Ashes to Ashes- By Harold Pinter – Analysis

The play Ashes to Ashes (1996) seems to centre around duality, there are only two characters in the play, Devlin and Rebecca, the stage directions,

‘Two armchairs. Two lamps’

seem to suggest the idea that the stage action exists solely around these two characters, however this proves to be false as the conversation centres around a mysterious man who seems to turn an innocent conversation into something much more sinister.

The play starts in silence, I think this is significant as there is no immediate drama, it is important therefore to take in the setting and the atmosphere created. I believe this also indicates that what is unspoken is important and significant in this play. Then a conversation is started, a conversation that consists of the play, which rises in tension until Rebecca is left, her companion as such an echo to speak to.

The subject matter of the play, is Rebecca describing an man with whom she had an erotic, but dangerous and disturbing relationship with,

Rebecca: ‘I said, ‘Put your hand round my throat’…He did…He adored me, you see.He put a little…pressure…on my throat, yes’.

Yet it is obvious that this violence is still sexually exciting for Rebecca, and perhaps Devlin,

Devlin: You legs were opening?

Rebecca: Yes

The play consists of lots of questions as well as repetition, which has the effect of almost searching for something but returning unanswered when the question is repeated,

Devlin: Me a fuckpig? Me! You must be joking.

Rebecca: Me joking? You must be joking.

As Devlin desires to have his questions answered, wants to know more information, we also emphasise with him, Devlin’s questions are a tool to find out more about this unexplained man. When Rebecca forgets the question that Devlin asks concerning her lover’s job it creates more urgency as Devlin repeats himself more fervently,

Rebecca: ‘His job took him away. He had a job’

Devlin: ‘ What was it?

Rebecca: ‘What?’

Devlin: ‘What kind of job was it? What job?’

As Devlin’s questions become more precise,

‘What do you mean, a kind of factory? Was it a factory or wasn’t it? And if it was a factory, what kind of factory was it?

Rebecca becomes more wistful and vague, as if she is drifting away from reality. Her answers become more and more separated from the questions, and more nonsensical and absurd,

‘This pen, this perfectly innocent pen…A pen has no parents’

As Rebecca makes less sense, Devlin’s questions seem more laced with menace,

‘I’m letting you off the hook. Have you noticed? I’m letting you slip. Or perhaps it’s me who’s slipping. It’s dangerous. Do you notice? I’m in quicksand.’

The word ‘hook’ is harsh and cutting and the fact he mentions he is sinking into dangerousness is ominous of the fate that is in store for Rebecca.

After Devlin, mimics the threatening and alarming behaviour of her lover, this creates shock and disgust for the audience, although perhaps Pinter had put suggestions in our mind that this fate was not completely surprising. After the enigmatic yet unsettling,

‘They are still’, Rebecca continues her conversation with an echo, either herself or perhaps Devlin echoing her words. During this absurd monologue, Rebecca deteriorates into confusion and fearfulness. As the audience we are left with more questions, about a mysterious baby, a lover, and the character of Devlin.