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Outside of Here Theres Hope: A Heideggerian Analysis of Becketts "Endgame"

Maria K. Caruso, Georgia State UniversityFollo

Faculty Mentor

!r #arilynn $ichtarik

Abstract

%amuel Becketts plays are often interpreted as literature hich highlights the meaningless

and &anality of lifeEndgame is no e'ception to this hen read as record of the repetiti(e and

futile efforts of Hamm and )lo( to sta(e off their ine(ita&le deaths *n this essay * e'amine

the trope of death in the play as a function of time &y appealing to #artin Heideggers

conception of the temporal self *n doing so, * re(eal that a positi(e interpretation of the playsending is +ust as (alid as a pessimistic interpretation, and that pessimistic interpretations of the

play simply ignore the possi&ility for hope and e'istential freedom

Symbolic Structure and Creative Obligation in Endgame

Paul Lawley

Bare interior Grey light. Left and right back, high u, two small windows, curtains drawn.

!ront right, a door. "anging near door, its face to wall, a icture.#And the figures, co(ered

and unco(ered, human &ut &arely human The inscruta&le &rief ta&leau hich opens

Endgame typifies the uncompromising styli-ation hich is a characteristic of the plays e(ery

facet E(en more o&(iously than $aiting for Godotthis play is conscious of itself as a parody

of a play As $onald .askell has ritten, it is an art more a&stract than one ould ha(e

thought possi&le in the theatre, its intensity/The characters are not only players &ut also

pieces to &e played ith in the endgame .ames are &eing played ith the audience: Beckett

challenges us ith such portents of significance and meaning as the characters names, the

picture turned facing the all, Hamms (eronica and, most of all, the nature of hat is outsidethe stage0refuge E(en the characters physical de&ilities1)lo(s stiff, staggering alk 2334,

and ina&ility to sit don, Hamms &lindness and ina&ility to stand up, and the &ottled

parents loss of their shanks1though their primary function is no dou&t to increase our

sense of the &ody as a recked machine, make themsel(es felt as an element of the plays

styli-ation As they themsel(es point out, Hamm and )lo( are made complementary,

interlocking:

Hamm: %it on him5

)lo(: * cant sit

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Hamm: True And * cant stand

)lo(: %o it is

Hamm: E(ery man his speciality 2364

The dialogue too, as this specimen illustrates, is e(en more styli-ed than that of Godot 7e

seem to &e se(eral degrees nearer to the a&straction of music than in the earlier play

*n a discussion of the linguistic structure of Godotthe musical analogy is fre8uently in(ited

&ut here it (irtually forces itself upon us9$u&y )ohnnotes that in rehearsing his Berlin

production of Endspiel 2in 3;6 it also suggests

the presence of a sym&olic structure, though one hich is operating on a far more a&stract

le(el than the usual #odernist sym&olic structure *n order to in(estigate the implications of

this high degree of a&straction e need to &egin ith a con(entional discussion of the plays

sym&olic organi-ation ?et us turn first to the most richly comple' 2though perhaps not the

most o&(ious4 of its structural parallelisms %lightly later than half0ay through the play,

Hamm tells )lo( to oil the castors on his armchair )lo( replies that he oiled them

yesterday:

Hamm: @esterday5 7hat does that mean @esterday5

)lo(: 2violently4 That means that &loody aful day, long ago,

&efore this &loody aful day * use the ords you taught me *f

they dont mean anything any more, teach me others Or let

me &e silent

Pause.

Hamm: * once kne a madman ho thought the end of the orld had

come He as a painter 0 and engra(er * had a great fond0

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ness for him * used to go and see him, in the asylum *d take

him &y the hand and drag him to the indo ?ook5 There5 All

that rising corn5 And there5 ?ook5 The sails of the herring fleet5

All that lo(eliness5 2Pause4 Hed snatch aay his hand and

go &ack into his corner Appalled All he had seen as as

ashes 2Pause4 He alone had &een spared 2Pause4 For0

gotten 2Pause4 *t appears the case is as not so so

unusual 2/4

* ant to place &y the side of this )lo(s final speech, his aria di sortita, hich he deli(ers

hen Hamm re8uests something from your heart A fe ords from your heart:

)lo( : 2fi%ed ga&e, tonelessly, towards auditorium4 They said to

me Thats lo(e, yes yes, not a dou&t, no you see ho 1

Hamm : Articulate5

)lo( : 2as before4 Ho easy it is They said to me, Thats friend0

ship, yes yes, no 8uestion you(e found it They said to me,

Heres the place, stop, raise your head and look at all that

&eauty That order5 They said to me, )ome no, youre not a

&rute &east, think upon these things and youll see ho all

&ecomes clear And simple5 They said to me, 7hat skilled

attention they get, all these dying of their ounds

Hamm : Enough5

)lo( : 2as before4 * say to myself1sometimes, )lo( you must

learn to suffer &etter than that if you ant them to eary of

punishing you1one day * say to myself1sometimes,

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)lo(, you must &e there &etter than that if you ant them to let

you go1one day But * feel too old, and too far, to form ne

ha&its .ood, itll ne(er end, *ll ne(er go 2Pause4 Then one

day, suddenly it ends, it changes, * dont understand, it dies,

or its me, * dont understand that either * ask the ords that

remain1sleeping, aking, morning, e(ening They ha(e

nothing to say 2Pause4 * open the door of the cell and go *

am so &oed * only see my feet, if * open my eyes, and

&eteen my legs a little trail of &lack dust * say to myself that

the earth is e'tinguished, though * ne(er sa it lit 2Pause4

*ts easy going 2Pause4 7hen * fall *ll eep for happiness

2=034

Both passages concentrate on the sense of ha(ing &een left &ehind, spared or forgotten,hich is one of the mo(ing forces of the play @et there is nothing simple a&out this sense *n

a sketch Beckett rote afterEndgame, so similar in its chief elements 2the to characters are

an old man in a heelchair and a &lind &ut mo&ile fiddler amidst a ruined ur&an landscape4

that one could take it as his attempt to rite himself out of the impasse created &y the finished

play, a &lind man says:

%ometimes * hear steps Coices * say to myself, They are coming

&ack, some are coming &ack, to try and settle again, or to look for

something they had left &ehind, or to look for someone they had left

&ehind

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he sees the orld1All he had seen as ashes He aits, perhaps, and yearns for the re0

unification hich is represented &y the return of them: an image in social terms of a

psychological restoration *n contrast, the corpsed orld ofEndgameis off0stage: outside

of here its death 23=4 *n front of us e see only a &are interior .rey light ?eft and right

&ack, high up, to small indos, curtains dran Hugh Denners o&ser(ation is ell

knon: hen )lo( dras the curtains, says Denner, this is so plainly a metaphor for akingup that e fancy the stage, ith its high peepholes, to &e the inside of an immense skull

7hen )lo( looks out of the stage0eyes he, like the mad painter, sees the ashes of a corpsed

orld This outside orld is for the spectator not an o&+ecti(e fact 0 as it is in 'heatre (1&ut a

datum of the perception of one particular indi(idual, )lo( Thus, hereas in 'heatre (the

corpsed orld is a gi(en fact1e see it represented on stage1in Endgameit is a percei(ed

thing, the perception of hich depends on the state of consciousness of one of the characters

7e can see the outside only through )lo(, +ust as he can only see it through his telescope

2One day youll &e &lind, like me, /4 This is an important point &ecause, turning to the to

speeches under consideration, e find that in &oth cases the sufferer 2the mad painter, )lo(4

looks upon1is forced to look upon1the same landscape as the punisher 2Hamm, they4 &ut

sees e'actly the opposite: and hat he sees o&(iously depends upon the state of hisconsciousness The sense of &eing spared or forgotten inEndgameis primarily a mental or

psychological one *n one ay it hardly matters if the outside orld is as )lo( descri&es it:

hat matters is that that is the ay he percei(es it to &e, +ust as the mad painter percei(ed

Hamms lo(eliness as ashes, and +ust as )lo( himself percei(es their &eauty and order

as a punishment This is a play a&out the alienation and end of the mind rather than the end of

the orld

Ha(ing said this, e should &e careful not to limit the larger resonances of Endgametoo

drastically A Al(are- uses Denners o&ser(ation to e'plain aay rather than to e'plain hen

he suggests that the play is simply a day in the life of a man at the end of his tether: *f

Denner is right in thinking that the stage setting is like that of a giant skull, then the play itself

is a ay of representing hat goes on in the internal orld of a man suffering from chronic

depression;ButEndgameill not allo itself simply to &e packed off into someones head

and it ill not allo us to get rid of the o(ertones hich are apt to create such a headache 3

As Beckett himself has said, the play is rather difficult and elliptic, depending upon the

poer of the te't to cla,33that is, to tease out precisely those irritating o(ertones hich

makeEndgame more than simply a day in the life of a man at the end of his tether, or

indeed, more thansimlyanything * ha(e said the play is a&out the end of the alienated mind,

the mind that sees only ashes here others see &eauty and order @et the hints are fre8uentand irresisti&le of a terminal situation hich is nothing less than uni(ersal, apocalyptic

