TAKE CARE

SUMMARY
AND
CHARACTERS
BY-HAROLD-PINTER
The play takes place in one room of a house in West London during the 1950s. It is winter. The play begins
with Mick sitting on a bed in the room, but when he hears a door open and shut somewhere offstage, he leaves.
Aston, his brother, and Davies, an old tramp, enter. Aston has helped Davies in a fight at the cafe where he was
working an odd job. Aston offers Davies clothes, shoes, and a place to stay the night. Davies is loud and
opinionated, complaining about the "blacks" and people of other races. Aston, by contrast, is reserved, shy, and
speaks haltingly. Davies accepts Aston's offer, and says he will have to go down to Sidcup to get his papers,
which will confirm who he is.

The next morning Aston tells Davies that he was being loud in his sleep, a statement that Davies strenuously
rejects. Aston prepares to go out, and tells Davies he can stay there. The tramp says he will try to find a job.
After Aston is gone, Mick enters and engages Davies in a silent tussle. He asks Davies what his game is.
Mick asks Davies strange questions and discourses on random topics, discombobulating the older man. He
finally says that Davies can rent the room if he wants. Aston returns with a bag of Davies's belongings. Mick
leaves. The bag turns out not to be Davies', and he is annoyed. Aston asks Davies if he wants to be the
caretaker of the place; he, in turn, is supposed to be decorating the landing and turning it into a real flat for his
brother. Davies is wary at first because the job might entail real work, but he agrees.

Later Davies is in the room and Mick uses the vacuum cleaner in the dark to frighten Davies. Adopting a
more casual manner, he asks Davies if he wants to be caretaker. Davies asks who really is in charge of the
place, and Mick deceives him. He asks Davies for references, and Davies promises to go to Sidcup to get
them.
The next morning Davies prolongs his decision to go out, blaming bad weather. Aston tells him about how
he used to hallucinate and was placed in a mental facility and given electroshock treatment against his will.
His thoughts are slower now, and he wishes he could find the man who put the pincers to his head. All he
wants to do, though, is build the shed in the garden.

Two weeks later, Davies is full of complaints about Aston, delivering them to Mick. One night Aston wakes
Davies to make him stop making noise in his sleep, and Davies explodes, mocking him for his shock
treatment. Aston quietly says he is not working out and ought to leave. Davies curses him and says he will
talk to Mick about it.
Davies speaks with Mick and argues that Aston should be evicted. Mick pretends to agree with him for a bit,
and then starts to ask Davies about his claim that he is an expert interior decorator. Befuddled at this claim
he did not make, Davies tries to correct Mick. At one point he calls Aston nutty, which causes Mick to order
him to leave. He gives Davies money to pay him out for his services.

Aston enters, and both brothers are faintly smiling. Mick leaves, and Davies tries to plead with Aston again.
He grows more and more desperate, wheedling and promising to be better. All Aston says is that Davies
makes too much noise. The curtain descends on Davies' protestations.
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The Caretaker Summary and Analysis

Act I

The play opens on one room. Inside the room is an assortment of objects: an iron bed against the wall,
paint buckets, boxes, vases, an electric fire and an electric toaster, newspapers, a bucket hanging from
the ceiling, a gas stove, and a statue of Buddha on the stove.

Mick is in the room alone. He hears muffled voices and leaves the room before Aston and Davis come
in. Aston is dressed in a tweed jacket and an old suit. Davis wears a worn jacket and sandals, no shoes.
Aston invites Davies to sit down, and he does so awkwardly. He begins to complain about how earlier on his
break he could not find a seat because all the Greeks and Poles and Blacks were already there and were “doing
me out of a seat” (6). Aston offers him a cigarette and Davies accepts some tobacco for his pipe.
Davies continues to talk, asking Aston if he heard him tell the guy who came at him. Aston assents. Davies
complains about all the “toe-rags” (7) and how they are unclean and have no manners. He explains that he
even left his wife because she was too filthy. He reflects on the fight with the man as well, recounting to Aston
how the man came up to him and told him to take out the bucket, which was not his job. Besides, Davies
scoffs, he and the man are the same level and he should not be giving him orders. Aston asks if the man was
Greek, but Davies says he was Scotch. Davies adds that back in his day people were taught to be pleasant to
each other but no one is anymore. He probably would have ended up in the hospital after fighting the Scot if
Aston had not intervened, but he is worried now about his bag of possessions that is still in the back room of
the restaurant. Aston says he can go down there and get it for him.
Davies looks around the room and asks Aston if it is his; Aston says it is. Davies says there is a good bit
of stuff here. They talk quietly about draughts of cold air until Davies asks if this is Aston’s house. The
latter replies, “I’m in charge” (9). Davies noticed curtains next door and asks Aston about that; Aston
says it is a family of Indians. Davies asks about blacks, and Aston says he does not see them much.

