Endgame

towards window right, goes back for ladder, carries it over and
sets it down under window right, gets up on it, draws back
curtain. He gets down, takes three steps towards window left,
goes back for ladder, carries it over and sets it down under
window left, gets up on it, looks out of window. Brief laugh. He
A PLAY IN ONE ACT gets down, takes one step towards window right, goes back for
! ladder, carries it over and sets it down under window right,
By Samuel Beckett gets up on it, looks out of window. Brief laugh. He gets down,
goes with ladder towards ashbins, halts, turns, carries back
! ladder and sets it down under window right, goes to ashbins,
Bare interior. removes sheet covering them, folds it over his arm. He raises
! one lid, stoops and looks into bin. Brief laugh. He closes lid.
Grey Light. Same with other bin. He goes to Hamm, removes sheet
! covering him, folds it over his arm. In a dressing-gown, a stiff
Left and right back, high up, two small windows, curtains drawn. toque on his head, a large blood-stained handkerchief over his
! face, a whistle hanging from his neck, a rug over his knees,
Front right, a door. Hanging near door, its face to wall, a picture. thick socks on his feet, Hamm seems to be asleep. Clov looks
! him over. Brief laugh. He goes to door, halts, turns towards
Front left, touching each other, covered with an old sheet, two ashbins. auditorium.
! !
Center, in an armchair on castors, covered with an old sheet, Hamm.
! CLOV (fixed gaze, tonelessly):
Motionless by the door, his eyes fixed on Hamm, Clov. Very red face. Finished, it's finished, nearly finished, it must be nearly
! finished.
Brief tableau. (Pause.)
! Grain upon grain, one by one, and one day, suddenly, there's a
Clov goes and stands under window left. Stiff, staggering walk. He heap, a little heap, the impossible heap.
looks up at window left. He turns and looks at window right. (Pause.)
He goes and stands under window right. He looks up at I can't be punished any more.
window right. He turns and looks at window left. He goes out, (Pause.)
comes back immediately with a small step-ladder, carries it I'll go now to my kitchen, ten feet by ten feet by ten feet, and
over and sets it down under window left, gets up on it, draws wait for him to whistle me.
back curtain. He gets down, takes six steps (for example) (Pause.)
Page 1
Nice dimensions, nice proportions, I'll lean on the table, and the bigger a man is the fuller he is.
look at the wall, and wait for him to whistle me. (Pause. Gloomily.)
(He remains a moment motionless, then goes out. He comes And the emptier.
back immediately, goes to window right, takes up the ladder (He sniffs.)
and carries it out. Pause. Hamm stirs. He yawns under the Clov!
handkerchief. He removes the handkerchief from his face. Very (Pause.)
red face. Glasses with black lenses.) No, alone.
HAMM: (Pause.)
Me— What dreams! Those forests!
(he yawns) (Pause.)
—to play. Enough, it's time it ended, in the shelter, too.
(He takes off his glasses, wipes his eyes, his face, the glasses, (Pause.)
puts them on again, folds the handkerchief and puts it back And yet I hesitate, I hesitate to... to end. Yes, there it is, it's
neatly in the breast pocket of his dressing gown. He clears his time it ended and yet I hesitate to—
throat, joins the tips of his fingers.) (He yawns.)
Can there be misery— —to end.
(he yawns) (Yawns.)
—loftier than mine? No doubt. Formerly. But now? God, I'm tired, I'd be better off in bed.
(Pause.) (He whistles. Enter Clov immediately. He halts beside the
My father? chair.)
(Pause.) You pollute the air!
My mother? (Pause.)
(Pause.) Get me ready, I'm going to bed.
My... dog? CLOV:
(Pause.) I've just got you up.
Oh I am willing to believe they suffer as much as such HAMM:
creatures can suffer. But does that mean their sufferings equal And what of it?
mine? No doubt. CLOV:
(Pause.) I can't be getting you up and putting you to bed every five
No, all is a— minutes, I have things to do.
(he yawns) (Pause.)
—bsolute, HAMM:
(proudly) Did you ever see my eyes?
Page 2
CLOV: CLOV:
No. I don't complain.
HAMM: HAMM:
Did you never have the curiosity, while I was sleeping, to take You feel normal?
off my glasses and look at my eyes? CLOV (irritably):
CLOV: I tell you I don't complain.
Pulling back the lids? HAMM:
(Pause.) I feel a little strange.
No. (Pause.)
HAMM: Clov!
One of these days I'll show them to you. CLOV:
(Pause.) Yes.
It seems they've gone all white. HAMM:
(Pause.) Have you not had enough?
What time is it? CLOV:
CLOV: Yes!
The same as usual. (Pause.)
HAMM (gesture towards window right): Of what?
Have you looked? HAMM:
CLOV: Of this... this... thing.
Yes. CLOV:
HAMM: I always had.
Well? (Pause.)
CLOV: Not you?
Zero. HAMM (gloomily):
HAMM: Then there's no reason for it to change.
It'd need to rain. CLOV:
CLOV: It may end.
It won't rain. (Pause.)
(Pause.) All life long the same questions, the same answers.
HAMM: HAMM:
Apart from that, how do you feel? Get me ready.
! (Clov does not move.)
Page 3
Go and get the sheet. HAMM:
(Clov does not move.) You're leaving me all the same.
Clov! CLOV:
CLOV: I'm trying.
Yes. HAMM:
HAMM: You don't love me.
I'll give you nothing more to eat. CLOV:
CLOV: No.
Then we'll die. HAMM:
HAMM: You loved me once.
I'll give you just enough to keep you from dying. You'll be CLOV:
hungry all the time. Once!
CLOV: HAMM:
Then we won't die. I've made you suffer too much.
(Pause.) (Pause.)
I'll go and get the sheet. Haven't I?
(He goes towards the door.) CLOV:
HAMM: It's not that.
No! HAMM:
(Clov halts.) I haven't made you suffer too much?
I'll give you one biscuit per day. CLOV:
(Pause.) Yes!
One and a half. HAMM (relieved):
(Pause.) Ah, you gave me a fright!
Why do you stay with me? (Pause. Coldly)
CLOV: Forgive me.
Why do you keep me? (Pause. Louder.)
HAMM: I said, Forgive me.
There's no one else. CLOV:
CLOV: I heard you.
There's nowhere else. (Pause.)
(Pause.) Have you bled?
! !
Page 4
HAMM: HAMM:
Less. Why don't you kill me?
(Pause.) CLOV:
Is it not time for my pain-killer? I don't know the combination of the cupboard.
CLOV: (Pause.)
No. HAMM:
(Pause.) Go and get two bicycle-wheels.
HAMM: CLOV:
How are your eyes? There are no more bicycle-wheels.
CLOV: HAMM:
Bad. What have you done with your bicycle?
HAMM: CLOV:
How are your legs? I never had a bicycle.
CLOV: HAMM:
Bad. The thing is impossible.
HAMM: CLOV:
But you can move. When there were still bicycles I wept to have one. I crawled at
CLOV: your feet. You told me to go to hell. Now there are none.
Yes. HAMM:
HAMM (violently): And your rounds? When you inspected my paupers. Always on
Then move! foot?
(Clov goes to back wall, leans against it with his forehead and CLOV:
hands.) Sometimes on horse.
Where are you? (The lid of one of the bins lifts and the hands of Nagg appear,
CLOV: gripping the rim. Then his head emerges. Nightcap. Very white
Here. face.
HAMM: Nagg yawns, then listens.)
Come back! I'll leave you, I have things to do.
(Clov returns to his place beside the chair.) HAMM:
Where are you? In your kitchen?
CLOV: CLOV:
Here. Yes.
! !
Page 5
HAMM: Accursed fornicator! How are your stumps?
Outside of here it's death. NAGG:
(Pause.) Never mind me stumps.
All right, be off. (Enter Clov with biscuit.)
(Exit Clov. Pause.) CLOV:
We're getting on. I'm back again, with the biscuit.
NAGG: (He gives biscuit to Nagg who fingers it, sniffs it.)
Me pap! NAGG (plaintively):
HAMM: What is it?
Accursed progenitor! CLOV:
NAGG: Spratt's medium.
Me pap! NAGG (as before):
HAMM: It's hard! I can't!
The old folks at home! No decency left! Guzzle, guzzle, that's HAMM:
all they think of. Bottle him!
(He whistles. Enter Clov. He halts beside the chair.) (Clov pushes Nagg back into the bin, closes the lid.)
Well! I thought you were leaving me. CLOV (returning to his place beside the chair):
CLOV: If age but knew!
Oh not just yet, not just yet. HAMM:
NAGG: Sit on him!
Me pap! CLOV:
HAMM: I can't sit.
Give him his pap. HAMM:
CLOV: True. And I can't stand.
There's no more pap. CLOV:
HAMM (to Nagg): So it is.
Do you hear that? There's no more pap. You'll never get any HAMM:
more pap. Every man his specialty.
NAGG: (Pause.)
I want me pap! No phone calls?
