The Complete Dramatic Works (20 page)

HAMM:
The base.

CLOV:
[
Looking.
]
Yes.

HAMM:
And now?

CLOV:
[
Looking.
]
All gone.

HAMM:
No gulls?

CLOV:
[
Looking.
]
Gulls!

HAMM:
And the horizon? Nothing on the horizon?

CLOV:
[
Lowering
the
telescope,
turning
towards
HAMM
,
exasperated.
]
What in God’s name could there be on the horizon?

[
Pause.
]

HAMM:
The waves, how are the waves?

CLOV:
The waves? [
He
turns
the
telescope
on
the
waves.
]
Lead.

HAMM:
And the sun?

CLOV:
[
Looking.
]
Zero. 

HAMM:
But it should be sinking. Look again.

CLOV:
[
Looking.
]
Damn the sun.

HAMM:
Is it night already then?

CLOV:
[
Looking.
]
No. 

HAMM:
Then what is it?

CLOV:
[
Looking.
]
Grey. [
Lowering
the
telescope,
turning
towards
HAMM
,
louder.
]
Grey! [
Pause.
Still
louder.
] GRREY! [
Pause.
He
gets
down,
approaches
HAMM
from
behind,
whispers
in
his
ear.
]

HAMM:
[
Starting.
]
Grey! Did I hear you say grey?

CLOV:
Light black. From pole to pole.

HAMM:
You exaggerate. [
Pause.
]
Don’t stay there, you give me the shivers.

[
CLOV
returns
to
his
place
beside
the
chair.
]

CLOV:
Why this farce, day after day?

HAMM:
Routine. One never knows. [
Pause.
] Last night I saw inside my breast. There was a big sore.

CLOV:
Pah! You saw your heart.

HAMM:
No, it was living. [
Pause.
Anguished.
]
Clov!

CLOV:
Yes.

HAMM:
What’s happening?

CLOV:
Something is taking its course.

[
Pause.
]

HAMM:
Clov!

CLOV:
[
Impatiently.
]
What is it?

HAMM:
We’re not beginning to … to … mean something?

CLOV:
Mean something! You and I, mean something! [
Brief
laugh.
] Ah that’s a good one!

HAMM:
I wonder. [
Pause.
]
Imagine if a rational being came back to earth, wouldn’t he be liable to get ideas
into his head if he observed us long enough. [
Voice
of
rational
being.
]
Ah, good, now I see what it is, yes, now I understand what they’re at! [
CLOV
starts,
drops
the
telescope
and
begins
to
scratch
his
belly
with
both
hands.
Normal
voice.
] And without going so far as that, we ourselves … [
with
emotion
]
… we ourselves … at certain moments … [
Vehemently.
]
To think perhaps it won’t all have been for nothing!

CLOV:
[
Anguished,
scratching
himself.
]
I have a flea!

HAMM:
A flea! Are there still fleas?

CLOV:
On me there’s one. [
Scratching.
]
Unless it’s a crablouse.

HAMM:
[
Very
perturbed.
]
But humanity might start from there all over again! Catch him, for the love of God!

CLOV:
I’ll go and get the powder.

[
Exit
CLOV
.]

HAMM:
A flea! This is awful! What a day!

[
Enter
CLOV
with
a
sprinkling-tin.
]

CLOV:
I’m back again, with the insecticide.

HAMM:
Let him have it!

[
CLOV
loosens
the
top
of
his
trousers,
pulls
it
forward
and
shakes
powder
into
the
aperture.
He
stoops,
looks,
waits,
starts,
frenziedly
shakes
more
powder,
stoops,
looks,
waits.
]

CLOV:
The bastard!

HAMM:
Did you get him?

CLOV:
Looks like it. [
He
drops
the
tin
and
adjusts
his
trousers.
] Unless he’s laying doggo.

HAMM:
Laying! Lying you mean. Unless he’s
lying
doggo.

CLOV:
Ah? One says lying? One doesn’t say laying?

HAMM:
Use your head, can’t you. If he was laying we’d be bitched.

CLOV:
Ah. [
Pause.
] What about that pee?

HAMM:
I’m having it.

CLOV:
Ah that’s the spirit, that’s the spirit!

[
Pause.
]

HAMM:
[
With
ardour.
]
Let’s go from here, the two of us! South! You can make a raft and the currents will
carry us away, far away, to other … mammals!

CLOV:
God forbid!

HAMM:
Alone, I’ll embark alone! Get working on that raft immediately. Tomorrow I’ll be
gone for ever.

CLOV:
[
Hastening
towards
door.
]
I’ll start straight away.

HAMM:
Wait! [
CLOV
halts.
]
Will there be sharks, do you think?

CLOV:
Sharks? I don’t know. If there are there will be.