2Hamms mad painter did, after all, think that the end of the orld had come4 *f there are no

alternati(e perceptions of the uni(erse remaining it is becausede(astation is general: The

hole place stinks of corpses The hole uni(erse, 2994 As Hamm remarks of his mad

painter, it appears the case is as not so so unusual Hoe(er e must not lose track

of our original o&ser(ation amongst the o(ertones *t needs to &e emphasi-ed that the central

image ofEndgame, resonant and pregnant as it is, has for its origin and core a particular

psychological condition, of hich the skull0like appearance of the stage0picture ser(es as a

permanent and teasing reminder The play presents the end of the mind in apocalyptic terms

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Al(are- remarks that the poignancy ofEndgamedepends on the continual tension &eteen

a lost orld of feeling, once knon and still yearned for, and the de(astated present, and that

the glimmerings of the knoledge of something (alua&le that has &een irredeema&ly lost3/

go to make up a real tragic sense in the play The contrast &eteen a richly fertile past and the

de(astated present is certainly an important factor in the play: it emerges poerfully, if

&riefly, in Hamms e(ocation of the landscape he shoed the mad painter: ?ook5 There5 Allthat rising corn5 And there5 ?ook5 The sails of the herring fleet5 All that lo(eliness And yet

our sense of the past inEndgameis not a firm one, Hamm himself har&ours ontological

dou&ts:

Hamm : )lo(

)lo( : 2absorbed He is looking out of the indoG4 #mm

Hamm : !o you kno hat it is

)lo( : 2as before4 #mm

Hamm : * as ne(er there 2Pause4 )lo(5

)lo( : 2turning towards "amm, e%aserated4 7hat is it

Hamm : * as ne(er there

)lo( : ?ucky for you

"e looks out of window.

Hamm : A&sent alays *t all happened ithout me 2

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)lo( : Iearly

Hamm : 7hat do you mean, nearly *s he hite or isnt he

)lo( : He isnt 294

Hamm : *s it night already then

)lo( : 2Looking4 Io

Hamm : Then hat is it

)lo( : 2Looking4 .rey 2Lowering the telescoe, turning towards

"amm, louder4 .rey5 2Pause. Still louder4 .$$E@5Pause

"e gets down, aroaches "amm from behind, whisers in

his ear.

Hamm : 2starting4 .rey5 !id * hear you say grey

)lo( : ?ight &lack From pole to pole

Hamm : @ou e'aggerate 2/64

This chain of imagery, hich &egins ith Hamms comment a&out his on &lind eyes, it

seems they(e gone all hite 2394, is &rought to an ironic clima' &y his composition in his

final solilo8uy of a line of Baudelaire:

A little poetry 2Pause4 @ou prayed 0 2Pause. "e corrects himself4

@ou )$*E! for night> it comes 0 2Pause. "e corrects himself4 *t

FA??%: no cry in darkness 2"e reeats, chanting4 @ou cried for

night> it falls: no cry in darkness 2Pause4 Iicely put, that 2=/4

)lo( uses the same duality, despite his reali-ation of its falsity 2* ne(er sa it lit4:

)lo( : *ll lea(e you, * ha(e things to do

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Hamm : *n your kitchen

)lo( : @es

Hamm : 7hat, *d like to kno

)lo( : * look at the all

Hamm : The all5 And hat do you see on your all #ene, mene

Iaked &odies

)lo( : * see my light dying

Hamm : @our light dying5 ?isten to that5 7ell, it can die +ust as ell

here, your light Take a look at me and then come &ack and

tell me hat you think ofyourlight 23

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)lo( : 2imloringly4 ?ets stop playing5

Hamm : Ie(er5 2Pause4 Jut me in my coffin

)lo( : There are no more coffins

Hamm : Then let it end5 G 7ith a &ang5 G Of darkness5 2;4

* say to myself that the earth is e'tinguished, though * ne(er sa it lit E'isting ithout

understanding amidst the ruined .$$E@ orld ofEndgame, Hamm and )lo( di(ide the

grey, the only e'perience they ha(e e(er had, into the hite of day0light, rightness, richness,

fertility and life, and the &lack of night, darkness, ruin, aridity and de(astation *n doing this,

they are &oth locating themsel(es in a particular pattern 2the darkness, or the near0darkness4and creating a mythology for themsel(es of an ideali-ed past, a past hich is no

e'tinguished and hich they missed Their ficti(e dualism ena&les them to think temporally

in an apparently non0temporal uni(erse and to concei(e of richness in the midst of a

asteland This simple mental system is crucial to the continuance of the endgame

E(en the implied geography of theEndgame0orld is a mental or mythical geography, relying

as it does less on ideas or information than on indi(idual ords hich light up the otherise

stark grey te't All the alternati(e orlds are e'otic0sounding:

Hamm : !id you e(er think of one thing That here ere don in a

hole 2Pause4 But &eyond the hills Eh Jerhaps its still

green Eh 2Pause4 Flora5 Jomona5 2Ecstatically4 )eres5

2Pause4 Jerhaps you ont need to go (ery far 294

Iell : *t as in the Ardennes

'hey laugh less heartily

Iagg : On the road to %edan 23;4

Iell : *t as on ?ake )omo 2Pause4 One April afternoon 2Pause4

)an you &elie(e it *t as deep, deep And you could see

don to the &ottom %o hite %o clean 2/34

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Add to these Iaggs taste for Turkish !elight, for e'ample, hich no longer e'ists 294>

Hamms former su&+ects at Do(, &eyond the gulf 296> and a gulf there certainly is &eteen

that past and this present4, and Hamms dog: Hes a kind of Jomeranian 294 *n each case a

single ord lights up the te't ith a mythopoeic glo Both the mythic past and the e'otic

elsehere ofEndgameare a&o(e all linguistic creations

*t is not only romantic and e'otic ords hich ha(e a mythopoeic effect *f language as a

semantic system can &e used to create a mythical past hich helps to e'plain the e'perience

of grey atemporal flu' 2an imagined fertile past implies a uni(ersal holocaust4, then the same

system ill ine(ita&ly imply a mythicalresent, an after0time of desolation and de(astation

*f ords call forth from the flu' a yesterday, they ill also call forth a today E(en these

simple e(eryday ords threaten to ca(e in inEndgame:

Hamm : @esterday5 7hat does that mean @esterday5

)lo( : 2violently4 That means that &loody aful day, long ago,

&efore this &loody aful day * use the ords you taught me

*f they dont mean anything any more, teach me others Or let

me &e silent

The myths the language transmits, the myths ords are, ha(e &ecome transparent and

unimportant in the terminal orld: * ask the ords that remain 0 sleeping, aking, morning,

e(ening They ha(e nothing to say The related dualisms of the play1lightdarkness,

hite&lack, daynight, yesterdaytoday, lite'tinguished, akingsleeping, morninge(ening

1are seen for hat they are: so many intellectual efforts to mythologi-e, to gain control of

and therefore to sur(i(e in a orld of meaningless flu'

The mori&und structures make e'perience itself impossi&le to define:

Hamm : )lo(5

)lo( : @es

Hamm : Iature has forgotten us

)lo( : Theres no more nature

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Hamm : Io more nature5 @ou e'aggerate

)lo( : *n the (icinity

Hamm : But e &reathe, e change5 7e lose our hair, our teeth, our

&loom5 Our ideals5

)lo( : Then she hasnt forgotten us

Hamm : But you say there is none

)lo( : 2sadly4 Io one that e(er li(ed e(er thought so crooked as

e

Hamm : 7e do hat e can

)lo( : 7e shouldnt 2364

)lo( succeeds in &reaking don Hamms dualism of nature 2&efore4 non0nature 2no4 &ut in

the process forfeits his on opinion that theres no more nature, so that in the end it doesnt

matter hether there is such a thing as nature or not The arguments cancel each other out and

neither player ins But then winningthe endgame is hardly the point: the playing is the

strategy of sur(i(al1itself a meaningless e'ercise1until the end comes The game is

language, and the play is a&out the struggle ith this ine(ita&ly defunct tool of perception and

sur(i(al

Endgame, then, e need to reassert, is concerned not +ust ith a terminal orld &ut ith the

sur(i(al of the percei(ing and creating self ithin a terminal orld1a more su&tle and

comple' matter altogether 7ordsorth, the great poet of the relation &eteen perception and

creation, declared himself a lo(er of all the mighty orld Of eye, and ear1&oth hat they

half create And hat percei(e 2Tintern A&&ey, 33 3=0 *ll take the gaff, he adds Io5 cries Hamm

)lo( : Io A potential procreator

Hamm : *f he e'ists hell die there or hell come here And if he

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doesnt

Pause.

)lo( : @ou dont &elie(e me @ou think *m in(enting

Jause

Hamm : *ts the end, )lo(, e(e come to the end * dont need you

any more

Pause.