HAMM: (Pause.)
Give him a biscuit. Don't we laugh?
(Exit Clov.) CLOV (after reflection):
Page 6
I don't feel like it. (Pause.)
HAMM (after reflection): HAMM:
Nor I. This is slow work.
(Pause.) (Pause.)
Clov! Is it not time for my pain-killer?
CLOV: CLOV:
Yes. No.
HAMM: (Pause.)
Nature has forgotten us. I'll leave you, I have things to do.
CLOV: HAMM:
There's no more nature. In your kitchen?
HAMM: CLOV:
No more nature! You exaggerate. Yes.
CLOV: HAMM:
In the vicinity. What, I'd like to know.
HAMM: CLOV:
But we breathe, we change! We lose our hair, our teeth! Our I look at the wall.
bloom! Our ideals! HAMM:
CLOV: The wall! And what do you see on your wall? Mene, mene?
Then she hasn't forgotten us. Naked bodies?
HAMM: CLOV:
But you say there is none. I see my light dying.
CLOV (sadly): HAMM:
No one that ever lived ever thought so crooked as we. Your light dying! Listen to that! Well, it can die just as well
HAMM: here, your light. Take a look at me and then come back and tell
We do what we can. me what you think of your light.
CLOV: (Pause.)
We shouldn't. CLOV:
(Pause.) You shouldn't speak to me like that.
HAMM: (Pause.)
You're a bit of all right, aren't you? HAMM (coldly):
CLOV: Forgive me.
A smithereen. (Pause. Louder.)
Page 7
I said, Forgive me. CLOV:
CLOV: Something is taking its course.
I heard you. (Pause.)
(The lid of Nagg's bin lifts. His hands appear, gripping the rim. HAMM:
Then his head emerges. In his mouth the biscuit. He listens.) All right, be off.
HAMM: (He leans back in his chair, remains motionless. Clov does not
Did your seeds come up? move, heaves a great groaning sigh. Hamm sits up.)
CLOV: I thought I told you to be off.
No. CLOV:
HAMM: I'm trying.
Did you scratch round them to see if they had sprouted? (He goes to the door, halts.)
CLOV: Ever since I was whelped.
They haven't sprouted. (Exit Clov.)
HAMM: HAMM:
Perhaps it's still too early. We're getting on.
CLOV: (He leans back in his chair, remains motionless. Nagg knocks
If they were going to sprout they would have sprouted. on the lid of the other bin. Pause. He knocks harder. The lid
(Violently.) lifts and the hands of Nell appear, gripping the rim. Then her
They'll never sprout! head emerges. Lace cap. Very white face.)
(Pause. Nagg takes biscuit in his hand.) NELL:
HAMM: What is it, my pet?
This is not much fun. (Pause.)
(Pause.) Time for love?
But that's always the way at the end of the day, isn't it, Clov? NAGG:
CLOV: Were you asleep?
Always. NELL:
HAMM: Oh no!
It's the end of the day like any other day, isn't it, Clov? NAGG:
CLOV: Kiss me.
Looks like it. NELL:
(Pause.) We can't.
HAMM (anguished): NAGG:
What's happening, what's happening? Try.
Page 8
(Their heads strain towards each other, fail to meet, fall apart NAGG:
again.) Can you hear me?
NELL: NELL:
Why this farce, day after day? Yes. And you?
(Pause.) NAGG:
NAGG: Yes.
I've lost me tooth. (Pause.)
NELL: Our hearing hasn't failed.
When? NELL:
NAGG: Our what?
I had it yesterday. NAGG:
NELL (elegiac): Our hearing.
Ah yesterday. NELL:
(They turn painfully towards each other.) No.
NAGG: (Pause.)
Can you see me? Have you anything else to say to me?
NELL: NAGG:
Hardly. And you? Do you remember—
NAGG: NELL:
What? No.
NELL: NAGG:
Can you see me? When we crashed on our tandem and lost our shanks.
NAGG: (They laugh heartily.)
Hardly. NELL:
NELL: It was in the Ardennes.
So much the better, so much the better. (They laugh less heartily.)
NAGG: NAGG:
Don't say that. On the road to Sedan.
(Pause.) (They laugh still less heartily.)
Our sight has failed. Are you cold?
NELL: NELL:
Yes. Yes, perished, and you?
(Pause. They turn away from each other.) !
Page 9
NAGG: (Pause. Impatiently.)
(Pause.) Now it's sand he fetches from the shore.
I'm freezing. NELL:
(Pause.) Now it's sand.
Do you want to go in? NAGG:
NELL: Has he changed yours?
Yes. NELL:
NAGG: No.
Then go in. NAGG:
(Nell does not move.) Nor mine.
Why don't you go in? (Pause.)
NELL: I won't have it!
I don't know. (Pause. Holding up the biscuit.)
(Pause.) Do you want a bit?
NAGG: NELL:
Has he changed your sawdust? No.
NELL: (Pause.)
It isn't sawdust. Of what?
(Pause. Warily.) NAGG:
Can you not be a little accurate, Nagg? Biscuit. I've kept you half.
NAGG: (He looks at the biscuit. Proudly.)
Your sand then. It's not important. Three quarters. For you. Here.
NELL: (He proffers the biscuit.)
It is important. No?
(Pause.) (Pause.)
NAGG: Do you not feel well?
It was sawdust once. HAMM (wearily):
NELL: Quiet, quiet, you're keeping me awake.
Once! (Pause.)
NAGG: Talk softer.
And now it's sand. (Pause.)
(Pause.) If I could sleep I might make love. I'd go into the woods. My
From the shore. eyes would see... the sky, the earth. I'd run, run, they wouldn't
Page 10
catch me. NAGG:
(Pause.) Do you not want your biscuit?
Nature! (Pause.)
(Pause.) I'll keep it for you.
There's something dripping in my head. (Pause.)
(Pause.) I thought you were going to leave me.
A heart, a heart in my head. NELL:
(Pause.) I am going to leave you.
NAGG: NAGG:
Do you hear him? A heart in his head! Could you give me a scratch before you go?
(He chuckles cautiously.) NELL:
NELL: No.
One mustn't laugh at those things, Nagg. Why must you always (Pause.)
laugh at them? Where?
NAGG: NAGG:
Not so loud! In the back.
NELL (without lowering her voice): NELL:
Nothing is funnier than unhappiness, I grant you that. But— No.
NAGG (shocked): (Pause.)
Oh! Rub yourself against the rim.
NELL: NAGG:
Yes, yes, it's the most comical thing in the world. And we It's lower down. In the hollow.
laugh, we laugh, with a will, in the beginning. But it's always NELL:
the same thing. Yes, it's like the funny story we have heard too What hollow?
often, we still find it funny, but we don't laugh any more. NAGG:
(Pause.) The hollow!
Have you anything else to say to me? (Pause.)
NAGG: Could you not?
No. (Pause.)
NELL: Yesterday you scratched me there.
Are you quite sure? NELL (elegiac):
(Pause.) Ah yesterday.
Then I'll leave you. !
Page 11
NAGG: The first time I thought you'd die.
Could you not? NELL:
(Pause.) It was on Lake Como.
Would you like me to scratch you? (Pause.)
(Pause.) One April afternoon.
Are you crying again? (Pause.)
NELL: Can you believe it?
I was trying. NAGG:
(Pause.) What?
HAMM: NELL:
Perhaps it's a little vein. That we once went out rowing on Lake Como.
(Pause.) (Pause.)
NAGG: One April afternoon.
What was that he said? NAGG:
NELL: We had got engaged the day before.
Perhaps it's a little vein. NELL:
NAGG: Engaged!
What does that mean? NAGG:
(Pause.) You were in such fits that we capsized. By rights we should
That means nothing. have been drowned.
(Pause.) NELL:
Shall I tell you the story of the tailor? It was because I felt happy.
NELL: NAGG (indignant):
No. It was not, it was not, it was my STORY and nothing else.
(Pause.) Happy! Don't you laugh at it still? Every time I tell it. Happy!
What for? NELL:
NAGG: It was deep, deep. And you could see down to the bottom. So
To cheer you up. white. So clean.
NELL: NAGG:
It's not funny. Let me tell it again.
NAGG: (Raconteur's voice.)
It always made you laugh. An Englishman, needing a pair of striped trousers in a hurry for
(Pause.) the New Year festivities, goes to his tailor who takes his
Page 12
measurements. (loving gesture, proudly)
(Tailor's voice.) —at my TROUSERS!"
"That's the lot, come back in four days, I'll have it ready." (Pause. He looks at Nell who has remained impassive, her eyes
Good. Four days later. unseeing. He breaks into a high forced laugh, cuts it short,
(Tailor's voice.) pokes his head towards Nell, launches his laugh again.)
"So sorry, come back in a week, I've made a mess of the seat." HAMM:
Good, that's all right, a neat seat can be very ticklish. A week Silence!
later. (Nagg starts, cuts short his laugh.)
