The Caretaker nonverbal techniques

A detailed Summary of The Caretaker nonverbal techniques

"Drama is not made up of words alone, but sights and sounds, stillness and motion, noise and silence." While this quotation is relevant to all areas of drama, it is particularly pertinent in absurdist theatre and is important in the construction of Harold Pinter's, The Caretaker. Through these conventions, sight, sound, stillness, motion, noise and silence, the idea of a random and lonely world is portrayed. The notion that we are born alone and die alone and fortuitous, unrelated events happen in between is created by the use of these techniques throughout the play.

The setting is a key aspect in revealing the ideas from which the play is based. "...a couple of suitcases, a rolled carpet, a blow-lamp, a wooden chair on it's side, boxes, a number of ornaments, a clothes horse, a few short planks of wood, small electrical fire and a very old electric toaster..." this is an excerpt from the description of the room in which Aston and Davies live. The room is full of "junk", unconnected things that have been collected over the years and presently have no real meaning. This is a comment on life and the experiences a person has, each experience and memory may seem important at the time, like the g

The use of props is essential in adding meaning to the play. "Mick walks to the gas stove and picks up the Buddha...He hurls the Buddha against the gas stove. It breaks.(Passionately.)" Buddha is a symbol of calm and serenity, when it is broken the organisation and order is also broken. The breaking of the Buddha is a symbol of mans everlasting struggle with the universe, human beings wish to order and structure everything, while the universe is constantly moving towards entropy and chaos. This idea is reflected in the play's outcome, the household was reasonably calm and ordered until the Buddha was broken and Davies was asked to leave, a disturbance to the harmony. The utilization of the statue can also be viewed as comment on human emotions. Throughout the play the characters were quite detached, both from each other and the outside world, however when Mick passionately breaks the Buddha (serenity), Davies is requested to leave and the order that has been displayed throughout the play is lost. The idea being, that the human emotions work against the human will, the anger exhibited by Mick disordered a seemingly ordered world.

The sound of the dripping bucket, which is present throughout the play, helps create meaning. "A drip sounds in the bucket overhead. They (Mick and Davies) look up." The dripping sound is a metaphor for all the failings in the world, those who answer to it fail, those who don't succeed. Later, "A drip sounds in the bucket. Davies looks up," Davies who is a homeless tramp, a failure looks up, Mick, who is a success, keeps his attention trained on Davies. The drippi

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Approximate Word count = 1080
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Arts