)lo( : ?ucky for you 2;0=4

7hat is at issue here, as most critics 2decoyed &y the self0conscious sym&olism of the small

&oy4 fail to see, is the actual e%istenceof the &oy )lo(s @ou think *m in(enting should

make it clear that hat Hamm as going to say as not And if he doesnt come here . . ., as

most critics seem to &elie(e, &ut And if he doesnt e%ist. The game is at its most serious

#aking the assumption that )lo( is calling his &luff &y in(enting a small &oy 2presuma&ly as

an e'cuse to get outside and aay from his master4, Hamm in turn calls )lo(s &luff &y

suggesting that the &oy does not really e'ist and that &ecause his ser(ant has told him a lie1

hich he has seen through1he can no do ithout )lo( )lo(s @ou think *m inventing

2rather than the more o&(ious @ou think *m lying4 ser(es to remind us that Hamm himself

has in(ented an offstage small &oy in his chronicle0story 29=0 on the other hand if

the chronicle as a fictionali-ed (ersion of ho Hamm came &y the &oy )lo(, the potential

procreator spotted &y )lo( might really &e out there At first it seems that hen )lo( makes

his sighting e, the audience, are in su&stantially the same position as the &lind Hamm1

totally reliant upon the ser(ant and his telescope But if Hamm knos the truth of his

chronicle1is it chronicle or is it story 2he calls it &oth &ut prefers the former41he may &e

surer a&out )lo(s small &oy than e can &e

The scene of the sighting of the small &oy &rings into sharp focus one of the most important

factors a&out the play and the kind of response it in(ites *t is only here, hen e need, for

our on, con(entional spectatorial purposes, to &elie(e that hat one of the characters says is

true, hen e need to &e assured of an o&+ecti(e fact hich might actuate a turning point in

the play, that e &ecome fully aare of the nature of the play and our position in relation to it

For if e, like Hamm 2or unlike Hamm4, cannot &e sure hether or not )lo( is in(enting

hen he reports hat he sees out of the indo, if e cannot &elie(e 2on the terms of the

illing suspension of dis&elief4 this, ho can e safely &elie(e anything else he, or any ofthe other characters, has said during the play a&out anything other than that hich e can

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corro&orate ith our on eyes The grounds of the illing suspension of dis&elief ha(e &een

rendered unsta&le: this is the essence ofEndgame1its game0ness *nEndgame, rites Hugh

Denner 2hich here differs radically from Godot4 no one is supposed to &e impro(ising> the

script has &een ell committed to memory and ell rehearsed39This may &e so, &ut

something needs to &e said a&out the (ital am&iguity hich is created &y the factof an

audience For the characters ords are inert aural &locks emptied of all meaning 2*f theydont mean anything any more 4 &ut for the audience, though this aspect1the game

aspect1is of course inescapa&le, the normalsemanticfunction of language is still a crucial

element The play only tends towardsthe a&straction of music: it has not achie(ed it This is

not pure game, conse8uently the con(entional illing suspension of dis&elief is still an

important element of the spectators response For ithout this &asic response the essential

am&iguity hich surrounds the nature ofEndgameould &e lost

7hen e look at the stage0set ofEndgamee are looking at a (isual image of the function of

language in the play *n a orld in hich in(ention, fictional creation, is 2as e ha(e seen4alays tending to &ecome a&solute and all forms tend toards a&straction, language, the only

remaining creati(e medium, ceases to function as a medium, a tool or instrument for

organi-ing and making sense of the perceptions of an e'ternal orld, and &ecomes instead a

separate self0sufficient structure in the midst of the alien en(ironment *t is fitting, then, that

the stage0picture ofEndgameshould represent a refuge The functions of language and the

refuge in the play are identical Both ser(e to insulate and protect rather than to mediate and

connect The ords of the game are like the &ricks of the refuge> metaphorically speaking,

they are the &ricks of the refuge

"amm leans towards wall, alies his ear to it.

Hamm : !o you hear 2"e strikes the wall with his knuckles4 !o you

hear Hollo &ricks5 2"e strikes again4 All thats hollo5

2/94

Deep going, cant you, keep going5 24 cries Hamm at one point The game of language is

a hated thing 27hy this farce, day after day 3G4 &ut e'istence is intolera&le ithout the

refuge it pro(ides:

)lo( : 2imloringly4 ?ets stop playing5

Hamm : Ie(er5 2;4

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To lea(e the refuge ould mean to lea(e the ords that remain: They ha(e nothing to say

2Pause4 * open the door of the cell and go * am so &oed * only see my feet, if * open my

eyes, and &eteen my legs a little trail of &lack dust The last image, one of e'istence outside

the orld0refuge, is one of slo yet ine'ora&le dissolution of self E(en at the end, Hamm

and )lo( are &ound &y a &asic ontological o&ligation to their hated cell, hich is at once a

structure of hollo &ricks and a game of hollo ords E'istence, such as it is, is the gameAndEndgameitself, ith its go(erning echo principle, is mirrored &y )lo(s kitchen: ten

feet &y ten feet &y ten feet Iice dimensions, nice proportions 23/4

But there is a further, more comple' dimension to Becketts conception of the nature of

language in this play *t is hinted at &y the %hakespearean allusion in the English (ersion of

)lo(s out&urst a&out ords: * use the ords you taught me *f they dont mean anything any

more, teach me others Or let me &e silent This echoes the speech of )ali&an to Jrospero and

#iranda 2* 8uote also the lines hich lead up to the rele(ant passage, since the +u'taposition

of prison and language seems e'traordinarily suggesti(e in the light of theEndgamesituation4:

#iranda : But thy (ile race,

Though thou didst learn had that int hich good natures

)ould not a&ide to &e ith> therefore ast thou

!eser(edly confind into this rock,

7ho hadst deser(d more than a prison

)ali&an : @ou taught me language> and my profit ont

*s, * kno ho to curse The red plague rid you

For learning me your language5 2'he temestArden

editionG, *, ii, 960

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hand1is at least one of companionship and goodill4 *n fact they, the tyrants hose

e(oked (alues consist only in dead ords 2&eauty, order4, seem to merge withthe ords,

to &ecome the ords: * dont understand * ask the ords that remain 0 sleeping, aking,

morning, e(ening They ha(e nothing to say The ords too are they, silent implaca&le

personifications of dead meaning The sense of ords as people1the tyrannisers of )lo(1is

e(en more acute in the French original, here language itself plays into the playrightshands: Ke le demande au' mots 8ui restent1sommeil, rL(eil, soir, matin *ls ne sa(ent rien

dire3$estent is perhaps more suggesti(ely concrete than remain and they kno 2of4

nothing to say is a more e'plicit personification than they ha(e nothing to say 2though the

English sounds far more implaca&le4 The To (ersions of )lo(s out&urst a&out yesterday,

present a similar case 2* 8uoted the English earlier4

Hamm : Hier5 Muest 0 ce 8ue Na (eut dire Hier5

)io( : 2avec violence4 Na (eut dire il y a un foutu &out de misre

Kemploie les mots 8ue tu mas appris %ils ne (eulent plus

rien dire apprends0men dautres Ou laisse0moi me taire3=

One does not think generally of ords as doing something acti(e hen they mean0 and this

does not really come across in the English By linking the ordinary idiomatic Na (eut dire

ith sils ne (eulent plus rien dire 2here ils are les mots4 Beckett nudges the idiom

to life and thus creates the suggestion that hen ords mean it is a (olitional act> literally:

They no longer ant to say anything

Hamm, though himself a ruined tyrant, is no less su&+ect to the tyranny of language than his

on sla(e But, as e ha(e seen, he is not so much punished &y ords as teased and led on &y

them They dangle like carrots &efore him the possi&ilities of meaning and escape To think

perhaps it ont all ha(e &een for nothing5 2/

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ould see The sky, the earth *d run, run, they ouldnt catch me

2Pause4 Iature5 23;4

2with ardour4 ?ets go from here, the to of us5 %outh5 @ou can make

a raft and the currents ill carry us, far aay, to other mammals5

2/4

#other Jegg is not +ust descri&ed ith an allusion> in a sense she isan allusion: %he as

&onny once, like a floer of the field 2934 Again and again Hamm is carried aay &y the

delusi(e current of his on elo8uence, only to &e &rought &ack to the reali-ation that )eresor nature or the %outh is +ust the cruellest trick of the language0refuge, still only ords

?anguage used to &e Hamms sla(e: he in(ented it, used it to &uild himself a refuge that

ould protect him from the de(astated outside, and taught it to his sla(e But a relationship

ith language can ne(er &e static1pure medium can ne(er &e pure> no he is the sla(e,

together ith his on sla(e, and ords the masters 2The medium is the master4:

)lo( : 7hat is there to keep me here

Hamm : The dialogue 29;4

The dialogue, notHamm himself *ndeed, Hamm might say of his sla(e0 turned0master

language hat his predecessor Jo--o says of ?ucky, the master0turned0sla(e 2.uess ho

taught me all these &eautiful things4 ho at one point appears mysteriously to &e taking o(er

again: He used to &e so kind so helpful and entertaining my good angel and

no hes killing me36

Thus the to dominant images ofEndgame0 the stage0picture of the refuge and the master0

ser(ant relationship of the chief characters1can &oth &e seen as metaphors of the ay

language functions in the play But, of course, language can function neither as refuge nor as

tyrant if it is not sustained and perpetuated &y the creati(ity of the endgame players $efuge

and tyrant cannot e'ist independently of Hamm and )lo(> they need to &e continually and

perpetually created, and it is for this reason that creati(ity stands as the large central concern

of the play ?et us approach it &y ay of the to ma+or speeches e started ith

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* ha(e left until no the o&ser(ation of one of the most o&(ious and important contrasts

&eteen the to speeches: &oth are a&out the same situation, &ut hereas )lo( descri&es it

from the inside looking out 0 heis the o&+ect of punishment ho is forced to raise his head

and look1Hamm descri&es it from the outside looking in1it as heho dragged the

madman to the indo and e'horted him to itness the outside orld Of course Hamm has a

dual perspecti(e> no he is on the inside: *t appears the case is as not so sounusual This allos him to ha(e it &oth ays, for )lo(, irretrie(a&ly entrenched in his on

situation, re(eals the &eauty and order they sho to him for the empty (alues they are,

