A Beginning Glossary of Words, Allusions, and Some Possible Interpretations for Samuel Beckett’s Endgame

By James Dolph

I. What’s in a Name?

a. HAMM: Some have suggested that this character is named to suggest a HAMMER.  Other critics have drawn a parallel to the tragic heroes of Classical and Elizabethan tragedy; most notably, Oedipus (HAMM is blind) and Hamlet of Shakespeare.  There are some arguable parallels to Richard III, Lear, and also Prospero.

b. CLOV: Reference is to the word clove.  If following the HAMMER analogy, this translates directly into what we now refer to as the claw of that tool, which is used for pulling nails. We still refer to animals such as goat and pigs as have a “cloved” hoof.  Can also be a piece of a flower or a bulb, as in a garlic clove. There is also the clove itself, which looks a great deal like a nail.

c. NAGG: The obvious reference is to an old horse or a person who constantly antagonizes and “needles” another.  Perhaps “needle” is significant, for it is from the same root, is a similar implement as, and was once a synonym for nail.

d. NELL: In keeping with the HAMMER-CLAW-NAIL interpretation, this one becomes most obvious.

II. The Characters as Chess Pieces: An Interpretation.

a. HAMM: Though most scholars have suggested that HAMM is the KING, it is perhaps more fitting to equate him with the KNIGHT.  This is primarily because of his various references to horses and the movements he makes around the set (if the set is to be seen as pieces from the chessboard.  Also, a KNIGHT might well have been the son of a KING/QUEEN.  Since HAMM is the son of the two impotent characters of NAGG and NELL, the KNIGHT seems to me to be the more appropriate.

b. CLOV: CLOV is probably a PAWN.  He is socially the lowest-ranking member of the cast.  He is, however, at the end of the game, the one who has the most opportunity to move…even though this movement is slow and shuffling—one space at a time, as it were.  Some have said that he is a KNIGHT, but this would suggest that HAMM is then the KING (since CLOV ultimately serves this piece-character).  The further analysis of the characters above seems to preclude this.  CLOV’s status as PAWN is also suggested by his reference to the dimensions of the kitchen in which he waits(“[…] ten feet, by ten feet, by ten feet, […]”).

c. NAGG: The KING.  HAMM’s father.  Of interest in the story.  Once had power over the KNIGHT HAMM.  Now impotent, broken down.  Lacking any power at the end of this game.

d. NELL: The QUEEN.  In some ways, the most powerful piece on the board. Yet, now, sitting next to the hobble KING, she loses her pulse, cannot move, and –if not already so—may as well be dead.

