797396
Description
Mind Map by andrewmanzi, updated more than 1 year ago
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Created by andrewmanzi
over 10 years ago
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Harold Pinter - The Dumb Waiter:
Key Themes
- Silence
- Influenced by
Samuel Beckett
- Silence filled
pauses for
theatrical affect
- Speech: a stratagem
used to cover the
nakedness of silence
- Tension: - the long
silence at the end of the
play
- Allows the audience to process
- Allows the audience to process
- Speech: a stratagem
used to cover the
nakedness of silence
- Lack of any
emotion or depth
- Ben deflects or delays answering
any of Gus' questions
- Toilet flushes on
a delay
- Toilet flushes on
a delay
- Ben deflects or delays answering
any of Gus' questions
- Sounds of inanimate
objects break silence
- Toilet / Dumb Waiter
- Toilet / Dumb Waiter
- Wilson
- Assumed he is sending
messages to the pair
- Audience Never Hears/
Sees Him
- Unseen Presence
- Unseen Presence
- Audience Never Hears/
Sees Him
- Man in charge
- Looming Presence
- Dominating Silence
- Dominating Silence
- Mysterious and Sinsiter
- Malevolent God
- Ben and Gus wait for in silence
- Ben and Gus wait for in silence
- Assumed he is sending
messages to the pair
- Influenced by
Samuel Beckett
- Social Class
- Both Ben and Gus Lower / Working Class
- Ben slightly higher ranking?
- Often shown in accents
- Ben slightly higher ranking?
- The Dumb Waiter Interactions
- Ben pretends to know orders of
food in order to impress
- Much of the insecurities are tied to language
- Warns Gus to act appropriately
when speaking to the upstairs
- Ben pretends to know orders of
food in order to impress
- Ben eager to impress Wilson
- Believes he must be leader
for a reason
- Inferiority rather
than Respect
- Inferiority rather
than Respect
- Believes he must be leader
for a reason
- Complete separation from the upper class
- Both Ben and Gus Lower / Working Class
- Humour
- Comedy of Menace
- Pinter's use of
juxtaposition
- Ben using Gus' phrase after the
kettle argument
- Ben using Gus' phrase after the
kettle argument
- Freud
- 3 people when
telling a joke
- Maker/Aggressor, Victim & Audience
- To laugh is to ally with
the aggressor
- A refusal to laugh is to
ally with the victim
- Joke is test for the audience
- To laugh is to ally with
the aggressor
- Jokes: creating a relationship
- Maker/Aggressor, Victim & Audience
- 3 people when
telling a joke
- Tension/Difference/Division between
Ben and Gus Introduced in
the very first joke
- Story of the old man
- Gus not fitted into the expected role
of audience
- Did the old man deserve to die?
Should he be pitied?
- Undermines the legitimacy of their
entire enterprise as hitmen
- Undermines the legitimacy of their
entire enterprise as hitmen
- Gus not fitted into the expected role
of audience
- Foreshadowing the play/problem
- Story of the old man
- Repetition
- Frantic use of Dumb
Waiter
- Comedy of Menace
- Violence
- Lurking underneath
silence is always the
threat of violence
- Anticipation
- Betrayal of Gus
- Betrayal of Gus
- Anticipation
- Newspaper articles
about death
- Skip / joke past them
- Death not taken serious
by either of the pair
- Death not taken serious
by either of the pair
- Avoid speaking about them
- Skip / joke past them
- Nature of their jobs
- Hitmen
- Hitmen
- Ben constantly
intimidating Gus
- Ben more aggressive than
Gus
- Gus feels more remorse for
previous victims: young girl
- Gus feels more remorse for
previous victims: young girl
- Ben more aggressive than
Gus
- Argument over Kettle
- Ben physically attacks Gus
- "THE KETTLE YOU FOOL" - Whilst Choking
- Words intertwined with
Physical violence
- Words intertwined with
Physical violence
- "THE KETTLE YOU FOOL" - Whilst Choking
- Ben physically attacks Gus
- Lurking underneath
silence is always the
threat of violence
Media attachments
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