Hamm is a&le, e(en &y ay of reminiscence, to e(ince a real &elief in and commitment to the

&eauty and order he once e(oked )lo(s grinding &itterness of tone ser(es to empty the

in(oked moral positi(es of (alue and to lea(e them hollo ords:

They said to me, Thats lo(e, yes yes, not a dou&t, no you see

ho 0 Ho easy it is They said to me, Thats friendship, yes yes,

no 8uestion, you(e found it They said to me, Heres the place, stop,

raise your head and look at all that &eauty That order5 They said to

me, )ome no, youre not a &rute &east, think upon these things and

youll see ho all &ecomes clear And simple5 They said to me, 7hat

skilled attention they get, all these dying of their ounds

The speech is to &e deli(ered tonelessly, &ut its strength is precisely there, in its tone The

same positi(es are present in Hamms speech1yet ho different the tone ?o(e,

friendship and attention: He as a painter1and engra(er * had a great fondness for him

* used to go and see him, in the asylum *d take him &y the hand and drag him to the

indo Beauty and order, clarity and simplicity: ?ook5 There5 All that rising corn5

And there5 The sails of the herring fleet5 All that lo(eliness5 The unreported 2no * said

to parallel )lo(s they said4, e'clamatory nature of the phrases ser(es to underline our sense

of Hamms commitment to the lo(eliness 2Iote that hereas )lo( deals entirely ina&stractions, Hamm e(okes concrete details4 For once his apprehension seems to &e of

something more than +ust ords 2though these, if only e(anescent, are rich enough4> a

yearning and a need for natural creati(ity

*t hardly needs to &e said that creati(ity in Beckett is not the great positi(e it is for so many

other riters But if Beckett and his creatures can scarcely &e said to affirm creati(ity, neither,

on the other hand, can they afford the lu'ury of denying it They are &ound &y hat Beckett

recogni-ed in his !enis !e(lin re(ie of 3;9 as the need that is the a&solute predicament

of particular human identity,3

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the a&solute predicament of particular human identity is made clear enough &y Endgame,

ith its ord0refuge outside of hich is dissolution and death

As * ha(e suggested, Hamm, ith his poignant apprehension of natural &eauty and order, isthe chief agent of creati(ity inEndgame The loadstone of his creati(e impulses, the scaffold

a&out hich they all accrue, also stands as the structural pi(ot of the play: his fictional

chronicle This is, in Becketts on ords, +ust a&out the centre of Endgame,3;and that its

centrality may &e rather more than +ust a matter of chronological positioning is suggested &y

the responses of some commentators The story is one of cruelty1Hamm tells ho he, or a

fictional (ersion of himself, once refused &read and corn to a star(ing retainer and his child1

But, as Hugh Denner notes, the technicians narcissism somehat disinfects the dreadful

tale/Anthony Easthope o&ser(es: *t is the continuous self0consciousness in Hamms ords

and tone of (oice as he tells the storyG hich inhi&its us from ascri&ing his cruelty to an

impulse &eyond the need for rhetorical coherence in the role he plays/3The narrati(e is

fre8uently punctuated &y comments like Io, *(e done that &it, That should do it, theresEnglish for you and A &it fee&le, that 2all 9=, 964, all of hich make it plain that in his

fiction, as in his life, Hamms (alues are aesthetic rather than ethical: 2+arrative tone4

He raised his face to me, &lack ith mingled dirt and tears 2Pause. +ormal tone4 That shoud

do it, 29=064 @et, continues Easthope, there are many suggestions in the telling of the story

hich imply that Hamm is seriously in(ol(ed and that his fiction reflects real an'iety and

suffering//He does not enlarge on the significance of these suggestions, &ut a fine intuition

of .erald 7ealess 2in a fairly early discussion ofEndgame4 centres on them interestingly:

Occasionally Beckett seems to get caught in his on language Take, for instance,

another of the speeches of Hamm to the imaginary &eggar: But hat in .ods name do you

imagine That the earth ill aake in spring That the ri(ers and seas ill run ith fish

again That theres manna in hea(en still for im&eciles like you O&(iously, in conte't, the

speech is one a&out the hopelessness of the human condition in hich the first to 8uestions

a&out the natural orld pick up a &lackness from the third, the supernatural one The

e'change might as easily ork the other ay %ince Beckett is not likely to &e sucked in &y

the pathetic fallacy 2although Hamm might ell &e4, one is tempted to assume that spring ill

return again and the ri(ers run ith fish> manna, then, &ecomes a possi&lity and hope &looms

incongruously on the sterile ground here the endgame is &eing played/97hate(er the

(alidity of his speculations, 7ealess intuition of a poer in the language 2similar and indeed

closely related to Hamms earlier e(ocation of natural fertility to his madman4 hich is felt to

&e in some ay disproportionate to the story0tellers immediate needs is * think a sure one

?et us consider Hamms out&urst in its conte't The chronicle is prefaced1and in a senseintroduced1&y an echo of )lo(s first ords and to droll puns:

Hamm: 2 Gloomily4 *ts finished, ere finished 2Pause4 Iearly

finished 2Pause4 Therell &e no more speech 2Pause4

%omething dripping in my head, e(er since the fontanelles

2Stifled hilarity of +agg4 %plash, splash, alays on the same

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spot 2Pause4 Jerhaps its a little (ein 0 2Pause4 A little

artery 2Pause. ore animated4 Enough of that, its story

time, here as * 29=, my emphases4

The puns are comical, nonetheless they touch on the point at issue, creati(ity: is Hamms art-

ery/2his story4 merely vain, or is it something more

Hamm is telling himself and his unilling &ottled father a story hich, though parts of it

may &e true 2he calls it his chronicle, thus suggesting that it is historical4, &ears all the

characteristics of fiction, as e ha(e noted The speech is a long one and the actor is

instructed to use to distinct tones: the narrati(e tone in hich the story is to &e told andthe normal tone in hich Hamm is to comment on the story and his telling of it As the story

progresses the normal tone disappears and the narrati(e tone dominates to such an e'tent

that it &ecomes increasingly difficult for us to apprehend the specified tonal distinction The

story is a&out a &eggar1like )lo( craling at Hamms feet for a &icycle 23=4> like #other

Jegg &egging oil for her lamp 24> like Iagg asking for Turkish !elight 294> or like

Hamms on idea of the pathetic toy dog &egging me for a &one standing there imploring

me 2934 A man comes craling on his &elly to Hamms fictional (ersion of himself,

&egging &read for his &rat, or perhaps a little corn Hamm goes on:

* lost patience 2iolently4 Pse your head, cant you, use your head,

youre on earth, theres no cure for that5 2Pause4 *t as an e'0

ceedingly dry day, * remem&er, -ero &y the hygrometer *deal eather

for my lum&ago 2Pause. iolently4 But hat in .ods name do you

imagine That the earth ill aake in spring That the ri(ers and seas

ill run ith fish again That theres manna in hea(en still for

im&eciles like you 2Pause4 .radually * cooled don, sufficiently at

least to ask him ho long he had taken on the ay Three hole days

.ood *n hat condition he had left the child !eep in sleep

2!orcibly4 But deep in hat sleep, deep in hat sleep already 2p 9

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Ostensi&ly Hamm is talking to his gro(elling su&+ect, and his story ena&les him to re0enact the

great days of his rule 2* in8uired a&out the situation at Do(, &eyond the gulf, 96G4 But the

instruction to the actor, ho should still &e in narrati(e tone, to speak (iolently introduces

a suggesti(e and fruitful am&iguity into the te't, for hilst Hamm might concei(a&ly only &e

acting his (iolence, in performance it ould &e impossi&le to communicate any distinction

&eteen faked (iolence and genuine (iolence At such heights the distinctions &lur and(iolence &ecomes generali-ed and alays genuine *n the telling of the chronicle e knowthat

Hamm is meant only to &e acting out the (iolence of his fictional self, yet here the

impossi&ility 2in practical terms4 of the actor &eing a&le to communicate fine distinctions is

e(en plainer Ho does he1ho do e1distinguish the (iolent normaltone from the

(iolent narrative tone The situation ould &ecome a&surd: there is only one (iolently

The inter(ening comments a&out the eather and his lum&ago might seem at first to

undermine any genuine passion, yet, parado'ically, they only ser(e to make the (iolence more

e'traordinary &y offering such an acute, e(en forced, contrast to it Iot only the ords, &ut

the changes of toneare (iolent> thus the ur&ane comments interact ith rather than undermine

the surrounding fury

The point of this is that e feel Hamms sho of (iolence e'ceeds its o&+ect1e(en then and

certainly no 7hy do e feel such a gra(e and sa(age undercurrent to hat is ostensi&ly

only acting The ansers are ithin the play itself 7e ha(e noted Hamms sense of and

commitment to natural creati(ity His chronicle, itself a created thing, is his chief means of

destroying, consciously or unconsciously, that sense and that commitment To &egin ith:

Hamm &erates his (assal for imagining that the earth ill aake in spring, &ut it is he ho

has pro(oked )lo(s (iolent responses &y in8uiring a&out the sprouting of seeds:

