Mickey Sabbath is the protagonist of Sabbath’s Theater who faces a journey of loss, grief, and desire when he loses his long-time mistress. Drenka’s death forces him to contend with his age and position in life. He is trapped in an unhappy marriage with a failed career and severe arthritis. In addition to this, the death of Drenka brings up more emotions of grief stemming back to the loss of his brother, Morty, and the impact it had on his mother. In this state, he deems himself a failure and decides to die suicide, playing with the idea throughout the novel. Sabbath loses the will to live after he loses Drenka. Through Drenka, he pursued his desires and fantasies with a kindred soul who supported, trusted, and loved him. With her gone, his body not only does not respond to the same stimuli it did with her, but he also no longer has the one person in his life he enjoyed. Thus, he sees no point in staying alive.

Despite his depression, Sabbath eventually finds that he cannot die, and commits to once again living. At first, this is a result of finding his brother’s belongings in his cousin’s house.