(Tailor's voice.) NELL:
"Frightfully sorry, come back in ten days, I've made a hash of You could see down to the bottom.
the crotch." Good, can't be helped, a snug crotch is always a HAMM (exasperated):
teaser. Ten days later. Have you not finished? Will you never finish?
(Tailor's voice.) (With sudden fury.)
"Dreadfully sorry, come back in a fortnight, I've made a balls Will this never finish?
of the fly." Good, at a pinch, a smart fly is a stiff proposition. (Nagg disappears into his bin, closes the lid behind him. Nell
(Pause. Normal voice.) does not move. Frenziedly.)
I never told it worse. My kingdom for a nightman!
(Pause. Gloomy.) (He whistles. Enter Clov.)
I tell this story worse and worse. Clear away this muck! Chuck it in the sea!
(Pause. Raconteur's voice.) (Clov goes to bins, halts.)
Well, to make it short, the bluebells are blowing and he NELL:
ballockses the buttonholes. So white.
(Customer's voice.) HAMM:
"God damn you to hell, Sir, no, it's indecent, there are limits! In What? What's she blathering about?
six days, do you hear me, six days, God made the world. Yes (Clov stoops, takes Nell's hand, feels her pulse.)
Sir, no less Sir, the WORLD! And you are not bloody well NELL (to Clov):
capable of making me a pair of trousers in three months!" Desert!
(Tailor's voice, scandalized.) (Clov lets go her hand, pushes her back in the bin, closes the
"But my dear Sir, my dear Sir, look— lid.)
(disdainful gesture, disgustedly) CLOV (returning to his place beside the chair):
—at the world— She has no pulse.
(Pause.) HAMM:
and look— What was she drivelling about?
Page 13
CLOV: (Pause.)
She told me to go away, into the desert. It's too soon on top of your tonic, it wouldn't act.
HAMM: HAMM:
Damn busybody! Is that all? In the morning they brace you up and in the evening they calm
CLOV: you down. Unless it's the other way round.
No. (Pause.)
HAMM: That old doctor, he's dead naturally?
What else? CLOV:
CLOV: He wasn't old.
I didn't understand. HAMM:
HAMM: But he's dead?
Have you bottled her? CLOV:
CLOV: Naturally.
Yes. (Pause.)
HAMM: You ask me that?
Are they both bottled? (Pause.)
CLOV: HAMM:
Yes. Take me for a little turn.
HAMM: (Clov goes behind the chair and pushes it forward.)
Screw down the lids. Not too fast!
(Clov goes towards door.) (Clov pushes chair.)
Time enough. Right round the world!
(Clov halts.) (Clov pushes chair.)
My anger subsides, I'd like to pee. Hug the walls, then back to the center again.
CLOV (with alacrity): (Clov pushes chair.)
I'll go get the catheter. I was right in the center, wasn't I?
(He goes towards door.) CLOV (pushing):
HAMM: Yes.
Time enough. HAMM:
(Clov halts.) We'd need a proper wheel-chair. With big wheels. Bicycle
Give me my pain killer. wheels!
CLOV: (Pause.)
It's too soon. Are you hugging?
Page 14
CLOV (pushing): Is that my place?
Yes. CLOV:
HAMM (groping for wall): Yes, that's your place.
It's a lie! Why do you lie to me? HAMM:
CLOV (bearing closer to wall): Am I right in the center?
There! There! CLOV:
HAMM: I'll measure it.
Stop! HAMM:
(Clov stops chair close to back wall. Hamm lays his hand More or less! More or less!
against wall.) CLOV (moving chair slightly):
Old wall! There!
(Pause.) HAMM:
Beyond is the... other hell. I'm more or less in the center?
(Pause. Violently.) CLOV:
Closer! Closer! Up against! I'd say so.
CLOV: HAMM:
Take away your hand. You'd say so! Put me right in the center!
(Hamm withdraws his hand. Clov rams chair against wall.) CLOV:
There! I'll go and get the tape.
(Hamm leans towards wall, applies his ear to it.) HAMM:
HAMM: Roughly! Roughly!
Do you hear? (Clov moves chair slightly.)
(He strikes the wall with his knuckles.) Bang in the center!
Do you hear? Hollow bricks! CLOV:
(He strikes again.) There!
All that's hollow! (Pause.)
(Pause. He straightens up. Violently.) HAMM:
That's enough. Back! I feel a little too far to the left.
CLOV: (Clov moves chair slightly.)
We haven't done the round. Now I feel a little too far to the right.
HAMM: (Clov moves chair slightly.)
Back to my place! I feel a little too far forward.
(Clov pushes chair back to center.) (Clov moves chair slightly.)
Page 15
Now I feel a little too far back. HAMM:
(Clov moves chair slightly.) Why? Have you shrunk?
Don't stay there. (Exit Clov with telescope.)
(i.e. behind the chair) I don't like that, I don't like that.
you give me the shivers. (Enter Clov with ladder, but without telescope.)
(Clov returns to his place beside the chair.) CLOV:
CLOV: I'm back again, with the steps.
If I could kill him I'd die happy. (He sets down ladder under window right, gets up on it,
(Pause.) realizes he has not the telescope, gets down.)
HAMM: I need the glass.
What's the weather like? (He goes towards door.)
CLOV: HAMM (violently):
As usual. But you have the glass!
HAMM: CLOV (halting, violently):
Look at the earth. No, I haven't the glass!
CLOV: (Exit Clov.)
I've looked. HAMM:
HAMM: This is deadly.
With the glass? (Enter Clov with the telescope. He goes towards ladder.)
CLOV: CLOV:
No need of the glass. Things are livening up.
HAMM: (He gets up on ladder, raises the telescope, lets it fall.)
Look at it with the glass. I did it on purpose.
CLOV: (He gets down, picks up the telescope, turns it on auditorium.)
I'll go and get the glass. I see... a multitude... in transports... of joy.
(Exit Clov.) (Pause. He lowers telescope, looks at it.)
HAMM: That's what I call a magnifier.
No need of the glass! (He turns toward Hamm.)
(Enter Clov with telescope.) Well? Don't we laugh?
CLOV: HAMM (after reflection):
I'm back again, with the glass. I don't.
(He goes to window right, looks up at it.) CLOV (after reflection):
I need the steps. Nor I.
Page 16
(He gets up on ladder, turns the telescope on the without.) back for ladder, carries it over and sets it down under window
Let's see. left, gets up on it, turns the telescope on the without, looks at
(He looks, moving the telescope.) length. He starts, lowers the telescope, examines it, turns it
Zero... again on the without.)
(he looks) CLOV:
...zero... Never seen anything like that!
(he looks) HAMM (anxious):
...and zero. What? A sail? A fin? Smoke?
HAMM: CLOV (looking):
Nothing stirs. All is— The light is sunk.
CLOV: HAMM (relieved):
Zer— Pah! We all knew that.
HAMM (violently): CLOV (looking):
Wait till you're spoken to! There was a bit left.
(Normal voice.) HAMM:
All is... all is... all is what? The base.
(Violently.) CLOV (looking):
All is what? Yes.
CLOV: HAMM:
What all is? In a word? Is that what you want to know? Just a And now?
moment. CLOV (looking):
(He turns the telescope on the without, looks, lowers the All gone.
telescope, turns towards Hamm.) HAMM:
Corpsed. No gulls?
(Pause.) CLOV (looking):
Well? Content? Gulls!
HAMM: HAMM:
Look at the sea. And the horizon? Nothing on the horizon?
CLOV: CLOV (lowering the telescope, turning towards Hamm,
It's the same. exasperated):
HAMM: What in God's name could there be on the horizon?
Look at the ocean! (Pause.)
(Clov gets down, takes a few steps towards window left, goes !
Page 17
HAMM: HAMM:
The waves, how are the waves? You exaggerate.
CLOV: (Pause.)
The waves? Don't stay there, you give me the shivers.
(He turns the telescope on the waves.) (Clov returns to his place beside the chair.)
Lead. CLOV:
HAMM: Why this farce, day after day?
And the sun? HAMM:
CLOV (looking): Routine. One never knows.
Zero. (Pause.)
HAMM: Last night I saw inside my breast. There was a big sore.
But it should be sinking. Look again. CLOV:
CLOV (looking): Pah! You saw your heart.
Damn the sun. HAMM:
HAMM: No, it was living.
Is is night already then? (Pause. Anguished.)
CLOV (looking): Clov!
No. CLOV:
HAMM: Yes.
Then what is it? HAMM:
CLOV (looking): What's happening?
Gray. CLOV:
(Lowering the telescope, turning towards Hamm, louder.) Something is taking its course.
Gray! (Pause.)
(Pause. Still louder.) HAMM:
GRRAY! Clov!
(Pause. He gets down, approaches Hamm from behind, CLOV (impatiently):
whispers in his ear.) What is it?
HAMM (starting): HAMM:
Gray! Did I hear you say gray? We're not beginning to... to... mean something?
CLOV: CLOV:
Light black. From pole to pole. Mean something! You and I, mean something!
! (Brief laugh.)