[
He
goes
towards
door.
]

HAMM:
Wait! [
CLOV
halts.
]
Is it not yet time for my
pain-killer
?

CLOV:
[
Violently.
]
No!

[
He
goes
towards
door.
]

HAMM:
Wait! [
CLOV
halts.
]
How are your eyes?

CLOV:
Bad.

HAMM:
But you can see.

CLOV:
All I want.

HAMM:
How are your legs?

CLOV:
Bad.

HAMM:
But you can walk.

CLOV:
I come … and go.

HAMM:
In my house. [
Pause.
With
prophetic
relish.
]
One day you’ll be blind, like me. You’ll be sitting there, a speck in the void, in
the dark, for ever, like me. [
Pause.
]
One day you’ll say to yourself, I’m tired, I’ll sit down, and you’ll go and sit down.
Then you’ll say, I’m hungry, I’ll get up and get something to eat. But you won’t get
up. You’ll say, I shouldn’t have sat down, but since I have I’ll sit on a little longer,
then I’ll get up and get something to eat. But you won’t get up and you won’t get
anything to eat. [
Pause.
] You’ll look at the wall a while, then you’ll say, I’ll close my eyes, perhaps have
a little sleep, after that I’ll feel better, and you’ll close them. And when you open
them again there’ll be no wall any more. [
Pause.
]
Infinite emptiness will be all around you, all the resurrected dead of all the ages
wouldn’t fill it, and there you’ll be like a little
bit of grit in the middle of the steppe. [
Pause.
]
Yes, one day you’ll know what it is, you’ll be like me, except that you won’t have
anyone with you, because you won’t have had pity on anyone and because there won’t
be anyone left to have pity on.

[
Pause.
]

CLOV:
It’s not certain. [
Pause.
]
And there’s one thing you forget.

HAMM:
Ah?

CLOV:
I can’t sit down.

HAMM:
[
Impatiently.
]
Well, you’ll lie down then, what the hell! Or you’ll come to a standstill, simply
stop and stand still, the way you are now. One day you’ll say, I’m tired, I’ll stop.
What does the attitude matter?

[
Pause.
]

CLOV:
So you all want me to leave you.

HAMM:
Naturally.

CLOV:
Then I’ll leave you.

HAMM:
You can’t leave us.

CLOV:
Then I shan’t leave you.

[
Pause.
]

HAMM:
Why don’t you finish us? [
Pause.
]
I’ll tell you the combination of the larder if you promise to finish me.

CLOV:
I couldn’t finish you.

HAMM:
Then you shan’t finish me.

[
Pause.
]

CLOV:
I’ll leave you, I have things to do.

HAMM:
Do you remember when you came here?

CLOV:
No. Too small, you told me.

HAMM:
Do you remember your father?

CLOV:
[
Wearily.
]
Same answer. [
Pause.
]
You’ve asked me these questions millions of times.

HAMM:
I love the old questions. [
With
fervour.
]
Ah the old questions, the old answers, there’s nothing like them! [
Pause.
]
It was I was a father to you.

CLOV:
Yes. [
He
looks
at
HAMM
fixedly.
]
You were that to me.

HAMM:
My house a home for you.

CLOV:
Yes. [
He
looks
about
him.
]
This was that for me.

HAMM:
[
Proudly.
]
But for me [
gesture
towards
himself
]
no
father. But for Hamm [
gesture
towards
surroundings
]
no home.

[
Pause.
]

CLOV:
I’ll leave you.

HAMM:
Did you ever think of one thing?

CLOV:
Never.

HAMM:
That here we’re down in a hole. [
Pause.
]
But beyond the hills? Eh? Perhaps it’s still green. Eh? [
Pause.
]
Flora! Pomona! [
Ecstatically.
]
Ceres! [
Pause.
]
Perhaps you won’t need to go very far.

CLOV:
I can’t go very far. [
Pause.
]
I’ll leave you.

HAMM:
Is my dog ready?

CLOV:
He lacks a leg.

HAMM:
Is he silky?

CLOV:
He’s a kind of Pomeranian.

HAMM:
Go and get him.

CLOV:
He lacks a leg.

HAMM:
Go and get him! [
Exit
CLOV
.] We’re getting on.

[
Enter
CLOV
holding
by
one
of
its
three
legs
a
black
toy
dog.
]

CLOV:
Your dogs are here.

[
He
hands
the
dog
to 
HAMM
who
feels
it,
fondles
it.
]

HAMM:
He’s white, isn’t he?

CLOV:
Nearly.

HAMM:
What do you mean, nearly? Is he white or isn’t he?

CLOV:
He isn’t.

[
Pause.
]

HAMM:
You’ve forgotten the sex.

CLOV:
[
Vexed.
]
But he isn’t finished. The sex goes on at the end.