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Beckett's Endgame Samuel Bec

Samuel Beckett's Endgame has been described as a drama that presents "the death of the stock props of Western civilization---family cohesion, filial, parental, and connubial love, faith in God, artistic appreciation and creation." It is the THESIS of this paper that Beckett is able to use only four characters--- Hamm, Nagg, Nell, and Clov--- to portray the fact that modern theater has to address itself to a new sensibility that today might be termed "postmodern." Beckett gets his title from the final stage of chess, when only a few pieces remain on the board and checkmate is near. This is the "endgame," and Beckett's play demonstrates that the mechanics of the theater (as they mirror "life") are near the checkmate stage.

"Endgame" is an unusual play because of its structure, which refuses to take any conventional shape or form. Hamm is a blind and paralyzed man who lives his life in a wheelchair. His parents are Nagg and Nell, and they are stuck in ash bins. The older characters talk in a variety of sentimental and stupid phrases until they disintegrate. Clov, who is tied to Hamm in a sort of son-slave relationship, is lame, though he repeatedly announces his departure. Hamm is a parody of the heroes in plays who are constantly trying to find the meaning of life. His words make a mockery of philosophy. Beckett is skillful in that he does play with ambiguity in Hamm's character: at times Hamm appears to break through his idiotic dialogue to moments of true insight.

Charles R. Lyons has suggested in his critique of "Endgame" that the key to Beckett's removal of "the death of the stock props of Western civilization" lies in the relationship between Hamm and Clov. "While Clov always seems to maintain an ironic distance from Hamm's rhetorical declamations, he knows the words to speak to assist his master in sustaining the routines the blind man plays" (Lyons 51). This is well-observed, and it asks the viewer to consider B...

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Beckett's Endgame Samuel Bec. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 05:56, March 29, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1702556.html