Miseries of Modern Man as depicted by Harold Pinter in the play The Caretaker

Why Absurd is Meaningful?

Definition of modern man: Modern Man is indefinable. He is bunch of certain capabilities which are flexible and one is frequently replaced by another when caught in the whirlpool of flux of society.

1. Any man is a Modern man if he is capable of dropping the Hydrogen Bomb and Atom Bomb on innocent people without any shame or guilt. While doing the act he thinks that he is playing God.

2. Any man who is buying land on the Moon and Mars is a Modern Man.

3. Modern Man thinks that once he was Ape Man and in the future one day he would be Super Man, only he has to grasp more than he can hold. He believes in the Theory of Evolution.

4. Modern Man believes in his Negative Capability. He has infinite strength to face uncertainty. The world is not a closed rational system, the erratic and eccentric stand a better chance of understanding the world than a rational man.

5. Modern Man is proud of agnosticism, commercialisation, technology, anything that widens the gap between rich and poor.

Modern Man has three faces- Mike, Aston and Davies in The Caretaker by Harold Pinter. Mike and Aston are brothers and Davies is a tramp. All of them are directionless. In the play Shoes have been used symbolically. They are symbolic of the right path, action and destination, which all the three are utterly lacking. Despite being aimless they are ready to lend shoes and thus show path to others without caring for its appropriateness.

All the three suffer from isolation. At the beginning of Act I Mike is alone on the stage and at the end of play Davies stands alone on the stage. Mike rejects the audience and walks away after thirty seconds without uttering a single word. He attracts the attention of the audience at the garbage scattered in the room. Davies stands alone rejected by both, the brothers as well as the audience. The means of communication have decreased the capacity of Modern Man for genuine communication. Fear of rejection is due to lack of genuine communication.

All the three are opportunist and leave no chance to take advantage of each other. Aston has not brought Davies home out of charity. He wants to use him as an assistant and take his help in constructing a shed in the backyard of the house which is his long awaited dream. He collected Davies as he collects all other junk with the objective of putting them to use someday. Davies after realising that Mike is the owner of the house plays tricks to separate brothers. Mike is using his imbecile elder brother as caretaker.

Since society is always undergoing a transformation and time has lost its sanctity as Past, Present and Future, Modern Man feels loss of identity. All the three characters are insecure due to loss of identity. They either do not have any past history or they were oblivious of it. Mike was declared as mental patients and electric shocks were given to him whenever he tried to talk sensibly. He suffered from erratic memory lapses and lost his identity as a complete rational man. Davies confesses that original papers establishing his true identity are at Sidcup for the last seven years and he is living with a false name-Bernard Jenkins. Papers have become the only source of identity of Modern Man. The true identity of real self has lost the meaning.

Mike is mysterious and no one knows where he lives and what does he do?

Modern Man is a great planner and same is true for all the three characters. Mike is planning to renovate the house, Aston is planning to construct a shade in the backyard and Davies is planning to collect his papers from Sidcup. All are waiting for appropiate time, which never comes.

All the three characters are Biblical. Davies is Dionysus or the wandering Jew, Mick is dark angel and Ashton is bright angel as well as Christ himself as carpenter trying to build a church. Expulsion of Davies is also allegorical to the expulsion of Adam from Garden of Eden.

All the three have invisible parents, which shows that parents have become aliens for Modern Man. Beside this all the three suffer from racial hatred, fear of rejection, distrust, hallucinations, confinement, distorted values, sexual perversions(exchange of notes between Aston and Davies) and ennui which is the hallmark of Modern Life. The birth of new theories like Absurdism, Cynicism, Skepticism Nihilism and atheistic existentialism is consequential.  

In the end Mick hurls the Buddha statute against the gas stove and it breaks. This is highly symbolic. Buddha is a symbol of peace and compassion. The broken statute is symbolic that the option of peace is now obsolete. All the compassion which both the brothers demonstrated for Davies is also lost. It also symbolises that iconoclastic faith prevails in aimless and purposeless life.

Mike passionately outbursts '' I got to think about expanding...in all directions. I don't stand still. I am moving about ,all the time. I am moving...all the time. I have got to think about future...".

That's the damnable misery of it

Just an absurd thought:

Wriggle if you cannot walk: Walk if you cannot run ~Vipin Behari Goyal

References:

1.Thomas Nagel: Mortal Questions, 1991. ISBN 0-521-40676-5

2. Barrett, William (1977). Irrational Man: A Study in Existential Philosophy. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press. ISBN 0-8371-9671-X.