Page 18
Ah that's a good one! CLOV:
HAMM: I'm back again, with the insecticide.
I wonder. HAMM:
(Pause.) Let him have it!
Imagine if a rational being came back to earth, wouldn't he be (Clov loosens the top of his trousers, pulls it forward and
liable to get ideas into his head if he observed us long enough. shakes powder into the aperture. He stoops, looks, waits,
(Voice of rational being.) starts, frenziedly shakes more powder, stoops, looks, waits.)
Ah, good, now I see what it is, yes, now I understand what CLOV:
they're at! The bastard!
(Clov starts, drops the telescope and begins to scratch his belly HAMM:
with both hands. Normal voice.) Did you get him?
And without going so far as that, we ourselves... CLOV:
(with emotion) Looks like it.
...we ourselves... at certain moments... (He drops the tin and adjusts his trousers.)
(Vehemently.) Unless he's laying doggo.
To think perhaps it won't all have been for nothing! HAMM:
CLOV (anguished, scratching himself): Laying! Lying, you mean. Unless he's lying doggo.
I have a flea! CLOV:
HAMM: Ah? One says lying? One doesn't say laying?
A flea! Are there still fleas? HAMM:
CLOV: Use your head, can't you. If he was laying we'd be bitched.
On me there's one. CLOV:
(Scratching.) Ah.
Unless it's a crab louse. (Pause.)
HAMM (very perturbed): What about that pee?
But humanity might start from there all over again! Catch him, HAMM:
for the love of God! I'm having it.
CLOV: CLOV:
I'll go and get the powder. Ah that's the spirit, that's the spirit!
(Exit Clov.) (Pause.)
HAMM: HAMM (with ardour):
A flea! This is awful! What a day! Let's go from here, the two of us! South! You can make a raft
(Enter Clov with a sprinkling-tin.) and the currents will carry us away, far away, to other...
Page 19
mammals! HAMM:
CLOV: How are your legs?
God forbid! CLOV:
HAMM: Bad.
Alone, I'll embark alone! Get working on that raft immediately. HAMM:
Tomorrow I'll be gone forever. But you can walk.
CLOV (hastening towards door): CLOV:
I'll start straight away. I come... and go.
HAMM: HAMM:
Wait! In my house.
(Clov halts.) (Pause. With prophetic relish.)
Will there be sharks, do you think? One day you'll be blind like me. You'll be sitting here, a speck
CLOV: in the void, in the dark, forever, like me.
Sharks? I don't know. If there are there will be. (Pause.)
(He goes towards door.) One day you'll say to yourself, I'm tired, I'll sit down, and
HAMM: you'll go and sit down. Then you'll say, I'm hungry, I'll get up
Wait! and get something to eat. But you won't get up. You'll say, I
(Clov halts.) shouldn't have sat down, but since I have I'll sit on a little
Is it not yet time for my pain-killer? longer, then I'll get up and get something to eat. But you won't
CLOV (violently): get up and you won't get anything to eat.
No! (Pause.)
(He goes towards door.) You'll look at the wall a while, then you'll say, I'll close my
HAMM: eyes, perhaps have a little sleep, after that I'll feel better, and
Wait! you'll close them. And when you open them again there'll be no
(Clov halts.) wall any more.
How are your eyes? (Pause.)
CLOV: Infinite emptiness will be all around you, all the resurrected
Bad. dead of all the ages wouldn't fill it, and there you'll be like a
HAMM: little bit of grit in the middle of the steppe.
But you can see. (Pause.)
CLOV: Yes, one day you'll know what it is, you'll be like me, except
All I want. that you won't have anyone with you, because you won't have
! had pity on anyone and because there won't be anyone left to
Page 20
have pity on you. CLOV:
(Pause.) I couldn't finish you.
CLOV: HAMM:
It's not certain. Then you won't finish me.
(Pause.) (Pause.)
And there's one thing you forgot. CLOV:
HAMM: I'll leave you, I have things to do.
Ah? HAMM:
CLOV: Do you remember when you came here?
I can't sit down. CLOV:
HAMM (impatiently): No. Too small, you told me.
Well you'll lie down then, what the hell! Or you'll come to a HAMM:
standstill, simply stop and stand still, the way you are now. One Do you remember your father?
day you'll say, I'm tired, I'll stop. What does the attitude CLOV (wearily):
matter? Same answer.
(Pause.) (Pause.)
CLOV: You've asked me these questions millions of times.
So you all want me to leave you. HAMM:
HAMM: I love the old questions.
Naturally. (With fervour.)
CLOV: Ah the old questions, the old answers, there's nothing like
Then I'll leave you. them!
HAMM: (Pause.)
You can't leave us. It was I was a father to you.
CLOV: CLOV:
Then I won't leave you. Yes.
(Pause.) (He looks at Hamm fixedly.)
HAMM: You were that to me.
Why don't you finish us? HAMM:
(Pause.) My house a home for you.
I'll tell you the combination of the cupboard if you promise to CLOV:
finish me. Yes.
! (He looks about him.)
Page 21
This was that for me. HAMM:
HAMM (proudly): Is he silky?
But for me, CLOV:
(gesture towards himself) He's kind of a Pomeranian.
no father. But for Hamm, HAMM:
(gesture towards surroundings) Go and get him.
no home. CLOV:
(Pause.) He lacks a leg.
CLOV: HAMM:
I'll leave you. Go and get him!
HAMM: (Exit Clov.)
Did you ever think of one thing? We're getting on.
CLOV: (Enter Clov holding by one of its three legs a black toy dog.)
Never. CLOV:
HAMM: Your dogs are here.
That here we're down in a hole. (He hands the dog to Hamm who feels it, fondles it.)
(Pause.) HAMM:
But beyond the hills? Eh? Perhaps it's still green. Eh? He's white, isn't he?
(Pause.) CLOV:
Flora! Pomona! Nearly.
(Ecstatically.) HAMM:
Ceres! What do you mean, nearly? Is he white or isn't he?
(Pause.) CLOV:
Perhaps you won't need to go very far. He isn't.
CLOV: (Pause.)
I can't go very far. HAMM:
(Pause.) You've forgotten the sex.
I'll leave you. CLOV (vexed):
HAMM: But he isn't finished. The sex goes on at the end.
Is my dog ready? (Pause.)
CLOV: HAMM:
He lacks a leg. You haven't put on his ribbon.
! CLOV (angrily):
Page 22
But he isn't finished, I tell you! First you finish your dog and HAMM (as before):
then you put on his ribbon! Or as if he were begging me for a bone.
(Pause.) (He withdraws his hand.)
HAMM: Leave him like that, standing there imploring me.
Can he stand? (Clov straightens up. The dog falls on its side.)
CLOV: CLOV:
I don't know. I'll leave you.
HAMM: HAMM:
Try. Have you had your visions?
(He hands the dog to Clov who places it on the ground.) CLOV:
Well? Less.
CLOV: HAMM:
Wait! Is Mother Pegg's light on?
(He squats down and tries to get the dog to stand on its three CLOV:
legs, fails, lets it go. The dog falls on its side.) Light! How could anyone's light be on?
HAMM (impatiently): HAMM:
Well? Extinguished!
CLOV: CLOV:
He's standing. Naturally it's extinguished. If it's not on it's extinguished.
HAMM (groping for the dog): HAMM:
Where? Where is he? No, I mean Mother Pegg.
(Clov holds up the dog in a standing position.) CLOV:
CLOV: But naturally she's extinguished!
There. (Pause.)
(He takes Hamm's hand and guides it towards the dog's head.) What's the matter with you today?
HAMM (his hand on the dog's head): HAMM:
Is he gazing at me? I'm taking my course.
CLOV: (Pause.)
Yes. Is she buried?
HAMM (proudly): CLOV:
As if he were asking me to take him for a walk? Buried! Who would have buried her?
CLOV: HAMM:
If you like. You.
Page 23
CLOV: tries to move his chair.)
Me! Haven't I enough to do without burying people? HAMM:
HAMM: Did I move?
But you'll bury me. CLOV:
CLOV: No.
No I won't bury you. (Hamm throws down the gaff.)
(Pause.) HAMM:
HAMM: Go and get the oilcan.
She was bonny once, like a flower of the field. CLOV:
(With reminiscent leer.) What for?
And a great one for the men! HAMM:
CLOV: To oil the castors.
We too were bonny—once. It's a rare thing not to have been CLOV:
bonny—once. I oiled them yesterday.
(Pause.) HAMM:
HAMM: Yesterday! What does that mean? Yesterday!
Go and get the gaff. CLOV (violently):
(Clov goes to the door, halts.) That means that bloody awful day, long ago, before this bloody
CLOV: awful day. I use the words you taught me. If they don't mean
Do this, do that, and I do it. I never refuse. Why? anything any more, teach me others. Or let me be silent.
HAMM: (Pause.)
