The University of Jordan

Faculty of Foreign Languages/ Ph. D. program

Special Topics in Literature/Drama
Prof. Tawfiq Yousef
Tasneem M. Jwifel

Theater of the Absurd:

Pinter's The Caretaker
As far as I am concerned The Caretaker IS funny, up to a point. Beyond that point, it ceases to be
funny, and it is because of that point that I wrote it. (Pinter, 1960)

- Harold Pinter (1930-2008):

As a renowned playwright, screenwriter and a political activist,
Harold Pinter was born in London (1930). His plays are particularly
famous for their use of irony to convey characters' thoughts and feelings.
In 2005, Pinter was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature.
During World War II, Pinter saw some of the bombing of his city by the Germans.
This firsthand experience of war and destruction left a lasting impression on Pinter. In
1957, he wrote a short play, The Room, and went on to create his first full-length drama,
The Birthday Party. He later wrote other major plays such as The Caretaker (1960) and
The Homecoming (1965). Around this time, Pinter also branched out into film, writing the
screenplays for his own works as well as the works of others. He wrote The Servant
(1963) and Accident (1967).
Pinter's politics became more explicit in his late works. The short play Mountain
Language (1988), for instance, was written to highlight the mistreatment of the Kurdish

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people in Turkey. After being diagnosed with cancer in 2001, Pinter continued his writing
and activism. Pinter succumbed to cancer on December 24, 2008. (Web)

Theater of the Absurd

Theater of the absurd is "a form of drama that emphasizes the absurdity of human
existence by employing disjointed, repetitious, and meaningless dialogue, purposeless and
confusing situations, and plots that lack realistic or logical development" (web). Appeared
to describe literary writings of the 1950s and 1960s, theater of the absurd reflects the
absurdity of the human mind and the meaninglessness of life. People's life of that period
was under the question of certainty and purpose. Among the individuals, there was this
deep sense of certain psychological and social problems. The lack of communication, even
the family, as described by T. s. Eliot in his The Waste Land, brought to the social life
silence where words are to be buried.
World War II was the catalyst that finally brought the Theatre of the Absurd to
life. Suddenly, one did not need to be an abstract thinker in order to be able to reflect upon
absurdity: the experience of absurdity became part of the common person's daily
existence. This movement rejects the concept of realism and calls for a return to the
exposure of the deepest conflicts within the human mind (web). It openly rebelled against
conventional theatre. It was surreal, illogical, conflict-less and plot-less. Even the dialogue
was so reflective of the inner fragmentation and confusion in the human mind. It is
scattered, fragmented, and sometimes lack context.

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The Caretaker:
It was the first of Pinter's plays to bring him artistic and commercial success as
well as national recognition. Opening on April 27, 1960, at the Arts Theatre in London,
The Caretaker was an immediate hit with audiences as well as critics, receiving mostly
favorable reviews. In addition, The Caretaker received the Evening Standard Award for
the best play of 1960. It has been called a tragicomedy. The comic elements are certainly
there, and very effective. At the same time, tragedy is always presentin the difficulties
of these men, their self-delusion, their failed hopes; and more specifically in Astons
condition, as well as in Davies homelessness and self-sabotage of his opportunity to find
a place to stay. The play deals with the distance between reality and fantasy, family
relationships, and the struggle for power. It also touches on the subject of mental illness.
Pinter uses elements of both comedy and tragedy to create a play that elicits complex
reactions in the audience. (Web)
The play begins with Aston inviting Davies, a homeless man; into his apartment
after rescuing him from a bar fight; which indicates his generosity. Aston lives with his
brother, Mick, in this apartment. Ruben Moi (2011) argues that the individual characters in
the play "subsist in loneliness in a godless and homosocial universe devoid of any ideals,
love and compassion. They miscommunicate. Silences are pregnant." The play is replete
with pauses and silent moments, a reflection of inner fragmentation and momentary
mental loss. This appears as a result of WWII that brought not only hardships and
destruction but also futile life and meaninglessness. Even the two brothers appear to
communicate with Davies more than with each other; as if Davies plays the role of a
mediator for the two. Davies comments on the apartment and criticizes the fact that it is

