Notes on Endgame (Part 2)



*  There is a gradual deterioration in the conditions of the characters as the play draws to its conclusion.  
Nell, it seems, dies in her ash bin.  Nagg deteriorates into a fit of weeping.  Clov indicates that his disabilities 
are getting worse .  These all signal the "endgame" of life ¡V that the characters are heading, unstoppably, towards 
death.  Of course, all of us must die but their tragedy is that they are largely dying alone.  Nell and Nagg, though 
they seem to have affection for each other, nonetheless are compelled to die in their ash bins, alone and unseen.  
Hamm seems to show no emotion towards them, treating his mother's death as just another little piece of 
information.  At the end of the play Hamm, it seems, may be left alone to die when Clov leaves (though, of course, 
it is not certain that Clov does actually leave ¡V he is about to leave as the play comes to its end).  

*  Part of the process of the play is that characters are constantly disappointed in their expectations.  
Hamm, having spent much of the play begging Clov to give him his painkiller tablet, then discovers that there are 
none left when at last Clov agrees to give him one (p. 1942).  Here, the idea of "endgame" is played out on a 
small level.  The tablets, like human life, will eventually come to an end.  It is a shock that this is so (Hamm 
comments, of the tablet box "It was full!" - p. 1942) but the truth is inescapable.  The sense of the end coming 
is constantly emphasized by both Hamm and Clov, with the first uttering several times in the play "It's finished.  
We're finished. [Pause]  Nearly finished" (p. 1935) ¡V an echo of Christ's words on the cross.  But it is only a 
very distant echo for although Christ died (according to Christian faith) so that those living might be 
saved, there is no sense that the death of Hamm, Clov or any of the others will have any impact whatsoever on a 
world that is already dead or so it seems.

*  One of the significant features of the last part of the play is the idea of "theatricality."  This simply means 
that the characters pretend as if they are acting out a play.  (Of course, they are acting out a play in the real 
sense of the word ¡V Beckett's play ¡V so their is a double humor about all this.)  In particular, Hamm seems 
to enjoy the theatricality of his situation.  H loves telling is stories, often pausing to consider how effective 
and moving the words he has uttered have been.  And when Clov announces he is leaving, and it really does seem as 
though he is going to leave at last, Hamm begs him to make some kind of statement which would make the moment even 
more moving and dramatic.  Although Clov refuses, his leaving speech has something Shakespearean about it.  And 
the fact that Clov dresses up elaborately before he starts to leave suggests that he, too, is playing out some 
kind of role or ritual of life.  it is part of the idea that it is the little things that matter.  

*  One of the ironies of the play is that the characters continually dwell on the idea that they are all 
alone, and yet when life of any sort appears they either want to kill it or they reject it.  In the first half of 
the play, a bit fuss was made about a flea and both Hamm and Clov were determined that it should die.  In the 
second half of the play, a rat is found in the kitchen and Clov half kills it ¡V and both he and Hamm are anxious 
that the job of "extermination" should be completed.  Also, towards the end of the play, Clov (using his 
telescope) thinks he sees a young boy in the distance.  He is astonished by this, as is Hamm.  But Hamm's 
response is that they should not allow the boy into their shelter.  Why? There is no obvious reason offered 
by Hamm, but we may perhaps guess that the old familiar human attitude of caution towards strangers continues, 
even in a world where there only appears to be one stranger left.  Clov, on the other hand, wishes to make 
contact with the boy and it is perhaps for that reason that he makes the decision to leave the shelter (though, 
as I said above, it is not definite that he does leave ¡V as the curtain falls at the end of the play, Clov is 
standing by the door looking at Hamm).

*  Sample questions on Endgame:

	(a)  "A landscape of utter despair."  Is this an accurate description of Endgame?
	(b)  How would you characterise the relationship between Hamm and Clov?






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