III. The Text

Page 1	Speaker Stage directions	Term Brief tableau	Explanation/Reference “freeze”
1	Stage directions	Toque	\Toque\ (t[=o]k), n. [F. toque; of Celtic origin; cf. W. toc.] 1. A kind of cap worn in the 16th century, and copied in    modern fashions; -- called also {toquet}.
1	CLOV	“Finished, […]”	John 19:30 (King James Version) King James Version (KJV)   When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.
1	CLOV	“[…]heap […]”
2	HAMM	“Me—to play.”	Ref. to chess game… “my move”
2	HAMM	Stancher	One who, or that which, stanches, or stops, the flowing, as of blood.
2	HAMM	“Can there be misery loftier than mine?”	Lamentations 1.12 Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by? behold, and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow, which is done unto me, wherewith the LORD hath afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger.
2	HAMM	“My father? My Mother? My…dog?”	Possible reference to LAUNCE’s II.iii speech in Shakespeare’s The Two Gentlemen of Verona. “[…] my mother weeping, my father wailing, my sister crying, our maid howling, our cat wringing her hands, and all our house in a great perplexity, yet did not this cruel-hearted cur shed one tear: he is a stone, a very pebble stone, and has no more pity in him than a dog […]”
3	HAMM	“What dreams!”	Hamlet III.i. “To die, to sleep;             To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub;             For in that sleep of death what dreams may come             When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,             Must give us pause: there's the respect             That makes calamity of so long life; […]”
3	HAMM	“[…]shelter […]”	Reference, perhaps to a bomb shelter. See this link to 1950’s Cold War Era bomb shelters
4	HAMM	“[…] white […]”	First reference to “white” and “black” in the script.  Essential because of the traditionally white and black squares and pieces on the chess board
4	HAMM	“I feel a litter queer.”	“Queer” does not refer to homosexual in this instance.  However, some authorized stagings of Endgame have changed the wording to “strange.”
6	HAMM	Bisuit	This is a reference to the European version of a cookie.  However, a play on words will erupt shortly, as NAGG will be given an actual dog biscuit.
8	CLOV	“I don’t know the combination of the cupboard”	Reference to a place where medication or some sort of poisons might be kept.  Odd, however, that CLOV has command of the kitchen, and will later produce an insecticide, but insists he can’t get into the cupboard when HAMM invites him to kill him.
8	HAMM	“Go and get two bicycle-wheels.”	Bicycles are important to Beckett.  See this link for discussion.
8	CLOV	“Sometimes on horse.”	One line that could support CLOV’s occupying the status of KNIGHT in this game.
9	NAGG	Pap	\Pap\, n. [Cf. OSw. papp. Cf. {Pap} soft food.] 1. (Anat.) A nipple; a mammilla; a teat. --Dryden.          The paps which thou hast sucked.      --Luke xi. 27. 2. A rounded, nipplelike hill or peak; anything resembling a    nipple in shape; a mamelon. --Macaulay. 1. A soft food for infants, made of bread boiled or softened in milk or water. 2. Nourishment or support from official patronage; as, treasury pap. [Colloq. & Contemptuous] 3. The pulp of fruit. v. t. To feed with pap.
9	HAMM	“Accursed progenitor.”	An ancestor in the direct line; a forefather. (NAGG is HAMM’s father)
10	CLOV	Spratt’s medium	A brand of dog biscuit in Ireland in the 1950’s. Beckett called this le classique biscuite in the script’s original French.
10	HAMM	“Bottle him!”	A military/chess term that may refer to any forces that cannot be moved for any reason.  Either from enemy pressure or blocking by friendly forces or limitation of movement capability.  NAGG is, of course, shut down in the ashbin at this point in the splay.
10	HAMM & CLOV	References to standing and sitting (esp. HAMM’s “Every man his speciality.”	Perhaps further evidence of these characters’ roles in the chess game. The KNIGHT always sits upon his horse.  The PAWN always stands.
12	CLOV	Smithereen	Informal Fragments or splintered pieces; bits: The fragile dish broke into smithereens. From Irish Gaelic smidirn, diminutive of smiodar, small fragment.  In American English, this is ONLY a plural noun.
12	HAMM	“Mene, mene?”	Daniel 5.24-28 24: Then was the part of the hand sent from him; and this writing was written. 25: And this is the writing that was written, MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN. 26: This is the interpretation of the thing: MENE; God hath numbered thy kingdom, and finished it. 27: TEKEL; Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting. 28: PERES; Thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians.