You're not able to. HAMM:
CLOV: I once knew a madman who thought the end of the world had
Soon I won't do it any more. come. He was a painter—and engraver. I had a great fondness
HAMM: for him. I used to go and see him, in the asylum. I'd take him
You won't be able to any more. by the hand and drag him to the window. Look! There! All that
(Exit Clov.) rising corn! And there! Look! The sails of the herring fleet! All
Ah the creatures, the creatures, everything has to be explained that loveliness!
to them. (Pause.)
(Enter Clov with gaff.) He'd snatch away his hand and go back into his corner.
CLOV: Appalled. All he had seen was ashes.
Here's your gaff. Stick it up. (Pause.)
(He gives the gaff to Hamm who, wielding it like a puntpole, He alone had been spared.
Page 24
(Pause.) (Pause.)
Forgotten. You not?
(Pause.) HAMM (gloomily):
It appears the case is... was not so... so unusual. Then it's a day like any other day.
CLOV: CLOV:
A madman? When was that? As long as it lasts.
HAMM: (Pause.)
Oh way back, way back, you weren't in the land of the living. All life long the same inanities.
CLOV: HAMM:
God be with those days. I can't leave you.
(Pause. Hamm raises his toque.) CLOV:
HAMM: I know. And you can't follow me.
I had a great fondness for him. (Pause.)
(Pause. He puts on his toque again.) HAMM:
He was a painter—and engraver. If you leave me how shall I know?
CLOV: CLOV (briskly):
There are so many terrible things. Well you simply whistle me and if I don't come running it
HAMM: means I've left you.
No, no, there are not so many now. (Pause.)
(Pause.) HAMM:
Clov! You won't come and kiss me goodbye?
CLOV: CLOV:
Yes. Oh I shouldn't think so.
HAMM: (Pause.)
Do you not think this has gone on long enough? HAMM:
CLOV: But you might be merely dead in your kitchen.
Yes! CLOV:
(Pause.) The result would be the same.
What? HAMM:
HAMM: Yes, but how would I know, if you were merely dead in your
This... this... thing. kitchen?
CLOV: CLOV:
I've always thought so. Well... sooner or later I'd start to stink.
Page 25
HAMM: CLOV:
You stink already. The whole place stinks of corpses. Wait!
CLOV: (He meditates. Not very convinced.)
The whole universe. Yes...
HAMM (angrily): (He raises his head.)
To hell with the universe. I have it! I set the alarm.
(Pause.) (Pause.)
Think of something. HAMM:
CLOV: This is perhaps not one of my bright days, but frankly—
What? CLOV:
HAMM: You whistle me. I don't come. The alarm rings. I'm gone. It
An idea, have an idea. doesn't ring. I'm dead.
(Angrily.) (Pause.)
A bright idea! HAMM:
CLOV: Is it working?
Ah good. (Pause. Impatiently.)
(He starts pacing to and fro, his eyes fixed on the ground, his The alarm, is it working?
hands behind his back. He halts.) CLOV:
The pains in my legs! It's unbelievable! Soon I won't be able to Why wouldn't it be working?
think any more. HAMM:
HAMM: Because it's worked too much.
You won't be able to leave me. CLOV:
(Clov resumes his pacing.) But it's hardly worked at all.
What are you doing? HAMM (angrily):
CLOV: Then because it's worked too little!
Having an idea. CLOV:
(He paces.) I'll go and see.
Ah! (Exit Clov. Brief ring of alarm offstage. Enter Clov with alarm-
(He halts.) clock. He holds it against Hamm's ear and releases alarm.
HAMM: They listen to it ringing to the end. Pause.)
What a brain! Fit to wake the dead! Did you hear it?
(Pause.) HAMM:
Well? Vaguely.
Page 26
CLOV: (Clov stoops. As before.)
The end is terrific! CLOV:
HAMM: It's a deal.
I prefer the middle. (He goes towards door. Nagg's hands appear, gripping the rim.
(Pause.) Then the head emerges. Clov reaches door, turns.)
Is is not time for my pain-killer? Do you believe in the life to come?
CLOV: HAMM:
No! Mine was always that.
(He goes to door, turns.) (Exit Clov.)
I'll leave you. Got him that time!
HAMM: NAGG:
It's time for my story. Do you want to listen to my story? I'm listening.
CLOV: HAMM:
No. Scoundrel! Why did you engender me?
HAMM: NAGG:
Ask my father if he wants to listen to my story. I didn't know.
(Clov goes to bins, raises the lid of Nagg's, stoops, looks into it. HAMM:
Pause. He straightens up.) What? What didn't you know?
CLOV: NAGG:
He's asleep. That it'd be you.
HAMM: (Pause.)
Wake him. You'll give me a sugar-plum?
(Clov stoops, wakes Nagg with the alarm. Unintelligible words. HAMM:
Clov straightens up.) After the audition.
CLOV: NAGG:
He doesn't want to listen to your story. You swear?
HAMM: HAMM:
I'll give him a bon-bon. Yes.
(Clov stoops. As before.) NAGG:
CLOV: On what?
He wants a sugar-plum. HAMM:
HAMM: My honor.
He'll get a sugar-plum. (Pause. They laugh heartily.)
Page 27
NAGG: say a vesta, drew a few puffs. Aah!
Two. (Pause.)
HAMM: Well, what is it you want?
One. (Pause.)
NAGG: It was an extra-ordinarily bitter day, I remember, zero by the
One for me and one for— thermometer. But considering it was Christmas Eve there was
HAMM: nothing... extra-ordinary about that. Seasonable weather, for
One! Silence! once in a way.
(Pause.) (Pause.)
Where was I? Well, what ill wind blows you my way? He raised his face to
(Pause. Gloomily.) me, black with mingled dirt and tears.
It's finished, we're finished. (Pause. Normal tone.)
(Pause.) That should do it.
Nearly finished. (Narrative tone.)
(Pause.) No no, don't look at me, don't look at me. He dropped his eyes
There'll be no more speech. and mumbled something, apologies I presume.
(Pause.) (Pause.)
Something dripping in my head, ever since the fontanelles. I'm a busy man, you know, the final touches, before the
(Stifled hilarity of Nagg.) festivities, you know what it is.
Splash, splash, always on the same spot. (Pause. Forcibly.)
(Pause.) Come on now, what is the object of this invasion?
Perhaps it's a little vein. (Pause.)
(Pause.) It was a glorious bright day, I remember, fifty by the
A little artery. heliometer, but already the sun was sinking down into the...
(Pause. More animated.) down among the dead.
Enough of that, it's story time, where was I? (Normal voice.)
(Pause. Narrative tone.) Nicely put, that.
The man came crawling towards me, on his belly. Pale, (Narrative tone.)
wonderfully pale and thin, he seemed on the point of— Come on now, come on, present your petition and let me
(Pause. Normal tone.) resume my labors.
No, I've done that bit. (Pause. Normal tone.)
(Pause. Narrative tone.) There's English for you. Ah well...
I calmly filled my pipe—the meerschaum, lit it with... let us (Narrative tone.)
Page 28
It was then he took the plunge. It's my little one, he said. Tsstss, (Pause.)
a little one, that's bad. My little boy, he said, as if the sex I lost patience.
mattered. Where did he come from? He named the hole. A (Violently.)
good half-day, on horse. What are you insinuating? That the Use your head, can't you, use your head. You're on earth,
place is still inhabited? No no, not a soul, except himself and there's no cure for that!
the child—assuming he existed. Good. I enquired about the (Pause.)
situation at Kov, beyond the gulf. Not a sinner. Good. And you It was an exceedingly dry day, I remember, zero by the
expect me to believe you have left your little one back there, all hygrometer. Ideal weather, for my lumbago.
alone, and alive into the bargain? Come now! (Pause. Violently.)
(Pause.) But what in God's name do you imagine? That the earth will
It was a howling day, I remember, a hundred by the awake in the spring? That the rivers and seas will run with fish
anenometer. The wind was tearing up the dead pines and again? That there's manna in heaven still for imbeciles like
sweeping them... away. you?
(Pause. Normal tone.) (Pause.)
A feeble bit, that. Gradually I cooled down, sufficiently at least to ask him how
(Narrative tone.) long he had taken on the way. Three whole days. Good. In what
Come on, man, speak up, what is it you want from me, I have condition he had left the child. Deep in sleep.
to put up my holly. (Forcibly.)
(Pause.) But deep in what sleep, deep in what sleep already?
Well to make it short it finally transpired that what he wanted (Pause.)
from me was... bread for his brat? Bread? But I have no bread, Well to make it short I finally offered to take him into my
it doesn't agree with me. Good. Then perhaps a little corn? service. He had touched a chord. And then I imagined already
(Pause. Normal tone.) that I wasn't much longer for this world.
That should do it. (He laughs. Pause.)
(Narrative tone.) Well?
Corn, yes, I have corn, it's true, in my granaries. But use your (Pause.)
head. I give you some corn, a pound, a pound and a half, you Well? Here if you were careful you might die a nice natural
bring it back to your child and you make him—if he's still alive death, in peace and comfort.
—a nice pot of porridge. (Pause.)
