Womb versus Tomb in Harold's Pinter Play The Birthday Party

Abstract

In the play The Birthday Party, the nature of complex relationships among the characters and their actions and motives can be illuminated by a strong conflict between womb and tomb, the two unavoidable impulses, though contrary to each other are always leading them to their present situations. The utter restlessness in their mind is an outcome of the unsettling clash of these two forces constantly pulling each other. Their unusualness and oddity spring from what both of them symbolize – womb, the protective abode to repel with motherly possessiveness and tomb, the dreadful end of a growing man from all his commitments. The dichotomy makes an attempt to bring out the urges and subtleties, working in their subconscious as a game of ceaseless struggle.