Hopelessness of a chap getting two ducks (7)
I believe the answer is:
despair
'hopelessness of a chap' is the definition.
'despair' can be an answer for 'hopelessness' (despair is a kind of hopelessness). I'm not certain of the 'of a chap' bit.
'getting two ducks' is the wordplay.
'getting' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'two' becomes 'pair' (pair is a kind of two).
'ducks' becomes 'des' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should believe this answer much more).
'pair' after 'des' is 'DESPAIR'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for despair that I've seen before include "Abandon hope" , "Complete absence of hope" , "Total loss of hope" , "A spider (anag.)" , "State of having lost all hope" .)