The Birthday Party Themes

This Study Guide consists of approximately 60 pages of chapter summaries, quotes, character analysis, themes, and more - everything you need to sharpen your knowledge of The Birthday Party.
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The Birthday Party Themes

This Study Guide consists of approximately 60 pages of chapter summaries, quotes, character analysis, themes, and more - everything you need to sharpen your knowledge of The Birthday Party.
This section contains 1,772 words
(approx. 5 pages at 400 words per page)
Buy The Birthday Party Study Guide

Absurdity

As in many absurdist works, The Birthday Party is full of disjointed information that defies efforts to distinguish between reality and illusion. For example, despite the presentation of personal information on Stanley and his two persecutors, who or what they really are remains a mystery. Goldberg, in particular, provides all sorts of information about his background, but he offers only oblique clues as to why he has intruded upon Stanley's life.

What has Stanley done to deserve persecution? The facts of his past are so unclear that his claim to be a pianist may even be false. The Birthday Party influences the audience to doubt anything with certainty, which as it does in Kafka's work, intensifies the dreadful angst experienced by the protagonist. This effect is achieved through truncated dialogue, by Pinter's deliberate failure to provide conclusive or consistent information, and by his use of ambiguity and nonsense...

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This section contains 1,772 words
(approx. 5 pages at 400 words per page)
Buy The Birthday Party Study Guide
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The Birthday Party from Gale. ©2005-2006 Thomson Gale, a part of the Thomson Corporation. All rights reserved.