Endgame

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Summary Key Facts

Full title Endgame

Author Samuel Beckett

Type of work Drama

Genre Absurdist drama/comedy

Language Originally french; translated into English by Beckett

Time and place written Paris, mid-1950s

Date of First Production London, April 3, 1957

Publisher Grove Press

Narrator No narrator; drama

Climax The climax occurs when Clov finally leaves

Protagonist Hamm; Clov

Antagonist At times Hamm; the environment; death

Setting (time) Modern day

Setting (place) A hole near the sea

Point of view The audience empathizes most with Clov, though we spend the most time with Hamm

Falling action Clov returns as Hamm soliloquizes

Tense Play; present tense

Foreshadowing Clov frequently threatens to leave, and Hamm often tells him to

Tone Absurdly comic, philosophical

Themes Cyclical, Repetitive Nature of Beginnings and Endings; Emptiness and Loneliness; Theatre of the Absurd

Motifs Chess

Symbols Light and darkness; Youth