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The Game Samuel Beckett Plays in Endgame

  • Journal of Modern English Drama
  • Abbr : JMBARD
  • 2022, 35(1), pp.137-157
  • Publisher : 한국현대영미드라마학회
  • Research Area : Humanities > English Language and Literature > English Literature > Contemporary English Drama
  • Received : March 25, 2022
  • Accepted : April 11, 2022
  • Published : April 30, 2022

HWANG, JUNG SUK 1

1성균관대학교

Accredited

ABSTRACT

Samuel Beckett’s Endgame (1957) was originally published and performed in French, entitled Fin de Partie, and translated to English by Beckett himself. It is a one-act play with four characters: Hamm, Clov, Nagg, and Nell confined to a shelter, where there is nothing to eat except the last few biscuits in the cupboard in the off-stage kitchen. “Endgame” is a term in chess that refers to the final stages of the game where only a few pieces remain on the board, and Beckett himself stated that he entitled his play “Endgame as in chess” and Hamm is like a king who desperately delays the end. Naturally, the analogy of the play with chess has dominated the reading of the play. Identifying Hamm as king, Clov as knight or pawn, and Negg and Nell as either rooks or pawns, many critics have examined metaphors of chess or a game in the play. Focusing on the link between Endgame and chess game, the current readings, however, have overlooked how Beckett breaks the rules of a game in the play. Applying Johan Huizinga’s theory of the game, I reveal the neglected aspect, re-examine the play’s characteristics of the Theater of the Absurd concerning game theory, and examine what outcomes Beckett intends. I further examine what underlies Beckett’s legal scuffles with directors and theater companies that staged his play.

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