Endgame

The entirety of Endgame takes place in Hamm’s house. The single scene generates a sense of claustrophobia, creating a clear distinction between inside world and outside. This distinction is important in the play’s post-apocalyptic setting, where no one dares to venture outside and thus the house’s walls form the boundary of the world. Even when Clov glimpses someone in the distance, Hamm dismisses the boy as irrelevant because he is outside. Until he enters Hamm’s house, he does not matter. The interior world of the house, therefore, helps to symbolize humanity, at least in the minds of the characters. For a person to matter, they must be inside the house. Everyone outside is a part of the great, barren, hostile wasteland. They are not considered human or worthy of attention until they step across the threshold into Hamm’s house. This symbolism works in both directions. Clov seriously considers leaving the house but, at the end of the play, he remains inside. He does not know whether he can symbolically render himself inhuman, knowing full well how Hamm thinks of those who are outside the house. Clov does not have very much in the world at all. To lose this contemptuous relationship may be unbearable. Clov’s inability to leave Hamm’s house indicates that he has come to accept Hamm’s understanding of the world as defined by inside and outside.

The physical layout of Hamm’s house also symbolizes his narrative significance. Hamm is the central character in every conceivable way. Not only is he the bridge between Nagg, Nell, and Clov, but it is his routine and his needs which dictate the pattern of the other characters’ lives. To symbolize this centrality to the other characters, he is placed in the center of the stage. His chair is physically at the center of the stage, just as his character is physically central to the plot. The entirety of Hamm’s house becomes a symbolic diagram for the plot, with Hamm central and his parents pushed into the periphery. Clov comes and goes, symbolizing his fleeting desire to leave the house. He always returns, however, as he is as bound to the house as he is to Hamm. Furthermore, Hamm seems to recognize this symbolism if only on a subconscious level. He asks Clov to push him around the room, allowing him to touch the walls and explore the physical space, but he always wants to be returned to the center. When he is not in the exact middle of the room, he is not pleased. Likewise, he does not let anyone infringe on his role as the protagonist, and he will loudly shout down anyone who attempts to symbolically depose him as the narrator or central figure. Hamm is placed squarely in the middle of the room, just as he is squarely in the middle of all aspects of the play. When this centrality is threatened, he reacts angrily and demands to be symbolically returned to the narrative spotlight. His house and his positioning in the house become a symbol of his dictatorial personality.

At the same time, the house helps to symbolize Hamm’s capacity for kindness. He may be self-centered, miserable, and domineering, but he does agree to take a suffering man into his home. Furthermore, he agrees to shelter the man’s child. This child, it is implied, grows up to be Clov. In the midst of an apocalypse, Hamm was able to empathize with the suffering of others. While he took advantage of the man and only agreed to hire him as an employee, he demonstrated a level of kindness necessary to raise the child after the man’s death. This kindness is self-serving to some extent, as Clov eventually cared for Hamm, but Clov’s inability to remember his father and his enduring relationship with Hamm suggest that, at one time, Hamm was able to act as a father figure. By allowing desperate people into his home, Hamm reveals the capacity for good inside him, however deeply buried. His compulsive retelling of this story indicates his deep need to believe—and to make others believe—in this good version of himself.