The Dumb Waiter (Cyclopedia of Literary Characters)
At a glance:
- Author: Harold Pinter
- First Published: 1960
- Type of Work: Play
- Type of Plot: Absurdist
- Time of Work: Roughly the 1950’s
- Setting: Birmingham, England
- Genres: Drama, Absurdist literature
- Subjects: 1950’s, Crime or criminals, Alienation, England or English people, Assassins, hit men, or contract killers, Existentialism, Isolation, Machinery
- Locales: Birmingham, England
Characters Discussed
Ben, a hired assassin. A senior partner for an unnamed organization, Ben periodically travels around the country murdering people according to the instructions of his superiors. Throughout these gruesome tasks, Ben acts as a responsible professional, a killer who believes in carrying out his job with precision. As a result, Ben often is irritated by the casual actions of his colleague, Gus. Ben perceives Gus and his questions about their mysterious work as dangerous and potentially as violating authority. Tension between these two characters provides both a...
[The entire page is 723 words long]
Navigate
- The Dumb Waiter (Cyclopedia of Literary Characters)
- The Dumb Waiter (Masterplots, Revised Second Edition)
- The Dumb Waiter (Cyclopedia of Literary Places)
- The Dumb Waiter (Masterplots II: Drama)
See Also:
- Add The Dumb Waiter to your favorites