The Birthday Party

by Harold Pinter

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Meg Boles

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Petey's wife, Meg Boles, is a kind-hearted woman in her sixties. Without any mention of children, it is suggested that she and Petey are childless. To fill this void, Meg treats their boarding-house tenant, Stanley Webber, as a surrogate son. She calls him "boy" and mothers him, even overstepping boundaries typical of a landlady by invading his privacy to ensure he comes down for breakfast.

Additionally, Meg flirts with Stanley, trying to fill another emptiness in her life. Her marriage to Petey has become a monotonous routine, evident in their dull and meaningless conversation at the play's start. Meg seeks Stanley's validation, shamelessly fishing for compliments. Stanley, in his slightly twisted way, teases her, aware of her vulnerability and naivety.

As the play unfolds, it becomes evident that Meg, despite her simplicity, is a good-hearted woman. She is also quite sentimental. Even though it's likely not Stanley's actual birthday, she insists it is to help him cope with his self-destructive despair. Meg appears to be Stanley's last hope, and her absence when he is taken away near the play's end amplifies his ultimate misery.

Characters Discussed

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Stanley Webber

Stanley Webber, a boarder at a seedy seaside home. In his late thirties and unkempt, he indulges in fantasies about exotic cities in which he had performed as a concert pianist. In Kafkaesque fashion, he speaks of a career that was ended by persons he refers to as “them.” Filling his landlady’s need for a lodger and a surrogate son, he is comfortably ensconced as a member of the household until his position is threatened by the arrival of two strange, surrealistic guests, Goldberg and McCann. He suggests that the two have come to cart away Meg, his landlady, in a wheelbarrow. In the climactic scene, at his birthday party, Stanley beats the drum Meg has given him as a present, the tempo savagely increasing as he marches around the room. During a game of blindman’s buff, the lights go out. When the lights come back on, he is standing, with his glasses broken, over Lulu, who lies spread-eagled on a table. the next morning he appears in striped trousers, black jacket, white collar, and bowler hat, and is carted away by Goldberg and McCann to a mysterious healer, “Monty,” for treatment.

Meg Boles

Meg Boles, the wife of Petey, with whom she operates a rundown boarding house. A mothering person in her mid-sixties who dislikes going out, she devotes her time to Petey’s meals and comfort. She dotes on Stanley, their boarder, as a surrogate son. the surrogacy, however, takes on an Oedipal cast. Although Stanley protests to the contrary, Meg insists that it is his birthday, whereupon Goldberg suggests that a birthday party be held. At the end, seemingly unaware of Stanley’s departure, she is enjoying reminiscing about being “the belle of the ball.”

Nat Goldberg

Nat Goldberg, a menacing new guest in his late fifties, a “smooth operator” who takes charge of things, including his accomplice, McCann, with whom he quarrels at one point. In the form of cryptic questions about their pasts, their beliefs, and the forces that shaped their lives, Goldberg attacks first Lulu, then Stanley. He is a surrealistic, allegorical figure symbolizing the destructive impersonality of the modern world and its guilt-producing threat to the sensitive individual.

Dermot McCann

Dermot McCann, a thirty-year-old man who serves Goldberg in the nefarious activities in which they conspire. He makes an indelible impression with his neat, precise tearing of a sheet of newspaper, column by column. McCann, who is Irish-Catholic, and Goldberg, who is Jewish, suggest the Judaic-Christian influence that has...

(This entire section contains 553 words.)

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shaped the modern Western world.

Petey Boles

Petey Boles, a man in his sixties, Meg’s husband. A compliant husband, he functions in the story primarily to exchange breakfast banalities with Meg or with Stanley, their boarder. His blandness puts into sharp focus the strange behavior of Meg and Stanley and the menacing threats of McCann and Goldberg. He returns from work one day to announce the arrival of their two new guests. At the end, he returns to his routines as husband and deck-chair attendant as though nothing unusual has happened.

Lulu

Lulu, a woman in her twenties. She appears mysteriously with a package. After flirting with both Stanley and Goldberg, she departs the next morning after being interrogated accusingly by Goldberg and savagely ordered by the puritanical “unfrocked” McCann to confess.

Petey Boles

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Similar to his wife, Petey Boles is in his sixties. He works as a deck-chair attendant at an unnamed seaside resort where he and Meg run their boarding house. Although their establishment is "on the list," it has seen far better days. Petey lacks ambition and is as uninterested in seeking challenges beyond their lodging house as his wife. The couple has resigned themselves to a monotonous life that fits their unremarkable personalities.

Due to his chess night, Petey is absent during the birthday party. He leaves before it begins and reappears the next morning. At that time, he makes a weak attempt to stop Goldberg and McCann from taking Stanley away, but he backs down when they imply they might take him as well. Ultimately, Petey's decency is as ineffective as Meg's. By the play's end, he can only return to trivial conversation with his wife, who discloses that she hadn’t even noticed he missed the party entirely.

