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Monday, April 22, 2013

The tension is KILLING me!


Any worthwhile story has a source of tension that propels the characters, and usually a central protagonist who must confront the problem and overcome obstacles en route to a discovery of self or other. Endgame is a classic drama – but one which avoids some of the trappings and traditions of pre-twentieth-century literature. What is the tension at play in this work? Who is the “hero” and what is his journey and discovery?

19 comments:

  1. The primary tension between the characters in Endgame is that between Hamm and Clov. Hamm and Clov are frequently at odds with each other, and their very existence hangs in the balance of how they manage their turbulent relationship. However, the primary source of tension in the work is not between any two individual characters, but rather between all of the characters and life as a whole. Since Endgame is, at its base, a nihilistic work, each character in Endgame is constantly battling for purpose and survival in their very own meaningless and torturous existence. The characters are all aware of this, and their incessant obsession over these thoughts causes significant tension and prevents them from living happily together.

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  2. The central protagonist in Endgame would be Clov, not Hamm. Clov obstacle is gathering the courage to leave the room that has become his prison. By leaving, Clov would end the dialogue, finish the cycle that has trapped the characters, and bring the game to a close. Hamm would be the antagonist to Clov. Hamm seeks to perpetuate the dialogue and keep the other characters repeating the cycle for as long as he can. The tension of the play comes from Clov's indecisiveness and inability to leave the room. Clov know that salvation, if there is any, lies outside the room. Simultaneously he knows that leaving will sacrifice the cyclic stability he enjoys with Hamm. This creates an internal conflict in Clov, where he must choose between enjoying safety and finding meaning.

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  3. I agree with what Len said above. Clov is the protagonist in Endgame, and he is trying to leave the room and the meaningless tasks that he must do for Hamm there. There is definitely tension created by Clov's inability to leave the room. I'm not sure if his returning is because he is afraid of losing the stability he has though. At some times, he seems to have lots of hope about the future and the outside. When he sees the boy, he has a glimmer of hope about life outside the room. He also realizes that life in the room is torturous. I think the real source of tension--the real reason that he stays in the room--is because of his predetermined fate to return. Beckett is making an argument for the fated nature of our existence. We will always do these tasks that have no meaning for no other purpose than because we must. It is impossible to break the cycle. Hamm cleans his glasses even though he is blind, Nagg continuously retells stories of the past, and Clov tries to leave but always comes back. There is no meaning to life. Life is simply a collection of fated, repeated actions.

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  4. Like the others said before me, I believe that the main source of tension in Endgame is between Clov and Hamm. Both seem to "need" each other, but are headed in opposite directions; Clov wants to leave, while Hamm wants to keep the status quo. Clov is the protagonist in that he wishes to break the cycle of events trapping him and the others to the house. It is a constant struggle for him to care for Hamm and threatens to leave on almost every page of the play. His journey is the path he takes in order to finally leave, and his discovery that he might not actually be able to, or even want to. Clov thinks he knows what he wants, and strives to get there, but when the time finally comes for him to take action, he hesitates. He wants to leave, yet is unsure. His indecision casts him right back into the cycle, and thus will continue to follow it once again.

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  5. According the research I presented in class, the classic hero and villain can easily be represented by Hamm and strangely enough, time. The tension we see during the play isn't a conflict between two men, Clov and Hamm, it is the fruitless and futile quest to fight time in the dusk of our days, the endgame of our life. We see this villainous at play in Hamm's pitiful first cry of "And yet I hesitate, I hesitate to...to end" Hamm isn't addressing Clov, or the audience, he is talking directly to the antagonist of this whole thing, time. While our hero knows time will eventually succeed in the end, he constantly struggles for the brief moments he has left. Personally, I doubt that Hamm has recently come upon this discovery, he has know his fate for a while. But just like a chess player stuck with two pawns, he has nothing else to do but curse and moan.

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  7. In my opinion there is no hero in this play. A hero is defined as a man of distinguished courage or ability, admired for his brave deeds and noble qualities. None of the characters in the play display any type of bravery or nobility. Hamm is a narcissistic fool who can’t even stand let alone do any heroic deed. Clov is a subservient, inferior fool who doesn’t take the opportunity to leave when he can, therefore completely lacking courage. Both are sad excuses for characters in a “classic drama” who really force the play into nothingness. I refrain from even explaining why Nagg and Nell do not possess heroic qualities, seeing as they pose no more gravity on the play’s worth and message about life than Muppets do. Additionally, there is no journey to discovery because the play entails a cyclical nature in which nothing truly gets accomplished and the characters end up exactly where they started, in body and spirit. This lack of character development leaves the play with an absence of progression in any sort of discovery.

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  8. The main source of tension in the play is the bickering between Clov and Hamm. Hamm is dependent on Clov because he is unable to care for himself, yet he is constantly demeaning him. Clov wants to leave, yet he feels responsible to care for Hamm and he can't bring himself to go. This banter back in form between the two characters create the main tension in the play. Despite this tension, I don't think either character is a hero. Neither character exhibits heroic qualities, such as bravery or courage. Clov is the closest thing to a hero, yet he continues to be subservient to Hamm. There really is no journey or discovery, which is what characterizes this novel as absurdest literature. Beckett is using the fact that there is no meaning in his work, to actually provide a meaning. By having no journey, no discovery, and evidently, no meaning, Beckett is saying that life is meaningless.

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  9. The primary tension in Endgame is the wait for the arrival of death. The characters all go about their meager activities so that they can avoid the painful gulch of their lingering. Hamm stands as the hero who in this time of misery strives to overcome its rust with stories, commands, and a constantly changing definition of his chronicle. Through this meandering Hamm journey's to finally discover that there is no way to end his suffering and pass the time, and instead he must try and destroy the cycle by destroying all "accursed procreators!"