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cluttered and badly kept. Aston attempts to find a pair of shoes for Davies but Davies
rejects all the offers. Moi adds:
All of [Pinter's] plays take place in the lowest possible social stratum and are
populated with drifters, unemployed, immigrants, mentally disabled and other
people on the margins of society. Consequently, the plays stage individual
helplessness towards authorities and overwhelming social structure and
bureaucratic systems, a radical identification with those whom the machinery of
progress and prosperity allows no room.
Later in the play, Astons reveals to Davies that he suffered mental illness and
psychological disorder from which he was supposed to recover at a mental hospital, on the
contrary, he was caused to suffer permanent brain damage. What Moi says is also
applicable to Davies as well, in that he turns out to be dependent on his identification
documents and other belongings which he left in another city called Sidcup 15 years ago.
Without his identification papers and insurance cards he feels insecure and objected to the
authorities which seem to be hunting him. In addition to this he is unable to provide
references for a job application.
Early in the play, Davies reveals to Aston that his real name is not "Bernard
Jenkins", his "assumed name", but really "Mac Davies". This incident reveals one of the
absurdist themes; truth, lies and fantasy. Characters in the play seem to be deceptive and
not to be trusted. He claims that his papers validating this fact are in Sidcup and that he
must and will return there to retrieve them just as soon as he has a good pair of shoes.

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Later at night, Davies "gets into bed" while "ASTON sits, poking his [electrical] plug.
Poking the electric plug reflects Aston's emptiness and pointless way of wasting time.
The next day, Aston informs Davies that he is going out but invites him to stay if
he likes, indicating that he trusts him (25), something unexpected by Davies; for, as soon
as Aston does leave the room, Davies begins rummaging through Aston's "stuff" (26) but
he is interrupted when Mick, Astons brother, unexpectedly arrives. Mick demands to
know Davies' name, which the latter gives as "Jenkins" (28). Suddenly, Aston enters with
a "bag" seemingly for Davies, and the brothers debate how to fix the leaking roof and
Davies interrupts to inject the more practical question: "What do you do . . . when that
bucket's full?" (37) and Aston simply says, "Empty it" (37). The three battle over the "bag"
that Aston has brought Davies:
ASTON offers the bag to DAVIES.
MICK grabs it.
ASTON takes it.
MICK grabs it.
DAVIES reaches for it.
ASTON takes it.
MICK reaches for it.
ASTON gives it to DAVIES.
MICK grabs it. Pause. (37)
The use of language in a literary text reflects the absurdity of the work and the fragmented
self of characters. While it is meant to be a way of communication among humans,

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language turns to distort any sense of communication or understanding. In absurd

literature, language is used not to be meaningful by word but to be investigated deeply and
one should consider the language of the work as a whole and delve beyond the formalist
approach of words on page.
ASTON: Well, I could tell you
DAVIES: That's that's it you see you get my meaning?
ASTON: When the time comes
DAVIES: I mean, that's what I'm getting at, you see
ASTON: More or less exactly what you
DAVIES: You see, what I mean to say what I'm getting at is I mean, what sort of
jobs (41)
Two characters are talking to each other; they seem to be communicating, but actually
they are struggling to deliver a message, as if people of different languages are trying to
find themselves a room for communication.
After Mick leaves, Aston offers Davies the job of Caretaker. One day, Davies
enters the room, closes the door, and tries the light switch, on, off, on, off. There he
encounters Mick and discusses with him about the place being his responsibility and his
ambitions to fix it up. Mick also offers Davies the job of "caretaker."
The next day, Davies wakes up and complains to Aston about how badly he slept.
He blames various aspects of the apartment's set up. Aston suggests adjustments but
Davies proves to be callous and inflexible. Aston tells the story of how he was checked
into a mental hospital and given electric shock therapy, but when he tried to escape from
the hospital he was shocked while standing, leaving him with permanent brain damage; he

