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 Introduction:
The caretaker is a classic tragicomedy play. It was first performed in 1960. The play is
a study of how power affect a lonely homeless person and two brothers whom he meets.
The play has three acts and it is Pinter’s sixth work. He received a noble prize in 2005
for literature. He’s one of the influential playwrights of modern times.
There are three main characters in the play. Aston who lives in the house owned by his
brother Mick, Davies lives as a tramp. Aston once received electric shocks treatment
which results brain damage and leaves him isolated. Mick is short tempered and
ambitious. He doesn’t have time for his brother. He has dreams and he wants instant
results, that’s the reason he ends up never getting anything he wants.

 Analysis:
Act 1
In the first act of the play “The Caretaker” by Harold Pinter, we can see a number of
themes, motifs and concerns will pervade the entire work; racism, identity and
isolation. The play has three characters but we come to know more about two
characters Aston and Davies. All the action took place only in one room. The closeness
of the room and its untidy state helps to give the idea of isolation that will be more
visible as the play continues. There is a tension between the safety and choosiness of
the room and the arguments between the brothers and Davies. The room in play is as
a shelter and as a fear of small space where the conflict intensifies.
The first act is considered most humorous, which is due to the talkative, bold and
dogmatic character of Davies. In the play the character of Davies is low class, full of
faults and short sighted but its character is full of self-importance. He has a story
about everything as well as opinion about it, the shoes material according to his views
is best to the brutality of the people nowadays. (which is ironic, which gives the fact
that it is told to him by Aston and Mick at the end of the play that he gives off a bad
smell). Davies’ carnival posture clears that his identity is troublesome. He explains to
Aston that he will go to Sidcup to get his papers which will help to prove him who he
really is. It turns out that he changed his name to Bernard Jenkins, he wants that
paper because only than he can prove everything. Davies admits that the man in
Sidcup has those papers for almost fifteen years. Davies plans to get the papers back.
The second and the third act will reveal the fact that Sidcup was out of reach for
Davies and he could not prove his identity because he could not go to Sidcup.
In the play of Pinter, Aston is more mysterious character than Davies. Later Aston
gave a speech about his past. From the play we come to know that Aston is a young
man but is distressed by something. He talks slowly and takes many pauses. In the
first act it is clear that Aston has compassionate nature. He helped Davies in the bar,
invites him to his room, gave him money as well as clothes and asks him to stay as
long as he needs to get back on his feet. This shows his kindness as he does not know
Davies and Davies reveals to be unpleasant. Aston’s introvert nature will be revealed
in the second and the third act of the play. But from the first act we understand that he
is full of sympathy and interest. The Buddha is a symbol of peace and compassion,
which is associated with Aston.
All the events in the first act are straight forward, but there are some unclear
elements. Firstly, Pinter begins his play without any background; he barely introduces
the character of the play. It takes time for the audience to understand what happened
to bring the two men together. Mick’s character is also strange. When the play begins
he was in the room but he leaves when Davies and Aston came into the room and does
not appears again. He stalks Davies and then attacks him when Aston goes out.
The character of Pinter’s play has the tendency to not answer the direct question or
they answer it in unsatisfying way. The cause of confusion in the play was the true
owner of the play. Davies tries to ask Aston that the room belongs to him or someone
else, Aston replies that he is in charge, than Davies tries to clarify his statement that is
he the landlord of the room or not. And Aston simply says ‘what?’. This conversation
leads to curtains and the “family of blacks” which lives to the next door, without
answering the question of what Aston’s place in the room is. This faulty conversation
is one of the themes of the play, which begins from the act 1 and will be carried out
later.
The play is a tragicomedy and has the elements of absurdity. It also has the realistic
elements. In the play Davies gives a great deal of comedy through his language,
appearance and as well as through physical comedy. Davies provides with more
amusement by his impressive self-regard nature and by his belief of short sightedness
that is better than other races. But by the act 2, Davies become less amusing as he
starts to complain more and more and also becomes nasty towards Aston. The second
and the third act of the play reveal the events as a tragedy. All the three characters,
especially Aston, are affected by the factors beyond their control. They are surviving
the circumstances with all courage. They are all alone and isolated. This reveals that
the play is a part of the theatre of the absurd genre. The popularity of this play is due
to Pinter’s masterly fusion of the various themes and styles.

