Themes, Symbols, Images…

Textual Analysis of The Dumb Waiter

Genre - drama, comedySetting - (time) modern day, (place) the

basement of a cafePlot -Exposition: There are two hitmen, Gus and

Ben, under a basement waiting to be called for work. Comically, Gus struggles wearing his shoes on the bed, pulling out stuff from the inside of his shoes. On the other bed sits Ben reading the newspaper silently.

Rising action: They started to have conversations about mostly tragedies on the paper's coverage Ben was reading.

Conflict: Then there descends the dumb waiter, which is an elevator to serve foods to different floors, containing a food order. Ben questions Wilson’s intention who lives upstairs. They have been sending food up and down for several times. Then Gus goes out of the room for drinking water. Then the final order says to kill whoever enters the room. 

Climax/ Resolution: After Gus goes out of the room, a whistle through the tube blows indicating them to be ready. Ben called Gus, having his gun trained to the door. Through the same door, Gus comes in, winds up, on his knees; his clothes and gun stripped off. They stare at each other through a long silence.

Characters Gus : He is a round character. Gus is more

sensitive than Ben to issues of traditional human concern. He often touches upon deeper issues Ben does not wish to consider - about death, the dull routine of life, and the nature of their subtle boss, Wilson. He is concerned with the consequences of his job. But on the other part, he is unafraid to yell and peer up the dumb waiter to see his boss's face when he isn't allowed to. He is both playful and enthusiastic.

Ben : He is a flat character. Ben mostly reads his newspaper all the time, and his silences are as much a feature of his character as his dialogue. Whether Gus is asking him about the job, or if he ever gets bored with life, Ben refuses to enter into deep conversation. He is deeply violent as shown in the choking scene where he had an argument with Gus.

Wilson : He is a flat character. Wilson never appears on the stage or spoken anything, but he is directly or indirectly behind the messages from the dumb waiter and speaking through tube. He is off-stage character who plays a powerful, god-like influence over on-stage characters.

Protagonists: Both men share the role of protagonist, Gus and Ben, although the audience may empathize with Gus primarily.

Antagonists: Wilson and eventually Ben

Dumb waiter is a small lift for carrying things, especially food, between the floors of a building.

In The Dumb Waiter, the dumb-waiter symbolizes a disconnection in human communication.

Symbols

Whenever Gus tries to bring up something emotional, Ben refuses to speak with him.

This disconnection is the essence of their relationship.

They do not speak with, but to each other. They are like the dumb waiter—mute carriers of information, not sharers of it.

Locked in an airless and windowless basement room, two hit men await orders from Wilson, their all knowing but never present boss. Gus, haunted by the memory of the last job, knows that something is wrong when their normally faultless routine is interrupted by some mysterious happenings. 

The basement room suggests human

existence lived mostly without

understanding but under pressure,

especially

when the orders come down from

above.

Pinter’s LanguagePinter's language, usually

lower-class vernacular (the language or dialect spoken by the ordinary people of a country), has been described as poetic.

His compressed, rhythmic lines rely heavily on subtext and hint at darker meanings.

Pinter has spoken much on the subject, and has categorized speech as that which attempts to cover the nakedness of silence.

Theatre of the Absurd

Theatre of the Absurd is a French dramatic movement in the 1950s.

It is express the belief that human existence has no meaning or purpose and therefore all communication breaks down. 

The Absurd in these plays takes the form of man’s reaction to a world apparently without meaning, and man as a puppet controlled or menaced by invisible outside forces.

As with Godot, there are two characters, one dominant, one submissive.

In Godot, the two men wait around for a man named Godot who never arrives, yet who exercises great power over them.

In The Dumb Waiter, Ben and

Gus are at the back and call of Wilson, a mysterious character who dominates the duo even when he's not around, or perhaps especially when he's not around.

• It is clear that Pinter was heavily influenced by Samuel Beckett.

The similarities between them are obvious. The Dumb Waiter is quite similar to Waiting for Godot.