Endgame (play)
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Endgame is a one-act play for four characters by Samuel Beckett. It was originally in French, entitled Fin de partie; as was his custom, it was translated into English by Beckett himself. Published in 1957, it is commonly considered, along with such works as Waiting for Godot, to be among Beckett's most important works.
Synopsis
Its protagonists are Hamm, an aged master, who is blind and can't stand up, and his servant Clov, who can't sit down. They exist in a tiny house by the sea, although the dialogues suggest that there is no exterior left - no sea, no sun, no clouds. The two characters, mutually dependent, have been fighting for years and continue to do so as the play goes on. Clov always wants to leave but never seems to be able. Also present are Hamm's parents Nagg and Nell, who live in rubbish bins. Hamm once ruled over peasants of some kind, and Clov complains that he had to survey Hamm's peasants because he was denied access to a bicycle.
Interpretation
The English title is taken from the last part of a chess game, when there are very few pieces left. (The French title can be applied to games besides chess, and Beckett lamented the fact that there was no precise English equivalent). Beckett himself was known to be an avid player of the game, and the struggle of Hamm to accept the end can be compared to the refusal of amateur chess players to admit an inevitable defeat, though professional players usually resign after facing a major setback. Hamm perhaps represents a king with Clov as his last remaining pawn.
The literary critic Harold Bloom considers 'Hamm' to be an allusion to Hamlet and finds an intertext (transumptive litotes) within Hamm's line:
- '...it's time it ended...[a]nd yet I hesitate, I hesitate to...to end.'
- '...it's time it ended...[a]nd yet I hesitate, I hesitate to...to end.'
Bloom contends this is an intertext with Hamlet's famous 'To be or not to be' soliloquy, in which doubt prevents the character in Hamlet's revised version of The Mousetrap from taking decisive action, and Endgame is a play devoid of action, in Beckett's typical absurdist style.
External links
- Text of Endgame (http://www.samuel-beckett.net/endgame.html)
- Study guide for Endgame (http://fajardo-acosta.com/worldlit/beckett/endgame.htm)