Character Of Davies In Caretaker By Harold Pinter

Davies, an darkened tramp, is the protagonist in The Caretaker. His portrayal, says Ruby Cohen, is a bitter commentary on the homo condition. In their attitudes towards the old musical composition, the human derelict, the two br others present only surfaces contrasts. Mick begins by knocking him down, whereas Aston, instead of allowing him to recrudesce in despair, rescues him, shares his room with him and opens up home to him. Bother the brothers name the old man as caretaker, offer him a kind of scrutiny, which they some(prenominal) subsequently withdraw.Mick turns his back on the old man for failing to fulfil a role to which he never aspired, but Aston rejects him for what he is cantankerous, self-deluded and desperate. Of all Pinters plays, The Caretaker makes the most bitter commentary on the human condition instead of allowing an old man to die beaten in a pub brawl, the System wisest on tantalising him with faint hope, thereby immeasurably increasing his final desperate anguish. There is perhaps a pun contained in the title The Caretaker is twisted into taker on of care, for care is the human destiny. Davies-Aston RelationshipThe Davies-Aston family begins with Aston evidently in command of the situation as both hos and rescuer of the itinerant Davies. His calm, quiet acceptance of the uneasy lymph node bes a natural posture of superiority, and Davies at first accepts it as such. As both guest and rescued, Davies, in contrast to Aston, is noisy, repetitive and insecure. The evident aim of his early initiatives is to locate a potential common ground and probably one that impart be seen his degree of dependency in the kind. Ironically, his insecurity is increased by the very means that he adopts to diminish it.The fact that it is he, and non Aston, who feels compelled to talk undermines his position at the same time that his verbal manoeuvres seek to strengthen it. Davies Sit down Huh I havent had a good sit down. I haven I had a proper sit d own well, I could tell you Aston (placing the chair) Here you are. Davies Ten minutes off for a tea-break in the middle of the night in that government agency and I couldnt find a seal, not one. All them Greeks had it, Poles, Greeks, Blacks, the lot of them, all them aliens had it. And they had me working thereAll them Blacks had it, Blacks, Greeks, Poles, the lot of them, thats what doing me out of a seat, treating me like dirt. When he come at me tonight. I told him. (Pause. ) Aston Take a seat. That Davies should invoke in rapid succession a sense of injury, a major prejudice, and a recalcitrant self-reliance gives us a quick resume of the potential roles he might adopt relative to Aston. That Aston ignores all there providing sympathy for the first, reinforcement for the second, nor astonishment for the third gives us an immediate indication of the likelihood of their success. Incoherent SpeechAstons seeming refusal to encourage any of Daviess tentative roles provides Davies with major problems. In the face of Astons taciturnity he is forced to thresh arourd desperately for some means of altering the situation. It soon becomes apparent that his large supply of words is not matched by a comparable supply of verbal strategies. As the conversation progresses he simply resorts to repeated use of the tactics implicit in his first speech. Appeals to Astons sympathy and to his prejudices recur repeatedly, though Davies is smart enough to defend himself against becoming a victim of the kinds of prejudice to which he feels vulnerable.All them toe-rags, mate, got the manners of pigs, I might have been on the food a few years but you can take it from me Im clean. I keep myself up. Thats why I left my wife. Fortnight after I married her, no, not so much as that, no much than a week. I took the lid off a sauce pan out, you know what was in pan. A pile of her underclothing, unwashed. The pan for vegetables, it was. The vegetable pan. Thats when I left her and I hav ent seen her since. As he finishes speaking he finds himself to face to face with a statue of Buddha standing on the gas mountain range.The mutual incompatibility of the stone face and that of the tramp comments directly on the success of these efforts to manipulate Astons attitudes and concerns. The silent inscrutable Buddha, incongruously perched on the gas stove, is as much beyond Daviess comprehension as the taciturn Aston surrounded by the diverse objects collected in his room. Efforts at Self-Reliance Daviess other category of approaches involves attempts to asseverate a degree of independence from Aston. just his efforts to create an symbol of self-reliance are even less successful than his previous moves and not entirely harmonious with them.His appeals for sympathy for his age and health mingle uneasily with assertions that he intends revenge for his misuse at the cafe Ill get him. One night Ill get him. When I find myself around that direction. The strength of this co mmitment is litely undermined by Daviess vague reference to when it will occur and by his admission that this would not be his uncreated originator for going there. In suffer of these repeated failures, Daviess stock of variations on his manoeuvres is not yet exhausted. Indeed he has yet to play his trump card.Unsuccessful as the heroic survivor of the cafe incident, unsung as the virtuous rejecter of an unhygienic wife, and un-sympathised with as a downtrodden, exploited old man, he invokes a new image of one on the verge of self-sufficiency and success. The tack is circuitous, involving shoes, the weather, a false name, and papers that will prove everything. But, in essence, the theme is that of a journey to Sidcup which will solve all problems and structure his life anew. Once the journey is made all difficies will disappear, and Davies will once more be a man to be reckoned with. Davies If only I could get down to SidcupIve been waiting for the weather to break. Hes got my p apers, this man I left them with, its got it all