This PPT is based on Presentation of Semester 2 Submitted to DoE, MKBU. Paper no. 110A History of 20th Cen. Lit.: 1900 to 2000 and topic is "Various Interpretations of the Play 'The Birthday Party' ".

1. ● Name: Rajeshvariba H. Rana
● Roll No. : 16
● Enrollment No. : 4069206420220023
● Semester: 2nd
● Paper No.: 110A
● Paper Code: 22403
● Paper Name: History of 20th Cen Literature: 1900 to 2000
● Topic: Various Interpretations of the Play 'The Birthday Party'
● Submitted to: Smt. S.B.Gardi, Department of English, MKBU
● E-mail: rhrana148@gmail.com

2. Points to Ponder:
● About Author
● The Birthday Party
● Various Interpretations of the Play
● Conclusion

3. About Author:
Harold Pinter (10 October 1930 – 24 December 2008) was a
British playwright, screenwriter, director and actor. A Nobel Prize
winner, Pinter was one of the most influential modern British
dramatists with a writing career that spanned more than 50 years.
Harold Pinter was known for his distinctive writing style, which
often included long pauses, silence, and repetition to convey
meaning and tension. His work frequently explored themes such
as power, betrayal, and the human condition, and his characters
often displayed a sense of ambiguity and uncertainty.
Pinter was also an outspoken political activist and was involved in
various causes, including human rights, anti-war efforts, and the
fight against censorship. He won Nobel Prize in Literature in 2005.

4. ‘The Birthday Party’
‘The Birthday Party’ is known for its distinctive writing
style, which includes long pauses and silences that
convey tension and unease. The play's themes and
characters continue to resonate with audiences today,
and it remains a staple of modern theater. It was first
performed in 1958 and was later published in the same
year by Encore Publishing.
The play is a dark and absurdist comedy that explores
themes of identity, power, and the human condition. It is
set in a seaside boarding house, where a small group of
characters gather to celebrate the birthday of the lodger,
Stanley. The birthday party takes a dark turn as two
mysterious strangers arrive and disrupt the festivities.
Cover of first edition

5. Various Interpretations of the Play
The Birthday Party may have been a theatrical failure in 1958 but by the time of his
death in 2008 Harold Pinter had become one of the most famous dramatists in the
world. (Billington)
● Petey
● Meg
● Stanley
● Lulu
● Goldberg
● McCann
In Harold Pinter's work , the infamous pauses , excruciating silences , and the
proclivity for tableaux are instances of delay when the forward motion of events is held
and something unspoken happens . Such silences create atmosphere and mood , to be
sure , and they may indicate something about character , but they are also part of a
signifying structure.

6. The Comedy of Menace is a term coined by the British playwright, David
Campton, in the 1950s to describe a particular style of black comedy in the
theater. It refers to plays that use humor to create a sense of unease and
tension, often through the portrayal of dysfunctional characters and situations.
An absurd play is a form of theater that emphasizes the irrational and illogical
aspects of the human experience, often through the use of nonsensical dialogue,
surreal imagery, and disjointed plot structures.
Artist and Society:
The artist (Stanley):
society claims back forms a comfortable, bohemian existence and who is
compelled by society to conform to its own standards of conduct and behaviour.
Lulu is the inspiration of an artist.

7. Some say that the mature Pinter, in claiming The Birthday Party as a political play,
was being a trifle disingenuous. But I would argue that the evidence was always
there.(Billington)
The comic nature of Goldberg and McCann’s interrogation actually highlights the
sheer brutality of their verbal ‘torture’.
Political Reading:
Powerless
Developing
Nations
Stanley
Goldberg,
McCann
Developed
Nations
Powerful
Nation

8. GOLDBERG. You stuff yourself with dry toast.
McCANN. You contaminate womankind.
GOLDBERG. Why don’t you pay the rent?
McCANN. Mother defiler!
GOLDBERG. Why do you pick your nose!
McCANN. I demand justice! (Pinter)
Pinter’s Political Critique Ultimately, this overlap of comedy and menace in the play
serves to reinforce the sheer senselessness of violence committed by political
authority - the “Establishment”, the state, the “socio-religious” institutions Pinter
has publicly declared Goldberg and McCann’s mysterious organisation represent.
Just as Stanley’s playing of the drum is itself absurdly comic and comicall absurd,
the use of torture or violence to remove “individuals”, rebels and outsiders like
Stanley is presented as demented and absurd.
The use of comedy then heightens the terror and incongruity of political violence.
The lack of ‘sense’ and ‘meaning’ threaten the individual into losing ‘sense’ and
‘meaning’.

9. Spiritual Reading:
Stanley, "A palpably Jewish name, incidentally is a man who shores up his
precarious sense of self through fantasy, bluff, violence and his own manipulative
form of power.
Stanley as Soul – trying to get free from the cage of the body. . . Nat and Dermont
are agents of Death or Social ritualists
Psychological Reading:
Goldberg and McCann represent the ‘past’ of Stanley’s own subconscious mind.
Political Reading:
Pinter's theatre reflects the spiritual and philosophical insignias of our age , and
no criticism can presume to penetrate its ultimate mysteries.
(Kaufman)

10. Conclusion:
‘The Birthday Party’ through its setting, characters, language, and
themes, the play can be interpreted as a commentary on the dangers of
authoritarianism and the loss of individual freedom. The characters in
the play can be seen as representing broader themes and concepts
related to politics and power. While it is not accurate to say that
specific characters in the play represent specific countries, the play can
be read as a warning against political tyranny and the need for
individuals to resist oppression.
The Birthday Party, challenged serious dramatic literature’s traditional
portrayal of villain and victim with complexities that demand
redefinition of those terms.(Prentice)

11. Letter from a woman: “Dear sir, I would be
obliged if you would kindly explain to me the
meaning of your play The Birthday Party. These
are the points which I do not understand:
Who are the two men?
Where did Stanley come from?
Were they supposed to be normal?
Harold Pinter replied:
“….kindly explain to me the meaning of your
letter. These are the points which I do not
understand:
Who are you?
Where did you come from?
Are you supposed to be normal?
The desire to know , the desire for
coherence in narrative calls up the
specter of Oedipus . " Doesn't
every narrative lead back to
Oedipus ? " asks Roland Barthes .
" Isn't storytelling always a way of
searching for one's origin ,
speaking one's conflicts with the
Law , entering into the dialectic of
tenderness and hatred?"
(Rayner)

12. Works Cited
Rayner, Alice. “Harold Pinter: Narrative and Presence.” Theatre Journal, vol. 40, no.
4, 1988, pp. 482–97. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/3207890. Accessed 15 Mar.
2023.
Kaufman, Michael W. "Actions that a Man Might Play: Pinter's The Birthday Party."
Modern Drama, vol. 16 no. 2, 1973, p. 167-178. Project MUSE,
doi:10.1353/mdr.1973.0036.
Billington, Michael. “An introduction to The Birthday Party.” The British Library, 7
September 2017, https://www.bl.uk/20th-century-literature/articles/an-
introduction-to-the-birthday-party. Accessed 15 March 2023.
Pinter, Harold. The Birthday Party (Pinter Plays). Faber & Faber, 1991.
Prentice, Penelope. The Pinter Ethic: The Erotic Aesthetic. Taylor & Francis, 2000.
Accessed 15 March 2023.

13. Thankyou