The Dumb Waiter

The Dumb Waiter Literary Elements

Genre

Tragicomedy; Theatre of the Absurd

Language

English

Setting and Context

A single room somewhere in Birmingham, England

Narrator and Point of View

N/A

Tone and Mood

Tense; comical; absurd

Protagonist and Antagonist

N/A

Major Conflict

The two hitmen want to get their "job" (killing a target who will come to their room) over with.

Climax

Ben gets the call that the person to kill will be arriving at his door, and when the door opens it is Gus, his partner.

Foreshadowing

Gus wonders repeatedly about when the person will arrive and who it will be.

Understatement

N/A

Allusions

While there may not be any direct allusions to Beckett's "Waiting for Godot" in this work, its influence is manifest—e.g., in the analogous roles of Wilson and Godot.

Imagery

See the separate imagery section of this guide.

Paradox

N/A

Parallelism

N/A

Personification

N/A

Use of Dramatic Devices

Pinter makes use of dramatic pauses and silences to build tension and suspense. He also includes many stage directions regarding actions and line delivery, controlling the way scenes play out and characters are developed.

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