Dec 16, 2009

Endgame | Historical Context

Nuclear Capability
Although Beckett does not place the characters and actions of Endgame in a specific time and place, the play’s only set can be viewed as a bomb shelter after a nuclear bomb has detonated and destroyed much, if not all, life outside the shelter. This was certainly a looming fear when Beckett wrote the play and when it was performed in 1957. Although today this fear is still present, in 1957 the fear was at an all-time high, and the likelihood of such an event seemed all too possible and near.

The Cold War
The late 1950s and the...