Aston gives Davies a pair of shoes to try on. Shoes are to Davies “life and death” because he walks
around so much. While Davies is trying them on, he asks more about Blacks nearby. He then launches
into a long speech on shoes –one time he asked a monk for shoes and the man was rude to him, and he
became indignant. Another time, he tells Aston, he got a meager meal at a place that made him mad
because it was as if he was no better than a dog.
The shoes do not work out, and Davies talks about how much better leather is than suede. Aston asks what he
is going to do now, and Davies replies that he has a few things in mind. Aston asks if he wants to stay here.
Davies slowly says that he is not sure, and Aston says just until he gets on his feet. After a few more moments
of hesitation, Davies says that he will stay until he gets things sorted out.

Davies looks around the place and asks about certain items. Nothing works very well, or at all. Aston says
quietly at one point that he likes to work with his hands. Davies notices the Buddha and asks about it
quizzically.

Aston starts to get Davies settled in. Davies asks if he shares the toilet with the Blacks and Aston says no, as
they live next door. Relieved, Davies helps him make up the bed. Aston gives Davies a bit of money, and
Davies thanks him and says, “I just happened to find myself a bit short”.
Davies curses the weather and says he hopes it will break so he can go down to Sidcup to get his
papers. The papers prove who he is and he cannot move without them. It also turns out that he
changed his name to Bernard Jenkins from Mac Davies. He cannot do anything with his
unemployment card now or he would go into jail.

Talk winds down and Davies gets into bed, which he calls a “fair bed” and says “I think I’ll sleep in
this”
Act II

In the morning, Aston puts his pants on and straightens up the bed. Davies sits up abruptly and seems
disconcerted until he remembers where he is. Aston asks if he was dreaming, and Davies indignantly says he has
never had a dream in his life. He then asks why Aston asks, and Aston says he was jabbering in his sleep. Davies
refuses to believe it, and suggests it was the Blacks.

Aston prepares to leave, and Davies is surprised when Aston says he can stay there while he is gone. Aston says
he is going to go look for a jigsaw. He then relates a short anecdote about how he got to talking to a woman in a
café and she asked if he wanted her to have a look at his body. He was surprised and felt it was odd. Davies says
companionably that women have done that to him too.
Aston asks Davies if he is Welsh and then asks where he was born. Davies does not really answer this
question, saying it is too hard to set your mind back that far. They talk about the stove for a bit and Aston
gets ready to go. Davies asks if he can have some money, but Aston reminds him he gave him some earlier.
Davies tells Aston he might try to go to a café in Webley to find a job.

After Aston leaves, Davies inspects the room, picking up items and offering commentary on them. While
he is doing that, Mick silently comes in. Mick watches Davies for a moment until Davies notices him,
startled. Mick attacks him and forces him to the floor and they scuffle. Davies quiets after Mick holds up a
finger. Mick releases him, goes to Davies's bed, and picks up the man’s trousers. He looks at the pants,
then the Buddha. He puts the Buddha in a drawer. Mick finally sits down and asks Davies: “What’s your
game?” 
Analysis

