The Room

Introduction

-Students are introduced to Harold Pinter’s biography; the most important facts in his life are discussed. They can find more about his life in https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/literature/2005/pinter/25653-bio-bibliography-2005/.

-They will discuss The Room events and detect differences between a short story and a play. This will help them to reconsider the meticulous basics of each genre.

The Room Study

The Room is Harold Pinter’s first play. It was written in time the British theatre was witnessing a mixture of Realism, Naturalism and Modernism. As such, different literary movements have had their own print on Pinter’s early production.

a- Genre: The Room belongs to the comedy of menace genre[1]. It also belongs to the theatre of the Absurd and the theatre of Silence. It is called an interior play (it holds implicit meanings).

b- Setting: The room itself is a measure of security in an insecure world. It also provides a juxtaposition sense, that of alienation. The female protagonist, Rose, is scared to leave the room in which she alienates herself and her husband from the outside world. The playwright uses the setting to serve the themes.

c- Characterisation: the playwright offers no background (no information is provided about the characters). They, just like the setting, serve the theme of absurdity and alienation. They present qualities which reflect the modern age insecurities. The male character Bret is represented as unsure (silent always which reflects a lack of communication theme as well). He also changes attitude (feeling happiness for the car while showing anger for the Negro’s presence). Rose also changes attitudes (she rejects the Negro’s presence yet shows interest when he mentions her father). A relation between her and the Negro exists (be it sexual, familial or occupational but no one knows for sure). Rose and Bret’s relation as married couple is absurd. They are together for benefiting purposes (they make alliances and their interest is in the alliance itself not the reasons behind it). The Room reveals the human beings’ depths (psychological and philosophical) and how their profundity declares itself only in dramatic situations and crisis. The characters do no tell everything to the reader or audience; these latter have to engage for interpretation. The playwright makes use of the mysterious guest character from the past (like the Negro) to bother the present. The characters’ actions are never explained.

d- Plot:  The plot of the play challenges the traditional narrative structure. The playwright provides no background for the couple (Rose and Bret), no beginning and no end for their story. There is no story to tell. The concealment of the rising and falling actions disturbs the flow of events. It mirrors disturbance of the unconscious minds of the characters.

e- Style:

-Pinter’s plays are characterised by the use of ironic dialogues from everyday life, yet; unfamiliar.

-It depicts the characters’ psychological disturbance. Their speech is metaphoric to reflect their alienation and confusion.

-The use of pause and silence reveals the unspoken.

-The use of monologue echoes their silence.

- Pinter leaves questions unanswered to urge the audience to think of the unspoken.

- The emphasis is on the action rather than the speech (Description for actions while speech is restricted to short sentences in dialogues).

- The play conceals hidden meanings.

 f- Themes: Pinter’s play examines different themes which reflect the two World Wars period, among these: Absurdism- uncertainty- displacement of the individual- alienation and lack of communication- emphasis on the subjective rather than the objective self – racism-existentialism.

g- Symbolism: the room in the play is a symbol of Rose’s secure place in an unsecured world. Riley is a symbolic figure who tries to release Rose from her prison, he invites her to come back to her father. Rose’s father maybe interpreted as call for return towards spirituality. He can be recognised as a threat too.

h- Motifs: Bret’s magazine, Rose’s chair, and the blind Negro may be read as substitutes to real attachments.

Conclusion

In The Room, Harold Pinter does not fail to reflect the absurdity of life in time of living the aftermaths of World Wars and the destruction they brought to the human psych and soul. Rose and Bret are two characters who isolate themselves from the outside world while living a meaningless life in which they are together but nonetheless not able to communicate.