Themes

Harold Pinter was a British playwright, screenwriter, director and actor. Pinter was one of the most
influential modern British dramatists with a writing career that spanned more than 50 years. He was also
awarded a Nobel Prize. His famous plays are The Birthday Party, The Homecoming and Betrayal. He also
directed or acted in radio, stage, television, and film productions of his own and others' works. He paints
a variety of themes of modern times in his play, “The Caretaker”.

 Isolation: The characters in the play are profoundly isolated from one another. They orbit in
their own personal universes and cannot quite maintain deep, meaningful relationships with
others. As Mike and Aston stay poles apart despite being brothers. They rarely spare some time
to talk. He even considers his brother wrong without seeking any statement.

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

They misunderstand each other and remain in their private, personal worlds. Furthermore,
Davis is not engaged with society and finding it hard to adjust in the outer world while
considering it hostile and a place of entanglement. Loneliness is The Caretaker is largely
expressed through the characters of Davies and Aston. Davies is alone when Aston rescues him
from the brawl at the cafe, and after a brief interlude he is left alone again at the end of the
play. Davies is an outcast, a vagrant, cut off from society.

Aston's isolation is a different case. His offer to Davies of a room and a job, and his kindness
towards him. Yet Aston's isolation is not as simple as that of Davies, and springs from a different
cause. Aston's fault seems to have been exactly the opposite; he seems to have trusted people
too much.

 Absurdity: Life has no meaning or meta-narrative. it is fragmented, chaotic, confusing, and

hostile. Life seems pointless as in the case of Mike and Davis. An important aspect is the
repetition. The characters keep on repeating what have been occupying their minds.
Throughout the play, Davis could not fetch his documents while Mike cannot even initiate the
renovation of his house. Desires they possess or choices they make seem to be wholly
unconnected to the outcome. The play is devoid of any perfect plot indicating ambiguity and
entanglement. They are even unable to finalize the caretaker of the house. No one aspires to
assume to responsibility. Aston offers Davies to take the charge of the caretaker but refrains to
come forward.
“You could be...caretaker here, if you liked.”
 Identity: Mick, Aston, and Davies are not privileged to the full-fledged identities. In fact, Pinter
suggests that modern life so beats down a person that they are unable to maintain a sense of
self. Aston’s identity was vague due to electroshock treatment, and Davies has two names and
goes without his identifying papers.
“You see? They prove who I am! I can't move without them papers! They tell you who I am!”
He does not remember where he was born, and seems almost afraid to pursue answers to
these questions, as if he were afraid to find out he really has no identity.
 The characters are defined more in terms of their relationships to different objects rather than
their actual characteristics or motivations. Davies is obsessed with shoes and his knife; Aston has
his Buddha and the broken plug. This indicates their undermined identities and the inclination
towards trivial things.
 Race and National Origin: Pinter's characters live in a time and place when race and national
origin matter. After WWII and the end of the imperial age, borders became porous, and citizens
of Southeast Asia, India, and Africa made their way to European countries to settle. Race and
national origin were of central importance in order to determine who deserved what from
society and the government. Davies manifests the contemporary obsession with the hierarchy
of race, denigrating "Poles, Greeks, Blacks, the lot of them, all them aliens”, while asserting his
own rights. Aston and Mick are not racist like Davies, but still query him about his birthplace and
in Mick's case, tell stories about people's identifying factors like where they live and travel . The
obsession towards racism is evident.
 Communication: Communication is not something that comes easily to the three characters.
They find it hard to truly listen, or to answer direct questions. They don’t interact and if they
share moments together, they are meaningless. Their communication styles are influenced by
their social class and their treatment by society. Aston is slow and thoughtful as a result of his
treatment; Davies is loud and boastful to cover up his lack of a place in the world. Mick uses
language to his advantage to manipulate Davies. In a nutshell, there is an element of hollowness
instilled in all of them.

Considering the points discussed before, it can be said that Pinter’s “The Caretaker” is adorned with a
variety of modernism themes, depicting the modern man. It has the elements present in contemporary
life and is also related to the time of modernism after the Romantics.In representing these negative
features, the play can be seen as either a pessimistic indictment of the present or as a chilling warning of
what the future might look like.