Absurdity in the Birthday Party

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The characters in this play have three main characteristics mystery, danger and humour in them. The plot of the play is built upon the character named Stanley who puts up in a boarding house that is along the seaside, which is to show that the character has isolated himself from the world. The boarding house is owned by Meg and Petey. They try to make Stanley comfortable with them and treat him like they are his parents. This play is about the use of language. Language is the important factor which controls everything including the action, characters.

The characters of McCann and Goldberg use language to terrorise Stanley which leads to his breakdown, downfall. These are the characters who have come to claim Stanley, thereafter causing great disturbance amongst the members of the boarding house. As talked about earlier, language significantly causes the absurdity to develop in the characters, emotions, relationships etc. Stanley is frightened by the language used by McCann and Goldberg. According to Pinter, the characters use language for communication. The pinteresque element’s such as pauses and silences in between dialogues can also be seen. The conversation between Meg and Petey makes it appear that they are trying to elude the situation. According to Arthur Ganz, “The most distinctive elements in Pinter’s dramatic technique are the ambiguity that surrounds events, the mysterious behaviour of characters, the near omnipresence of menace, silence and other verbal characteristics.”

To prove this statement, I would like to point out how Pinter, in the first Act, uses the mode of repetition to create humour and eases the tension of the scene.

MEG. Is that you, Petey?

(Pause)

PETEY. Is that you?

(Pause)

MEG. Petey?

PETEY. What?

MEG. Is that you?

PETEY. Yes it’s me. (Act1, 1)

In the above conversation, Pinter tries to divert the audience’s response slightly from the action. The emptiness in Meg and Petey’s married life can be seen because of this absurdity. Stanley’s life too shows the same which is gripped by many uncertainties and anonymities. Stanley is always scared and the reason is not known. He feels more insecure after the two villainous characters, McCann and Goldberg enter the scene. Pinter’s mind is full of fear and anxieties which he shows in the play. Meg’s fear of losing Stanley and Stanley’s fear of losing the protection which he got from Meg and Petey, becomes the inevitable cause of absurd imagination in the play.

STANLEY: They’re coming today.

MEG: Who?

STANLEY: They’re coming in a van.

MEG: Who? They’ll carry a wheel barrow in a van.

STAN: They’re looking for someone.

MEG: No, they’re not. (Act 1, 18)

The dialogues, that Pinter creates, are in such a way that it makes way for the readers to interpret the play in their own way, yet the ambiguity is maintained throughout the play. Pinter has used silence and pauses as a part of their communication. The characters convey a lot by being silent and giving a pause in the midst of a conversation, which creates a kind of curiosity amongst the readers or the audience.

The sense of terror is further intensified with the arrival of the two agents who start interrogating Stanley and accuse him of unknown guilt and sins. Stanley is not able to say anything and only makes some gurgling sounds. His silence shows the gradual disappearance of memory and the loss of his personality.

The characters like Goldberg use language a tool to fool people. He tries to be friends with Stanley to torture him. He also tries to be close to Meg and is intereted in the idea of a birthday party for Stanley which was completely different from his purpose of coming to the boarding house. Hence, language can be seen as an unreliable mode used for human expression which is central to the play. As the play concludes, it seems to fail, at least for Stanley, for he is unable to speak anything except for the nonsensical syllables as he is about to be taken away by McCann and Goldberg.

After having read the play, we see that there is the presence of an undertone of ambiguity attached to the implied meaning. Pinter achieves this efficacy through the clever manipulation of the exchange pattern of the dialogues between the characters.

2.2 The Birthday Party as an Existentialist play

2.2.1 What is Existentialism?

Existentialism is a term which probably originated with the Danish philosopher, Søren Kierkegaard, who is known to be the first existentialist philosopher. Nevertheless, Kierkegaard never adopted this word ‘existentialism’ in any of his works. It was the famous philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre, who started using this term.

Existentialism is a 20th century philosophy that deals with the meaning of existence and also finding the meaning of the existence of a human. This philosophy says that human come in the world and then they live their lives to attach a meaning to it. Existentialism does not bind itself to a specific definition. Existentialism is defined as a philosophy which is related to the quest for self and the purpose of life through our free will, accountability and choice. According to this theory, a person should not be made to do anything under the name of tradition, religion, norms or societal pressure. Although, an existentialist believes in doing things according to one’s own will and choice, he/she does not believe that wealth and pleasure are needed to make one’s life honourable. Existentialism also does not make its follower adamant and live his/her life without any purpose. Existentialism has different meanings for different individuals as it is based on the choice of every individual.

The idea of existentialism became famous when the humanity was going through the Great Depression during the World War II. This time saw a sense of hopelessness in the lived of the people. The optimistic fervour in them was destroyed by World War I and the calamities that followed. An existentialist need not be just a doubting relativist, but can also be an immoral nonbeliever or a religious preacher. Søren Kierkegaard, Friedrich