Absurdity In Harold Pinter's The Dumb Waiter
Abstract: Witnessing World War II and all the accompanying atrocities, mass killing, political transformation and reshaping of states, many Europeans rebelled against the cruel reality as a way of expressing their disgust at the loss of meaning and purpose of life and the breakdown of communication. On the level of literary production, a new trend in theater, the theater of absurd, emerged through authors and playwrights from all over Europe. What they wrote constituted a revolution against pre-war individual, social and political beliefs, a revolution that reflected modern man's loss of purpose. The following research paper aims at examining the "absurd" realities of the second half of twentieth century through one character from the outstanding one-act play The Dumb Waiter by Harold Pinter, the famous playwright. To achieve a concise examination, the paper will discuss Gus's character and trace the transformation he goes through leading him to face Ben's revolver at the closing scene. Key Words: Pinter, Absurd, political, existential, dumb waiter, rebellious, conformity. Introduction: Examining the literary works by Samuel Beckett and his outstanding 1953, Waiting for Godot , and those of Ionesco, Genet, Pinter, and other playwrights, Critic Martin Esslin …show more content…
In a poorly-furnished basement room, somewhere in the world, waiting to perform a mission, Ben and Gus, hired by an organization to liquidate enemies, exchange a disconnected dialogue along with static action that slowly culminates to reach the zenith or climax at the very end when Ben raises his gun against Gus. Both heroes are caught in the absurdity of existence, and they represent the defeated and crushed victims of modern democratic systems, yet each one reacts differently and later confronts the consequences of his own free
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