The Last Hope

The Last Hope

        Whether it be wealth, sex, or longevity, we have always had “hopes” that we dearly wished to be achieved. Once we begin to lose that last hope, we give in to the despair; thus, death. In Samuel Beckett’s Endgame, though the characters sometimes neglect one and another from mutual ill treatments, they each have personal hopes that ultimately compel them to attend to one and another. Specifically, Hamm’s choice of dictions like “pity” and “compassion” draws a demand and supply relationship between Hamm and the other characters who inevitably attend to Hamm despite his despotical traits.

        Clov, treated like a dog by Hamm throughout the play, constantly threatens to leave Hamm, but ultimately stays with Hamm in the hope that he will be safer with Hamm. Though Hamm is blind and in a wheelchair, he seems to be the dominant figure. Hamm is an “inhumane” being who utterly disrespects Clov. Hamm oppressively yells out, “Clov!” (2583) to call for and demand Clov to supply his comfort at any cost. For example, Clov requests that he return to his “sanctuary,” kitchen to “look at the wall” (2583), which he sees his “light dying” (2584). While this hobby is incredibly special to Clov, which takes the form of freedom and peace from tyranny, Hamm denounces, “Your light dying! Listen to that! Well, it can die just as well here, your light (2584). From such statements in the play, Clov is not only discouraged, but also offended by Hamm’s statement, and Clov threatens, “You shouldn't speak to me like that” (2584).  Clearly, Hamm’s needy and egotistical behaviours induce Clov to hold unfavorable feelings towards Hamm, which lead him to try and leave Hamm multiple times. So, why does Clov just not leave already? In this post-apocalyptic world, there simply is nowhere for Clov to go. Hamm brainwashes Clov, “Gone from me you’d be dead” (2608). As Clov has not given up entirely, Hamm becomes Clov’s last hope of surviving. In addition, if Hamm’s story was about Clov: “... he asks if he may have his little boy with him” (2604), then the brainwashing probably have started earlier in the childhood. In this sense, Hamm is the father and Clov is the youngster, and Hamm scares the boy that the “outside” will bring only despair and death. Without the “father”, Clov remains as a weak, young boy, and the young boy gets forced to serve Hamm despite Hamm’s cruelty.

Nagg, having been treated horribly by his son, has no sympathy for Hamm; nonetheless, he reaches out to others in the hope of “living the past” again. As much as Hamm does, Nagg repeatedly nags others to pay attention to him. Therefore, Nagg is like the powerless former king who, once again, hopes to become the sole attention, and rule over everyone. However, now Hamm owns this supremacy, and uses this power to control Nagg. In the middle of the play, Hamm directly scowls at Nagg for giving birth to him: “Scoundrel! Why did you engender me?” (2599). However, Nagg infuriates and quarrels back he didn’t know, “That it’d be you. [Pause.] (2600). Nagg conveys that if he had known that the son will be Hamm, then he would not have “engendered” him. There is an obvious antagonistic relationship between Hamm and Nagg, in which Nagg backfires that he would have abandoned Hamm if he knew Hamm would neglect him so horribly. Nevertheless, Nagg decides to stay by Hamm in the hope that Hamm will require him like Hamm did previously:

“I hope the day will come when you’ll really need to have me listen to

you, and need to hear my voice, any voice. [Pause.] Yes, I hope I’ll till

then, to hear your calling me like when you were a tiny boy, and were

frightened, in the dark, and I was your only hope” (2602).  

        In this apocalyptic setting, Nagg wishes for one last time that his son and other characters would respect and look for him. After all, Nagg’s biggest concern is being alone and disregarded. From this concern, Nagg attempts arduously to interact with Nell. Though Nell suggests Nag to stop telling the same story, Nagg continues, “To cheer you up” (2587). Because Nagg wants others to appreciate him and his story like they once did, he expects Nell to be “Happy! Don’t you laught at it still? Every time I tell it. Happy! (2587). While Nagg can be depicted self-centered like Hamm, he saves up “Three quarters” (2586) of biscuit for only Nell. Nagg is a vulnerable and compassionate character, and such characterizations are clear when Nell, who is his last hope and his personal time machine, dies: “Nell! [Pause. Nagg sinks back into his bin, closes the lid behind him. Pause] (2602). After his last hope has been dismissed, Nagg neglects the other characters and stays dormant for the rest of the play.

        In contrast to the other characters, Nell attends to her son and Nagg out of sympathy and love rather than curse. She is perhaps the only champion in the play who accepts the apocalypse; and because she understands and accepts this “end”, she settles her relationship with everyone else via her death. However, before she abandons everyone completely, Nell approaches Nagg and Hamm with compassion and sympathy. When Nagg laughs hysterically about Hamm’s misery, Nell protects Hamm saying, “One mustn’t laugh at those things, Nagg. Why must you always laugh at them?” (2586). Then, she goes on to lecture Nagg that “Nothing is funnier than unhappiness, I grant you that… But it’s always the same thing. Yes, it’s like the funny story we have heard too often, we still find it funny, but we don’t laugh any more” (2586). Beckett declared that this is the most crucial quote in the play as he seeks to picture humor as another means of pathetic nature of humanity. In this sense, Nell preserves her humanity and sympathy only to lose her ability to feel happiness and laugh freely, defining the true adversity in Beckett’s dreadful story. Similarly, while no one deals with Nagg and his tedious stories, Nell eventually stays and listens. Again, Nell accepts Nagg out of compassion, not because his story is comical. Nell confesses that she laughed on Lake Combo “because I felt happy” (2587). After all, Nell, in contrary to the other characters, does not make any joke or humor throughout the entire play. Thus, Nell epitomizes the individual who has lost to despair, but at the same time, she may be the veteran player in this game who recognizes the reality. Perhaps, Nell only plays this last moment in the hope that everyone else will acknowledge the end too.