Summary:
Scene Two is set with the following description: “Jerry’s House. Study. 1977. Spring.” It begins as Robert stands in Jerry’s study with a drink in hand. The two men exchange awkward conversation as Robert initially refuses Jerry’s offer to take a seat.
Perhaps noticing Jerry’s discomfort, Robert says “you look quite rough” (p. 25). When Jerry fails to respond, Robert follows up by saying “It’s not about you and Emma, is it? I know all about that” (p. 26). While Jerry is distressed that Robert knows about their betrayal, Robert assures him that “it’s not very important” (p. 26).
Jerry begins to pace around the room, wondering why Emma “thought it necessary…after all these years…to tell you…so suddenly…last night…” (p. 28). Robert then tells Jerry that “she told me about you and her four years ago,” contradicting Emma’s claim that she had told Robert the night before she and Jerry met at the pub (p. 29). Jerry is flabbergasted by this revelation, and he tries to figure out exactly when Robert learned about the affair. He also expresses a high degree of guilt, saying “I was your best friend” to Robert (p. 30).
Jerry then questions Robert why he never told his wife, Judith, about the affair and Robert responds “you don’t seem to understand that I don’t give a shit about any of this” (p. 33). Robert then admits to having “hit Emma once or twice” (p. 33). Jerry then admits to Robert that his affair with Emma lasted for seven years.
After a pause in the conversation, the two men begin to speak about Casey. Jerry expresses the belief that “he’s put on weight” and Robert says “his art does seem to be falling away” (p. 36). Nonetheless, Robert, as Casey’s book publisher, is pleased that his work “sells very well” (p. 36). The scene ends with both men discussing the books they have recently read and their vacation plans.
Scene Three is set with the following description: “Flat. 1975. Winter.” Jerry and Emma sit and engage in serious conversation. Emma wonders when the last time they were together in the flat and Jerry responds “in the summer, was it?” (p. 39). Emma corrects him, saying “It was the beginning of September… It was extremely cold” (p. 39).
They begin to talk about how they no longer have time to meet up together. Emma reflects that “in the past…we were inventive, we were determined, it was…it seemed impossible to meet…impossible…yet we did” (p. 41). She then says that having a flat is “a waste” because they never visit it together” (p. 43).
Emma and Jerry disagree over whether the flat could be considered “a home” or just a flat “for fucking” (p. 44). They decide to sell all the furniture to the landlady, Mrs. Banks, so she can “let it as a furnished flat” (p. 45).
Emma puts on her coat and prepares to leave but struggles to remove her key to the flat from her keyring. She grows frustrated, throws the keyring at Jerry, and says “Can you just do it please?” (p. 47). Jerry removes the key and hands the ring back to Emma. Before she leaves she says “I think we’ve made absolutely the right decision” (p. 47). She departs, leaving Jerry sitting alone in the flat.
Analysis:
In Scene One we are introduced to the play's principal betrayal – that of Jerry and Emma's affair – and in Scene Two we see Jerry confessing that betrayal to Robert, Emma's husband. Robert's reaction to this confession defies all expectations. Indeed, one expects him to be furious or at least openly hurt and disappointed. Instead, he hardly says anything at all except "don't be sorry" (p. 27). In a curious role reversal, he actually becomes the one consoling Jerry, saying "Oh, don't get upset, there's no point" (p. 31). More than any of the other characters in the play, Robert seems to be unable to accurately and honestly express how he is feeling. In fact, the only thing he seems to be able to speak fondly about is the game of squash.
In this scene, we also encounter Robert's shocking – if casual – confession that he has "hit Emma once or twice" (p. 33). In swift fashion, Pinter demonstrates that all of the characters in this play are flawed to the point of contemptibility. While one might have felt sympathy for Robert after learning about Jerry and Emma's affair, Pinter makes any sort of sympathy difficult, or even impossible. Henceforth, we are in the awkward position of following three characters, none of whom we can fully support or admire.
In this second scene, we also encounter another betrayal in addition to Jerry and Robert's affair. During Jerry and Robert's conversation, it comes to light that Robert has known about the affair for four years, even though Emma told Jerry that she had confessed to Robert only recently. As we later learn, Emma actually confessed to Robert about the affair in 1973 and had lied to Jerry in Scene One. This is just one more of a series of further betrayals that are revealed throughout the play. Here, Pinter seems to suggest that loyalty is, in fact, harder to achieve and rarer to find than infidelity, and that betrayals are all but a natural certainty of human interaction. As the scholar Robert Clyman writes, "for Pinter, the capacity for betrayal is layered, and we have not yet touched bottom" (p. 167).
In Scene Three, we move backwards in time for the first time in the play. Having just seen Jerry and Emma two years after the end of their affair in Scene One, we now witness the very end of their affair. In a play full of strange moods, this scene has a particularly strange tone and energy. While Emma and Jerry are wrapping up their affair, they do not express any of the usual sentiments that occur at the end of a relationship. In fact, it is difficult to ascertain why they are ending their relationship at all. More than anything, it appears as though they have simply lost interest in one another. While there was once passion in their relationship – enough passion to drive them to get a flat together – that passion no longer remains.
During their final conversation, Jerry and Emma begin to discuss the apartment that they share together, and it becomes clear that their attempts to establish a life for themselves together would never have succeeded. Speaking about the feeling of emptiness in the apartment, Jerry admits that "it's not a home" (p. 43). He continues, saying "there are no kids together, so it's not the same kind of home" (p. 44). In other words, Jerry suggests that their relationship has faltered because they were not able to establish a traditional domestic situation with one another. The subtext here is that relationships with a traditional domestic situation – a home with children – are more likely to continue even if they perhaps should end, just like Emma and Jerry are ending their relationship.
So, in a moment of particularly blatant symbolism, they decide to liquidate the apartment and abandon the lease. In a symbolic – albeit consequential – gesture, Emma gives up her key the apartment and leaves Jerry sitting there alone. Given the nature of their relationship, one does not necessarily feel inclined to root for Emma and Jerry's success together, yet it is still saddening to witness the quiet end of this relationship.
