How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Act.Line). Every time a character talks counts as one line, even if what they say turns into a long monologue.
Quote #7
CLOV
I'll leave you.
HAMM
No!
CLOV
What is there to keep me here?
HAMM
The dialogue. (1.580-582)
How does this line create a meta-theatrical moment? What other connotations does it take on because this is a play being performed in a theater? What would there be to keep Clov going if he was alone and there was no dialogue?
Quote #8
CLOV
Keep going, can't you, keep going!
HAMM
That's all. I stopped there.
(Pause.)
CLOV
Do you see how it goes on.
HAMM
More or less.
CLOV
Will it soon be the end?
HAMM
I'm afraid it will. (1.615-620)
How does Hamm's storytelling give way to the present moment? How is the present moment relate to his story? Is narrating the story an act of power? Is giving up narration an admission of defeat?
Quote #9
HAMM
Then babble, babble, words, like a solitary child who turns himself into children, two, three, so as to be together, and whisper together, in the dark. (1.688)
How do words keep Hamm company? Being blind, in what ways is Hamm more dependent on words than the people around him? To what extent do words make up the world that Hamm lives in?