The modernist literature

Modernist literature

Name :- Urvashi N. Chauhan
Roll no. :- 31
Sem : 3 (M.A)
Enrollment no :- 2069108420190008
Email Id :-  urvashichauhan157@gmail.com
Paper :- 9 Modernist Literature
Topic :- The theme of The Birthday Party
Submitted to :-  Department of English MKBU




Introduction about Author :-

    Harold pinter was a British play writer screenwriter actor and director. He was one of the most influential modern British dramatist. He also act  in radio stage television film productions of his own. He  Received Nobel Prize in 2005 For literature.   He was born in hackney East London he was spinter  and Keen cricket player he start acting in school play and writing poetry . His career as a playwright begin with production of the room in 1957.  his second play the play the birthday party closed after the eight months but enthusiastically received by critic.




The birthday party is second full length play. first published in London. We can see how birthday party turn out into Nightmare. the play classified as comedy of manners . we can interpreter birthday party variety of Ideas . He used Pinteresque elements . he used allegorical   interpretation of the play. The Absurd theatre focused on conclusion and chaos. This element manifest constantly through the characters.

What is absurd theatre ?

The Theatre of the Absurd is a post World War II designation for particular plays of absurdist fiction . This written by a number of primarily European playwright in the late 1950.  as well as one for the style of theatre which has evolved from their work. Their work focused largely on the idea of existentialism and expressed what happen when human existence has no meaning or purpose and therefore all communication breaks down. Logical construction and argument give way to irrational and illogical speech and to its ultimate conclusion silence.

  In the Birthday Party is as seem. No one speak the whole truth. Playwright used the silence as meaning it often utilised in the play . The drama of absurd  is dream like, almost lyrical. The  use mythology, imagery, subtext and allegory. They show the deeper meaning which is not easy . Everyone not see that point. This is often never fully explained. Even playwright allow their play to speak for themselves. Pinter explained this absurdist concept in 1962 .

  The Birthday Party is full of disjointed information that defies effort to distinguish between reality and illusion. For example : despite the presentation of personal information on Stanley and his two persecutor. who and what they really are remains a mystery. It is full of mysterious play. Goldberg provides information  his background. But he not give clues as to why he has enter in Stanley’s life. The fact is Stanley s past is so unclear.


The theme of Anxiety :

The great  quality of the play lies in the wealth and diversity of the comment. which it seems to make on life not explicitly. but  implication. The play can also be regarded as an image and metaphor of the pinter's  existential anxiety.  The ravages of anxiety upon the human spirit . It is perpetual theme in pinter's  play. Pinter knows that anxiety is a primal force  that can impel the mind into growth into retreat. The Birthday Party portray Stanley's psychological disintegration under the pressure of extreme anxiety. Stanley's neurotic anxiety is present as one of a man in a trap. He is pursued by Goldberg and McCann .whom Martin Esslin calls "the team of terrorists".

Nostalgia

  The most fitting for a contemporary audience who would seen this play as something as a period piece. the theme of nostalgia is implicit but significant in The Birthday Party. Goldberg  particularly  taken by nostalgia.  frequently waxing poetic both on his own past and on the 'good old days' .when men respected women . undoubtedly, Goldberg tells some of the story to contrast with the way Stanley treats women. but they also suggest a elusion. he has a delusion that breaks down when he himself assaults Lulu between the second and third acts. He idealizes some past that he can’t live.

  Other characters reveals an affection for nostalgia as well. During the birthday party, Meg and Lulu speak of their childhoods. their nostalgic feeling have dark sides. Meg remember being abandoned . where Lulu's memory of being young lead Goldberg to bounce her perversely on his knee. Similarly the character play blind man's bluff specifically. because it makes them nostalgic..but the sinister side of such nostalgia was  inescapable in the stage. image of Stanley preparing to rape Lulu. Nostalgia is love to feel the play seems to suggest.  but more insidious in its complex.

Violence :

     The Birthday Party is full of violence . The physical and emotional overall suggestion is  that violence is a fact of life. The violence is doubly affected because the setting seems  pleasant and ordinary. Most of the men show their potential for violence.  A especially when they provoke.  Stanley was  cruel and vicious towards Meg .but much cowardly against other men.  McCann and Goldberg have violent outbursts no matter how hard they try to contain themselves. Their entire operation which boast an outward civility. as an insidious purpose. most violent for the way it torture a Stanley slowly to force him to nervous breakdown. In   Acts one and  three they reveal how language can create  violence in the interrogation scene.  The more violence in the play concern women. Stanley not only intimidates Meg verbally but he also prepare to assault Lulu. Goldberg in fact does assault Lulu. The threat of violence was present in the play. Even before we realized that disaster might come. We can feel the potential through the silences and tense atmosphere.

The comedy of menace

The comedy of menace is a tragedy with a number of comic elements. It is produced tragic and comic situation in one play. Throughout the play we find ourselves also the brink of Terror. Harold Pinter is an innovator of a new kind of drama which becomes famous as the Comedy of Menace. Pinter begin his play in our known familiar world.  but gradually make us move into the trajectory and psychodynamics of a world which is beyond our comprehension. In Pinter's Comedy of Menace the laughter and elation of the audience in the same. all situation was  immediately followel by a feeling of impendent  disaster. An audience are made aware in the centre of his laughter of some menace. The feelings of insecurity and uncertainty throughout the play also enhance the menacing atmosphere of his The Birthday Party.

   The  comedy of menace in Pinterian drama was also produced by potential violence. And  actual violence or from an underlined sense of violence throughout the play. He makes the audience feel that the security of the main character like stanley .and even the audiences' own security are threatened by some sort of impending danger and disaster.
  In the birthday Throughout the play we find that the hint of menace is inflected upon the individual freedom of a person. and it juxtapose the comic element drastically dilutes the comic appeal. Pinter shows his state in the existential view that danger persuade everywhere and life can't escape from it. Pinter thinks that Stanley is the protagonist might have committed a serious crime and the run for escaping the consequence and legal implications of his life.


Conclusion :

     At the end of the play, audiences are given an unsolved riddle about what has been of Stanley which is of paramount significance in Harold Pinter's The Birthday Party - a perfect example of Comedy of Menace. Some critics even believe that it is a superimposition of the European concept of absurd (Martin Esslin has been described the drama as an example of the Theatre of the Absurd) to the English native wit. Here what is true or what is false, is not matter but the ambience which Pinter clarifies as his concept of menace: '...menace and fear do not come from extraordinary sinister people but from you and me; it is all a matter of circumstances.


Resources :

https://www.gradesaver.com/the-birthday-party/study-guide/themes
https://www.enotes.com/topics/birthday-party/themes
https://whichihaveacquired.blogspot.com/2018/07/printers-birthday-party-as-comedy-of.html?m=1