Hamm : !id your seeds come up

)lo( : Io

Hamm : !id you scratch round them to see if they had sprouted

)lo( : They ha(ent sprouted

Hamm : Jerhaps its still too early

)lo( : *f they ere going to sprout they ould ha(e sprouted

2iolently4 Theyll ne(er sprout 23 his (assal for anticipating the teeming foison of nature hich ne(er ill

return, yet in the plays anticipation of nature the ecstasy is all his: But &eyond the hills Eh

Jerhaps its still green Eh 2Pause4 Flora5 Jomona5 2Ecstatically4 )eres5 2Pause4 Jerhaps

you ont need to go (ery far Hamm rants at his (assal for imagining 2in .ods name4there to &e manna in hea(en still, &ut it is he ho, immediately after he lea(es his story, tries

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praying to .od 2ho is only a name: The &astard5 He doesnt e'ist5 9G4 And it is here that

the parallel &eteen the chronicle and the mad0painter speech &ecomes important, for hilst

he ra(es at the (assal for imagining that the earth ill aake in spring and that the ri(ers

and seas ill run ith fish again, he also re(els in the corresponding e(ocation for the

madman: ?ook5 There5 All that rising corn5 And there5 ?ook5 The sails of the herring fleet5

All that lo(eliness5

7here as * asks Hamm &efore launching into his chronicle 7here indeed> not+ust

here ha(e * got to in the story &ut also here as * to &e found in it * ha(e tried to

suggest &y 8uotation that the anser is e(eryhere E'emplifying a techni8ue hich is

characteristic of Becketts handling of narrati(e forms withina play, Hamms chronicle

e'ists as an ela&orately0orked metaphorical counterpoint to hat e see &efore us as the

action of the play, at least insofar as that action concerns Hamm The story has three

characters: the * is not Hamm as he as, &ut a fictional persona ho does not hesitate to

end or, indeed, hesitate to do anything He takes the (assal into ser(ice2He had touched achord4 only &ecause then * imagined already that * asnt much longer for this orld 2"e

laughs. Pause4 7ell 2Pause4 7ell Here if you ere careful you might die a nice natural

death, in peace and comfort 29

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ell1if he ere still ali(e 2Pause4 *t as the moment * as

aiting for 2Pause4 7ould * consent to take in the child

2Pause4 * can see him still, don on his knees, his hands flat

on the ground, glaring at me ith his mad eyes, in defiance of

my ishes 2Pause. +ormal tone4 *ll soon ha(e finished ith

this story 2Pause4 Pnless * &ring in other characters

2Pause4 But here ould * find them 2Pause4 7here ould

* look for them 2Pause. "e whistles. Enter *lov4 ?et us pray

to .od

Iagg : #e sugar0plum5

)lo( : Theres a rat in the kitchen5

Hamm : A rat5 Are there still rats

)lo( : *n the kitchen theres one

Hamm : And you ha(ent e'terminated him

)lo( : Half @ou distur&ed us

Hamm : He cant get aay

)lo( : Io

Hamm : @oull finish him later ?et us pray to .od 29

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that he should pray to .od for more characters 2But here ould * find them 7here

ould * look for them4 )lo( and the rat in the kitchen present a second parallel to Hamms

predicament As a direct result of Hamms hesitations o(er creati(ity and the little &oy, )lo(

has only half0e'terminated the rat in the kitchen The failure to finish off mirrors Hamms

on The clima' of the chronicle, then, is an impasse Hamm ants to end, ants to

destroy all the springs of creati(ity ithin himself, yet he cannot &ecause there is alays apart of him hich ants to sur(i(e, hesitating to end )reati(ity is a hated o&ligation

Ionetheless the clima' of the chronicle does not e'actly disappear> rather it is displaced

Hamm cannot deny the sym&olic potency of his on in(ented small &oy, &ut hen )lo(

seems to &e in(enting the identical sym&ol for his masters &enefit, Hamm finally feels that he

can gi(e up Again, the echo0principle orks to confirm the link &eteen the &oy in

Hamms story and the &oy )lo( sees out of the indo near the end 7hen )lo( sights the

&oy Hamm con+ectures:*f he e'ists hell die there or hell come here And if he doesnt

2my emphasis: the continuation, as e ha(e seen, ould ha(e &een and if he doesnt e'ist

4 Turning &ack to the chronicle e find Hamm dou&ting the e'istence of the child hich

the retched (assal has left &ehind: Io no, not a soul, e'cept himself and the child 0

assuming he e'isted And you e'pect me to &elie(e you ha(e left your little one &ack there,all alone, and ali(e into the &argain )ome no52964/6The issue is one hich concerns

in(ention 2or creation4: for Hamm to re+ect )lo(s small &oy outside the refuge is for him to

re+ect the putati(e in(entor @ou think *m in(enting4 *f e take the chronicle to &e

partially true the most o&(ious implication is that the small &oy at Do( is a fictional (ersion

of )lo( The rest of the play hints as much :

Hamm : !o you remem&er hen you came here

)lo( : Io Too small, you told me

Hamm : !o you remem&er your father

)lo( : 2wearily4 %ame anser 2Pause4 @ou(e asked me these

8uestions millions of times

Hamm : * lo(e the old 8uestions 2$ith fervour4 Ah the old 8uestions,

the old ansers, theres nothing like them5 2Pause4 *t as *

as a father to you

)lo( : @es 2"e looks at "amm fi%edly4 @ou ere that to me

Hamm : #y house a home for you

)lo( : @es 2"e looks about him4 This as that for me 2/;4

And again hen Hamm summari-es the chronicle for )lo( :

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Hamm : )raling on his &elly, hining for &read for his &rat Hes

offered a +o& as gardener Before 0 2*lov bursts out

laughing4 7hat is there so funny a&out that

)lo( : A +o& as a gardener5

Hamm : *s that hat tickles you

)lo( : *t must &e that

Hamm : *t ouldnt &e the &read

)lo( : Or the &rat 24

)lo( is the li(ing presence of the small0&oy sym&ol 7hen Hamm tells him * dont need you

any more, he is sym&olically disclaiming creati(ity

But of course Hamms disclaiming, like e(erything else at the end of the play, is am&iguous

He takes up the chronicle again momentarily in his final solilo8uy, &ut still nothing isresol(ed, e'cept perhaps the elements of the story :

2+arrative tone4 *f he could ha(e his child ith him 2Pause4 *t

as the moment * as aiting for 2Pause4 @ou dont ant to

a&andon him @ou ant him to &loom hile you are ithering Be

there to solace your last million last moments 2Pause4 He doesnt

realise, all he knos is hunger, and cold, and death to cron it all But

you5 @ou ought to kno hat the earth is like noadays Oh, * put him

&efore his responsi&ilities5 2Pause. +ormal tone4 7ell, there e are,

there * am, that is enough 2=/4

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There he is indeed And there is )lo( /imassive and motionless, his eyes fi%ed on "amm, till

the end The ay the te't mirrors the stage0situation is no clearer than e(er The characters

seem almost to merge into their fictions: Hamm into the (assal, )lo( into the small &oy >

Hamm ithering and )lo( solacing his fathers last million last moments The chronicle can

no &e seen for hat it alays as: an e'panded image of Hamms on creati(e situation

But if the occasion appears as an unsta&le term of relation, the artist, ho is the other term, is

hardly less so, thanks to his arren of modes and attitudes/ Hamms chronicle itself 2*ll soon

ha(e finished ith this story4> his image of the millet grains of that old .reek 0 all life

long you ait for that to mount up to a life 2=4> the physical states of all the characters, and

the endgame itself 2Old stancher @ou remain, =94 The plays opening ords

1finished, its finished, nearly finished, it must &e nearly finished 23/41are also its mostpoignantly ironic ones The dog, the chronicle, the game itself are all creations: they are not

+ust imperfect &ut imperfectly created Hamm in(ents images, stories and fantasies &ecause,

in order to sur(i(e against the threatening outside 2outside of here its death4, he is o&liged

to create himself> he is perpetually attempting to finish off a self imperfectly created and

therefore e'isting only in a parodic dimension, a parody presence

Though it is less o&(ious here than in the plays hich follo,Endgametoo has as its prime

mo(er the creati(e o&ligation of hich its author spoke in 'hree dialogues There the nature

of the o&ligation remains o&scure 2* dont kno admits Beckett hen !uthuit asks him whythe artist is o&liged to create934 The insurmounta&le pro&lem ofstatement hich faces Beckett

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in the essentially theoretical medium of the dialogues is made plain at e(ery turn> indeed it is

one reason hy these pieces are cast in dialogue0form and not as short essays &y Beckett

alone1in dialogue he can &e meaningfully silent, he can e'it eeping, he can e(en retract his

central contentions But a play likeEndgameis not confined &y the e'igencies of theory: it

may state 2though e(en then its statement ill &e of a different kind from those made in a

theoretical ork4 &ut it is not &ound to As e ha(e seen,Endgameorks &y indirection:image, sym&ol, narrati(e, gesture and echo all con(erge patiently on a centre hich is, like