3.Esslin, Martin (1961). The Theatre of the Absurd. OCLC 329986

4.Great moments in the theater By Benedict Nightingale

262 pages. Oberon Books

© Vipin Behari Goyal

Other related Post

Waiting for Godot

Waiting for Godot: An Absurd Drama by Samuel Beckett

How absurd is meaningful? 

It’s all about waiting. The waiting is the only talked-about activity. The waiting is endless! The waiting is crucial! The waiting is commitment! There is no alternative but to wait.

So here, in ‘Waiting for Godot’ waiting is an action.

Let us contemplate on a few verses from Geeta. Geeta is the only religious book which is purely philosophical in nature.

"What is action? What is inaction? Even the wise are confused in this matter. This action, I shall explain to you, having known which, you shall be released from evil” (4:16)."

"The real nature of action is hard to understand” (4:17)."

“One who sees inaction in action, and action in inaction, is intelligent among men, and he is in the transcendental position, although engaged in all sorts of activities.”(4:18)."

Science says every action has a reaction, but those actions that do not reproduce reactions are inaction. But there is one condition. The action is performed in a transcendental position.

Now, philosophically transcendental means “asserting a fundamental irrationality or supernatural element in experience.”

Waiting is a fundamental irrational experience not only for the characters on stage, but also for the audience. This is also evident in repetition of the same dialogue between two characters at the end of Act 1 and Act II, in reverse order.

At the end of Act 1 in "Waiting for Godot".

"Estragon says: Well, shall we go?

Vladimir replies: Yes, Let’s go.

[They do not move.]

While in the end of Act 2

Vladimir says: Well, shall we go?

Estragon replies: Yes, Let’s go.

[They do not move.]"

Both of them said“Let’s Go”, but did not move. To say is an action which does not cause any reaction. In transcendence action is inaction and inaction becomes action.

Many dimensions of waiting have been explored and many yet remain to be explored. 

The waiting is in reference to time.

"Vladimir: That passed the time.

Estrogen: It would have passed anyway."

French Philosopher Henry Bergson in his theory of duration(la duree) established that time can be grasped through intuition and imagination only since its is permanently in the state of  ‘movable and incomplete’.

"Estragon: Simply wait.

Vladimir: We are used to it.

Waiting is habit. It is a conditioning of mind. It is Comfort zone. It is an identity fixation since ‘billions are doing it everyday."

Waiting is passion, and whole human life is passion. Man starts his journey with ‘doubt’:

"Estragon: You gave me a fright.

Vladimir: I thought it was he.

Estragon: Who?

Vladimir: Godot.

Estragon: Pah! The wind in the reeds.

Vladimir: I could have sworn I heard shouts.

Estrogen: And why would he shout?

Vladimir: At his horse."

Through doubt man wants to reach a 'belief '. The faith is a miracle. Waiting is for that miracle to happen. There are some pseudo-references in all religion that miracle do occur.

"Estragon: I remember the map of Holy Land. Coloured they were. Very pretty. The dead sea was pale blue. The very look of it made me thirsty. That’s where we will go, I used to say, that’s where we’ll go for our honeymoon. We will swim. We’ll be happy."

Waiting is hope that everything will be better tomorrow. 

Waiting is for 'Second Coming’, that would solve all their problems, waiting is for salvation and that is why they repent. The repeated references from the Old Testament and the New Testament reminds us of Christian Existentialist, Soren Kierkegaard. 

Does man suffer despair for want of faith in God.

Waiting is an escapism from the struggles and the nothingness of life.

Waiting is a journey from essentialism to existentialism.

Meaningful phrases from the play and lessons they teach:

1. Vladimir: Be reasonable, you haven't yet tried everything. And I resumed the struggle.

2. Vladimir: (He buttons his fly)Never neglect the little things of life.

3. Vladimir: Hope deferred maketh the something sick.

4. Vladimir: Blaming on his boots the fault of his feet.

5. Vladimir: The essential doesn't change.

6. Pozzo: Think twice before you do anything rash.

7. Pozzo: From the meanest creature one departs wiser, richer, more conscious of one's blessings.

8. Pozzo: I might just as well have been in his shoes and he in mine.

9. Vladimir: To every man his little cross.

10. Vladimir: Let us not waste our time in idle discourse.

T.S.Eliot in his poem "The Four Quartets" says

"I said to my soul, be still, and wait without hope

For hope would be hope for the wrong thing; wait without love,

For love would be love of the wrong thing; there is yet faith

But the faith and the love and the hope are all in the waiting."

