Endgame Flashcards
(8 cards)
author and date
Samuel Beckett 1957
Hamm
Hamm is the protagonist of the play, though his unlikable demeanor at times makes him the antagonist to his servant, Clov. Blind, immobilized by old age in his wheeled chair, Hamm believes no one suffers more than he does. To him, there is no cure for being on earth, especially not in the dank hole where he also rules over his father, Nagg, and mother, Nell.
Clov
Clov is the other protagonist of the play, the servant to Hamm despite his own infirmity. He was taken in by Hamm as a child, and the play’s tension pits Clov’s desire to leave against his obligation to stay with Hamm (an obligation he questions many times). He performs various tasks for his master, such as wheeling him around and reporting on the landscape outside the windows.
Nagg
Nagg is Nell’s husband and Hamm’s father. Contained in an ashbin next to his similarly trapped wife, he emerges now and then to cry for food or to try unsuccessfully to kiss Nell and tell her the same story he always tells. At times he is childlike, barely verbal, but he can be profound and articulate.
Nell
Nell is Nagg’s husband and Hamm’s mother. She seems most resigned to their lives of routine, calling the daily attempt to kiss Nagg a “farce.” Though her part is minimal, she seems to be the one reason Nagg keeps living and stands as the sole example of healthy love in the play.
Theme: Emptiness and Loneliness
Hamm and Clov are locked in a toxic, codependent relationship where abandonment is threatened but never fulfilled. Their painful companionship reflects the human need for connection—even if it’s unsatisfying. They stay together not out of love, but to avoid the terror of being truly alone. Nagg and Nell offer a contrast, accepting their emotional and physical isolation with more honesty.
Theme: Cyclical, Repetitive Nature of Beginnings and Endings
Endgame explores how life loops endlessly without resolution—beginnings and endings blur. Despite being at life’s “endgame,” Hamm and Clov are caught in stagnant routines that deny true closure. Repetitions (movements, speech, failed exits) emphasize that existence is made of endless, meaningless cycles. Even death, usually an ending, cannot arrive definitively—everyone waits, hesitates, or returns.
Symbol: Light and Darkness
In Endgame, light traditionally symbolizes life and hope, while darkness implies death—but Beckett subverts this by setting the play in a perpetual grayness. This dim, lifeless light reflects a world stuck between being and non-being, where hope is faint and death is slow. Clov watches his kitchen light die, while Mother Pegg’s death from light-deprivation hints at how bleakness consumes life. Hamm’s blindness, his useless glasses, and his refusal to share light show both his literal and moral blindness in a dimming world.