The first act of Pinter's most famous play sets out a number of themes, motifs, and concerns that will
permeate the entire work: racism, identity, and isolation. The three main (and only) characters are
introduced right away, although the audience only comes to know more about Aston and Davies. There
is only one set –the room –and all of the action will take place there. The closeness of the room and its
cluttered state helps to reinforce the sense of isolation that will become more palpable as the play
continues. There is a tension between the safety and womblike environment of the room and the
arguments and miscommunications between the brothers and Davies. The room acts as shelter and as a
claustrophobic space where contentiousness and conflict are exacerbated.
The first act of the play is generally considered the most humorous of the play, which is owing to the voluble,
brash, and opinionated character of Davies. Davies is a masterful Pinter creation: low-class, immensely flawed,
and short-sighted, but full of self-importance. He has an anecdote and an opinion about everything, from the type
of shoe material that is best to his views on other races to cleanliness (which is ironic, given the fact that he is
told by Aston and Mick at the end of the play that he stinks) to the lack of manners of people nowadays. It is
amusing that he does not even have a kind word to say about the typically gentle and benevolent monks who
tried to help him. Despite Davies's boisterous posturing, what is clear is that his identity is actually somewhat
problematic. He explains to Aston that he will have to go down to Sidcup to get his papers because the papers
prove who he really is. He goes under an assumed name –Bernard Jenkins –and wants to get his hands on them
because if he had them, "I could prove everything!" (16). Strangely, though, Davies admits that the man at
Sidcup has had the papers for fifteen years, which alerts the reader to something rather off about Davies's
protestations that he needs and plans to get the papers. The second and third acts bear out the fact that Sidcup (an
invented name that Pinter liked because it sounded dull and bureaucratic) for Davies is always out of reach, and,
thus, a real sense of identity is out of reach as well.
Aston is a much more enigmatic character than Davies; interestingly, he later gives the most extended
monologue about his past. Aston is a relatively young man but seems afflicted by something: he talks
slowly, pausing between phrases (a term was even coined for this mainstay of the dialogue in Pinter's plays:
the "Pinter pause") and remaining rather reticent while Davies discourses on his topics. What is clear about
Aston right away, though, is his compassionate nature. He helped Davies out in a scuffle at the bar, invited
him back to his room, gave him money and what clothes he could, and ultimately asks him to stay as long as
he needs to in order to get back on his feet. This is profoundly kind, especially as he does not know Davies
and Davies is manifestly unpleasant. The reasons for Aston's withdrawn nature are revealed in later scenes,
but as of the first act, the audience can already discern that he is worthy of their sympathy and interest.
Tellingly, the Buddha, a symbol of peace and compassion, is associated with him.
While the events in this first act are relatively straightforward, there are still certain ambiguities and peculiar
structural elements. First, Pinter begins his play with no background and introduces characters with little-to-no
exposition. It takes time before the audience has any idea what exactly happened to bring the two men
together. The character of Mick is strange as well: he very pointedly is on stage when the play begins, but
leaves when Aston and Davies come into the room and does not reappear until he silently stalks Davies and
attacks him when Aston is gone.
Characters have a tendency to not answer direct questions, or to answer them in unsatisfying ways. The true
owner of the room is a cause of confusion for much of the play. When Davies asks Aston, "This is your house
then, is it?" (9), Aston replies, "I'm in charge" (9). Davies tries to clarify, "You the landlord, are you?" (9) and
Aston simply responds, "What?" (9). The conversation then moves on to curtains and the family of "Blacks"
next door, without ever truly answering the question of what Aston's place in the room is. Faulty
communication is a major theme of the play, introduced here and borne out later.
Critics have designated the play as a tragicomedy and possessing elements of the Theatre of the Absurd as well as
naturalistic and realistic elements. Indeed, as mentioned, this first act is the most amusing and the most realistic.
Davies provides a great deal of comedic relief through his colorful language, appearance, and even physical comedy,
as when he is caught with his trousers down by Mick at the end of this act. He is rendered even more amusing by his
grandiose self-regard and his shortsighted belief that he is better than people of other races. Davies becomes less
amusing as he begins to complain more and grow obnoxious toward Aston. The play's second and third acts reveal
how it functions as a tragedy, as all three characters, particularly Aston, are, as scholar Bill Naismith identifies,
"deeply affected by factors beyond their control. In their different ways they are all surviving with a degree of
courage in the face of circumstances which are, in the main, oppressive." All are lonely and isolated. Of course, on
the other hand, as scholar Bernard Dukore notes,"[the characters] seem to be 'real' people, for their speech, their
concerns, their behavioral patterns, and their rhythms of daily living have the ring of truth to them." The critical
success and popularity of this play no doubt stems from Pinter's masterly amalgamation of these various themes and
styles.
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The Caretaker Character List:

Aston
The older brother of Mick, Aston appears shy, reserved, and slow. He speaks haltingly and has
trouble finishing projects. He reveals that when younger he was subject hallucinations, and then,
against his will, was put into a mental facility and given electroshock treatment. He confesses he
has difficulty ordering his thoughts. He is also very compassionate, offering Davies a place to stay
and a job. He is finally pushed to his limits when Davies mocks his treatment and "make[s] too
much noise" (60). He has a good relationship with Mick, although they do not speak to each other.
Davies
Davies is an itinerant and a tramp. After a fight at his cafe job, he is brought by Aston to the room where he is offered
the caretaker position by both Aston and Mick. Davies is loud, confident, arrogant, and full of himself. He has a martyr
complex, believing that everyone else, particularly other races, is out to get him. His identity is questionable, as his
papers have been at Sid cup for a long time. He eventually alienates Aston with his irritability, laziness, and mean-
spiritedness, and is forced out of the room.
Mick
The younger brother of Aston, Mick is rather mysterious and complex. He cares deeply for his brother
and deftly deceives Davies. He is intelligent and ambitious, and talks frequently about his projects
and desires to expand. He lives outside the room but resents Davies's entrance into it. While he admits
to getting frustrated with Aston, his dream is to fix up flat and live there with him.
Reference:

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