(Nagg reacts.) Well?
a nice pot and a half of porridge, full of nourishment. Good. (Pause.)
The colors come back into his little cheeks—perhaps. And In the end he asked me would I consent to take in the child as
then? well—if he were still alive.
Page 29
(Pause.) No.
It was the moment I was waiting for. HAMM:
(Pause.) You'll finish him later. Let us pray to God.
Would I consent to take in the child... CLOV:
(Pause.) Again!
I can see him still, down on his knees, his hands flat on the NAGG:
ground, glaring at me with his mad eyes, in defiance of my Me sugar-plum!
wishes. HAMM:
(Pause. Normal tone.) God first!
I'll soon have finished with this story. (Pause.)
(Pause.) Are you right?
Unless I bring in other characters. CLOV (resigned):
(Pause.) Off we go.
But where would I find them? HAMM (to Nagg):
(Pause.) And you?
Where would I look for them? NAGG (clasping his hands, closing his eyes, in a gabble):
(Pause. He whistles. Enter Clov.) Our Father which art—
Let us pray to God. HAMM:
NAGG: Silence! In silence! Where are your manners?
Me sugar-plum! (Pause.)
CLOV: Off we go.
There's a rat in the kitchen! (Attitudes of prayer. Silence. Abandoning his attitude,
HAMM: discouraged.)
A rat! Are there still rats? Well?
CLOV: CLOV (abandoning his attitude):
In the kitchen there's one. What a hope! And you?
HAMM: HAMM:
And you haven't exterminated him? Sweet damn all!
CLOV: (To Nagg.)
Half. You disturbed us. And you?
HAMM: NAGG:
He can't get away? Wait!
CLOV: (Pause. Abandoning his attitude.)
Page 30
Nothing doing! your only hope.
HAMM: (Pause. Nagg knocks on lid of Nell's bin. Pause.)
The bastard!! He doesn't exist. Nell!
CLOV: (Pause. He knocks louder. Pause. Louder.)
Not yet. Nell!
NAGG: (Pause. Nagg sinks back into his bin, closes the lid behind him.
Me sugar-plum! Pause.)
HAMM: HAMM:
There are no more sugar plums! Our revels now are ended.
(Pause.) (He gropes for the dog.)
NAGG: The dog's gone.
It's natural. After all I'm your father. It's true if it hadn't been CLOV:
me it would have been someone else. But that's no excuse. He's not a real dog, he can't go.
(Pause.) HAMM (groping):
Turkish Delight, for example, which no longer exists, we all He's not there.
know that, there is nothing in the world I love more. And one CLOV:
day I'll ask you for some, in return for a kindness, and you'll He's lain down.
promise it to me. One must live with the times. HAMM:
(Pause.) Give him up to me.
Whom did you call when you were a tiny boy, and were (Clov picks up the dog and gives it to Hamm. Hamm holds it in
frightened, in the dark? Your mother? No. Me. We let you cry. his arms. Pause. Hamm throws away the dog.)
Then we moved you out of earshot, so that we might sleep in Dirty brute!
peace. (Clov begins to pick up the objects lying on the ground.)
(Pause.) What are you doing?
I was asleep, as happy as a king, and you woke me up to have CLOV:
me listen to you. It wasn't indispensable, you didn't really need Putting things in order.
to have me listen to you. (He straightens up. Fervently.)
(Pause.) I'm going to clear everything away!
I hope the day will come when you'll really need to have me (He starts picking up again.)
listen to you, and need to hear my voice, any voice. HAMM:
(Pause.) Order!
Yes, I hope I'll live till then, to hear you calling me like when CLOV (straightening up):
you were a tiny boy, and were frightened, in the dark, and I was I love order. It's my dream. A world where all would be silent
Page 31
and still, and each thing in its last place, under the last dust. (Pause.)
(He starts picking up again.) I've got on with it well.
HAMM (exasperated): (Pause. Irritably.)
What in God's name do you think you're doing? Ask me where I've got to.
CLOV (straightening up): CLOV:
I'm doing my best to create a little order. Oh, by the way, your story?
HAMM: HAMM (surprised):
Drop it! What story?
(Clov drops the objects he has picked up.) CLOV:
CLOV: The one you've been telling yourself all your days.
After all, there or elsewhere. HAMM:
(He goes towards door.) Ah you mean my chronicle?
HAMM (irritably): CLOV:
What's wrong with your feet? That's the one.
CLOV: (Pause.)
My feet? HAMM (angrily):
HAMM: Keep going, can't you, keep going!
Tramp! Tramp! CLOV:
CLOV: You've got on with it, I hope.
I must have put on my boots. HAMM (modestly):
HAMM: Oh not very far, not very far.
Your slippers were hurting you? (He sighs.)
(Pause.) There are days like that, one isn't inspired.
CLOV: (Pause.)
I'll leave you. Nothing you can do about it, just wait for it to come.
HAMM: (Pause.)
No! No forcing, no forcing, it's fatal.
CLOV: (Pause.)
What is there to keep me here? I've got on with it a little all the same.
HAMM: (Pause.)
The dialogue. Technique, you know.
(Pause.) (Pause. Irritably.)
I've got on with my story. I say I've got on with it a little all the same.
Page 32
CLOV (admiringly): CLOV:
Well I never! In spite of everything you were able to get on Or the brat.
with it! (Pause.)
HAMM (modestly): HAMM:
Oh not very far, you know, not very far, but nevertheless, better The whole thing is comical, I grant you that. What about
than nothing. having a good guffaw, the two of us together?
CLOV: CLOV (after reflection):
Better than nothing! Is it possible? I couldn't guffaw again today.
HAMM: HAMM (after reflection):
I'll tell you how it goes. He comes crawling on his belly— Nor I.
CLOV: (Pause.)
Who? I continue then. Before accepting with gratitude he asks if he
HAMM: may have his little boy with him.
What? CLOV:
CLOV: What age?
Who do you mean, he? HAMM:
HAMM: Oh tiny.
Who do I mean! Yet another. CLOV:
CLOV: He would have climbed the trees.
Ah him. I wasn't sure. HAMM:
HAMM: All the little odd jobs.
Crawling on his belly, whining for bread for his brat. He's CLOV:
offered a job as gardener. Before— And then he would have grown up.
(Clov bursts out laughing.) HAMM:
What is there so funny about that? Very likely.
CLOV: (Pause.)
A job as gardener! CLOV:
HAMM: Keep going, can't you, keep going?
Is that what tickles you? HAMM:
CLOV: That's all. I stopped there.
It must be that. (Pause.)
HAMM: CLOV:
It wouldn't be the bread? Do you see how it goes on?
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HAMM: (He closes the lid, straightens up.)
More or less. HAMM (letting go his toque):
CLOV: What's he doing?
Will it not soon be the end? (Clov raises lid of Nagg's bin, stoops, looks into it. Pause.)
HAMM: CLOV:
I'm afraid it will. He's crying.
CLOV: (He closes lid, straightens up.)
Pah! You'll make up another. HAMM:
HAMM: Then he's living.
I don't know. (Pause.)
(Pause.) Did you ever have an instant of happiness?
I feel rather drained. CLOV:
(Pause.) Not to my knowledge.
The prolonged creative effort. (Pause.)
(Pause.) HAMM:
If I could drag myself down to the sea! I'd make a pillow of Bring me under the window.
sand for my head and the tide would come. (Clov goes towards chair.)
CLOV: I want to feel the light on my face.
There's no more tide. (Clov pushes chair.)
(Pause.) Do you remember, in the beginning, when you took me for a
HAMM: turn? You used to hold the chair too high. At every step you
Go and see is she dead. nearly tipped me out.
(Clov goes to bins, raises the lid of Nell's, stoops, looks into it. (With senile quaver.)
Pause.) Ah great fun, we had, the two of us, great fun.
CLOV: (Gloomily.)
Looks like it. And then we got into the way of it.
(He closes the lid, straightens up. Hamm raises his toque. (Clov stops the chair under window right.)
Pause. He puts it on again.) There already?
HAMM (with his hand to his toque): (Pause. He tilts back his head.)
And Nagg? Is it light?
(Clov raises lid of Nagg's bin, stoops, looks into it. Pause.) CLOV:
CLOV: It isn't dark.
Doesn't look like it. HAMM (angrily):
Page 34
I'm asking you is it light? HAMM:
CLOV: Am I very white?
Yes. (Pause. Angrily.)
(Pause.) I'm asking you am I very white?
HAMM: CLOV:
The curtain isn't closed? Not more so than usual.
CLOV: (Pause.)
No. HAMM:
HAMM: Open the window.
What window is it? CLOV:
CLOV: What for?
The earth. HAMM:
HAMM: I want to hear the sea.
I knew it! CLOV:
(Angrily.) You wouldn't hear it.
But there's no light there! The other! HAMM:
(Clov pushes chair towards window left.) Even if you opened the window?
The earth! CLOV:
(Clov stops the chair under window left. Hamm tilts back his No.
head.) HAMM:
That's what I call light! Than it's not worth while opening it?
