Universität Regensburg
Institut für Anglistik und Amerikanistik
Proseminar: From Modernism to Postmodernism

Samuel Beckett’s Endgame: The Continuation of Waiting for Godot?

by:
Patrizia Demleitner

Winter Term 2001/2002

Table of Contents

1. Procedure of Analysis ... 3

2. Setting ... 3

3. Composition of Characters ... 4
3.1 Vladimir and Estragon ... 4
3.2 Pozzo and Lucky ... 5
3.3 Hamm and Clov ... 6
3.4 Nagg and Nell ... 8

4. Nothing to be done ... 9

5. Nothing to be said ... 11

6. Ending the Waiting Game ... 13

7. Conclusion ... 16

1. Procedure of Analysis

This peace of work deals with the question, whether Beckett’s Endgame is a continuation of Waiting for Godot. In order to answer it, both plays will be compared to work out similarities as well as differences; Godot will function as a basis and startingpoint for interpretation, that will then turn towards Endgame for comparison to come to a conclusion. Main features of the drama ,such as plot, setting, characters, action, language and time, will be involved in this procedure of analysis.

To a certain extent, this approach towards the two plays will also be related to the historical context of Postmodernism and the philosophical background of Existentialism, as well as to characteristics of the Theatre of the Absurd or the Expressionist Theatre.

2. Setting

In Godot, the characters are put into a sparsely populated, external set, the only accessories to a country road are a tree and a low mound (cf.G: p.5). This simple and abstract scenery, which is typical of the Expressionist Theatre or the Theatre of the Absurd to create an effect of alienation, reflects and supports the emptiness of the dialogues, the hopeless plan of Vladimir and Estragon to meet Godot and their never ending wait. Instead, Endgame seems to be different: It owns an inner set, a simple room that is filled with a lot of things, the dustbins of Nagg and Nell, Hamm’s chair, the ladder, the two windows and so on, and there is an assumed kitchen, that cannot be seen by the audience¹.

Nevertheless this setting can be understood as a continuation of the one in Godot. There seems to be nothing left in the world, there is probably no country-road and no tree anymore, so this simple inner setting offers the characters a last possibility of escaping from the world outside, that seems to be dead and burned out: There is no more nature, seeds do not grow anymore (cf.E: p.24) and the sunlight has been replaced by a “light black” (E: p.46). Everything around Hamm and Clov is fading away, for example Mother Pegg or the doctor have died (cf.E: p.38). But the setting also reflects the situation, that the characters have to face: The decline of the world outside, that creeps into their home as well.

Everything that would make life more endurable, such as sufficient food or medicine, is constantly running out, and all characters suffer from a kind of physical illness or pain: Hamm is blind and can’t stand up, Clov isn’t able to sit down and his eyes and legs are “bad” (E: p.16), and Nagg and Nell have no legs, they can hardly see and their hearing is also very bad (cf.E: p.26).

[...]

1 Cf. Harold Bloom (ed.), Samuel Beckett’s Endgame, (New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 81997) 125.