance of rationality while Endgame seems irrational. However, for the period it depicts, imitates and comments on, Endgame is actually very rational, and harmony and rhythm are only one place where this can be seen. Another place this can be seen is through character. It is clear that in Endgame the emphasis is on the incomprehensibility of the world, and each of the characters manifests this theme. If we consider one of Endgame's themes to be an attempt to rationalize an irrational and disordered world, we need look no further than the character of Clov. Clov is indecisive, constantly torn between duty and hatred. He asks questions like “Why this farce, day after day?” (761) and "Do this, do that, and I do it. I never refuse. Why?" (764) These are the questions that arose at the time of writing the play: “Why live if we will one day die? “What is the purpose of our existence?” According to Aristotle, one of the goals of creating a character is for the character to be true to reality (81). At a time when the world is trying to bring order out of chaos, Clov comments that he loves order, that it is his dream, "A world where everything is silent and still and everything to its last place, under the dust" (767), seems very faithful to reality. If Clov were a character in a play in Aristotle's time, the perception of him would be entirely different. If Clov asks the questions, Hamm provides, or attempts to provide, the answers. The theme of life moving toward death in a meaningless world is emphasized by the seriousness with which Hamm speaks of death and ends in his soliloquies. The metaphor of death or coming to the "end" of something is apparent from the first lines of the play as Clov declares: "Finished, it is finished, almost finished, it must be almost finished" (754 ). Hamm's response to Clov's ramblings upon waking is "Me, I play" (754), a metatheatrical response that suggests to the viewer that all we do in our meaningless lives is act toward each other. others, or stand up and not reveal who we really are. are. Hamm's reluctance to die follows soon after when he says, "And yet I hesitate, I hesitate to... finish." Yes, that’s it, it’s time for it to end and yet I hesitate to end” (754). This beginning scene suggests reluctance to finish or die. Yet there remains a struggle to understand death, to make sense of it so that life has meaning – coinciding once again with the ideas that were rampant at the time it was written. Looking at these characters, the viewer cannot help but notice.