ACT II
In this act we get more information about Aston and Mick. Aston’s background is
depressing and full of regrets. His behavior, slow speaking abilities seem to be the
reason of difficulties to carry things, his isolation makes more sense now. Once he was
a strong and independent person but now he is victimized of electroshocks because he
talks a lot about his visions. His desire to build shed is same as Davies’ claims to go
Sidcup to get his papers back. This is an example of wishful thinking which everyone
knows will never happen.
In the play, Aston’s relationship is with Mick, this act reveals that they are not
talkative. The only longest interaction they both had in the play is where they discuss
the roof, which encourages Pinter’s theme of flawed communication and the difficulty
in maintaining the human relations in an absurd way.
Mick is cunning, crafty and humorous and he also possesses a penetrating intellect.
Mick enjoys gamboling with Davies and puts his plan in action to turn Aston against
the intruder, of which the result was same as he desired to be. Mick is quite irregular
from taunting Davies to uphold him. Mick makes Davies to think that he is on his side.
One of the most important elements in the play is the use of “real”, actual modes of
language. The characters of Pinter’s play do not understand each other. They are less
educated and they have less knowledge by which they are not able to convey their
feelings. Language is also revealed to be useless. The characters are not answering the
questions directly, without saying what they wanted to. The confusing language in the
play is used by the character Mick, he uses this language as a weapon against Davies.
Pinter also gives the idea of unified identity. In the first act Davies has an idea in
regard to his misplaced papers. In the second act, Aston confesses that his sense of
identity was degraded by the electroshock treatment. Mick often toys with Davies’
sense of identity and compares him with many other people. In the play the ties
between the human beings are weak, there is nothing about their father and their
mother has allowed Aston to be subjected to the “pincers”.
ACT III
This play of Pinter is admired because of his ability to portray the reality of life in
London in 1950s for lower class. The play offers historical, social and political insight
in terms of race and immigrant problem.
In the beginning of the play, race and identity is the main concern of the character.
Davies criticizes the people of other races and Micks used to tell the stories of the
people he knows with the complete details of them. “Political metaphor” in Pinter’s
play tells about the Britain’s immigrant problems of the 1950s and 1960s. These
immigrants were settled in London, particularly in the East end. The year when this
play was published 1959, there were rumors about the new citizens, they were
observed to be unclean and they were lacking in manners as well as they were lazy. In
the play, Davies seems to be concerned with cleanliness which is ironic because he is
who smells.
In the play, the character of Davies is fascinating character to read, he give voice
to the racist attitude and Davies also represent immigrant and is a victim of racial
discrimination. He is the racist as well as a defender of civil rights.
By the end of the play, many of the themes that Pinter gives idea in first two acts are
fully demonstrated. In the play communication between the characters is almost
impossible. Davies complains about how he cannot talk to Aston. Mick ignores
Davies’s questions and speaks mysteriously, using a language to give false impression
in Davies’s mind that he is welcomed in the room. Mick and Aston wants to get rid of
Davies, so they didn’t speak, just smiled. At the end, Davies wants to talk to Aston in
order to remain in the room but failed.
Davies’ deposition from the room holds up the isolation, the character
experience relation to each other and the world itself. Davies loses his comfort and is
thrown to the world which is of no use for him. Aston was considered unfit by society
for society and he was given the treatment to provide him malleable and meek. Mick
tries to make his place but is attacked by troubles such as caring brother and tries to
extrude a living. His smashing of the Buddha shows his frustration. By the end of the
play, all the characters are same from where they started. Davies is still friendless,
Aston has not built his shed yet and Mick is still thinking about his future.
The Theater of Absurd
The term theater of absurd was coined by the theater critics. The concept of absurd is
something which is out of harmony; it merely means that something is ridiculous.
However Absurd refers to something that is purposeless. The writer uses different
methods to gain something absurd but the use of language is the most important. The
role of language can be pointed out in the play of Harold Pinter. At first he uses rarely
dialogues which are mixed with many pauses and silences.
The lack of explanation in the play is a feature concerned to be absurd. Another
character of theatre of absurd that is shown in the play is inadequacy of
communication, the characters doesn’t answer the question the way they should but
they answer it in mysterious way, which is difficult to understand for the other.
Another feature can be seen in the play is the lack of definite plot; Pinter doesn’t
explains anything about the plot of the play.

 Symbols

S ymbols stand for something other than their literal meaning. And one of the important symbols in the play “The
Caretaker” by Harold Pinter is the statue of Buddha. It is the symbol of serenity and calmness and it represents the
peaceful state of mind of Aston. One other interpretation of this symbol is the statue of Buddha on the gas stove is parallel
to the character of Davies. The statue was something Aston picked up for himself out of affection and Davies’ character
was also someone he helped and brought home out of empathy and kindness. The breaking of Buddha represents the
broken order and organization of the peace as well it represents the everlasting struggle and stress of the human
being.

The character of Davies represents the contemporary society. The contemporary society is known for selfishness,
ungratefulness and poverty and all these characteristics are portrayed by the caretaker, Davies. Davies is left jobless
after he leaves his job as a kitchen helper at a restaurant. Aston brings him to his place out of kindness, even though
Davies shows no regard for him later on and is ungrateful towards him. He doesn’t regard the fact that Aston
bothered bringing him his bag or offered him his own shoes. This selfishness and greed is the reason why today’s
society suffers from thefts and robberies.

The only three characters of the play Aston, Mick and Davies represent the condition of human beings now. Davies
represents the decaying morality of the people. He is insecure and struggles to live a stable life and finding back his
identity. Aston represents a man with unfulfilled dreams. He has a dream of building a shed but he never really
started working on it. This may be taken as all the things that his life lacks such as accomplishments and success. It is
all due to his weak mental state that he suffers from ever since he was given the electric shock therapy in the hospital.
The three men are the symbols of the English class system with a kind upper-class man, a violent tradesmen and a tramp
who represents a world of 1960 Englishmen stereotypes.

The pauses and the moments of silence also hold significance in the play. Among the critics they were famous the
“Pinter’s Pause”. In the play “The Caretaker” they represent the lack of communication among the characters. They use
silence to express feelings and these short or long pauses can be seen throughout the play rather than using words to
express their thoughts. More can be said between these gaps and spaces and these gaps indicate that a person needs
time to think about anything further they are about to say.

Aston and mick’s room is full of junk with everything cramped up here and there. The room acts as a shelter for the characters
in which they find find security and comfort from the cruel and confusing outside world.