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THE BIRTHDAY PARTY

THE BIRTHDAY PARTY. “Everything is funny until the horror of the human situation rises to the surface”. “Everything is funny until the horror of the human situation rises to the surface”. Thesis: ‘The Birthday Party’ is superficially funny, being comedic only on the surface level .

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THE BIRTHDAY PARTY

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  1. THE BIRTHDAY PARTY “Everything is funny until the horror of the human situation rises to the surface”

  2. “Everything is funny until the horror of the human situation rises to the surface” Thesis: • ‘The Birthday Party’ is superficially funny, being comedic only on the surface level.

  3. “Everything is funny until the horror of the human situation rises to the surface” Topic Sentence 1: • The seemingly innocent and playful everyday conversations are one that actually conceals the menace and power play, the domination and submission in relationships. Evidence: • Meg and Stanley, comical sexual teasing actually hides the game of domination and submission • McCann and Goldberg, the comic yet menacing pair.

  4. “Everything is funny until the horror of the human situation rises to the surface” Topic Sentence 2: • The parallels between Meg and Lulu initially being comical reveals the harsh reality of being a woman as well Evidence: • Goldberg’s sexual exploitation of Lulu. • The portrayal of Meg as a simpleton.

  5. “Everything is funny until the horror of the human situation rises to the surface” Topic Sentence 3: • It is through the comedic, ludicrous actions of the characters in the play that the concept of the unknown is presented, people in society are constantly inundated with threatening forces of the unknown, all of which are not within their control. Evidence: • The mention of two men’s visit educes an intertwinement of menace and comedy in the actions of Stanley, this interplay of opposing forces heightening the individual’s powerlessness in the face of the unknown. • The helplessness of the people is finalised in the built up to and eventual taking away of Stanley later in the play, displays the incapability of the family unit in resisting the foreign and the unknown.

  6. “Everything is funny until the horror of the human situation rises to the surface” Topic Sentence 4: • The mildly amusing enactments of recollections reveal the fallibility of memory, how Pinter’s characters are able to manipulate their past to suit their own objectives. Evidence: • Stanley’s Reverie (pg 22-23) • Goldberg’s fabrications serve to propagate the aims of the establishment that he represents

  7. “Everything is funny until the horror of the human situation rises to the surface” Topic Sentence 5: • The interrogation of Stanley and his subsequent ‘transformation’ and incapacitation is presented in a somewhat darkly humorous manner, yet it also reveals the cruelty of the establishment in subjugating individuality, heightening the tragedy of the repressed individual. Evidence: • Interrogation Scene (pg 47 to 53)-Most direct confrontation between Stanley with the two gentlemen together alone onstage-shows the struggle of the individual in resisting authority veiled in absurdist comedy • Wooing/Duet Scene (pg 82 to 84)-Parallels and mirrors the interrogation scene- another scene whereby Stanley as well as McCann and Goldberg are alone, with them ‘wooing’ him in a ‘duet’, presenting Stanley’s ‘transformation’ as a darkly humorous one, albeit with menacing undertones regarding the insidiousness of the establishment

  8. “Everything is funny until the horror of the human situation rises to the surface” Topic Sentence 6: • A sense of childish innocuousness seems to pervade the play, especially in its characterisation of Stanley, giving it an absurdist slant, which also betrays the menace and the tension of the individual being subjugated by the establishment. Evidence: • Meg and Stanley Relationship: Stanley as a ‘rebel’ child-like figure with Meg as a maternal authority figure • McCann and Stanley Relationship: Stanley, the powerless individual faces-off with McCann, a figure of the establishment in a confrontation with callow and comical undertones [pg 38] • The Birthday Party Scene-the climactic scene of Stanley’s birthday party in Act 2, which contains an overbearing menacing sentiment regarding his ‘powerlessness’ in the face of authority, whilst shrouding it through the use of the absurdist evocation of children’s playground game

  9. THE END

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