Mortals. Samuel Beckett’s Theatre of the Absurd in the Space of Misterium Mortis

by Dariusz Piotr Klimczak

The author of Mortals. Samuel Beckett’s Theatre of the Absurd in the Space of Misterium Mortis presented some interesting and stimulating questions, refered to the eschatological and also apocalyptical sourses of the Theatre of the Absurd. The main objective of this treatise is to discuss the topos of Death, especially created by Samuel Beckett’s plays. Because the subject has not been explored enough so far, Dariusz Piotr Klimczak tries to triangulate the Theatre of the Absurd within the genre of drama first, and then moves to the reflection of the chosen plays of Beckett: Waiting for Godot, Endgame, Happy days, concentrating on the role that eschatological elements, funereal objects and thoposes in them. The starting point of this Klimczak’s treatise could be called the eschatology of the Absurd or the immortality deconstructed.
The obsession of the end and the inevitability of Death, according to Martin Heidegger’s Sein-zum-Tode , are the main unifying ideas of content and form in the Theatre of the Absurd. In the works of Samuel Beckett, Eugenio Ionesco, Arthur Adamov, Fernando Arrabal, and many others, Death is given leitmotif significance. It has a great influence on the atmosphere and the composition of the plays. Moreover, it functions as the biological determinant and the only point of reference.
In a world created by the authors of the absurd, „women give birth astride a grave” (Beckett) and everyone approaches Death beyond which there is only nothingness. This paradox of existence is an intrinsic feature of the „dissolving structure” of Endgame and Krapp’s Last Tape, the enigmatic waiting for Godot (Waiting for Godot) and Winnie buried in a mount (Happy Days). It is an inherent attribute of Beckett’s obsession par excellence of our planet getting cool and empty.
This fear of the most final and critical sphere of existence puts the problem of Death not only in the context of a general, eschatological reflection taken an block, but also is, and most importantly, associated with the emotions coming from the conviction that man has no direct experience of Death. Samuel Beckett’s plays fill in the gap of this missing experience by following Jean Paul Sartre’s statement on the issue, „Our birth is just as absurd as our death”, which regards Death as an authentic existential experience and, also, as a natural law which cannot be denied.
An analysis of funeral, mortuary, and eschatological elements that represent the topos of Death in the Theatre of the Absurd, is the subject of mainly thesis. There is a stimulating question that needs to be answered, what is the area covered by the meaning of Death, starting with Winnie’s mount (Beckett). The meaning of Death made concrete by the presence of specific artifacts, symbols, marks, objects, absurd dialogues, and paradoxes; the components that build up the absurd macrocosm of the heatre. Besides, it would be worthwhile to examine the philosophizing with form in the Absurd Theatrum Mundi and in Misterium Mortis, where the discourse on Death becomes a peculiar form of „the worn-out language tragedy”.
This thesis is an aspiration of creating a more general horizon of eschatological problems in Beckett’s Theatre of the Absurd by examining them in a specific perspective.
The classic definition of Henri Gouhier „a play is the existence made present” and especially thesis for author: „The perspective of every drama over Death” – will also be discuss. The main purpose of Klimczak is to reveal the presence of Death in the Theatre of the Absurd, especially by Samule Beckett. By doing so, a range of specific ideas and terms should emerge. They can be used in reinterpreting the old, theoretic approach to modern drama and the problem of Death therein. Klimczak refers to the rich sources of literary criticism, the experience of the scientific and methodological contribution to the problem.
In fact, the creators of the absurd always move within Death, supporting the idea of getting rid of soteriological and transcendent perspectives. The starting point of Klimczak’s work is about defining the called the eschatology of the Absurd or immortality deconstructed, related to anthropological aspects of eschatology, concerning the final, ultimate issues important for a human being (on a condition that this „finality” refers to the vain waiting and being on the verge of Death as exemplified in Waiting for Godot or Endgame by Beckett).
Per saldo, meaninglessness has the value of absolute meaning, which is crucial for the philosophy of the absurd and a part of the quia per absurdum. The material of this reflection is immensely rich. Klimczak tries to be very innovative to relate drama of the Absurd.
The definition of the Theatre of the Absurd is the first questionable issue. Klimczak is quite sure, that it should be the first step in further exploration and research on the subject, including a range of ideas that had been emerging in philosophy and art not only during the 50s and the 60s, but also those of the earlier time.