14	CLOV	Whelped	“born” NOUN: A young offspring of a mammal, such as a dog or wolf. A child; a youth. An impudent young fellow. A tooth of a sprocket wheel. Nautical. Any of the ridges on the barrel of a windlass or capstan. VERB: whelped , whelp·ing , whelps VERB: intr. To give birth to whelps or a whelp. VERB: tr. To give birth to (whelps or a whelp).
14	NELL	farce	NOUN: A light dramatic work in which highly improbable plot situations, exaggerated characters, and often slapstick elements are used for humorous effect. The branch of literature constituting such works. The broad or spirited humor characteristic of such works. A ludicrous, empty show; a mockery: The fixed election was a farce. A seasoned stuffing, as for roasted turkey.
16	NAGG	“When we crashed our tandem and lost our shanks”	Tandem bicycle: a bicycle built for two. Shanks: NOUN: The part of the human leg between the knee and ankle. A corresponding part in other vertebrates. The whole leg of a human. A leg or leglike part. A cut of meat from the leg of a steer, calf, sheep, or lamb. The long narrow part of a nail or pin. A stem, stalk, or similar part. Nautical The stem of an anchor. The long shaft of a fishhook. The part of a tobacco pipe between the bowl and stem. The shaft of a key. The narrow section of the handle of a spoon. Printing The section of a body of type between the shoulder and the foot. The narrow part of the sole of a shoe under the instep. A piece of material, such as metal, that is used to reinforce or shape this part of a shoe. A projection, such as a ring, on the back of a button by which it is sewn to cloth. The part of a tool, such as a drill, that connects the functioning head to the handle. The latter or remaining part, especially of a period of time. The early or primary part of a period of time: the shank of the evening.
16	NELL	Ardennes	Plateau forest in Northern France (where the Battle of the Bulge was fought in WWII)
16	NAGG	Sedan	Town in Northern France (the site of an 1870 defeat that Napoleon suffered)
20	HAMM	Vein	Perhaps meaning a play on the word “vain”
20	NAGG	“Will I tell you the story?”	UK English syntax difference from US English.  “Do you want me to tell the story?”
21	NELL	“It was on Lake Como”	Area of Northern Italy, near Milan
22	Stage direction	raconteur	One who tells stories and anecdotes with skill and wit.
22	NAGG	“[…] the bluebells are blowing and he ballockes the buttonholes.”	It is springtime and he messes up the project. Ballockes=bollocks: [v]  make a mess of, destroy or ruin. Related to bullock, which is a young castrated bull.  What we call a steer.
23	HAMM	“My kingdom for a nightman!”	Variation of the famous line from Shakespeare’s Richard III V.iv. KING RICHARD III: A horse! a horse! my kingdom for a horse! “"Nightman" is a portmanteau-word, in the manner of Humpty-Dumpty, containing the notion of a knight (i.e. a horse), black in colour (night) which will end the game in Black's favour. As Hamm follows this futile wish with a desperate move, our suspicions of his inadequacies are confirmed. So desperate is he, in fact, that he takes comfort simply from the change of square (accomplished in the realm of the imagination, with the stage invisibly becoming the new square), and has Clov push him around its boundaries and back to the centre, straightening up fussily as a distracted chess-player might do with his King.”—Andrew Hugill
23	CLOV	“She has no pulse.”	CLOV stops short of saying that NELL (the QUEEN) is dead.  She does not move, does not do anything, yet she is still on the board…”bottled” in the ashbin.
25	HAMM	“Take me for a little turn. Not too fast! Right round the world! Hug the walls, then back to the center again. I was right in the center, wasn’t I?”	CLOV, at this point, moves HAMM in a sort of “L” shape, much as the KNIGHT would move on the chessboard.
26	CLOV	“I’ll measure it.”	A ‘measured’ move—assisted by CLOV (as PAWN).
27	CLOV	“If I could kill him, I’d die happy.”	Of course, the PAWN cannot kill the KNIGHT, as he is on the same side.  In fact, he must continue to serve him.
27	HAMM	“Look at the earth.”	“Look at the window that shows land.”  As opposed to the window out of which the ocean is seen.”
28	CLOV & HAMM	Glass	As explained in the stage directions, this refers to a telescope, or spyglass.
28	CLOV & HAMM	Steps	Refers to a step ladder.  Beckett uses it as a singular noun (“a” steps).
33	CLOV	“I have a flea!”	The flea could possibly be a black PAWN…I.E., the enemy that is small, yet must be destroyed.
34	CLOV	“[…] laying doggo […]”	We might say, “playing ‘possum.”
34	HAMM	Bitched	A bitch is a female dog.  The reference is possibly sexual, meaning “screwed.”
35	HAMM	“I love the old questions.”	Chess allusion.  Classic chess problems are referred to sometimes as “old questions.”
36	HAMM	“Flora! Pomona! Ceres!”	Roman Goddesses of flowers, fruit trees, and farming.  Pomona is also an alternate name for one of the Orkney Islands (AKA: Mainland Island), which is known for its ancient archaeological finds (the ancient Britons knows as the Picts).
