"The Homecoming by Harold Pinter can be read as a probe of the dark male attitudes that dwell within the recesses of a man’s psyche towards the ‘mother-whore’, and the equally compelling female desire to play this double role. The difficulty with most criticism of The Homecoming is the urge to seek a specific meaning. The Homecoming is not a semantically cohesive play. It does not have a particular point and perhaps it was not written in order to expound a particular idea or point of view. If it is considered to be a play with a linear plot line or point of view – a plot impelled by logical cause and effect progression – it will be riddled with inconsistencies. The Homecoming does not have a linear structure; it has a nuclear structure. In other words, it begins from a central node or theme or atmosphere and effloresces randomly from there, bearing realistic features but not necessarily realism. The Homecoming could be best described as a play of familial atmosphere; nevertheless this should not be taken to mean that it is a statement about the nature of the family as such. It is a play about certain aspects of family life and relationships that are common to all families in greater or lesser degree – in some cases to a degree that makes the familial relationship virtually unbearable to some of its members – in the case of The Homecoming it particularly refers to Teddy – and in others to such a minimal degree that it makes the relationship a preponderant one. The Homecoming is a play about the centripetal tentacle-like grasp of family relationships. The suffocating pressure of unwanted emotion and social expectation from the family, and the conflict between the infantile and the independent, as the adult seeks his own identity, is manifested through the concept of Freud and infant sexuality. There is a strange irony in that Teddy can be viewed as the central character of the play, despite the fact he plays a comparatively minor part in it. He appears to be the stage manager, rather than the protagonist. Teddy approaches the meeting with his family with a degree of trepidation, half-hoping for the friendly reception that he envisages in the words he speaks to Ruth with nervous reassurance as they enter the house like thieves in the night: “Look, it’s all right, really. I’m here…. There’s no need to be nervous. Are you nervous? .... They’re very warm people…. They’re not ogres.” (p32). When he sees that this is a delusive hope, he immediately erects impenetrable psychological palisades around himself and lets events take their course: “Teddy goes to the window… stands, suddenly chews his knuckles”. Ruth’s decision at the end of the play to remain with the family, implausible in terms of realism though it is, in a realistic sense, a reversion to her original way of life – a resumption of the profession broadly hinted that she practiced before marriage. It is also her revenge on Teddy by treating him as he has treated her, with stony, unemotional indifference. Teddy returns to the comfortless, yet comforting (because he is in control) sterility of academia in the American desert, cut-off forever from his family and free to brew on whatever branch of philosophy in his province..."
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"The Homecoming" by Harold Pinter
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"The Homecoming by Harold Pinter can be read as a probe of the dark male attitudes that dwell within the recesses of a man’s psyche towards the ‘mother-whore’, and the equally compelling female desire to play this double role. The difficulty with most criticism of The Homecoming is the urge to seek a specific meaning. The Homecoming is not a semantically cohesive play. It does not have a particular point and perhaps it was not written in order to expound a particular idea or point of view. If it is considered to be a play with a linear plot line or point of view – a plot impelled by logical cause and effect progression – it will be riddled with inconsistencies. The Homecoming does not have a linear structure; it has a nuclear structure. In other words, it begins from a central node or theme or atmosphere and effloresces randomly from there, bearing realistic features but not necessarily realism. The Homecoming could be best described as a play of familial atmosphere; nevertheless this should not be taken to mean that it is a statement about the nature of the family as such. It is a play about certain aspects of family life and relationships that are common to all families in greater or lesser degree – in some cases to a degree that makes the familial relationship virtually unbearable to some of its members – in the case of The Homecoming it particularly refers to Teddy – and in others to such a minimal degree that it makes the relationship a preponderant one. The Homecoming is a play about the centripetal tentacle-like grasp of family relationships. The suffocating pressure of unwanted emotion and social expectation from the family, and the conflict between the infantile and the independent, as the adult seeks his own identity, is manifested through the concept of Freud and infant sexuality. There is a strange irony in that Teddy can be viewed as the central character of the play, despite the fact he plays a comparatively minor part in it. He appears to be the stage manager, rather than the protagonist. Teddy approaches the meeting with his family with a degree of trepidation, half-hoping for the friendly reception that he envisages in the words he speaks to Ruth with nervous reassurance as they enter the house like thieves in the night: “Look, it’s all right, really. I’m here…. There’s no need to be nervous. Are you nervous? .... They’re very warm people…. They’re not ogres.” (p32). When he sees that this is a delusive hope, he immediately erects impenetrable psychological palisades around himself and lets events take their course: “Teddy goes to the window… stands, suddenly chews his knuckles”. Ruth’s decision at the end of the play to remain with the family, implausible in terms of realism though it is, in a realistic sense, a reversion to her original way of life – a resumption of the profession broadly hinted that she practiced before marriage. It is also her revenge on Teddy by treating him as he has treated her, with stony, unemotional indifference. Teddy returns to the comfortless, yet comforting (because he is in control) sterility of academia in the American desert, cut-off forever from his family and free to brew on whatever branch of philosophy in his province..."
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Intro/Chapter 1 - A House In London
Chapter 2 - Hello, Uncle Sam
Chapter 3 - A Late Arrival
Chapter 4 - A Sleepless Night
Chapter 5 - Proposals And Questions
Chapter 6 - Good Morning?
Chapter 7 is available seperately below or in the bulk download above (too large for normal distribution)
Chapter 8 - Being And Not Being
Chapter 9 is available seperately below or in the bulk download above (too large for normal distribution)
Chapter 10 is available seperately below or in the bulk download above (too large for normal distribution)
Chaper 11 - Sharing Ruth
Chapter 12 - A Workable Arrangement/Outro
Full Track Downloads of 7, 9 & 10
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