Paper 2

“The oppressión”

“The Dumd Waiter, “The Collection”

and “Ashes to Ashes”

Harold Pinter

Consuelo Hernández Rubio

The three plays by Harold Pinter, “The Dumb Walter”, “The Collection” and “Ashes to Ashes”, are developed in an only act, where the scenes are played in closed spaces. The three plays start with the presentation of these closed places:

-“The Dumb Waiter”: pag.129: “Scene: A basement room. Two beds,

flat against the back wall. A serving hatch, closed, between the beds….”

-“The Collection”:pag.120:”The stage is divided into three areas, two

peninsulas and a promontory….”,”Upstage centre on promontory,

telephone box”.

-“Ashes to Ashes”: pag.393: “A house in the country. Ground-floor

room….”

This presentation of the space where are developed the plays produce “OPPRESSION” in the characters and this aspect is transferred to the lector or spectator with the intention that he think.

There also is a “OPPRESSION” of the human being through a manipulative language, and with a vocabulary with negative connotations.

And we can also see and feel this “OPPRESSION” in some moments through the kind of illumination that is used.

-“The Dumb Waiter”: -pag.133-134: Gus: “I wouldn’t like to live in

this dump. I wouldn’t mind if you had a window, you could see what it

looked like outside”; Gus: ”Well, I like to have a bit of a view, Ben….”;

-pag.134: Gus: ”Don’t you ever get a bit fed up?.

I would say that the dump means the oppressive life that the

characters are living and the window means the liberty that they need to

go out of this kind of life.

-“The Collection”: -pag.120: Upstage centre on promontory, telephone

box;-pag.127: Fade to blackout. Fade up moonlight in flat; -pag.128:

Bill(closing door). “Do forgive me”; James: (foot in door).Look . I want

to speak to you”; Bill: ”You can’t just barge into someone’s house like

this, you know. What do you want?”; “I could call the police”;-pag. 129:

Bill: “You’re not my guest, you’re an intruder”.

Bill wants avoid listening the truth, he doesn’t want listening the

problems which himself is causing as a lover of Stella. It’s the reason

why he closes the door. He leaves out what is out of his space and his

control.

-“Ashes to Ashes”: -pag.393: At the end of the play…The lamplight has

become very bright but does not illumine the room;-pag.399: Devlin: “I

know nothing…I’m in the dark. I need light”;-pag.406-407: Rebeca:

”...He used to go to the local railway station and walk down the

platform and tear all the babies from the arms of their screaming

mothers”;-pag.408: Rebeca: “I hate it fading away. I hate it echoing

away. I hate…”.-pag.412: Devlin: I’m in a quisksand; -pag.413: Devlin:

“I inferred from this that you were talking about some kind of atrocity.”

-pag.414: Devlin: “The man who tried to murder you”…”Do you to

death.”-pags.429-433: echo (SUFFERING, OPPRESSION)

All of the sentences shows us the own suffering of the life lived by the

characters.

In these closed spaces, the characters keep unpredictable and intriguing dialogues through which the author is showing up us the relationships between them. Harold Pinter doesn’t tell us what is the relation between the characters. We’re who have to guess it through their conversations. So, in:

-“The Dumb Waiter”, Ben and Gus have a job’s relation: -pag.131:

Gus: “I hope it won’t be a long job, this one”; -pag.135: Ben: “We’ll be

on the job in a minute”.

-“The Collection”: -Stella and James are married: -pag.131: James:

“ My wife was in there”.

-Bill and Harry are living in a flat together: -pag.123:

Harry: “I tripped on the stair rod!”…

Bill: “I did fix it”

Harry:...”Well...Where’s my fruit juice?”

-Stella and Bill are lovers: -pag.131: James: “That’s where you slept

with her”

-All of them are neighbour: -pag.153: Harry: “You and your wife…

Funny we’ve never met, living so close, all in the same trade, eh?”

-“Ashes to Ashes”, Rebeca and Devlin are couple: -pags.397-399:

Devlin: “Do you feel you’re being hypnotised?”…

Rebeca: “Who by?”

Devlin: “By me”….”I’m compelled to ask you

questions….Or do you think my questions are

illegitimate?”

OPINION

I think that the three plays are enough difficult. When I was reading and analysing it looking for some aspects in common, I have discovered the excellent and intelligent ability of the author to get a oppressive sensation, a sensation of necessity of breathing, a sensation of necessity of complain inside me through a manipulative and intriguing language and dialogues between the characters.

In my opinion it’s exactly that sensation what the author is looking for.