How Hamm Delivers Existential Anxiety in Endgame

Abstract

Endgame is a play that encapsulates Samuel Beckett’s existential ideas. It is set in a fictional, enclosed house and unfolds through conversations among four characters. Hamm and Clov engage in a dynamic master-slave relationship as they await the end. The play illustrates the recognition of existence and the anxiety surrounding the impending end through conflicts between the characters, addressing themes of life and existentialism. It exemplifies Beckett’s distinctive aesthetic qualities and offers spectators the opportunity to reflect on humanity’s struggles with fate and the inevitable end of life through this absurd tragicomedy. Endgame has attracted scholars for analysis due to its unique narrative style and the core idea of existentialism. Nothingness, vacancy and misery have been widely discussed since its publication. This essay will focus on the existential anxiety conveyed by the main character, Hamm, examining Beckett’s narrative style and how Hamm responds to the anxiety of existence by referencing Sartre’s ideas of existentialism.