Theme Of Violence In The Homecoming

Violence is a deeply rooted behavior in Man. It may include any behavior that involves physical force, with or without a weapon, contributing to, or significantly increasing the possibility of injury or death of another person. Violence may be either physical or verbal. According to biologists, it is part of human nature. Man’s use of violence is similar to that of animals. In the same way, human beings, including Pinter’s characters, use violence to defend their territory (Stanley), to dominate (Ben), to avenge (Albert), to terrorize and intimidate (Goldberg, McCann and Mick) and to satisfy their appetites and desires whatever the cost may be (Max and Stanley). To put it differently, violence—especially when motivated by sexual desire as in The Homecoming-epitomizes the characters’ animalistic, irrational and instinctual drives.

After this brief introduction, let us now trace the difference between “aggression” and “violence”. According to Fazaneh Pahvlan, “Aggression has often been associated with a negative emotion (anger), to a motivation (the desire to harm) or because of negative beliefs (racism, racial prejudice) ... aggression can occur in cold blood or during intense emotional awakening.” In addition, Farzaneh Pahvlan distinguishes between violence and aggression, “ All violent acts are aggressions but not all aggressions are acts of violence ... Violence especially attracts attention by its extreme consequences such as murder or serious physical attacks.”