Endgame by Samuel Beckett

Author:Samuel Beckett [Samuel Beckett]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780571297023
Publisher: Faber & Faber
Published: 2012-12-15T00:00:00+00:00

CLOV: I’m cold.

HAMM: What month are we? [Pause.] Close the window, we’re going back. [CLOV closes the window, gets down, pushes the chair back to its place, remains standing behind it, head bowed.] Don’t stay there, you give me the shivers! [CLOV returns to his place beside the chair.] Father! [Pause. Louder.] Father! [Pause.] Go and see did he hear me. [CLOV goes to NAGG’s bin, raises the lid, stoops. Unintelligible words. CLOV straightens up.]

CLOV: Yes.

HAMM: Both times?

[CLOV stoops. As before.]

CLOV: Once only.

HAMM: The first time or the second?

[CLOV stoops. As before.]

CLOV: He doesn’t know.

HAMM: It must have been the second.

CLOV: We’ll never know.

[He closes lid.]

HAMM: Is he still crying?

CLOV: No.

HAMM: The dead go fast. [Pause.] What’s he doing?

CLOV: Sucking his biscuit.

HAMM: Life goes on. [CLOV returns to his place beside the chair.] Give me a rug, I’m freezing.

CLOV: There are no more rugs.

[Pause.]

HAMM: Kiss me. [Pause.] Will you not kiss me?

CLOV: No.

HAMM: On the forehead.

CLOV: I won’t kiss you anywhere.

[Pause.]

HAMM: [Holding out his hand.] Give me your hand at least.

[Pause.] Will you not give me your hand?

CLOV: I won’t touch you.

[Pause.]

HAMM: Give me the dog. [CLOV looks round for the dog.] No!

CLOV: Do you not want your dog?

HAMM: No.

CLOV: Then I’ll leave you.

HAMM: [Head bowed, absently.] That’s right.

[CLOV goes to door, turns.]

CLOV: If I don’t kill that rat he’ll die.

HAMM: [As before.] That’s right. [Exit CLOV. Pause.] Me to play. [He takes out his handkerchief, unfolds it, holds it spread out before him.] We’re getting on. [Pause.] You weep, and weep, for nothing, so as not to laugh, and little by little … you begin to grieve. [He folds the handkerchief, puts it back in his pocket, raises his head.] All those I might have helped. [Pause.] Helped! [Pause.] Saved. [Pause.] Saved! [Pause.] The place was crawling with them! [Pause. Violently.] Use your head, can’t you, use your head, you’re on earth, there’s no cure for that! [Pause.] Get out of here and love one another! Lick your neighbour as yourself! [Pause. Calmer.] When it wasn’t bread they wanted it was crumpets. [Pause. Violently.] Out of my sight and back to your petting parties [Pause.] All that, all that! [Pause.] Not even a real dog! [Calmer.] The end is in the beginning and yet you go on. [Pause.] Perhaps I could go on with my story, end it and begin another. [Pause.] Perhaps I could throw myself out on the floor. [He pushes himself painfully off his seat, falls back again.] Dig my nails into the cracks and drag myself forward with my fingers. [Pause.] It will be the end and there I’ll be, wondering what can have brought it on and wondering what can have … [he hesitates] … why it was so long coming. [Pause.] There I’ll be, in the old refuge, alone against the silence and … [he hesitates] … the stillness. If I can hold my peace, and sit quiet, it will be all over with sound, and motion, all over and done with. [Pause.] I’ll have called my father and I’ll have called my … [he hesitates] … my son.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.