(Pause.) CLOV:
Feels like a ray of sunshine. No.
(Pause.) HAMM (violently):
No? Than open it!
CLOV: (Clov gets up on the ladder, opens the window. Pause.)
No. Have you opened it?
HAMM: CLOV:
It isn't a ray of sunshine I feel on my face? Yes.
CLOV: (Pause.)
No. HAMM:
(Pause.) You swear you've opened it?
! !
Page 35
CLOV: CLOV:
Yes. Yes.
(Pause.) HAMM:
HAMM: Both times?
Well...! (Clov stoops. As before.)
(Pause.) CLOV:
It must be very calm. Once only.
(Pause. Violently.) HAMM:
I'm asking you is it very calm! The first time or the second?
CLOV: (Clov stoops. As before.)
Yes. CLOV:
HAMM: He doesn't know.
It's because there are no more navigators. HAMM:
(Pause.) It must have been the second.
You haven't much conversation all of a sudden. Do you not feel CLOV:
well? We'll never know.
CLOV: (He closes lid.)
I'm cold. HAMM:
HAMM: Is he still crying?
What month are we? CLOV:
(Pause.) No.
Close the window, we're going back. HAMM:
(Clov closes the window, gets down, pushes the chair back to The dead go fast.
its place, remains standing behind it, head bowed.) (Pause.)
Don't stand there, you give me the shivers! What's he doing?
(Clov returns to his place beside the chair.) CLOV:
Father! Sucking his biscuit.
(Pause. Louder.) HAMM:
Father! Life goes on.
(Pause.) (Clov returns to his place beside the chair.)
Go and see did he hear me. Give me the rug, I'm freezing.
(Clov goes to Nagg's bin, raises the lid, stoops. Unintelligible CLOV:
words. Clov straightens up.) There are no more rugs.
Page 36
(Pause.) CLOV:
HAMM: If I don't kill that rat he'll die.
Kiss me. HAMM (as before):
(Pause.) That's right.
Will you not kiss me? (Exit Clov. Pause.)
CLOV: Me to play.
No. (He takes out his handkerchief, unfolds it, holds it spread out
HAMM: before him.)
On the forehead. We're getting on.
CLOV: (Pause.)
I won't kiss you anywhere. You weep, and weep, for nothing, so as not to laugh, and little
(Pause.) by little... you begin to grieve.
HAMM (holding out his hand): (He folds the handkerchief, puts it back in his pocket, raises his
Give me your hand at least. head.)
(Pause.) All those I might have helped.
Will you not give me your hand? (Pause.)
CLOV: Helped!
I won't touch you. (Pause.)
(Pause.) Saved.
HAMM: (Pause.)
Give me the dog. Saved!
(Clov looks round for the dog.) (Pause.)
No! The place was crawling with them
CLOV: (Pause. Violently.)
Do you not want your dog? Use your head, can't you, use your head, you're on earth, there's
HAMM: no cure for that!
No. (Pause.)
CLOV: Get out of here and love one another! Lick your neighbor as
Then I'll leave you. yourself!
HAMM (head bowed, absently): (Pause. Calmer.)
That's right. When it wasn't bread they wanted it was crumpets.
(Clov goes to door, turns.) (Pause. Violently.)
! Out of my sight and back to your petting parties!
Page 37
(Pause.) And then?
All that, all that! (Pause.)
(Pause.) He couldn't, He has gone too far.
Not even a real dog! (Pause.)
(Calmer.) And then?
The end is in the beginning and yet you go on. (Pause. Very agitated.)
(Pause.) All kinds of fantasies! That I'm being watched! A rat! Steps!
Perhaps I could go on with my story, end it and begin another. Breath held and then...
(Pause.) (He breathes out.)
Perhaps I could throw myself out on the floor. Then babble, babble, words, like the solitary child who turns
(He pushes himself painfully off his seat, falls back again.) himself into children, two, three, so as to be together, and
Dig my nails into the cracks and drag myself forward with my whisper together, in the dark.
fingers. (Pause.)
(Pause.) Moment upon moment, pattering down, like the millet grains
It will be the end and there I'll be, wondering what can have of...
brought it on and wondering what can have... (he hesitates)
(he hesitates) ...that old Greek, and all life long you wait for that to mount up
...why it was so long coming. to a life.
(Pause.) (Pause. He opens his mouth to continue, renounces.)
There I'll be, in the old shelter, alone against the silence and... Ah let's get it over!
(he hesitates) (He whistles. Enter Clov with alarm-clock. He halts beside the
...the stillness. If I can hold my peace, and sit quiet, it will be chair.)
all over with sound, and motion, all over and done with. What? Neither gone nor dead?
(Pause.) CLOV:
I'll have called my father and I'll have called my... In spirit only.
(he hesitates) HAMM:
...my son. And even twice, or three times, in case they shouldn't Which?
have heard me, the first time, or the second. CLOV:
(Pause.) Both.
I'll say to myself, He'll come back. HAMM:
(Pause.) Gone from me you'd be dead.
And then? CLOV:
(Pause.) And vice versa.
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HAMM: CLOV:
Outside of here it's death! Yes. But now it's empty.
(Pause.) (Pause. Clov starts to move about the room. He is looking for a
And the rat? place to put down the alarm-clock.)
CLOV: HAMM (soft):
He's got away. What'll I do?
HAMM: (Pause. In a scream.)
He can't go far. What'll I do?
(Pause. Anxious.) (Clov sees the picture, takes it down, stands it on the floor with
Eh? its face to the wall, hangs up the alarm-clock in its place.)
CLOV: What are you doing?
He doesn't need to go far. CLOV:
(Pause.) Winding up.
HAMM: HAMM:
Is it not time for my pain-killer? Look at the earth.
CLOV: CLOV:
Yes. Again!
HAMM: HAMM:
Ah! At last! Give it to me! Quick! Since it's calling to you.
(Pause.) CLOV:
CLOV: Is your throat sore?
There's no more pain-killer. (Pause.)
(Pause.) Would you like a lozenge?
HAMM (appalled): (Pause.)
Good...! No.
(Pause.) (Pause.)
No more pain-killer! Pity.
CLOV: (Clov goes, humming, towards window right, halts before it,
No more pain-killer. You'll never get any more pain-killer. looks up at it.)
(Pause.) HAMM:
HAMM: Don't sing.
But the little round box. It was full! CLOV (turning towards Hamm):
! One hasn't the right to sing any more?
Page 39
HAMM: Sometimes I wonder if I'm in my right senses. Then it passes
No. off and I'm as intelligent as ever.
CLOV: (He sets down ladder under window right, gets up on it, looks
Then how can it end? out of window. He turns towards Hamm.)
HAMM: Any particular sector you fancy? Or merely the whole thing?
You want it to end? HAMM:
CLOV: Whole thing.
I want to sing. CLOV:
HAMM: The general effect? Just a moment.
I can't prevent you. (He looks out of window. Pause.)
(Pause. Clov turns towards window right.) HAMM:
CLOV: Clov.
What did I do with that steps? CLOV (absorbed):
(He looks around for ladder.) Mmm.
You didn't see that steps? HAMM:
(He sees it.) Do you know what it is?
Ah, about time. CLOV (as before):
(He goes towards window left.) Mmm.
Sometimes I wonder if I'm in my right mind. Then it passes HAMM:
over and I'm as lucid as before. I was never there.
(He gets up on ladder, looks out of window.) (Pause.)
Christ, she's under water! Clov!
(He looks.) CLOV (turning towards Hamm, exasperated):
How can that be? What is it?
(He pokes forward his head, his hand above his eyes.) HAMM:
It hasn't rained. I was never there.
(He wipes the pane, looks. Pause.) CLOV:
Ah what a fool I am! I'm on the wrong side! Lucky for you.
(He gets down, takes a few steps towards window right.) (He looks out of window.)
Under water! HAMM:
(He goes back for ladder.) Absent, always. It all happened without me. I don't know
What a fool I am! what's happened.
(He carries ladder towards window right.) (Pause.)
Page 40
Do you know what's happened? HAMM:
(Pause.) Have you the glass?
Clov! CLOV:
CLOV (turning towards Hamm, exasperated): No, it's clear enough as it is.
Do you want me to look at this muckheap, yes or no? HAMM:
HAMM: Go and get it.
Answer me first. (Pause. Clov casts up his eyes, brandishes his fists. He loses
CLOV: balance, clutches on to the ladder. He starts to get down,
What? halts.)
HAMM: CLOV:
Do you know what's happened? There's one thing I'll never understand.
CLOV: (He gets down.)
When? Where? Why I always obey you. Can you explain that to me?
HAMM (violently): HAMM:
When! What's happened? Use your head, can't you! What has No... Perhaps it's compassion.
happened? (Pause.)
CLOV: A kind of great compassion.
What for Christ's sake does it matter? (Pause.)
(He looks out of window.) Oh you won't find it easy, you won't find it easy.
