Blog Post #4 | Endgame

            It does not take the reader long to realize that Endgame is not your typical play. Although one may find this play easier to understand in terms of its rather modern language use, the ever necessary "point" is still very much confounding at first glance. What does seem rather obvious, however, is that one of the central themes that Beckett was trying to get across was that of the misery that life so often brings as it approaches a final "endgame". We see this everyday in the world around us; as life goes on, people get older, weaker, their friends and family begin to die around them, and eventually all that seems to be left to do is to die themselves. As somber and twisted as that may sound, I believe Beckett intended for it to be that way so that the audience would then be able to come to the conclusion of what he was ultimately trying to teach us about the way life goes these days, which I believe is that we get so caught up in everything around us that we forget to sit back and enjoy it, until one day there is seemingly nothing left to live for and we begin to question the purpose of why we were here to begin with. Beckett was trying to teach us that although misery seems to be the last logical step before an endgame, if we live our lives to be fulfilling enough, then it doesn't have to be.

            When reading the play, one gets the sense that all four characters, Hamm, Clov, Nagg, and Nell have essentially given up on life and essentially dread every day that comes. We have no sense of understanding for what they have done in their lives up until the point of the play, but we do know some details such as Hamm and Clov both being disabled -- Hamm is blind and Clov has some unknown physical disability -- and that Nagg and Nell are Hamm's parents. One thing that Beckett manages to make very clear within this play is the sense of uniformity. Every day is the same for every one of these characters -- no meaning, no purpose, no liveliness. Just misery, day in and day out.

|Lines 210-215|

HAMM: This is not much fun. (Pause.) But that's always the way at the end of the day, isn't it, Clov?

CLOV: Always.

HAMM: It's the end of the day like any other day, isn't it, Clov?

CLOV: Looks like it.  

           I picked this passage because it so clearly showcases the uniformity that I just mentioned. It is almost as if Hamm is realizing this for the first time, since Hamm is essentially asking Clov to verify what he just realized to see if how he is seeing things is really the way that things have come to be. As stated before, I believe that was one of the things Beckett was trying to teach us, that life goes by so quickly and we reach the endgame without ever really realizing it until it's here and hits us in the face. It also clearly signifies the central theme I mentioned of misery so often accompanying the "endgame" of life.

          Here is another line that highlights a different part of what I think Beckett was trying to teach us, which is the fact that we can live a meaningful life only to have it disappear in the end because we forgot to slow down and enjoy it while it was here.

            |Lines 13-15|

HAMM: …Can there be misery---(He yawns.)--loftier than mine? No doubt. Formerly. But now?

            Hamm touches on the fact that he is so utterly miserable in his life now that he doubts there is anyone who could be more miserable, but that formerly there could have been, hinting that his life, like most, was not always as miserable as it is now that he's reached the endgame having not thoroughly appreciated his life beforehand. There is one last line, spoken by Clov, that I feel emphasizes the struggle of getting caught up in life and not enjoying it until the time has come and gone and it's too late.

|Lines 1095-1096|

HAMM: …Did you ever have an instant of happiness?

CLOV: Not to my knowledge.

           As stated before, Beckett gives us no real insight into the lives of the characters up until the point of the play and I believe this was intentional, as it allows for us, the audience, to openly speculate about things such as why Clov never recalls having an instant of happiness in his life.

            Endgame is one of those plays that leaves you feeling a bit strange after you've read it because though it is seems so far-fetched in some aspects, when you begin to think deeper about it and analyze it, you see that it really is not so far-fetched and that it touches on real issues, such as the misery accompanying the end of life and what one needs to do to potentially avoid it -- by learning that life ends quicker than you may think and although it's easy to get caught up in it, you should enjoy it while you can.