Blog Post #4: Endgame

Blog Post #4: Endgame

            “Endgame” is a term used in chess that refers to an outcome that is already known even before the last moves have been made. In this case, the player on the losing end of the spectrum has no choice but to end the game in a stalemate, or lose. Through the play Endgame, Samuel Beckett compares this occurrence with the final stages of life, with death being the ultimate conclusion. He argues that no matter what a person does, he or she will die when the time comes. This is a sentiment that Hamm and Clov wrestle with throughout the story, as neither man wants to let go and fears what will happen after death. Both men attempt to avoid the inevitable by continuing with daily routines, even as such practices become tiresome and fruitless. By comparing the lives of Hamm and Clov to moves on a chessboard, Beckett demonstrates the fact that one cannot escape death, and no matter what lengths you go to elude it, it is inescapable.

            Throughout the play, Hamm and Clov struggle through their last moments in life by proceeding with constructed habits, trying to find an alternate end to their suffering until they realize the only true ending is death. One example of this is Hamm’s constant need to return to the center of the room. “Back to my place! Is that my place?...Am I right in the center?” (line 445-446; 448). After having Clov wheel him around beneath the windows, Hamm repeats again, “Close the window, we’re going back” (line 1147). This line is accompanied by blocking that reads “Clov…pushes the chair back to its place, remains standing behind it.” Another constant is that Clov always returns to his designated spot behind Hamm. Hamm and Clov continue with these actions, performing nothing of real significance, instead just killing time. By keeping Hamm and Clov busy with these menial tasks, Beckett shows that they can keep themselves busy with the same routines over and over, but that won’t stop the inevitable from happening. In terms of chess, no matter how many moves they put between them and the end, Hamm and Clov will be stuck in a stalemate until they finally end the game (life) by dying. Both Hamm and Clov depend on each other in order to live; Hamm is blind and wheel chair bound and needs Clov to get around, in turn giving Clov food and a place to sleep. Throughout the play Clov is always saying, “I’ll leave you” to Hamm. He says it first in line 132, then again in lines 188, 634, 642, 660, 669, 704, and so on, but he never actually leaves, because leaving would mean death for the both of them. Clov wouldn’t be able to find food or shelter, and without Clov to help him get around, Hamm would starve. Every time Clov goes to leave, Hamm pulls him back. Like their endless tasks, this is just another way in which the two men try to beat death. What they don’t understand is that is doesn’t matter if Clov stays or goes, death is the final destination and it can’t be prevented.

            At the beginning of the play Clov exemplifies the sentiment of death being inescapable when he says, “grain upon grain, one by one, and one day, suddenly, there’s a heap, a little heap, the impossible heap” (line 3-4). One single grain cannot be a heap, just like how a life doesn’t consist of “life” but the little moments that make it up. However, a life isn’t full until it ends in death. Nothing will ever make sense or come full circle until it meets its conclusion, so while Hamm and Clov scamper around and perform tedious tasks their lives will remain senseless. Instead of trying to thwart death, they should be embracing it as a natural end in order to start a new beginning.