The Caretaker As A Modernist Play

The Caretaker as a Modern Play
Harold Pinter was a British playwright, screenwriter, director and actor. Pinter was one of the most
influential modern British dramatists with a writing career that spanned more than 50 years. He was also
awarded a Nobel Prize. His famous plays are The Birthday Party, The Homecoming and Betrayal. He also
directed or acted in radio, stage, television, and film productions of his own and others' works.
 Pessimism: The characters are isolated and estranged, unhappy with their lots in life but
seemingly unable to change them. There is anger, frustration, impotency, regret, and broken
dreams. There is absolutely no resolution at the end of the play, leaving the characters in almost
exactly the same places they were when the play began. Mick was about to renovate his place
but practically he had not even made a scratch. All he has done was the verbal discussion with
Davies. On the other side, old Davies, keeps saying that he has to go to a place called Sidcup,
and fetch the documents of his identity which have been there for fifteen years. Despite the
importance of the documents, he was unable to fetch the documents considering the weather
the sole reason behind it.
“I was going down today, but I'm...I'm waiting for the weather to break.”
Davies did nothing to acquire the documents and hoped all to be done on its own. He thought he will
never be rooted in one place, but it is likely that he will be just fine as he travels about, looking for work
and a bed. There is a vicinity of pessimism and dejection all around.
 Element of Racism: Davies blames other for all manner of things, such as his own misfortunes
and for general societal problems. He uses them to deflect his own insecurities about his
hygiene and situation in life. This racist viewpoint allows him to ignore the reasons for his lack of
a job or stable condition, and instead assume a martyr stance and blame others when things go
wrong. Throughout the play, it is evident that Davies contrasts everything with racism. He also
blamed the Blacks for the chaos he had during the conflict. Even he despised the Blacks for the
happenings.
“All the Greeks had it, Poles, Greeks, Blacks, the lot of them, all them aliens had it...And they had me
working there...”
This is a characteristic inherent in the character, it manifests that how his characters manifest the
prevailing societal norms, beliefs, and values of the day. It is also part of his defense mechanism, for if
he can blame others for his lowly status, then he never has to question himself as to why he cannot hold
a job or why he is so unpleasant. It is a manifestation of historical and social realities of the past as well
as of contemporary time.
 Disillusionment of Modern Man: Pinter depicts the hollowness of the modern man. Family
certainly is not anything in the modern era, for instance, the relationship between Mick and
Aston is obvious. Both the brothers' relationship is odd, of course -they barely speak to each
other and are rarely in the room together. They do not appear to discuss their mutual problem
of Davies at all. In spite of living in one room, both are poles apart. They had separate
discussions with Davies. Mick considers his brother wrong without seeking any justification.
“I’m sorry to hear my brother’s not very friendly.”
 Freedom of Themes: There is a great freedom of opting themes in modern plays, unlike the
classical plays which only dealt with grand themes such as, King Lear, Merchant of Venice,
Oedipus Rex, Macbeth etc. The writers inculcate inspiration from the things of common
interests. In “The Caretaker”, the themes of isolation, racism, absurdity, communication are
evident. They are the subjects of common people depicting their modern life. The element of
stream of consciousness is also obvious. It is the presentation of thoughts without any proper
sequence or logic. If the play is introspected, it seems all the three characters are conversating
in the casual manner. There is repetition of the matters throughout the play as of Mick’s
renovation of the room and Davies seeking to get his documents.
 Symbolism: is often used by writers to enhance their writing. Symbolism can give a literary work
more richness and can make the meaning of the work deeper. Pinter who was a great admirer of
Beckett creates his unique image of the condition of modern man who is shrouded with a
terrible sense of sterility. Davies himself serves as symbol. The old tramp, represents the
"outsider who threatens to disturb the habitual existence in the brothers' room”. It can also be
related to the contemporary time period considering such people all around.
Furthermore, Davies stands for the moral sterility in the modern age in which he is emptied of
all kinds of morality and faithfulness. That is to say he is a real production of such a mess and
harshness. Davies is homeless, rootless and jobless. He seeks refuge even if a temporary one. In
other words, Davies "begins to bite the hand that feeds him." So, here, Davies is a symbol of the
idea of villainy in its abstract sense.
Again, there is the image of the room serves as a symbol depicting simply a clash of personalities
on the inside, and again there is one of the inhabitants displaced by another. Pinter used the
motif of the room as a way of projecting the conflicts in between the trio.
Concludingly, it can be introspected that Pinter’s “The Caretaker” is embellished with assorted elements
of modernism. It depicts the fissures in the society all around that enables a modern man to ponder on
the flaws. This definitely points towards the room for improvement.

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