The Caretaker by Pinter A Play Can Be Confrontati Essay Example For Students

The Caretaker by Pinter: A Play Can Be Confrontati Essay onal, Challenging andDisturbing to the Values and Assumptions of An Audience. Discuss With closeReferenceThe Caretaker, written by the British playwright Harold Pinter in the late1950s and early 1960s disrupts the audiences perceptions of existence andtheir understandings of it. The play deconstructs perceived notions andconceptions of reality, and disturbs the audiences perception of their ownidentity and place within a world which is primarily concerned with the searchand need for identity. Pinter was clearly influenced by the fashionablephilosophic review of human condition that was prominent in the 1950s and1960s existentialism. The play attacks the notion that there are no absolutetruths or realities. Pinter is therefore concerned with what exists as unknownand intangible to humanity. His theatre interrogates the truth of nature andrealities of language and demonstrates that much of what the audience regards asfact is fiction as he explores the uncertainty of human existence. When an audience of the 1960s went to the theatre, it can generally be assumedthat they had preconceived ideas about what they expected and what they aregoing to gain from the theatrical experience. The traditional attitudes towardstheatre and the conventions of realist drama are disrupted by Pinter. Thisconfronts the assumptions and values of the audience, an experience which wouldbe disconcerting and frightening to many. Pinter divorces and exposes societys codes, institutions and human relations. Throughout the play the audience is rarely comfortable. This disruption isestablished from the outset of the play when Mick, a character who at this stageof the play the audience knows nothing about, sits on the bed and stares at theaudience in silence for 30 seconds. Traditionally in realist drama such asHenrik Ibsens Hedda Gabler characters use simple exposition through languageand non-verbal elements to let the audience in and enlighten them on what ishappening on the stage and the results and reasons for and behind actions. Pinter disrupts this tradition and this in itself would have been a disturbingphenomena to the conservative audiences of post-war Britain. Micks arrival onstage generates unease within the audience and the tension would only increaseas Pinter provides the audience with no explanation for him being there. Mickleaves the stage in a state of maintained silence, hence the first imagespresented in the play confront many of the assumptions of a traditionaltheatrical experience. Mick is alone in the room, sitting on the bed. He wears a leather jacket Heslowly looks about the room, looking at each object in turn. He looks up at theceiling, and stares at the bucket Silence for thirty seconds. Mick turns hishead. He stands, moves silently to the door, goes out, and closes the doorquietly. It is not until the Act two that this character becomes known to the audience asMick. This deferral of information is quite confrontational as it opposesaccepted and naturalised preconceptions of power and right. Micks position onthe bed and his costuming wearing a leather jacket places him in thetraditionally accepted position of power. However this idea is problematisedwhen Mick leaves the room and Aston enters with the key, thus demonstrating theillusory and ambiguous nature of power. Mick not re-entering until later in theplay confronts traditional notion that as he was introduced first, he is in aposition of power. The opening scene defamiliarises the Audience withtraditional notions of power and establishes a precedent for the remainder ofthe play. Pinter does not adhere to the accepted use of dramatic conventions. There is notraditional relation of character histories within the opening scenes and lackof revelation is maintained throughout the play as relatively little is exposedabout the characters backgrounds. This makes events within the room conditionalphenomena, which are dependent on the individuals involved and what the audienceis able to interpret. Reservoir Dogs EssayThe constant silences and pauses within characters conversation makes clear thesub-text of all human interaction. Pinter himself said that one way of lookingat speech is to say it is a constant stratagem to cover silence this view andthe presentation of this view within the play would be very disturbing to anaudience, as it disrupts the traditional notions that language, the basis of allhuman interaction is one-layered and can be defined, classified and understood. The speech patterns of characters within The Caretaker helps to present theexistential viewpoint of problems of identity and classification. Daviesfrequent rhetorical questions pose the key existential questions of theuncertainty of existence. The character of Mick does not subscribe to societysconventional codes. His verbal gymnastics and the punctuation of verbalinterrogation with polite social conversation decontextualises ordinaryconversation. After attacking Davies, Mick says;MICK: You sleep here last night?DAVIES: YesMICK: Sleep Well?DAVIES: Yes. MICK: Im awfully glad. Its awfully nice to meet you. Pinter uses language as a shield, to mask truths and present perceived realitiesand to evade or disclose revelation. Traditionally language was not used in suchways and the deviation from the traditional and conservative by Pinter createsthe need within the audience to reassess and reposition themselves in terms ofthe language that they use and the meanings it does or can possibly generate. Action is frequently deferred within the play, and at the end of The Caretakerthere is no resolution or revelation and instead the audience is left withlimited insight and knowledge. Instead existence has been problematised, leavingmany of the audience disturbed and unsure of their own identity and thestructure of society. This deferral of action is primarily indicated by Daviesand Aston. The prime example of this is in Davies constant references to hisplanned trip to Sidcup and in Astons references to the shed that he is planningto build. Through the representation of these possible future activities, itappears that it gives purpose to their current actions and to some extent areason for living. It allows these characters to suggest that they are in factworthwhile human beings with a purpose and a life. Pinter suggests throughthis deferral of actions that peoples lives hold no worthwhile meaning andultimately there is nothing gained at the point of death. The Caretaker is a subversive play that demythologises many of an audiencesassumptions and values. Pinter makes the audience experience paranoia andfeelings of menace and by disrupting conventions of social behaviour andignoring traditional dramatic realist protocol, Pinter confronts andchallenges the values and assumptions of an audience. He successfullydeconstructs notions of power and security, and problematises the conservativebelief that there are in fact absolute truths and realities. Category: English