Faith,Hope and Love are in waiting. Not only in waiting but poet suggests a sort of perpetual waiting. In "Tall Man Small Shadow" this poem has been quoted from an existentialist point of view.

Use of Sex Symbols in Waiting for Godot:

Carrot:

ESTRAGON 
Fancy that. (He raises what remains of the carrot by the stub of leaf, twirls it before his eyes.) Funny, the more you eat the worse it gets.
VLADIMIR 
With me it's just the opposite. 

Vladimir and Estragon have a relationship which seems to be more than friendship. Temperamentally they are different, but they are bound by some invisible bond which could be Sex. There are subtle hints for that.

Firstly, the waiting itself can be seen as an impotent act. Vladimir is sterile and suffers erectile dysfunction. His offer of carrot is symbolic . Estragon holds the stub of carrot and by the stub of leaf and twirls it before the eyes, is enough to demonstrate his opinion about Vladimir impotency.

Fly:

Estrogon's unbuttoned fly is not simple abrupt humour. It has some implications. It could be pain and suffering caused by sexual incompetence. T. S. Eliot has ridiculed sterile relationship and mechanisation of sexual act in The Wasteland'.Similarly, Beckett also makes a mockery of meaninglessness and uselessness of fly in sterile relationship.Vladimir seems to be suggesting something more when he said "Never ignore little things in life". It may be his pain or suffering for being ignored due to "little thing".

Pants Off:

In the end of the play the last conversation which usually concludes the theme of the play is:

Vladimir: Pull on your trousers.
Estrogon: What?
Vladimir: Pull on your trousers.
Estrogon: You want me to pull off my trousers.
Vladimir: Pull on your trousers.

As if the audience is also being asked to buckle up their pants since the show is over.



© Vipin Behari Goyal

Advocate, Rajasthan High Court, Jodhpur, India 

A Doll's House By IBSEN - A play that can save marriages

Marriage Counseling in Literature 

Torvald and Nora are husband and wife. They have three children. Nora is a housewife and Torvald is making a career in banking. They are apparently a happy couple. They face ups and down slowly and their relationship disintegrates without any obvious major flaw.

We read the play and trace the events that caused a loving, lovely wife to abandon her caring and careerist husband. It may help in saving a marital relationship.

1. Secrecy and Suspense

If either of the spouses is fond of keeping secrets to give a surprise, it definitely is going to hurt sooner or later.

Opening line of the act

Nora: Hide that Christmas tree away, Helen. The children mustn't see it before I've decorated it this evening.

The opening dialogue reveals the character of Nora. The Nora is in the habit of hiding the things. She is prone to keep the things secret. Since it is a trait of her character she is not only hiding the things from children but also from the husband.

Symbolically, she herself is a Christmas tree and she hides her character from her husband, children and friends.

Surprises are good, lest you don't have to pay for it.

It reminds us a story by O. Henry "The gift of the Magi". Magi sells her long lustrous hair to buy a chain of a golden watch for Jim, while Jim sales his watch to buy a set of combs for his beloved Magi. To surprise each other they sold the only two precious things in their house.

Some people are not apt to handle a surprise, suspense or secret. The spouse should avoid to keep anything secret between them. This relationship needs absolute transparency. May be both of them would undergo a turmoil, but it might save their marriage.

pixabay

2. Avoid to call pet names

Helmer, the husband of Nora arrives home from the office and found his wife busy in opening parcels of the gifts she has bought from shops.

Despite the fact that Helmer does not like the overspending habits of his wife, he calls her by lot of pet names like skylark, squirrel and squander-bird.

A lot of pet names should ring a danger bell in your ears.

Quinine is always sugar- coated.

Excessive polite persons are dangerous.

They are not newlywed couple. Nora is already mother of two children. Any wife should be proud of being called by so many pet names by her husband. A wise wife would be suspicious.

3. Debts may ruin a relationship:

Helmer believes "a home that is founded on debts and borrowings can never be a place of freedom and beauty".

Wrong act for a right cause does not justify the action. Nora borrowed money for the treatment of her husband. Helmer needed a change of weather  to recover from an ailment. Nora borrowed the money from a crook Krogstad by forging documents.

Nora has acted just against the philosophy of her husband. She knew very well how much her husband hated borrowing money.

