Existential Chaos: Analysis of Harold Pinter's “The Birthday Party”

Abstract

The play “The Birthday Party” delineates the predicaments faced by the people in the second half of the 20th century. It represents the existential problems among the post-war generations who have given up life and stuck in utter seclusion. The elderly class have been living life by a normal means; however, they are made to suffer by younger class in ample ways. Life in post-war period is seen as a dark-phase in the history of England. The circumstances were completely unfavourable to sustain and lead a life in the certain optimistic mood. Pinter has portrayed this sense of being and existence in dramatic approach through his narratives giving the image of menace and suffering in post-war period. The research paper is an original work to present the humanistic-existential approach of Pinter towards post-war societies. It is an effort to study the ontological dilemma that has compelled these humans to resort to absolute isolation, dragging their life toward chaos, anxiety, distress, fear, threat, and vis-à-vis utter absurdism.