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ends by saying, "I've often thought of going back and trying to find the man who did that
to me. But I want to do something first. I want to build that shed out in the garden."
What is so reflected but not spelled out in the play is the kind of serious questions
it raises behind each incident. Encountering a homeless character, Davies, raises the
question 'what causes his homelessness?' for a mentally disordered character, we wonder
about the causes of the mistreatment of Aston for his mental problems; why are they alone,
and what is it about mid-20th century Britain that leaves them flailing for some purpose in
life? Each character has a dream to achieve; Aston has plans to build a shed in the back of
the house, but he never seems to make any progress. Micks ambitions include dreams for
renovating the house, and Davies talks of finding his lost identity papers so that he can
somehow straighten out his status. We never feel any sense of success with regard to these
ambitions, which reflects some sense of self-delusion.
Though initially invited to be a "caretaker," first by Aston and then by Mick, he
begins to ingratiate himself with Mick once it is revealed that Mick is the real owner of the
apartment. That night, Davies brings up his plan when talking to Aston, whom he insults
by throwing back in his face the details of his treatment in the mental institution (6667),
leading Aston, in a vast understatement, to respond: "I . . . I think it's about time you found
somewhere else. I don't think we're hitting it off" (68). When finally threatened by Davies
pointing a knife at him, Aston tells Davies to leave: "Get your stuff" (69). Davies,
outraged, claims that Mick will take his side and kick Aston out instead and leaves in a
fury, concluding (mistakenly): "Now I know who I can trust" (69). Here appears another
sense of self-delusion. Davies mistakenly believes that now he can trust someone,
assuming that Mick will befriend him against Aston. But what really happens is

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completely different. Even the audience would expect the same way especially that we
don't feel that strong familial relationship between Aston and Mick. However, Mick
reveals his brotherhood tightness towards his brother and stands against Davies's attempts
to break this relation and get an authority over the apartment.
Later, Davies reenters with Mick explaining the fight that occurred earlier and
complaining still more bitterly about Mick's brother. Eventually, Mick takes Aston's side,
beginning with the observation "You get a bit out of your depth sometimes, don't you?"
(71). Mick forces Davies to disclose that his "real name" is Davies and his "assumed
name" is "Jenkins" and, after Davies calls Aston "nutty", Mick appears to take offense at
what he terms Davies' "impertinent thing to say," concludes, "I'm compelled to pay you off
for your caretaking work. Here's half a dollar," and stresses his need to turn back to his
own "business" affairs (74). When Aston comes back into the apartment, the brothers face
each other," "They look at each other. Both are smiling, faintly" (75). This is another
moment of silence between the brothers. Even at the time of their reunion against Daivies,
they don't speak, they just remain silent, the only image they show of communication is a
faint smile. Davies turns to beg Aston to let him stay (7577). But Aston refuses. The play
ends with a "Long silence" as Aston, who "remains still, his back to him [Davies], at the
window, apparently unrelenting as he gazes at his garden and makes no response at all to
Davies' futile plea, which is sprinkled with many dots (". . .") of elliptical hesitations (77
78). The last scene reflects this sense uncertainty on the part of Aston when remaining
silent not responding to Davies's request.

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Bibliography:

"Harold Pinter." 2013. The Biography Channel website. (Web) 23rd. Apr. 2013
http://www.biography.com/people/harold-pinter-9441163.

"Introduction." Drama for Students. Vol. 7. Gale Cengage, eNotes.com. (Web)

23 Apr, 2013 http://www.enotes.com/caretaker/

Mazelis, Fred. "Pinters The Caretaker at the Harvey Theater in Brooklyn: A

classic has lost none of its power." May 23, 2012. (Web) Retrieved on 24th.
Apr. 2013: http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2012/05/care-m23.html

Pinter, Harold. The Caretaker. 1960. (Web)

http://ar.scribd.com/doc/16334020/The-Caretaker-Pinter-Harold

Ruben, Moi. "The Politics of Harold Pinter's Plays." 2011. (web)

http://septentrio.uit.no/index.php/nordlit/article/viewFile/1834/1706

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/theater+of+the+absurd

http://www.theatredatabase.com/20th_century/theatre_of_the_absurd.html

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