HAMM: (Pause. Clov begins to move about the room in search of the
I don't know. telescope.)
(Pause. Clov turns towards Hamm.) CLOV:
CLOV (harshly): I'm tired of our goings on, very tired.
When old Mother Pegg asked you for oil for her lamp and you (He searches.)
told her to get out to hell, you knew what was happening then, You're not sitting on it?
no? (He moves the chair, looks at the place where it stood, resumes
(Pause.) his search.)
You know what she died of, Mother Pegg? Of darkness. HAMM (anguished):
HAMM (feebly): Don't leave me there!
I hadn't any. (Angrily Clov restores the chair to its place.)
CLOV (as before): Am I right in the center?
Yes, you had. CLOV:
(Pause.) You'd need a microscope to find this—
Page 41
(He sees the telescope.) Put me in my coffin.
Ah, about time. CLOV:
(He picks up the telescope, gets up on the ladder, turns the There are no more coffins.
telescope on the without.) HAMM:
HAMM: Then let it end!
Give me the dog. (Clov goes towards ladder.)
CLOV (looking): With a bang!
Quiet! (Clov gets up on ladder, gets down again, looks for telescope,
HAMM (angrily): sees it, picks it up, gets up on ladder, raises telescope.)
Give me the dog! Of darkness! And me? Did anyone ever have pity on me?
(Clov drops the telescope, clasps his hands to his head. Pause. CLOV (lowering the telescope, turning towards Hamm):
He gets down precipitately, looks for the dog, sees it, picks it What?
up, hastens towards Hamm and strikes him violently on the (Pause.)
head with the dog.) Is it me you're referring to?
CLOV: HAMM (angrily):
There's your dog for you. An aside, ape! Did you never hear an aside before?
(The dog falls to the ground. Pause.) (Pause.)
HAMM: I'm warming up for my last soliloquy.
He hit me! CLOV:
CLOV: I warn you. I'm going to look at this filth since it's an order. But
You drive me mad, I'm mad! it's the last time.
HAMM: (He turns the telescope on the without.)
If you must hit me, hit me with the axe. Let's see.
(Pause.) (He moves the telescope.)
Or with the gaff, hit me with the gaff. Not with the dog. With Nothing... nothing... good... good... nothing... goo—
the gaff. Or with the axe. (He starts, lowers the telescope, examines it, turns it again on
(Clov picks up the dog and gives it to Hamm who takes it in his the without. Pause.)
arms.) Bad luck to it!
CLOV (impatiently): HAMM:
Let's stop playing! More complications!
HAMM: (Clov gets down.)
Never! Not an underplot, I trust.
(Pause.) (Clov moves ladder nearer window, gets up on it, turns
Page 42
telescope on the without.) put it, goes to bins, puts it on lid of Nagg's bin. Pause.)
CLOV (dismayed): CLOV:
Looks like a small boy! I'll leave you.
HAMM (sarcastic): (He goes towards door.)
A small... boy! HAMM:
CLOV: Before you go...
I'll go and see. (Clov halts near door.)
(He gets down, drops the telescope, goes towards door, turns.) ...say something.
I'll take the gaff. CLOV:
(He looks for the gaff, sees it, picks it up, hastens towards There is nothing to say.
door.) HAMM:
HAMM: A few words... to ponder... in my heart.
No! CLOV:
(Clov halts.) Your heart!
CLOV: HAMM:
No? A potential procreator? Yes.
HAMM: (Pause. Forcibly.)
If he exists he'll die there or he'll come here. And if he doesn't... Yes!
(Pause.) (Pause.)
CLOV: With the rest, in the end, the shadows, the murmurs, all the
You don't believe me? You think I'm inventing? trouble, to end up with.
(Pause.) (Pause.)
HAMM: Clov... He never spoke to me. Then, in the end, before he went,
It's the end, Clov, we've come to the end. I don't need you any without my having asked him, he spoke to me. He said...
more. CLOV (despairingly):
(Pause.) Ah...!
CLOV: HAMM:
Lucky for you. Something... from your heart.
(He goes towards door.) CLOV:
HAMM: My heart!
Leave me the gaff. HAMM:
(Clov gives him the gaff, goes towards door, halts, looks at A few words... from your heart.
alarm-clock, takes it down, looks round for a better place to (Pause.)
Page 43
CLOV (fixed gaze, tonelessly, towards auditorium): It's easy going.
They said to me, That's love, yes, yes, not a doubt, now you see (Pause.)
how— When I fall I'll weep for happiness.
HAMM: (Pause. He goes towards door.)
Articulate! HAMM:
CLOV (as before): Clov!
How easy it is. They said to me, That's friendship, yes, yes, no (Clov halts, without turning.)
question, you've found it. They said to me, Here's the place, Nothing.
stop, raise your head and look at all that beauty. That order! (Clov moves on.)
They said to me, Come now, you're not a brute beast, think Clov!
upon these things and you'll see how all becomes clear. And (Clov halts, without turning.)
simple! They said to me, What skilled attention they get, all CLOV:
these dying of their wounds. This is what we call making an exit.
HAMM: HAMM:
Enough! I'm obliged to you, Clov. For your services.
CLOV (as before): CLOV (turning sharply):
I say to myself— sometimes, Clov, you must learn to suffer Ah pardon, it's I am obliged to you.
better than that if you want them to weary of punishing you— HAMM:
one day. I say to myself—sometimes, Clov, you must be better It's we are obliged to each other.
than that if you want them to let you go—one day. But I feel (Pause. Clov goes towards door.)
too old, and too far, to form new habits. Good, it'll never end, One thing more.
I'll never go. (Clov halts.)
(Pause.) A last favor.
Then one day, suddenly, it ends, it changes, I don't understand, (Exit Clov.)
it dies, or it's me, I don't understand that either. I ask the words Cover me with the sheet.
that remain— sleeping, waking, morning, evening. They have (Long pause.)
nothing to say. No? Good.
(Pause.) (Pause.)
I open the door of the cell and go. I am so bowed I only see my Me to play.
feet, if I open my eyes, and between my legs a little trail of (Pause. Wearily.)
black dust. I say to myself that the earth is extinguished, Old endgame lost of old, play and lose and have done with
though I never saw it lit. losing.
(Pause.) (Pause. More animated.)
Page 44
Let me see. (Pause.)
(Pause.) A little poetry.
Ah yes! (Pause.)
(He tries to move the chair, using the gaff as before. Enter You prayed—
Clov, dressed for the road. Panama hat, tweed coat, raincoat (Pause. He corrects himself.)
over his arm, umbrella, bag. He halts by the door and stands You CRIED for night; it comes—
there, impassive and motionless, his eyes fixed on Hamm, till (Pause. He corrects himself.)
the end.) It FALLS: now cry in darkness.
Hamm gives up: (He repeats, chanting.)
Good. You cried for night; it falls: now cry in darkness.
(Pause.) (Pause.)
Discard. Nicely put, that.
(He throws away the gaff, makes to throw away the dog, thinks (Pause.)
better of it.) And now?
Take it easy. (Pause.)
(Pause.) Moments for nothing, now as always, time was never and time
And now? is over, reckoning closed and story ended.
(Pause.) (Pause. Narrative tone.)
Raise hat. If he could have his child with him...
(He raises his toque.) (Pause.)
Peace to our... arses. It was the moment I was waiting for.
(Pause.) (Pause.)
And put on again. You don't want to abandon him? You want him to bloom while
(He puts on his toque.) you are withering? Be there to solace your last million last
Deuce. moments?
(Pause. He takes off his glasses.) (Pause.)
Wipe. He doesn't realize, all he knows is hunger, and cold, and death
(He takes out his handkerchief and, without unfolding it, wipes to crown it all. But you! You ought to know what the earth is
his glasses.) like, nowadays. Oh I put him before his responsibilities!
And put on again. (Pause. Normal tone.)
(He puts on his glasses, puts back the handkerchief in his Well, there we are, there I am, that's enough.
pocket.) (He raises the whistle to his lips, hesitates, drops it. Pause.)
We're coming. A few more squirms like that and I'll call. Yes, truly!
Page 45
(He whistles. Pause. Louder. Pause.) (Pause. He covers his face with handkerchief, lowers his arms
Good. to armrests, remains motionless.)
(Pause.) (Brief tableau.)
Father!
(Pause. Louder.) Curtain
Father!
(Pause.) !
Good. !
(Pause.) !
We're coming.
(Pause.)
And to end up with?
(Pause.)
Discard.
(He throws away the dog. He tears the whistle from his neck.)
With my compliments.
(He throws the whistle towards the auditorium. Pause. He
sniffs. Soft.)
Clov!
(Long pause.)
No? Good.
(He takes out the handkerchief.)
Since that's the way we're playing it...
(he unfolds handkerchief)
...let's play it that way...
(he unfolds)
...and speak no more about it...
(he finishes unfolding)
...speak no more.
(He holds handkerchief spread out before him.)
Old stancher!
(Pause.)
You... remain.
Page 46