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 #4
HAMM
What's happening?
CLOV
Something is taking its course. (1.339-340)
Clov repeats these lines several times in the play. Does this view of life leave any room for individual agency or control? Is it a completely fatalistic view? Is it a philosophy of Clov's or is it simply borne of his despair?
Quote #5
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. (1.343-345)
Do you think that Hamm is hoping that they mean something or is this some sort of odd threat? What view of life would it take for someone to wish that his or her life had no meaning? What state would the world have to be in?
Quote #6
CLOV
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! (1.396-397)
Compare this Clov's bemoaning the fact that one gets the same questions and the same answers all one's life long. In what way does a love of these questions or a hatred of them determine the way that one sees the world? In what way does an appetite for questions versus an appetite for answers constitute a philosophy of life?