down there. I could prove everything. Aston How longs he had them? Davies What? Aston How longs he had them? Davies Oh, must be it was in the war must be about near on fifteen years ago. But this manoeuvre, too, is thwarted by Astons reactions to it. Clearly, Davies does not match his emphasis on the importance of the journey with a similar commitment to getting there. The time lag he admits to makes nonsense of the cherish he places on the journey, as Astons puzzlement is evident.Once again the haphazard dialogue is matched revealingly with an item of junk that is eminently visible but obliquely connected to its surroundings. Abuses Astons munificence and Generosity At this point, Astons contribution to the conversation seems rather unfriendly, to say the least. Whatever Davies does to try to improve the connection between himself and Aston is neutralised by his inability to elicit from Aston the responses he needs. To Davies it se ems that Astons posture of quiet superiority is a consistent strategic imperviousness to his needs and wiles.But Astons behaviour seems peculiarly inconsistent. His apparent unconcern for Daviess psychological needs is sharp contrasted with an evident concern for his physical needs. Astons initial generosity toward Davies in the cafe is extended by offers of cigarettes, shoes and money, and by a willingness to go and retrieve Daviess prop for him. This inconsistency, this apparent lack of connection between two aspects of Astons behaviour, is another manifestation of juxtaposed but unclearly linked data in the play.But its effect on the relationship is by no means unclear this inconsistency disorients Davies and maintains his subservience as effectively as Micks later inconsistent conversation. As this incision progresses, however, it gradually becomes apparent that Astons efforts (unlike Micks) are not deliberately aimed at this goal. Indeed, it is very difficult at this point to perceive a deliberate aim in any of Astons behavior. It does seem clear, however, that he does not share Daviess urgent need for a verbally explicit rapport. The problem the audience has in understanding Aston is obviously shared by Davies.Sensing the failure of his efforts to impose on Aston any of the relationship roles he has in mind, Davies eventually switches to trying to draw out of Aston information that might guide him to more successful manoeuvres. Feeding him topics dealing with The Room and its contents, Davies once more finds himself making little headway Davies You got any more rooms then, have you? Aston Where? Davies I mean, on the landing here up the landing there Aston Theyre out of commission. Davies Get away. Aston They need a lot of doing to. (Slight Pause. ) Davies What about downstairs?Aston Thats closed up. Needs visual perception to The floors (Pause. ) Astons Reticence Astons unwillingness to discuss any of these more neutral topics suggests that his reluc tance to converse with Davies is motivated by something more than mere resistance to Daviess wiles the reluctance seems to lapse from a general antipathy toward any kind of conversation. But, paradoxically, he is not entirely unwilling to talk. While evasive about the house and his legal relationship to it, he does venture the information that he might build a shed in the back garden.This willingness to talk is further indicated by a choppy longer statement on the drinking of Guinnessa topic that he discusses with a seriousness that does little to calm the puzzled, uneasy Davies. I went into the pub the other day. Ordered a Guinness. They gave it to me in a buddy-buddy mug. I sat down but I couldnt drink it. I cant drink Guinness from a thick mug. I only like it out of a thin glass. I had a few sips but I couldnt finish it. This relates to nothing previously discussed, and any(prenominal) significance it has for Aston is not shared by Davies, who resorts to a quick change of subj ect.The short speech is undoubtedly odd, but the kind of oddity it represents provides the first clear indication of the basic difficulty confronting the pair. If Davies fails to respond to or follow up on this topic because he is unable to locate its significance, perhaps this is also the reason for Astons similar reactions to Daviess conversation topics. The speech itself, while specifying nothing precisely undermines Daviess operating assumption that Astons taciturnity is simply a manifestation of superiority and disinterest.Such an assumption has already been brought into question by Astons non-verbal generosity to Davies, and this speech suggests that Aston, in spite of his general silence, also has a need to talk. The section ends with Aston, as he has done extensively during this opening scene, devoting his attention to a faulty plug on an old electric toaster. His persistent concern for this faulty connection characterises the activity of the opening section potential links between the characters remain uncertain because the means of establishing appropriate connections has gone awry.Davies I used to know a bootmaker in Action. He was a good mate to me. (Pause) You know what that bastard monk said to me? (Pause) How many more Blacks you got around here then? Plays One Brother Against the other That is when Davies turns to Mick, who plays a cat-and-mouse game with him. Davies tries to play one brother against the other in order to keep a roof over his head. He has been out on the road most of his life and he would like to cling to the crumbs he is offered. But his efforts are futile.Mick calls him a fibber who stinks the place out and Aston, in spite of all his earlier generosity, turns his back upon him. Daviess final image that we have, despite his desperate, pitiable condition is that of an old tramp who is ungrateful, self-deluded and cantankerous as he finally pleads with Aston But lost look listen listen here I mean. what am I going to do? What shall I do? Where am I going to go? Listen If I got down If I was to get my papers would you would you let would you if I got down got my.