Harold Pinter - The Dumb Waiter: Key Themes

Harold Pinter - The Dumb Waiter: Key Themes

1. Silence

   • Influenced by Samuel Beckett
   • Silence filled pauses for theatrical affect
     • Speech: a stratagem used to cover the nakedness of silence
     • Tension: - the long silence at the end of the play
       • Allows the audience to process
   • Lack of any emotion or depth
     • Ben deflects or delays answering any of Gus' questions
       • Toilet flushes on a delay
   • Sounds of inanimate objects break silence
     • Toilet / Dumb Waiter
   • Wilson
     • Assumed he is sending messages to the pair
       • Audience Never Hears/ Sees Him
         • Unseen Presence
     • Man in charge
     • Looming Presence
       • Dominating Silence
     • Mysterious and Sinsiter
     • Malevolent God
       • Ben and Gus wait for in silence

2. Social Class

   • Both Ben and Gus Lower / Working Class
     • Ben slightly higher ranking?
     • Often shown in accents
   • The Dumb Waiter Interactions
     • Ben pretends to know orders of food in order to impress
     • Much of the insecurities are tied to language
     • Warns Gus to act appropriately when speaking to the upstairs
   • Ben eager to impress Wilson
     • Believes he must be leader for a reason
       • Inferiority rather than Respect
   • Complete separation from the upper class

3. Humour

   • Comedy of Menace
   • Pinter's use of juxtaposition
     • Ben using Gus' phrase after the kettle argument
   • Freud
     • 3 people when telling a joke
       • Maker/Aggressor, Victim & Audience
         • To laugh is to ally with the aggressor
         • A refusal to laugh is to ally with the victim
         • Joke is test for the audience
       • Jokes: creating a relationship
   • Tension/Difference/Division between Ben and Gus Introduced in the very first joke
     • Story of the old man
       • Gus not fitted into the expected role of audience
       • Did the old man deserve to die? Should he be pitied?
         • Undermines the legitimacy of their entire enterprise as hitmen
     • Foreshadowing the play/problem
   • Repetition
   • Frantic use of Dumb Waiter

4. Violence

   • Lurking underneath silence is always the threat of violence
     • Anticipation
       • Betrayal of Gus
   • Newspaper articles about death
     • Skip / joke past them
       • Death not taken serious by either of the pair
     • Avoid speaking about them
   • Nature of their jobs
     • Hitmen
   • Ben constantly intimidating Gus
     • Ben more aggressive than Gus
       • Gus feels more remorse for previous victims: young girl
   • Argument over Kettle
     • Ben physically attacks Gus
       • "THE KETTLE YOU FOOL" - Whilst Choking
         • Words intertwined with Physical violence

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