together, and whisper
together, in the dark. [Pause.] Momen t upon moment, pattering down, like the millet grains of. . . [He hesitates.] . . . that old Greek,' and all life long you wait for that to mount up to a life. [Pause. He opens his mouth to continue, renounces.] A h let's get it over! [He whistles. Enter CLOV with alarm- clock. He halts beside the chair.] What ? Neither gone nor dead?
CLOV In spirit only.
HAMM Which?
CLOV Both.
HAMM Gone from me you'd be dead.
CLOV An d vice versa.
HAMM Outside of here it's death! [Pause.] An d the rat?
CLOV He's got away. HAMM H e can't go far. [Pause. Anxious.] Eh? CLOV H e doesn't need to go far. [Pause.] HAMM Is it not time for my pain-killer?
CLOV Yes. HAMM Ah! At last! Give it to me! Quick! [Pause.] CLOV There's no more pain-killer. [Pause.] HAMM [Appalled.] Good . . . ! [Pause.] N o more pain-killer! CLOV N o more pain-killer. You'll never get any more pain-killer. [Pause.]
HAMM But the little round box. It was full! CLOV Yes. But now it's empty. [Pause, CLOV starts to move about the room. He is looking for a place to put down the alarm-clock.]
HAMM [So/t.] What'll I do? [Pause. In a scream.] What'll I do? [CLOV sees the picture, takes it down, stands it on the floor with its face to the wall, hangs up the alarm-clock in its place.] Wha t are you doing?
4. Parody of Jesus' instruction: 'Thou shalt love millet falling makes no sound, how can a bushel of thy neighbor as thyself (Matthew 19.19). grains make any sound?' (reported by Aristotle in 5. Zeno of Elea (ca. 450 B.C.E.), a Greek philoso-his Physics 5:250 a.19). pher famous for his paradoxes; e.g., 'If a grain of
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ENDGAME / 2417
CLOV Winding up. HAMM Look at the earth. CLOV Again! HAMM Since it's calling to you. CLOV IS your throat sore? [Pause.] Woul d you like a lozenge? [Pause.] No.
[Pause.] Pity, [CLOV goes, humming, towards window right, halts before it, looks up at it.]
HAMM Don't sing. CLOV [Turning towards HAMM.] On e hasn't the right to sing any more? HAMM No.
CLOV Then how can it end?
HAMM You want it to end?
CLOV I want to sing. HAMM I can't prevent you. [Pause, CLOV turns towards window right.] CLOV Wha t did I do with that steps? [He looks around for ladder.] You didn't
see that steps? [He sees it.] Ah, about time. [He goes towards window left.] Sometimes I wonder if I'm in my right mind. The n it passes over and I'm as lucid as before. [He gets up on ladder, looks out of window.] Christ, she's under water! [He looks.] Ho w can that be? [He pokes forward his head, his hand above his eyes.] It hasn't rained. [He wipes the pane, looks. Pause.] Ah what a fool I am! I'm on the wrong side! [He gets down, takes a few steps towards window right.] Under water! [He goes back for ladder.] What a fool
am! [He carries ladder towards window right.] Sometimes I wonder if I'm in m y right senses. The n it passes off and I'm as intelligent as ever. [He sets down ladder under window right, gets up on it, looks out of window. He turns towards HAMM.] An y particular sector you fancy? O r merely the whole thing?
HAMM Whole thing. CLOV Th e general effect? Just a moment. [He looks out of window. Pause.] HAMM Clov. CLOV [Absorbed.] Mmm. HAMM DO you know what it is? CLOV [As before.] Mmm. HAMM I was never there. [Pause.] Clov! CLOV [Turning towards HAMM, exasperated.] What is it? HAMM I was never there. CLOV Lucky for you. [He looks out of window.] HAMM Absent, always. It all happened without me. I don't know what's hap
pened. [Pause.] Do you know what's happened? [Pause.] Clov! CLOV [Turning towards HAMM, exasperated.] Do you want me to look at this muckheap, yes or no?
HAMM Answer me first.
CLOV What?
HAMM Do you know what's happened?
CLOV When? Where?
HAMM [Violently.] When ! What's happened? Use your head, can't you! Wha t
has happened? CLOV Wha t for Christ's sake does it matter? [He looks out of window.] HAMM I don't know. [Pause, CLOV turns towards HAMM.] CLOV [Harshly.] Whe n old Mother Pegg asked you for oil for her lamp and
you told her to get out to hell, you knew what was happening then, no?
[Pause.] You know what she died of, Mother Pegg? Of darkness.
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241 8 / SAMUEL BECKETT
HAMM [Feebly. ] I hadn't any. CLOV [AS before.] Yes, you had. [Pause.] HAMM Have you the glass?
CLOV NO, it's clear enough as it is. HAMM G o and get it. [Pause, CLOV casts u-p his eyes, brandishes his fists. He loses balance, clutches on to the ladder. He starts to get down, halts.] CLOV There's one thing I'll never understand. [He gets down.] Wh y I always obey you. Can you explain that to me?