Nat Goldberg

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Nat Goldberg, a man in his fifties, is the elder of the two strangers who arrive to interrogate and intimidate Stanley before taking him away. He presents himself as a suave gentleman, both in appearance and behavior. Goldberg appears to radiate superficial goodwill, often offering kindly advice to his associate, McCann, and other characters. He is also nostalgic, often reminiscing fondly about his family and early life events. Additionally, he insists that Meg and the others celebrate Stanley with a birthday party.

However, Goldberg's apparent kindness is entirely deceptive. His outward charm and polite demeanor conceal a sadistic nature. This cruelty is first evident during his initial interrogation of Stanley. His true ugliness is further exposed by his unspecified sexual exploitation of Lulu, who complains the morning after the party that Goldberg subjected her to deviant sexual acts inappropriate even for wives. This stark contrast between Goldberg's calm exterior and his vicious interior makes him the more sinister of Webber's two persecutors.

Other Characters

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Benny
See Nat Goldberg.

Lulu
Lulu, described as a "girl in her twenties," is a neighbor who first shows up carrying Stanley's birthday gift—the toy drum and drumsticks that Meg bought for him. Flirtatious by nature, she is very conscious of her sexual allure and frequently takes out a compact to powder her face. Appearance is clearly important to her, and she views Stanley as a "washout" because of his disregard for his disheveled look.

Beneath her glamorous exterior, there is a touch of youthful innocence in Lulu. She is oblivious to Goldberg's predatory tendencies and is captivated by his charm. She sits on his lap and flirts with him, hinting at what will transpire between them later that night. The notion that she becomes a sexual sacrifice is implied in the strange events that unfold when the lights go out during the party. When the lights come back on, she is discovered "lying spread-eagle on the table," with Stanley hunched over her, laughing maniacally.

In the final act, Lulu appears shattered by the night's events, but she is also furious. Goldberg, who brazenly claims to share some of her innocence, had entered her room with a mysterious briefcase and started sexually abusing her, treating her, she protests, as "a passing fancy." She leaves in anger and fear when McCann and Goldberg threaten to force a confession from her.

Dermont McCann
McCann, in his thirties, is the younger associate of Goldberg. Unlike Goldberg, who has a Jewish background, McCann is an unscrupulous Irish Catholic, possibly a defrocked priest. He maintains strict self-control, contributing to the menacing aura surrounding both men. His methodical and compulsive nature is evident in his ritual of carefully tearing Petey's newspaper into strips. However, he differs from Goldberg in key ways. More reserved, he is not as outwardly warm or sociable, and when he speaks, he often echoes Goldberg rather than offering original thoughts. Physically more intimidating than Goldberg, McCann's aggression is more overt; it is he who shoves Stanley at the party and breaks Stanley's glasses.

When McCann speaks, he usually aligns with the mood set by Goldberg. He often defers to Goldberg's age and authority, even complying with the odd request to blow into Goldberg's mouth. Yet, at times, he appears more as Goldberg's equal partner, especially during Stanley's interrogations, where he matches Goldberg's verbosity and becomes his co-inquisitor.

Simey
See Nat Goldberg.

Stanley Webber
Until the arrival of his adversaries Goldberg and McCann, Stanley is the sole tenant at the Boles' dilapidated seaside boarding house. The nature of his connection to Goldberg and McCann is only vaguely suggested and never fully explained, but their arrival ultimately shatters Stanley's remaining self-control. Toward the play's conclusion, after reducing him to a state of idiocy, they take him away in Goldberg's car to face the "Monty," a vague and ominous fate.

In his late thirties, Stanley is an unemployed musician who is reluctant to leave the boarding house, which serves as a refuge from "them," the indistinct persecutors who ruined his career as a concert pianist. He has become both unkempt and aimless, and although he dreams of playing in major cities on a world tour, he lacks any genuine hope. Without a piano, he cannot even practice. In a rare moment of honesty, he admits that his only successful concert was in Lower Edmonton, a pitiful contrast to the prestigious cities he fantasizes about.

Stanley's fear of the world beyond the boarding house traps him in a strained relationship with Meg, for whom he must play the roles of both wayward child and surrogate husband. He often fails to hide his disgust for this relationship and frequently expresses his contempt through cruel remarks and petty actions. He also mocks her, such as when he tells her that "they" are coming in a van with a wheelbarrow to take someone away, implying it might be Meg. His hostility eventually turns violent during the birthday party, when he attempts to strangle her but is stopped by McCann and Goldberg.

Stanley, the nominal protagonist of The Birthday Party, barely resists his persecutors and quickly succumbs as if facing an unavoidable and relentless fate. Although he shows no remorse for betraying the unspecified cause, he reacts to his interrogators as though he knows there is no escape. By the end, although he cannot articulate his feelings, he appears resigned to his uncertain fate.

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