The great developments in the theatre all around the world that have taken place since the first performance of Waiting for Godot may be symbolized by the name of Samuel Beckett. These developments evolved from the atmosphere of the period , characterized by moral anxiety and the conviction that „after Auschwitz metaphysics is impossible” (Adorno’s famous thesis), the threat of a nuclear war and the existence of totalitarian systems.
Beckett’s early dramas convey a farcical diagnosis of existence. Relativism of time and empty space, as well as disconnected plots are most visible in Waiting for Godot. One can say that they constitute the very core of the poetics of the genre. Anti-logic, admiration of nonsense and farce, poetic imagery and metaphysics of reductio ad absurdum most deeply express the meaning of Beckett’s plays. The metaphysics of Beckett’s dramas and his heroes’ symbolism (which he repeatedly stressed and demanded to be present from the directors of his plays; with Waiting for Godot, for example, he emphasized, “Estragon stands on earth; belongs to the stone. Vladimir is light; thinks of heaven; belongs to the tree” – all this outlines fairly original message of his philosophy, rendering man suspended in space between life and Death).
Symbolism of his characters is enriched by symbolism of objects. Garbage cans (Endgame), the huge mount in Happy Days are only a few elements that form the metaphor of constant transgression the purpose of which is unknown. The dynamics of the plot in many of his plays or novels (e.g., Malone Dies) results from the confrontation of two values: metaphysical and aesthetic, and from the juxtapositions of life and imagination, ending and acting, linear and circular times. Thus, life gives the impression of being an unrepeated process of ceasing and dying. A man present in this process is one of the objects predestined to the never-ending destruction.
The Theatre of the Absurd or the Theatre of Cruelty, or most often, the „anti-theatre” or the „counter-theatre”, although it is, perhaps, the most „eschatolotheatrical” (term of Dariusz Piotr Klimczak) one in the whole history of drama.
Beckett’s plays of the Absurd focus also on man’s downfall in a sense that a human being has been relegated from subject to object in an industrialized and materialistic world. In this way, the playwrights of the Absurd portray post-modern models of the individual, one who is devoid of personality and resembles, in Erich Fromm’s words, a „sea anemone”. They do not idealize the reality; on the other hand, they peacefully look at the world devoid of metaphysical basis, meaning or purpose. This Theatre Nouveau accounts for somebody who struggles with the absurdity of the world. It is not a medium through which anathemas could be cast upon immorality or cruelties of social injustice done, nor could it bring about a revolution. The authors expressing themselves consistently with the poetics of the Theatre of the Absurd show the dramatic absurdity of the world, considering the Absurd as a „spiritual suffering that gives birth to man” . The question is, how can we, in an academic way, classify and bring to the surface this spiritual suffering?
As a result of Klimczak’s researches, one should be able to come up with a perfect morphology of the Phenomenon of Death in the Beckett’s Theatre; a profound survey of its origin and structure, shared by many specific, substantial expressions of eschatological and death-related subject matter in the Theatre of the Absurd by Samuel Beckett .
To outline the eschatological reflection or, just as importantly, the vision of „de-eschatologizing” is also a major objective of Klimczak’s reflection. It is also important to emphasize two different aspects of dying mentioned above: its meaning and, secondly, its significance. Examining of Death on a phenomenological-existential basis, we will try to find one and objective meaning of all the discussed plays, that is to say, their tragic message.
To demonstrate the tragic meaning of Death in the Theatre of the Absurd, one has to specify the categories of Death such as: suicide, murder, and Existence leading to Death after Heidegger’s Sein-zum-Tode.
In Mortals Klimczak presented the kind of a panoramic research with reference to the pattern of eschatological problems in the Theatre of the Absurd, especially – Samuel Beckett’s Absurd.
The Phenomenon of the Theatre of the Absurd can be traced within the open formula. The range of issues related to the subject is enormous. It can be studied in literary and historical perspectives, but it may also be a part of a larger philosophical discourse concerned with the nature and meaning of the Absurd aspects of human existence. This experience and explaing of Beckett’s plays, gives us the unique image of Death – an inimitable topos of the Absurd, where MISTERIUM MORTIS means MISTERIUM AMORIS. A farcical laughter, lazzi, reductio ad absurdum etc., included in Beckett’s Theatre of the Absurd, they all explain the Phenomenon of Death by creating the only reality, The Misterium Mortis (the Mystery of Death).

(trans. Wojciech Węcław)