Hamm himself, unsta&le, indefina&le, perhaps e(en non0e'istent Pltimately, the plays form

constitutes its most significant insight into the essentially ontological nature of the creati(e

o&ligation

Meaning and Melancholia in Becett!sEndgame

Sandra "a#oni

Pni(ersity of Toronto

$ntroduction

Although the concept of melancholia refers to a de&ilitating,

pathological condition, it is also associated ith artistic creati(ity and

philosophical insight There is a tofold relationship &eteen

melancholia and art: on the one hand, melancholia is a source of

artistic creati(ity, and on the other hand, orks of art may ha(e a

therapeutic function in o(ercoming melancholia, &oth for the artist andthe o&ser(er *nBlack Sun, Kulia Driste(a e'amines the ay in hich

artistic and literary creations are a&le to pro(ide a su&limatory means

of mo(ing &eyond melancholia%%he argues that, in the tentieth

century, there is a crisis of representation and signification Faced ith

the monstrosity of this centurySs destructi(e forces, our sym&olic

means ha(e &ecome holloed out and paralysed such that e are

compelled to &e silent 2Black %un //94 Driste(a asks hether it is

possi&le for art to acknoledge the eight of contemporary suffering

in a ay that pro(ides a su&limatory solution to our crises

*n her e'amination of the postar literature of #arguerite !uras,

http://www.yorku.ca/jspot/4/beckett.html#1http://www.yorku.ca/jspot/4/beckett.html#1

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Driste(a concludes that !urasS no(els e(oke an "impossi&le mourning"

that infects their readers %he argues that !urasS riting lacks catharsis:

there is no resolution, no promise of a &eyond, no forgi(eness, no

redemption 2Black %un //4 !urasS no(els e'emplify the

contemporary crisis of representation and signification &ecause theyare una&le to address suffering e'cept &y silence, leading to a

"&lankness of meaning" By contrast, Driste(a points to the ork of

%amuel Beckett as an e'ample of ho art can address the

contemporary crises in a ay that cur&s melancholia %he rites:

!uras does not orchestrate the "nothing"G in the fashion of #allarmL,

ho sought for the music in ords, nor in the manner ofBeckett who

refines a synta% that marks time or moves ahead by fits and starts,

warding off the narrative0s flight forward The re(er&eration among

characters as ell as the silence inscri&ed as such, the emphasis on the

"nothing" to &e spoken as ultimate e'pression of suffering, leads !uras

to a &lankness of meaning )oupled ith rhetorical akardness, they

make up a orld of unsettling, infectious ill0&eing 2Black %un /=4

Emphasis addedG

7hile Driste(a does not discuss Beckett &eyond this reference, * ill

consider hetherEndgame1a play that em&odies the postar human

dilemma1addresses the contemporary crises ithout leading to a

"&lankness of meaning" or "e(oking an impossi&le mourning" !oesEndgamepro(ide a su&limatory solution Or does it infect the

audience ith its despair *s this something that e can determine

through Driste(aSs analysis * argue that hileEndgamecan &e

interpreted as a play that stages melancholia and has a melancholic

character, it can &e distinguished from Driste(as analysis of the

!uras melancholic art in a fe important respects Although these

differences suggest thatEndgamemay pro(ide a su&limatory solution,

hether the play spreads or cur&s melancholia, hether it e(okes an

"impossi&le mourning" or a "defeated depression," is not something

that can &e determined &y an analysis of the play alone, since &oth

possi&ilities are left open This can only &e determined &y thee'perience of the reader or spectator

%ince the a&sence of meaning is fundamental to Driste(aSs conception

of melancholia, * ill first consider the ell0noted difficulty of

deri(ing a sta&le interpretation ofEndgame By draing upon Theodor

7 AdornoSs and %imon )ritchleySs ritings on Beckett, * argue that

despite the desta&ili-ation of meaning inEndgame, the play does not

lead to a "&lankness of meaning"> rather, the play 8uestions and

de&ates meaning *t is the indeterminacy of meaning inEndgamethat

leads to the impossi&ility of assessing hether or not the play e(okes

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impossi&le mourning, &ased on the te't alone

After considering the staging of the melancholic condition inEndgame,

* conclude that hile the play suggests certain "counterdepressants"that may &e used to o(ercome melancholia1such as storytelling and

art 1in the end, the characters do not seem to make any progress

&eyond their melancholic condition At a thematic le(el,Endgameis

similar to !urasS no(els in that it pro(ides no catharsis, no resolution,

no promise of a &eyond, no redemption Hoe(er, * argue that it is

pro&lematic to analy-e the a&ility ofEndgameto address the

contemporary crisis in meaning &ased on its lack of catharsis and

resolution since BeckettSs orks can &e more aptly characteri-ed as

anti-catharticand anti-redemtive !espite the a&sence of resolution in

Endgame, the play differs from Driste(aSs analysis of !urasS no(els

&ecause the play does not respond to suffering ith silence E(en

though the characters desire silence, they canSt stop talking, and they

canSt stop telling stories

Driste(aSs analysis of su&limatory art inBlack Sunis not limited to art

that is cathartic in its thematic de(elopment %he also argues that

literary orks can o(ercome melancholia at a semiotic le(el, &y means

of melody, tone, rhythm, gesture, semantic poly(alency, and prosody

*n Driste(aSs &rief reference to Beckett in the a&o(e passage, she

suggests that his orks are a&le to cur& melancholia through thesemiotic1through the narrati(eSs &roken and retarded mo(ement %uch

an analysis is more appropriate ith respect to BeckettSs ork since for

him, form is as important as content> or rather, "form is content and

content is form"&Pnfortunately, the effect of the semiotic on the

a&ility of the te't to spread or cur& melancholia is indeterminate, as

ill &e discussed in the last section of this essay ith respect to

BeckettSs use of pause and laughter

Mourning and Melancholia in 'sychoanalytic (heory

For Freud, mourning and melancholia are responses to the loss of a

li&idinal o&+ect *n mourning, the resentment and aggression against thelost o&+ect is pro+ected onto other o&+ects *n melancholia 2a

pathological state of "impossi&le mourning"4, one turns these feelings

against oneself, not &eing conscious of whatone has lost9Freud

identifies certain mental features hich are common to &oth: profound

painful de+ection, loss of interest in the orld, perception of the orld

as poor and empty, loss of the capacity to lo(e any ne o&+ect, and

inhi&ition of acti(ity*n the normal process of mourning, the ego,

aare that the o&+ect no longer e'ists, gradually se(ers its attachment

to the o&+ect in order to not share its fate=*n melancholia, the li&ido

ithdras into the ego, replacing an o&+ect0cathe'is ith an

identification of the ego ith the a&andoned o&+ect> the ego ants toincorporate the o&+ect into itself6Hence, there is a "clea(age" or

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di(ision in the ego here&y the aggression toards the lost o&+ect is

directed against itself, resulting in the diminution in self0regard, self0

reproaches, and an impo(erishment of the ego This conflict ithin the

ego acts like a painful open "ound" and empties the ego until it is

totally impo(erished 2/4 the

poly(alence of sign and sym&ol, "hich unsettles naming and, &y

&uilding up a plurality of connotations around the sign, affords the

su&+ect a chance to imagine the nonmeaning, or the true meaning, of

the Thing"> and 294 the aesthetics of forgi(eness, as found in her

analysis of !ostoye(sky 2Black %un ;

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%un 6=4 Through melody, rhythm, semantic poly(alency, and parody,

the poetic form, in decomposing and recomposing signs, is a&le to

secure an uncertain &ut ade8uate hold o(er the Thing 2Black %un 34

Based on her analysis of the artists e'amined in Black Sun, Driste(a

indicates that a ork of art is a defeated deressionif it succeeds inputting death1the unrepresenta&le and unnamea&le1into signs,

hereas a ork of art is melancholicif it pre(ents the use of signs

Meaning in Becett

BeckettSs riting resists and frustrates all attempts made to decipher its

sym&ols or to pro(ide a coherent, unified interpretation *n a letter to

director Alan %chneider in 3;= a cigar is +ust a cigar *n his

early no(el, $att, he rites: "no sym&ols here none intended"3

And yet, it is difficult to take Beckett at his ord here since his ork isfull of sym&ols and signifiers 2character names, phrases, o&+ects4 that

seem to &e carefully crafted in such a ay that they refer to certain

philosophical te'ts, historical e(ents, or other literary orks in a

cryptic manner His statement also suggests that he, as a riter, is

concerned ith the form rather than the content, ith the sound and the

rhythm of ords and phrases, rather than ith communicating certain

ideas or intending any specific interpretation This approach seems to

lea(e the meaning open He states:

* take no sides * am interested in the shape of ideas There is aonderful sentence in Augustine: S!o not despair> one of the thie(es

as sa(ed !o not presume> one of the thie(es as damnedS That

sentence has a onderful shape *t is the shape that matters 33

*f BeckettSs ritings only pro(ide "fundamental sounds" hich "take

no sides," then hether or not his orks go &eyond melancholia may

depend more on the reader or spectator, than on the te'ts themsel(es

#any, including Beckett, ha(e commented on the particular difficulty

of interpretingEndgame Beckett descri&edEndgameas "ratherdifficult, elliptic, mostly depending on the poer of the te't to cla,

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more inhuman than .odot"3/!espite this difficulty, many ha(e tried

to make sense of the play, resulting in a proliferation of di(erse

interpretations One of the more common interpretations suggests that

the play represents the last stage of a game of chess in hich Hamm is

the Ding, )lo( is the knight, and Iagg and Iell are captured pans7ho the enemy is, and hether the game ends in checkmate or

stalemate, is unclear39Other interpretations include: a &ifurcated

)artesian man here Hamm is the mind and )lo( is the &ody> a

riterSs mind or study here Hamm is the riter, )lo( is a character

created &y him, and Iagg and Iell are discarded characters thron

into the aste&asket> actors on stage playing se(eral roles> a shelter

during some end0of0the0orld crisis> a placeless and timeless place,

representing &oth a om& and a tom&3%ince Hamm is the name of

IoahSs son, some ha(e suggested that the shelter is IoahSs Ark,

sometime after the flood3=The play has e(en &een interpreted as a

metaphor for the Freudian mind as presented in "The Ego and the

*d"36

7hile each interpretation of Endgame is a&le to point to (arious

aspects of the te't for support, there is much else in the te't hich

cannot &e accounted for and hich in fact undermines each particular

interpretation3

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Endgamelead to a similar &lankness of meaning *n "Trying to

