The painkillers that Hamm asks Clov to give him throughout the play are an embodiment of the fact that Hamm is waiting in vain for something to happen that will ease his misery. In this case, he wants the painkillers because he hopes to decrease his physical suffering, but Clov repeatedly tells him that it isn’t time for him to take the medication yet. Then, when Clov finally agrees that it’s time for the painkillers, he informs Hamm that there are no more painkillers. Consequently, Hamm is forced to continue waiting for something to ease his pain, though now there is no hope that anything in his immediate environment will help him do this. In this sense, then, the painkillers—and the eventual reveal of their nonexistence—represent the notion that it’s impossible to escape suffering, which is an integral and unavoidable part of being alive.
Hamm’s Painkillers Symbol Timeline in Endgame
