Introduction

Project Timeline

Techniques and Styles in The Caretaker

Who is the Caretaker?

Violence and menace/The Outsider

Violence and menace are mostly below the surface of the play. Mick moves swiftly and silently and is an unpredictable character.

Davies threatens Mick’s relationship with his brother, and responds to his fear of authority by threatening violence

Aston is more of a victim of violence, his description of his treatment in hospital shows that the world beyond the room is now a threatening place.

Power

The Caretaker focuses on the struggles for dominance of space and personal advantage. Pinter shows how relationships and potential relationships can be damaged and broken by betrayals and shifting allegiances.

The Caretaker deals with two people in one room having a battle of an undetermined nature with the question of who is dominant, when they are dominant and what tactics they will use to achieve dominance and how they will destabilize the others dominance. Dominate or be dominated!

A pair of shoes becomes an illustration of how even ordinary items can be used in these power struggles - Davies establishes his knowledge of footwear, then puts the weight of guilt on Aston when he blames Aston for offering him shoes that are too small. While Aston is at a disadvantage Davies exploits his charitable nature by putting him in a position of conciliatory servitude. Davies establishes that to complete his plans (of getting to Sidcup) he needs shoes and in doing so puts Aston in a position where it would be particularly difficult for him not to offer Davies a bed for the night. Davies uses the act of rejecting the shoes to gain a tactical advantage over Aston. This is confirmed later after Aston has left the room and Davies on retrieving the shoes comments “Not a bad pair of shoes. Bit pointed.”

Davies is good at short term tactics but not on overall strategy. His long term goal is to get to Sidcup for his papers which will establish his identity but this is just a pipe dream. Davies looses this power struggle in a series of events, his panic at being offered the job of caretaker with its potential for commitment, by shifting his allegiance from Aston to Mick, and by his failure to recognise the bonds of brotherhood.

Mick on the other hand excels at his long term goal - tricking Davies into showing his true character so that Aston will reject Davies thereby shielding his brother from any potential exploitation. Mick’s offer of the position of caretaker isn’t made out of concern, as is Aston’s, but as a trick to expose Davies’ treacherous nature. The play ends with Davies pleading for a second chance while Mick and Aston exchange smiles.

Failure to Communicate

This is highlighted by the language of the play. All three characters want to communicate but are afraid. They use words to create a picture of who they are but their language shows their true characters.

When the characters do want to express emotion, no one is listening Aston’s emotions on how he was treated in the hospital makes him more vulnerable.

Loneliness and Betrayal

Davies and Aston are both lonely. Davies trusts no one and although Aston shows him kindness, he betrays him because he is mistrustful. Davies’ loneliness is largely due to his own attitude and behaviour.

Aston is also lonely, offering Davies a bed and a job, but this is because of a series of betrayals.

The Past

Each of the characters in The Caretaker are in someway defined by their past. Davies is wary of everyone always expecting the worst. He has low self-esteem which he tries to bolster with recollection of events (often imagined) that he feels will boost his standing with others. His appearance reflects the disorder in his life.

Aston is wary of everyone and everything outside of the room. He wears a suit suggesting that he is anxious to appear to reintegrate himself into conventional society, this stems from his fear of being returned to the hospital for more treatment. His obsession with fixing the toaster’s plug represents his need for purpose. Mick is driven to provide a stable and safe environment, he needs to protect Aston in a way he couldn’t before, and it might also suggest that he feels guilty that he escaped the same fate despite his erratic and violent temperament.

Truth and Fiction (Dreams and Aspirations)

Aston, Davies and Mick, rely on memories of the past to help define their present identity. Their memory is often unreliable, distorting what is recalled. Each character has a dream which defines them and gives their lives focus. Davies his trip to Sidcup, Aston and his shed, Mick and his plans to convert the house.

Davies is homeless and without possessions, so he reinvents himself to suit whatever situation he finds himself in. For example he tries to prove he is from a refined background by stating “I’ve eaten dinner of the best of plates”, responds to Astons story of being approached by a woman in a café “they’ve said the same thing to me”, etc. His biggest illusion is that he will go to Sidcup to regain his papers which will allow him to confirm his identity and consequently solve all his problems and uncertainties. Although based on a reality Davies never succeeds in achieving his goal.

Aston’s illusion is that he can transform the garden and build a shed before redecorating the upper floor of the house. His inability to mend a plug is a sad indictment of his inability to achieve his dream.

Even Mick is sustained by an illusion. He dreams of turning the junk filled top floor into an elegant penthouse flat, for himself and Aston.

Each of the three men can see through the others delusions, even if they cannot see through their own; this gives poignancy to the play. Davies challenges Aston’s dream of transforming the garden with the following comment “You’d need a tractor, man.” Aston destroys Davies hope that he can stay on in the flat saying “You make too much noise”. While Mick, crushes Davies illusions about Sidcup “You make a long speech about all the references you’ve got down in Sidcup and what happens? I haven’t noticed you go down to Sidcup to obtain them.”

Comedy

Comedy and tragedy are interwoven in The Caretaker. There are elements of humour at the beginning of the play, but as it progresses these turn towards tragedy.

Both Davies and Mick have comic elements to their characters, with Aston as the exception.

The comedy from Davies is unintentional. Through his characterisation of Davies Pinter introduces a visual comedic element, for example when Davies is chased around the room with no trousers on at the start of Act II, or when he tries on the shoes or smoking jacket. There is also a comedic element in Davies style of speaking. He is always very earnest and thinks a lot of himself. He doesn’t always follow what people are saying which leads to comic responses.

As the comedy disappears from The Caretaker, the mood of the play changes and the characters concentrate on their own survival.

Mick’s humour depends largely on the actor cast and their interpretation of the character. Mick baits Davies; it’s a performance which can sometimes be funny for example the monologues.