Endgame and Les Miserables-Defeat

The Theme Of Defeat

Endgame-

Defeat is shown in The Endgame in many different aspects of the play. The defeat of the characters becomes more apparent as the play goes on. The character Clov is very childlike and suffers several near defeats in the course of the play.  From the beginning he refuses to give up and tries to hold onto the last remaining hope he has in the play. Throughout the events that take place in the play it becomes more and more apparent that he is almost defeated this is to me shown by his mundane and routine life and by always being controlled by Hamm.

Hamm also changes with the defeat theme because one minute he is happy the next he has or is near to giving up. I think Hamm likes to believe he isn’t defeated by the situation when in fact he is probably the worst out of all of the characters. The theme defeat is echoed by the lines in the script. It seems very rigid and at points searching for hope. It is almost like the characters in the story are not sure how to accept defeat so are holding on and hoping for the best as they don’t want to believe it’s the ‘end’. I feel like defeat is determined throughout from the very beginning because of the attitudes of the characters and the simplicity of the play.

Les Miserables-

Les Miserables is another show that has a running theme of defeat throughout. I think it also includes hope as well. This play is based upon the French Revolution. All the characters in the play, no matter how optimistic they become, they are defeated in one way or another. They are all fighting their own battles and, because of the powerful nature of the story, mostly losing. For example the character Fontaine has little hope throughout and finally defeated by losing her job which leads to her not being able to look after her child; this leads to the ultimate defeat when she eventually starves and dies. Before she is fully defeated another character (Jean Val jean) carries on her hope. He saves Fontaine’s dream by looking after her child. He ends up dying because of his haunted and defeated past. This musical ends with the death of most of the revolutionaries and the death of most main characters. The exception is the child of Fontaine, Corsette and her lover, Marius who vows to look after her.