Theatre of The Absurd Caretaker

Theatre of Absurd
Theatre of the Absurd, in essence, refers to the dramatic plays which came in the 1950s and 1960s,
written by European and American dramatists. The term was used for the first time by Hungarian-born
critic Martin Esslin in 1962. The major element of these plays was the focus on the meaningless of life,
and the futility of finding logic, purpose and sense in the existence of humanity, and the world it
inhabits. The driving force behind these plays was the hopelessness that prevailed in the Europe after
the World War II.
Aston and Mick are brothers, while Davies is a homeless man who has been invited over by Aston.
Davies had a bar fight, which led to Aston rescuing him. Traditionally, absurd plays have more unrealistic
settings for instance, Waiting for Godot but The Caretaker is a bit different from the other absurd plays.
The characters of the play, too, are very much real, and belong to the world we live in. The setting as
well, is realistic. The absurdity, however, is moving through the characters, as well as the setting; its
radiance being felt by those perceiving.
The Caretaker is devoid of any plot. The characters do appear to be ambitious at times, but it is soon
realized that there’s nothing like that. The characters, apart from Davies, appear and disappear. They
seem to believe that they will get things done, but in reality, they are just stalling. There are several
instances in the play where it seems that the characters will definitely do what they have been
intending, but then they don’t. Take old Davies, for example. He keeps saying that he has to go to a
place called Sidcup, and fetch the documents of his identity which have been there for fifteen years.
“I was going down today, but I'm...I'm waiting for the weather to break.”
But he never goes there, making excuses every single time. He, at times, says that he is waiting for the
weather to break. After his continued delay, one begins to suspect whether there are any documents at
all, and Davies has a delusion.
In the play there is no logical sequence of events accompanied by no coherence at large. There are
instances where you expect the characters to talk about something, but they don’t. There is also
repetition and the characters and the plot appear to go nowhere, for instance, Davies' long speech
about his shoes,
"I said, you haven't got a pair of shoes, have you, a pair of shoes, I said."
The communication between the characters is integral to the play, with regards to the absurdity. The
characters, seemingly, cannot make each other truly understand. The problem, however, lies with both
the speaker and the listener. The speaker’s language is incoherent, and the listener is too preoccupied
to gather the speech. This leads to a terrible situation where there is no order. An important aspect is
the repetition. The characters keep on repeating what have been occupying their minds. Davies wants to
go to Sidcup, Aston wants to build a shed and Mick wants the house to be renovated, and decorated.
Their respective ‘intentions’ keep on coming up. This actually shows that there is a perpetual conflict
going within Mick, where dreams and reality are colliding with each other.
Another interesting thing to note is the relationship between Aston and Mick. They never converse
properly through the course of the play, and almost always do not share the space, creating a serious
communication gap. Despite being the brothers, they are suffering from the communication gap.
“I’m sorry to hear my brother’s not very friendly.”
Mick was conversating with Davies about his brother. He should have settled the matters including
Davies’ matter by talking to Aston. But throughout the play it is evident that the two brothers rarely
share a moment together. All this fuss would have been settled if Mick and Aston had talked, but instead
of this both of them overlooked it.
Considering the aforementioned discussion, it is sufficing to say that Pinter, used the canvas of realism,
to paint a picture using the colors of absurdity. It is a fascinating play that juggles with realism, along
with absurdist elements. This makes it rather unique, and different from the other absurdist plays. At a
fundamental level, “The Caretaker” offers a vision of human existence and is very true to the way we
talk and go about our lives however, it is perhaps the humor derived from absurd topics of conversation
which, although they instill a sense of strangeness, provoke laughter.

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Theatre of Absurd

“I’m sorry to hear my brother’s not very friendly.”

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