PnderstandEndgame," Adorno argues that "uGnderstanding it

EndgameG can mean nothing other than understanding its

incomprehensi&ility, or concretely reconstructing its meaning structure

1that it has none"> "nGot meaning anything &ecomes the onlymeaning"/3Opposed to those you might argue thatEndgameis

simply meaningless, Adorno readsEndgameas a play that de&ates

meaning, that addresses and reconstructs the historical negation of

meaning He interpretsEndgameas a parody of philosophy,

particularly E'istentialist philosophy He argues thatEndgamedestroys

the E'istentialist illusion of the free, unified, a&solute su&+ect that is

a&le to create its on meaning hen faced ith metaphysical

meaninglessness> instead, the play recogni-es that ith the historical

disintegration of the su&+ectSs unity, there is no longer any closed

structure of meaning//This interpretation of AdornoSs statements is

reinforced in his1esthetic 'heoryhere he rites:

"BeckettSs oeu(re already presupposes this e'perience of the

destruction of meaning as self0e(ident, yet also pushes it &eyond

meaningSs a&stract negation in that his plays force the traditional

categories of art to undergo this e'perience, concretely suspend them,

and e'trapolate others out of the nothingness BeckettSs plays are

a&surd not &ecause of the a&sence of meaning, for then they ould &e

simply irrele(ant, &ut &ecause they put meaning on trial> they unfold its

history His ork is ruled as much &y an o&session ith positi(enothingness as &y the o&session ith a meaninglessness that has

de(eloped historically and is thus in a sense merited, though this

meritedness in no ay allos any positi(e meaning to &e reclaimed/9

)ritchley adds thatEndgameesta&lishes "the meaning of

meaninglessness" &y performing the refusal of meaning and tracing the

history of the dissolution of meaning, ithout permitting either the

restoration of meaning, or the irrele(ant metaphysical comfort of

meaninglessness/

A pro&lematic aspect of AdornoSs analysis ofEndgameis that hile he

recogni-es the difficulty of interpretingEndgame, in the end he seems

to pro(ide a determinate, unifying interpretation He himself seems to

ha(e no difficulty unco(ering "the" meaning ofEndgameas he reads

the play into his on account of contemporary society/=7hat makes

Endgameenigmatic is that it suggests a multiplicity of possi&le

meanings, o(erall, and ith respect to particular signifiers 7hile the

possi&le interpretations are limited &y the conte't of the play and

BeckettSs &ody of riting,Endgameresists &eing encapsulated &y a

definiti(e, unifying interpretation As a result, although in the ne'tsection * e'amine the melancholic elements inEndgameand consider

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its a&ility to either cur& or spread melancholia according to Driste(aSs

theory, * do not mean to suggest thatEndgameis "a&out melancholia"

in any definiti(e sense

The playSs openness and undecida&ility further distinguishesEndgame

from the &lankness of meaning that Driste(a o&ser(es in !urasS

riting BeckettSs use of multiple signifiers, as ell as his concern ith

the netork of sounds and significances rather than ith the

communication of ideas, creates a poly(alence of sign and sym&ol

7ith respect to Ier(alSs prosodic polymorphism, Driste(a argues that

creating an undecida&le polyphony ith sym&ols pro(ides an antidote

to depression 2Black %un 3 it allos the su&+ect to secure an uncertain

&ut ade8uate hold o(er the Thing 2Black %un 3

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negati(e perceptions of the outside orld might &e due to the

pro+ecti(e identifications of a melancholic ego/6Hamm states:

* once kne a madman ho thought the end of the orld had come Heas a painter1and engra(er * had a great fondness for him * used to

go and see him, in the asylum *Sd take him &y the hand and drag him to

the indo ?ook5 There5 All that rising corn5 And there5 ?ook5 The

sails of the herring fleet5 All that lo(eliness5 2Pause4 HeSd snatch aay

his hand and go &ack into his corner Appalled All he had seen as

ashes 2Pause4 He alone had &een spared 2Pause4 Forgotten 2Jause4

*t appears the case is as not so so unusual 2Endgame 4

The hesitant manner in hich he indicates that this melancholic

e'perience is not so unusual suggests that he and )lo( may &e

suffering from the madmanSs psychosis %imilar to the madmanSs

e'perience, hen )lo( looks out the indo, he sees nothing: "all is

corpsed" 2Endgame 9/4 *n this passage, Beckett also connects

madness ith artistic creati(ity 7e are told tice that the madman

as "a painter1and engra(er," emphasi-ing the ord "engra(er" &y

putting a pause &efore it &oth times

The characters inEndgameappear to ha(e suffered a loss that renders

their melancholic egos ounded, incomplete and empty *n his first

speech, )lo( says, "* canSt &e punished any more" 2Endgame 34 *nHammSs first speech, he asks, ")an there &e misery12he yawns41

loftier than mine" 2Endgame /4 Both characters are introduced as

sufferers The fact that the characters are ounded and incomplete is

(isually and e'ternally represented &y their physical disa&ilities

Hamm is &lind and cannot alk )lo( can see and alk, &ut cannot sit

Iagg and Iell are legless, and ha(e lost some of their hearing and

sight The features and a&ilities that one character lacks are reflected &y

the presence of that feature or a&ility in the other characters/

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HA##: Ha(e you had enough

)?OC: @es5 2Pause4 Of hat

HA##: Of this this ... thing 2Endgame =, =4

7hen Hamm asks, "7hatSs happening" )lo( responds, "Somethingis

taking its course" 2Endgame 39, 9/4 7hate(er they are referring to, it

is unnamed> and yet they seem to kno hat the other is referring to

&y "this thing" or "something" Jerhaps they do not to need to name it,

or perhaps they are incapa&le of naming it &ecause it is something

unnamea&le and unrepresenta&le

The loss of meaning associated ith melancholia is present in

Endgameat (arious le(els: hether their ords ha(e meaning, hether

the characters percei(e their li(es as ha(ing meaning, and hether the

characters mean something to each other Kust as readers, audience0

mem&ers, critics and scholars may &ecome frustrated in their attempts

to make sense of the play and disco(er its meaning, the characters also

are tharted in their half0hearted attempts to make a "meaningful

connection" ith other characters, and e(en &eteen their on

thoughts/That the attempt is half0hearted is re(ealed in the

folloing passage:

HA##: 7eSre not &eginning to mean something

)?OC: #ean something5 @ou and *, mean something5 2Brief laugh4

Ah thatSs a good one5

HA##: * onder 2Pause4 *magine if a rational &eing came &ack to

earth, ouldnSt he &e lia&le to get ideas into his head if he o&ser(ed us

long enough 2oice of rational being4 Ah, good, no * see hat it is,

yes, no * understand hat theySre at5 2*lov starts, dros the telescoe

and begins to scratch his belly with both hands. +ormal voice.4 And

ithout going so far as that, e oursel(es 2with emotion4 e

oursel(es at certain moments 2ehemently.4 To think perhaps it

onSt all ha(e &een for nothing5)?OC: 2anguished, scratching himself4: * ha(e a flea 2Endgame 9/0

994

7hile this passage indicates the desire for meaning, the possi&ility of

meaning is immediately &elittled &y )lo( HammSs response suggests

that hile at certain moments e all ha(e a sense that our li(es ha(e

meaning, that our li(es are meaningful, this is something e ant and

need to &elie(e, something e hope for1"to think perhaps it onSt all

ha(e &een for nothing" The passage also seems to tease the audience0

mem&ers and readers ho are trying to "understand hat theySre at" *tseems to mock the theorist ho thinks she is "rational" enough to make

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sense of the play

Endgameillustrates the inade8uacy and ar&itrariness of ords as it is

e'perienced &y the melancholic Driste(a descri&es melancholic peopleas itnesses and accomplices of the signifierSs flimsiness 2Black %un