41	HAMM	Mother Pegg	Some scholars speculate as to whether this is a religious allusion to St. Mary, as Pegg (or Peggy) is short for Margaret, which is an a variation of Mary.
42	HAMM	Bonny	Particularly Irish term meaning “good” or “attractive.” Derived from the Latin bon.
42	HAMM	Gaff	A staff with a hook.  This is the KNIGHT’s shape, roughly its move, and essentially its function.
43-44	CLOV	“That means that bloody awful day, long ago, before this bloody awful day. I use the words you taught me.  If they don’t mean anything anymore, teach me others.  Or let me be silent.”	Reference is the Shakespeare’s The Tempest I.ii. CALIBAN: You taught me language; and my profit on't Is, I know how to curse. The red plague rid you For learning me your language!
44	HAMM	“[…] you weren’t in the land of the living.”	“You were not yet born.”
44	HAMM	The painter-engraver	Some scholars believe this is a reference to William Blake.
45	CLOV	Inanities	A noun form of the adjective “inane”: one that lacks sense or substance.
47-48	CLOV	CLOV’s alarm clock plan	This is a plan that really could not work—but it is also possibly another chess reference…MOVE TIMERS make the game more reliant upon players’ skills, and less on painstaking analysis.  But which is which?  MOVE TIMERS might also create more room for errors which opponents may exploit.
49	HAMM	Bon-bon	A type of candy
49	HAMM	Engender	To bring into existence; give rise to: "Every cloud engenders not a storm" (Shakespeare). To procreate; propagate.
50	HAMM	Fontanelles	Any of the soft membranous gaps between the incompletely formed cranial bones of a fetus or an infant. Also called soft spot .
50	HAMM	“Perhaps it’s a little vein. A little artery”	Play of words: possible reference to “vain” and “art.”
51	HAMM	Meerschaum	A fine, compact, usually white claylike mineral of hydrous magnesium silicate, H4Mg2Si3O10, found in the Mediterranean area and used in fashioning tobacco pipes and as a building stone. Also called sepiolite . A tobacco pipe with a bowl made of this mineral.
51	HAMM	Heliometer	A telescope equipped to measure small angular distances between celestial bodies. NOT SURE HOW THIS WOULD MEASURE THE BRIGHTNESS OF THE DAY…BUT I’M SURE BECKETT HAD HIS AGENDA.
52	HAMM	Kov, beyond the gulf.	The urge to survive fathers creativity: the little boy left ‘deep in sleep’ ‘at Kov beyond the gulf’ (Clov beyond the gulf?).--Paul Lawley.
52	HAMM	Anenometer	Either this is a typographic error or a UK English-ism, as the normal spelling is “anemometer”: An instrument for measuring wind force and velocity.
53	HAMM	Hygrometer	Any of several instruments that measure atmospheric humidity.
53	HAMM	Lumbago	A painful condition of the lower back, as one resulting from muscle strain or a slipped disk.
53	HAMM	Imbeciles	NOUN: A stupid or silly person; a dolt. A person whose mental acumen is well below par. A person of moderate to severe mental retardation having a mental age of from three to seven years and generally being capable of some degree of communication and performance of simple tasks under supervision. The term belongs to a classification system no longer in use and is now considered offensive.
54	CLOV	“There’s a rat in the kitchen!”	Reference to an enemy pawn, like the flea before him?
56	NAGG	Turkish Delight	A candy usually consisting of jellylike cubes covered with powdered sugar.
56	NAGG	“I was asleep, as happy as a king […]”	Possible affirmation that NAGG is indeed the KING on the board.
56	HAMM	“Our revels are now ended.”	One line from a speech by Prospero in Shakespeare’s The Tempest  IV.i.
58	CLOV	“I must have put on my boots.”	Is CLOV really leaving?
60	HAMM & CLOV	Guffaw	A hearty, boisterous burst of laughter.
62	CLOV & HAMM	“He’s crying.” “Then he’s living.”	To live to is cry.
65	HAMM	Navigators	Ships.
68	HAMM	Crumpets	A small flat round of bread, baked on a griddle and usually served toasted.  Could this also be a reference to communion wafers?
77	HAMM	“Then let it end! With a bang!”	Some have speculated that this is a reference to the end of T.S. Eliot’s poem, “The Hollow Men”: This is the way the world ends This is the way the world ends This is the way the world ends Not with a bang but a whimper.
82	HAMM	Deuce	Take your pick (from the Latin duus, meaning 2): NOUN:  1) A playing card having two spots or the side of a die bearing two pips.  2) A cast of dice totaling two.  3) A tied score in tennis in which each player or side has 40 points, or 5 or more games, and one player or side must win 2 successive points to win the game, or 2 successive games to win the set. 4) The devil. 5) An outstanding example, especially of something difficult or bad: “had a deuce of a time getting out of town; a deuce of a family row.”  6) A severe reprimand or expression of anger: got the deuce for being late.