Comparing Synge’s Riders to the Sea and Beckett’s Endgame :: Comparison Compare Contrast Essays

Synge’s Riders to the Sea and Beckett’s Endgame 1 1 Introduction Riders to the Sea by John Millington Synge (1904) and Endgame by Samuel Beckett (1958) show many similarities despite the eventful half a century that passed between their years of publication. The similar elements (the setting, the relation of the characters to the outside world, etc., related in detail in the next section) seem to create an atmosphere in both works that is fit for the creation of a new mythology. However, by separating the physically present elements from those which are conjured up only by words in the texts (determining the A/B structure of the works), one of the—probably—most important differences can be discovered between the two plays: namely, that while in Riders to the Sea, a new myth is actually being created, this act of creation is missing from Endgame—possibly because newly created myths (and values) are deemed impossible by Beckett in the light of the two World Wars of the 20th century. During the course of the essay, it will also be suggested that this creation is, in fact, what characters (more specifically, Maurya, Hamm and Clov) are all waiting for; and that while the world-view of Synge’s play reflects, to a certain extent, the views of objective idealism, Beckett not only lowers the level of idealism to the subjective level, denying the existence of a rational, global control, but also goes further to deny the existence of any ord ering power in the world at all. 1 2 â€Å"Outside of here it’s death† (Beckett 2:2475). Environments Fit for Myths It has been suggested many times (for example, Tokarev 1:12), that mythology was the main instrument for the so-called ‘primitive’ cultures to understand the surrounding world. If this is so, then the world, in a pre-mythic or mythless state, must present itself as dangerous and inconceivable, as it actually does in both plays. In both works, the setting is a room: â€Å"Bare interior† (2:2472) in Endgame, and a â€Å"cottage kitchen† (83) in Riders to the Sea, outside which room, in both cases, lies the realm of (literal) death. In Endgame, this is expressed directly, as Hamm declares often: â€Å"Outside of here it’s death† (2:2475) and â€Å"Beyond is the†¦ other hell† (2:2481), when feeling the wall that separates the two spaces.