If we know Nora we cannot overrule the possibility that she herself was interested in a tour to Italy. It was her long awaited cherished dream.

Even if she went with the pious objective to save the life of Helmer, she did the folly of hiding the fact from the husband.

Her husband remained under the impression that she has inherited money from deceased father.

Helmer was a lawyer and a banker. He could have arranged financing. What tempted Nora to manage finances on her own. It is illegal for a wife to borrow money without the knowledge of her husband.

4. One lie leads to another

Nora accepts that she wants money in the gift. She always needs money to pay the installments to Krogstad.

Later, Helmer, while returning home saw Krogstad  depart. He asks Nora if there was any visitor and she declines. Helmer says ""A songbird must have a clean beak to sing with, otherwise she will start twittering out of tune."

Helmer is of the view ''an atmosphere of lies contaminates and poisons every corner of the home. Every breath that the children draw in such a house contains the germ of the evil."

5. Fruitless Efforts

Helmer reminds her how Nora tried to surprise him on Christmas by making flowers which were later ruined by a cat, before she could gift them on Christmas.

Helmer says those were the most boring three weeks of his life when Nora shut her up in a room to prepare surprise gift for him. But Nora did not find it boring, despite the fact all her efforts remained fruitless.

Nora has her obsessions and she is self centered also. She does not care if her husband suffers a boredom so far as she enjoys making flowers. For her, making flowers is more important than providing a company to her husband.

Helmer says "You simply wanted to make us happy , and that's all that matters".

But that's not all that matters, obviously. Fruitless efforts to make marriage work does more harm than good.

6. Female friends of wife

They are a potential threat to marriage. Mrs.Linde, who is a childhood friend of Nora is frequently visiting Nora's home. She becomes jealous of her happy life. She is also an ex lover of Krogstad, and now has a plan to rejuvenate her relationship. Helmer hates Krogstad and has removed him from bank job. Nora, innocently or foolishly shares her secret with her best friend. Later, when Krogstad writes a letter to Helmer, disclosing the secret of Nora, Mrs. Linde stops him from withdrawing the letter, though she knew it would destroy the marriage of her best friend.

Shakespeare says " Frailty, thy name is woman", That frailty might be jealousy also.

When Nora suggests her to take a break, Mrs. Linde retorts "I have no papa to pay for my holidays, Nora". The spite is evident.

7. Money matters

Most of the girls would prefer a rich husband. Ideally, they would circumvent the truth to sound as if of high morale.

Mrs. Linde ditched penniless Krogstad to marry a man who was well off, so that he would take care of her aged mother and two minor brothers.

8. We owe each other

Nora has an argument "he is so proud of being a man-it'd so painful and humiliating for him to know that he owed anything to me. It'd completely wreck our relationship."

Nora does not cut on luxuries of her husband or needs of her children, but cut expenses on her cloth to pay installments. She also earns money by copying.

"It was almost like being a man"- she says.

She is not satisfied with her role of wife and mother. It gives her pleasure to act like man, to earn money. It serves her egocentric need of an identity.

9. Guilt destroys the fun

The whole story is fabricated on the lie told by Nora. Nora is constantly suffering from a guilty conscience.

10. Jealous husbands are not necessarily loving husband.

In Act 2 Nora says to her friend "Torvald is so hopelessly in love with me that he wants to have me all to himself".

A possessive husband is no guarantee of true love.

Nora represents the entire generation of women who are sick of being possessed. The protection or security promised by husband doesn't come cheap. Women feel a loss of identity in their traditional role model. A husband as a companion should help in her search. Only a insecure husband would say what Helmer says "I shall watch over like a hunted dove which I  have snatched unharmed from the claws of falcon."

Helmer had conditioned the mind of Nora by constantly comparing her with bird and squirrel. In his opinion, no woman was more than that.

When he reads the letter of Krogstad his true character is revealed. It is an eye opener for Nora. Helmer loves his own reputation more than he loves Nora. Nora was crestfallen, she imagined that her loving and caring husband would take the blame of forgery to save her.  

When this realisation precipitates, she takes her decision."I must stand on my own feet if I am to find out truth about myself and about life."

Nora walks out from stage and also from the life of Helmer.

Related Topics

1.Games Spouse Play

2.Charms of Domestic Violence

3.Marital Rape

4.The Hybrid Women

© Vipin Behari Goyal

Advocate, Rajasthan High Court, Jodhpur, India