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  11. As mentioned above, I also believe that the main source of tension is between Clov and Hamm since both have such extreme dependence on one another - Clov needs Hamm to stay in the cycle while Hamm needs Clov to continue the cycle. Without each other, their world inside of their room would come to a close (for Hamm, his death while for Clov, the chance to start something new or start another cycle elsewhere). Clov has the opportunity to leave but once he reaches the door, he hesitates and has a change of heart causing him to stay and continue living within the cycle they have created. As far as heroes are concerned, I believe that the main hero in the play is Nell since she is the only one to break free from the cycle. While Clov wishes to do so and is about to, he changes his mind and chooses to stay with Hamm and Nagg. Nell knew that she could no longer tolerate the life she had within the room and was brave enough (a characteristic I believe Clov lacked) to break the cycle.

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  12. I agree with what’s been said about there being tension between Hamm and Clov. I believe there is also tension present in Nagg and Hamm’s relationship. Hamm loathes Nagg for bringing him into the world and therefore putting him in his current miserable situation. Hamm is outwardly vocal about his feelings. Nagg, on the other hand, doesn’t engage in conversation with Hamm. It is Hamm who demands Nagg listen to his stories. Then there’s the outburst by Nagg about how he hopes one day that Hamm will need him the way he did as a child. This is evidence of the build up of tension inside Nagg for taking the blows from Hamm without opposition. This build up causes Nagg to as they say experience “the final straw”. Nagg’s outburst only adds to the continued struggle of Hamm to have control over his father who in actuality holds a higher position over him by simply being his father. In terms of a hero, I believe there is no hero in the story. I believe Beckett’s intention was to cause the audience to become the hero of the story. By having the characters ask questions like, “We’re not starting to mean something are we?” he is indirectly asking the audience the same question. His intention is for the audience to reflect upon their own lives and gain insight into avoiding the repetitive cycle enacted by the characters of Endgame.

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  13. I feel as though the tension is between each of the characters and their own selves. However, the tension is particularly apparent in Hamm and Clov. All the characters are miserable in their situations and are fighting a daily battle in their heads. There is frustration in the endless cycle and the hopelessness that comes with it. They can't communicate well or peacefully enough with each other to sort it out so they have to deal with the tension on their own. In this sense, Clov is the hero because he breaks the cycle. He frees himself from the weight of leading a meaningless, cycling existence and sets out for peace.

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  14. I believe that the main tension in this novel is between Clov and himself. He is always so frustrated about what is going on in their daily life. Clov is always waiting on Hamm and does the same things for him everyday. Yet is somewhat afraid to leave this cycle that he keeps going through. Throughout the book he threatens Hamm that he is going to walk right out that door and leave Hamm but he does not. It seems that he is very dependent on his cycle, although he may not like it, it is the normal for him and it is guaranteed to be safe. But finally at the end he decides he going to take a risk and walk right out that door. By leaving he is able to taken this burden of Hamm and the daily cycle off of his shoulders and start out brand new.

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  15. The main tension in Endgame is within Clov. Clov is unable to break the cycle and leave the room. He continues to be at odds with Hamm and, even though he is miserable, does nothing about it. To break the cycle, all he would need to do would be to leave Hamm. When he finally does choose to leave and walk out of the door, he stands silently by the door, waiting. This implies that he never left, proving that the cyle can never be broken and that life truly is meaningless.

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  16. While Clov may be the play's hero, there are multiple forces at work that establish tension to hinder Clov's journey. Like others above have concluded, Clov seeks to escape the meaninglessness routine of life by attempting to leave the room and Hamm (both physical manifestations of the meaningless) in order to discover some type of purpose or meaning. Clov, though unable to achieve his primary goal of leaving the room, successfully appears to fool Hamm of his departure. The play ends with Hamm's silence, which perhaps symbolizes the hopeful end to the cyclical nature of meaningless characterized by daily life in the room. Although Clov is never able to cross the threshold to the discovery of purpose (represented by the door), he succeeds in ending the banter of the primary candidate for thwarting his attempts (Hamm). With Hamm's silence, Nell's death, and Nagg's unheard grieving, Clov finally is capable of escaping meaningless in pursuit of purpose.

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  17. The main tension within the play Endgame is the tension between the characters of Hamm, Clov, Nagg, and Nell and the endless cycle of humanity that they are trapped in. The characters of Endgame have a longing to escape this cycle of habitual motion, but find they are unable to end, or kill themselves. As a result, their striving to achieve this end while being forced into the cycle of life creates the central tension of the play. Considering the central tension of the play, Nell would be the true “hero” of the play, because when she dies, she is able to escape the eternal cycle that everyone else in the play is subjugated to. While dying may not seem to be a heroic action, the fact that she is the only one able to achieve everyone’s goal makes her the “hero” of the story.

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  18. The main tension of the play Endgame cannot be pin-pointed onto one character. In fact, none of the tension is present within the characters; instead, the tension of Endgame is in the audience. Endgame doesn't have a protagonist, or character growth for that matter. Instead of character development, Beckett relies on "audience development." He is making the source of conflict for the play an internal struggle for each audience member. As an audience member, we could only overcome this struggle through accepting Beckett's bleak outlook on life.

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  19. I believe the tension in Endgame is embodied through the struggle of the characters against time and themselves. Hamm and Clov particularly, despise the cyclical nature of their lives, but are powerless to put an end to the cycle. Clov is faced with the internal struggle to leave Hamm on a regular basis; however, he can not bring himself to actually leave Hamm. The characters' struggle against time itself is illustrated in the quote, "Enough, it's time it ended, in the shelter, too.(Pause.) And yet I hesitate, I hesitate to... to end. Yes, there it is, it's time it ended and yet I hesitate to —(He yawns.)— to end."

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