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Harold Pinter

This contrasts with the emotions the audience feels towards Goldberg and his actions.
             The play is a comedy of menace because the opening scene is one that is completely unthreatening and comprehensible in a real setting. This false sense of security is deliberately established and the audience is soon exposed to the breakdown of reality and a sense of ominousity can be perceived. The first real oddity occurs when Meg tells Goldberg about Stanley's birthday while suggesting that Stan is not aware that it is his birthday. It seems strange for Meg to arbitrarily decide that today is Stan's birthday and therefore it is the first time that the play steps out of realistic parameters (Dutton, 1986). This leaves the audience confused and also questioning the characters and their intentions. .
             The play and the characters are riddled with ambiguity and contradictions that make it difficult for the reader to understand their intentions. The audience never knows the real truth and many issues are left unexplained. The game of Blind man's Buff is played at the party. Traditionally the game is harmless voluntary activity where nobody gets hurt. However, in The Birthday Party, this convention is turned upside down when Stan is forced to play the game. Ironically, the game is suggested by Meg who unwittingly plays into the violent plans of Goldberg and McCann, and they turn this innocent suggestion into a means by which to manipulate Stanley. Significantly, Goldberg gets temporarily blindfolded in this game, but it is through the game that he and McCann manage to permanently blind Stanley. They do this by first breaking his glasses and then completely breaking him down psychologically, making him physically and cognitively blind. This potentially comical scene leaves the audience and Stan unable to determine the true intentions of Goldberg and McCann and also leaves the audience feeling uncomfortable.


Essays Related to Harold Pinter

1. The philosophy of Pinter

... almost always beyond our grasp." Discuss the relevance of this statement to Pinter's treatment of character and situation in each of the specified plays. Harold Pinter's plays have puzzled critics from their first showing to the most recent adaptations. Pinter's plays remain an enigma, like the man himself, who refuses to ... could maybe be symbolic of our lack of understanding of ourselves, particularly in stressful situations where our instincts are more in control. An example Pinter's treatment of such a situation can be found in "The Caretaker" when Davies is in the vulnerable situat...

  • Word Count: 1130
  • Approx Pages: 5

2. Laughter and Terror in The Caretaker by Harold Pinter

( laughter and terror ) Examine the balance in the play between laughter and terror, the ludicrous and the sinister, particularly with relation to the figure of Mick. Harold Pinter's The Caretaker is a play about two brothers and a vagrant. The play deals with power in human relations by means of laughter and terror. Failure in communication between the characters produces ... the bag. An adult would not play along, and actually leave it be, in order to make the bully eventually give up, when he sees that the torment is uneffective. Pinter seemingly puts some more fun in the situation, as at...

  • Word Count: 2019
  • Approx Pages: 8
  • Grade Level: High School

3. The caretaker

... A Play can be confrontational, challenging and disturbing to the values and assumptions of an audience. Discuss with close reference to The Caretaker. The Caretaker, written by the British playwright Harold Pinter in the late 1950's and early 1960's disrupts the audiences perceptions of existence and their understandings of it. The play deconstructs perceived notions and conceptions of reality, and disturbs the ... audiences perception of their own identity and place within a world which is primarily concerned with the search and need for identity. Pinter was clearly influenced by the f...

  • Word Count: 1949
  • Approx Pages: 8
  • Grade Level: High School

4. Cathartic Responses in Works of Black Comedy

A Cathartic Response is the build-up of emotions that can lead to many physical or emotional responses such as, in this case, laughter. The plays "The Homecoming," by Harold Pinter, and "Lieutenant of Inishmore," by Martin McDonagh, evoke a cathartic response in audiences through portraying the characters and their relationships, which facilitate the levels of the theatrical orgasm embellished in ... she is, on the other hand, Ruth evinces a manipulative authoritarian style as she uses cunning tactics and mind games on those around her to attain what she wants Homecoming by Pinter and the Lie...

  • Word Count: 1923
  • Approx Pages: 8
  • Grade Level: High School

5. Waiting for Godot - Samuel Beckett

... the anticipation of Godot's, the symbol of God, arrival is all based upon the chance and uncertainty that he will actually make an appearance. This work is often compared to Harold Pinter's play, The Dumb Waiter, in which both pieces involve the common element of waiting and wasted time. Just like Estragon and Vladimir, Gus has played the waiting game as well ... . In reference to Wilson, Gus believes, "he might not come. He might just send a message. He doesn't always come," (Pinter 27). The characters in both plays have experienced what it is like to wait on someone without knowing if ...

  • Word Count: 899
  • Approx Pages: 4
  • Has Bibliography
  • Grade Level: High School

6. Radio Drama

... the most productive sources for contemporary Australian writers." Radio drama had attracted some of the biggest names in writing: Samuel Beckett, Tom Stoppard, Caryl Churchill, Joe Orton, Alan Aycbourn and Harold Pinter, to name but a few, have all written for the BBC. Not to mention, perhaps the most famous example, Dylan Thomas" Play For Voices Under Milkwood. The question has to be ... ...

  • Word Count: 4411
  • Approx Pages: 18
  • Has Bibliography
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

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