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Harold Pinter The Caretaker Analysis

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How does Harold Pinter portray absurdity in his play of The Caretaker? Introduction Through my studying of the part three works, one being The Outsider which was written by Albert Camus, translated by Joseph Laredo and published by Penguin Books in 1983, I was introduced to the theme of absurdism which dominates throughout the book. Camus invents a character or martyr whose simply does not conform to the normality of the society and will not pretend (“afterword”, The Outsider). Absurdism is one of the elements that is classified under a movement that was termed the theatre of the absurd by Martin Esslin and according to the Encarta Microsoft student 2009 the term theatre of the absurd represents a body of plays written originally in France …show more content…

On one particular night Aston accommodates without Mick’s consent old man Davies, who has just lost his job at a restaurant. Davies proves to be rather violent, hostile and manipulative throughout the play, as he tries to turn brother against brother but Mick is quick to respond to the manipulation as he sees through the old man without Aston noticing. The absurdity in the character and how they behave is visible from the beginning of the play itself, Aston turns into a Good Samaritan by lending a helping hand towards a beggar who is surprisingly choosy and portrays his real nature of being a liar who would do or say anything to sway things in his favour. Davies relates his story to Aston who is rather quiet and to some extent not paying full attention to what the old man has to him, so inattentive that even when Davies complains that the aliens, referring to the Greeks, Poles and Blacks, had seats except him and that they had him working more than he should and treating him like dirt hence vowing to have his revenge on the former colleague that mistreated him (The caretaker, 6). Davies further elaborates that he is in fact leaving under two identities of which the other names that are known only to him and the other man who holds proof to the papers that can validate his true identity of Mac Davies instead of Bernard Jenkins and that this man has been holding the papers for almost fifteen years now since the war (The Caretaker,

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