/4 The ar&itrariness of ords is made e'plicit &y )lo(Ss statement to

Hamm: "* use the ords you taught me *f they donSt mean anything

any more, teach me others Or let me &e silent" 2Endgame 4

Toards the end of the play, hen )lo( contemplates lea(ing &ut fears

that he is too old to form ne ha&its, he says: "Then one day, suddenly,

it ends, it changes, * donSt understand, it dies, or itSs me, * donSt

understand that either * ask the ords that remain1sleeping, aking,

morning, e(ening They ha(e nothing to say" 2Endgame 34

Throughout the play, )lo( and Hamm repeat each otherSs ords and

phrases to fill space These passages re(eal that language has &ecome

an alien skin for them, foreign and detached from their dri(e &ase

They illustrate the "dead language" of a melancholic, as set out &y

Driste(a 2Black %un =94

The charactersS ina&ility to form a meaningful connection ith each

other demonstrates another symptom of the melancholic condition

This ina&ility is depicted (isually &y the fact that the characters do not

touch each other Iagg and Iell ant to touch and kiss each other &ut

they are physically pre(ented from doing so &y their infirmities andtheir &ins Hamm and )lo( are physically capa&le of touching each

other, &ut hen Hamm asks )lo( to kiss him and hold his hand, )lo(

refuses The only affectionate touch is gi(en to the unfinished, three0

legged, castrated toy dog Hamm feels it and fondles it at first

2Endgame 4, then he ants the dog to look up at him as if it ere

&egging or imploring him for a &one 2Endgame 34, and toards the

end of the play, he thros the dog on the ground 2Endgame 4

The characters ha(e an am&i(alent lo(e0hate relationship 7hile )lo(

and Hamm need each other, they are ad(ersarial Hamm seems toen+oy making )lo( suffer )lo( usually o&eys, &ut defiantly The

relationship &eteen Hamm and his father is also am&i(alent To some

degree they need each other Iagg needs Hamm for nourishment and

Hamm needs Iagg to listen to his stories Hamm calls Iagg "accursed

progenitor," "accursed fornicator" and "%coundrel5 7hy did you

engender me" indicating a hatred of the father for ha(ing &een &orn

This aggression and resentment is directed at the father, not the mother

Iagg curses that one day Hamm ill &e alone, frightened in the dark,

and ill call to Iagg as his only hope The curse recalls the neglect

Hamm e'perienced as a child As Iagg recalls:

7hom did you call hen you ere a tiny &oy, and ere frightened, in

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the dark @our mother Io #e 7e let you cry Then e mo(ed you

out of earshot, so that e might sleep in peace you didnSt really need

to ha(e me listen to you 2Jause4 * hope the day ill come hen youSll

really need to ha(e me listen to you, and need to hear my (oice, any

(oice" 2Endgame =64

Kust as Hamm did not call out for his mother hen he as a child, he

does not interact ith Iell in the play, nor does she interact ith him

Iell seems to &e his mother &ut this is only suggested through her

relationship ith Iagg Iell is not named "mother" &y Hamm HammSs

only interaction ith Iell is through )lo( He orders )lo( to &ottle

Iagg and Iell, and scre don the lids 2Endgame /4 Hamm

entom&s his parents hile they are still ali(e

Hamm does not consider a &urial for Iell hen she dies, despite

HammSs concern for proper &urial elsehere 2he e'presses

disappointment at )lo( for not gi(ing #other Jegg a &urial, and he

re8uests that )lo( &ury him4 Hamm shos no signs of grief for IellSs

death> he only acknoledges it &y raising his to8ue *nstead, he makes

light of IaggSs grief 7hen Iagg cries for a hile and then sucks on a

&iscuit, Hamm comments that "the dead go fast" and that "life goes on"

2Endgame 6606

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children, to, three, so as to &e together, and hisper together in the

dark" 2Endgame

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stop himself from crying out He canSt &e silent

!espite the desire for the end and for silence in Endgame, the pre(ious

passage suggests the impossi&ility of silence The passage illustratesthat e ha(e to continue to talk and tell stories to eolethe emptiness

of death, e(en though this is a deception1a necessary deception,

according to )ritchley9)ontrary to commentators ho argue that

silence is the goal of BeckettSs ork, Adorno and )ritchley rightly

argue that for Beckett, riting is the necessary desecration of

silence9=7hen facedith the a&sence of meaning, the (oice

continues, and the stories continue )ritchley identifies this aspect of

BeckettSs ork as a dou&le &ind &eteen the ina&ility to speak and the

ina&ility to &e silent, &eteen the impossi&ility of representing the

unrepresenta&le1death1and the necessity of its representation and

narration96Based on this reading of BeckettSs ork,Endgameseems

to put death )the unreresentable and the unnameable)into signs.

Unlike 2risteva0s interretation of 3uras, Endgame does not encounter

suffering and death ith silence And yet, neither does it mo(e &eyond

the encounter ith some form of reconciliation or resolution

Iear the end of the play, Hamm says that the story has ended:

"#oments for nothing, no as alays, time as ne(er, and time is

o(er, reckoning closed and story ended" 2Endgame 94 Hoe(er, the

story does not come to an end in our minds1the audience is leftondering hat happened to the &oy or his father %e(eral possi&le

interpretations are suggested: *s the story made up, as Hamm suggests

*f not, hich character is Hamm 7as )lo( the &oy Or as he the

father 7as Hamm the &oy Or as he the father 7ill )lo( take

HammSs place as Hamm predicted and ill the &oy )lo( sa outside

take )lo(Ss place %ince the latter possi&ility is kept open, com&ined

ith the fact that )lo( is left standing motionless on stage 2as predicted

&y Hamm4,Endgamecomes to an intermina&le end> its ending

suggests a re0&eginning As Hamm states, "The end is in the &eginning

and yet you go on" 2Endgame 6;4

The a&sence of a clear resolution and the indication that the process

ill &egin again and go on and on, has lead scholars and critics to

conclude that the play lacks catharsis Hersh Ueifman descri&es the

play as an endless cycle of torture that ensnares the audience and

creates an un&eara&le tension9

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signs, there is much in the play that e(okes an impossi&le mourning

7hile the use of storytelling may &e regarded as an attempt to identify

and master oneSs loss, it does not seem to succeed in Endgame The

things that might pro(ide a means for Hamm or )lo( to o(ercome their

melancholia are left unfinished For e'ample, HammSs story remainsunfinished Iell and #other Jegg, the maternal figures, are not &uried

E(en the therapeutic effect of art is suggested and then re+ected

Toards the end of the play, immediately after )lo( tells Hamm that

there are no more painkillers, )lo( takes don the picture hanging on

the all 2there&y suggesting a link &eteen the picture and painkillers4,

places it on the floor facing the all, and hangs in its place the alarm

clock to signify that he has left 2Endgame

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pralines, and &ack here it came from, &ack into death"/*n support

of this, Adorno refers to )lo(Ss statement that he lo(es order: "aG

orld here all ould &e silent and still and each thing in its last place,

under the last dust 2Endgame =

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)larice ?ispector as an e'ample of riting that re(eals suffering and

death ithout !ostoye(skySs aesthetics of forgi(eness %he states that

the humour used throughout the no(ellas ac8uires purifying (alue and

shields the reader from the crisis 2Black %un //;4 Driste(a also refers

to the postmodern mo(ement toards comedy in her conclusion: "Thedesire for comedy shos up today to conceal1ithout for that matter

&eing unaare of it1the concern for such a truth ithout tragedy,

melancholia ithout purgatory" 2Black %un /=;4

As ith $aiting for Godot, Beckett uses comedy, laughter and slap0

stick humour inEndgame !oes his use of laughter pre(ent the

audience from &eing dragged intoEndgameSs despair At times,

BeckettSs humour is foolish, ridiculous and a&surd> at other times it is

dark1 (ery dark IaggSs +oke a&out the tailor is 8uite funny and

displays BeckettSs crude sense of humour 2"a neat seat can &e (ery

ticklisha snug crotch is alays a teasera smart fly is a stiff

proposition"4, &ut in the end, it makes us laugh at the sad state of the

orld 2Endgame //4 Throughout the play, suffering itself is laughed at

or treated as a game or a +oke Iell says, "Iothing is funnier than

unhappiness, *Sll grant you that@es, yes, itSs the most comical thing

in the orld" 2Endgame 34 Iagg and Iell laugh at ha(ing lost their

legs in an accident 2Endgame 364 Hamm finds pleasure in the story of

the father ho came &egging for food for his star(ing &oy and he

considers the story to &e comical 2Endgame =/09, 64 As discussed

a&o(e, grie(ing itself is associated ith laughter 2Endgame 64

7hile the ridiculous and a&surd kind of humour used &y Beckett may

pro(ide comic detachment from the suffering presented in the play,

hen laughter is applied to such gra(e matters as the meaninglessness

of life and human suffering, it may appear cruel and cynical, there&y

increasing oneSs feeling of despair On the other hand, cynicism may &e

a ay to resist despair, to maintain a distance from hat ould

otherise lead to depression A second pro&lem ith the role of

laughter inEndgameis that the characters seem tired of laughing at

each otherSs +okes Their +okes often fall flat and the +oker is the onlyone laughing All +okes lose their poer to produce laughter o(er time,

due to repetition As Iell says, "And e laugh, e laugh, ith a ill,

in the &eginning But itSs alays the same thing @es, itSs like the funny

story e ha(e heard too often, e still find it funny, &ut e donSt laugh

any more" 2Endgame 34 As ith the use of pause, BeckettSs humour

affects the meaning of the play for his readers and spectators in

contrary ays For e'ample, hile Adorno argues that BeckettSs

humour e'hausts itself, )ritchley argues that the laughter e find in

Beckett is an acknoledgement of finitude and a site of resistance=

$ather than pro(iding positi(e meaning, redemption, or reconciliation,BeckettSsEndgameseems at one le(el to depict a longing for

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renunciation and silence %ome find it to &e theatrically frustrating

&ecause, unlike traditional drama, it has no resolution The characters

are trapped in a tortured e'istence and do not ha(e the desire or ill to

change it1 they +ust go on and on, playing out their games, ithout

real discourse, and ithout the a&ility to feel anything or formconnections ith others There is no catharsis inEndgame Throughout

the play, Hamm and )lo( make statements that indicate that they long

for the end, and that they think it is time to end