In chess, endgame refers to an ending in the game where the outcome is already known. It is the final move of the game; the end of the game. There is a direct parallel between endgame and the final stages of life. In the game of life the endgame is death, and no matter how you play the game the final move always results in death. Everyone will die eventually and there is no way around it; in every chess game there will be an endgame.
             In Beckett's Endgame a main theme seems to be the finishing of things. The opening lines of the play in fact are about things being finished. "Finished, it's finished, nearly finished, it must be nearly finished." Clov makes this statement at the start of the play, not at the end where it would be most expected. This could be because that to finish something for good would mean death.
             In the play the only character that dies is Nell. She is therefore the only character that is able to escape from the world and end her game of life. The two main characters, Hamm and Clov, are unable to do this. It is understood that the two need each other to survive and without one the other would die. Hamm needs Clov because he can neither walk nor see. Clov needs Hamm because it is Hamm that has the combination to the cupboard. This is the reason for the love-hate relationship between the two. They love each other for the same reason that they hate each other. They need one another, and cannot survive without each other.
             Throughout the play it becomes obvious that the two stay together because they are afraid to be alone in the world. It also becomes apparent to the reader th
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