Summary
Mrs. Sands tells Rose it is a nice house—and roomy. Rose says she can’t comment on the house. She is all right with her room, but she would bet there is a lot wrong with the rest of the house. She returns to her rocking chair and says she thinks there is “a lot of damp.” Mrs. Sands agrees, saying she felt a bit of damp when they were in the basement just now. Rose asks why they were in the basement. Rose says they went down there when they came in because they were looking for the landlord. Rose asks what it was like, and Mrs. Sands says they couldn’t see a thing because there was no light.
Rose confirms that Mrs. Sands said the basement felt damp. Mrs. Sands asks her husband whether he felt the damp. Mr. Sands asks Rose if she’s never been down there herself. Rose says she has gone down once, but it was a long time ago. Rose says she was just that day wondering whether anyone lived in the basement now. Mrs. Sands says there was a man down there. Toddy confirms, “There was a bloke down there, all right.” When Toddy rests against a table, sitting gently, Mrs. Sands shouts, “You’re sitting down!” Toddy jumps up and asks who is. She says he was. He tells her not to be silly, saying he “perched.” Mrs. Sands insists she saw him sit. Toddy says she did not because he “did not sit bloody well down,” repeating that he perched. The couple launches into a heated argument. Mrs. Sands shouts that he could be more perceptive, like her, and tells him he takes after his uncle. She gets up and tells him she “didn’t bring him into the world.” Toddy asks rhetorically who then brought him into the world.
Mrs. Sands sits and Toddy stands. The couple mutter to themselves. Rose asks about the man they say they saw in the basement. Speaking in a monologue, Mrs. Sands explains that they had heard there was a room for rent and came to have a look. She says they’re looking for somewhere quiet, and it’s a quiet district. They decided to drop by, hoping to catch the landlord on an evening. They walked in the front hall and it was very dark, so they went to the basement, which was only possible because of Toddy’s good eyesight. It was dark and damp, and they passed through a couple of partitions until a man’s voice asked politely if he could do anything. The voice told them the landlord would be upstairs and confirmed there was a room to let. Mrs. Sands says they went up to the top of the house, encountered a locked door, and were coming back down the steps when Rose opened her door.
Rose reminds Mrs. Sands that she’d said they had just come up the steps. Mrs. Sands says no, they were going down because they’d been up. Toddy confirms that they’d been up and were coming down. Rose asks if the man was old. Mrs. Sands says they didn’t see him. Rose asks again if he was old. After a pause, Toddy says they better try to get hold of the landlord if he’s around. Rose says there aren’t any vacant rooms, saying Mr. Kidd told her he was “full up.” Toddy says the man in the basement said room number seven was vacant. After a pause, Rose says, “That’s this room.”
Mr. Sands suggests again that they try to get hold of the landlord. Mrs. Sands rises from the chair and thanks Rose “for the warm-up,” saying she feels better now. Rose says, “This room is occupied.” Toddy tells his wife to come on. Mrs. Sands politely wishes Rose goodnight and says she hopes her husband won’t be too long. She adds that it must be lonely for her, being all alone there. Toddy tells her again to come on. The couple exits. Rose watches the door close, moving toward it before stopping again.
Rose moves the chair back and looks at Bert’s magazine before putting it down. She returns to her rocking chair, alternating between rocking and stopping still. There is a sharp knock on the door before it opens and Mr. Kidd steps on stage. He says he came straight in. Rose jumps up and says she was just going to find him because she has to speak with him. Kidd says he has to speak to her, and that he came up specifically to do so. Rose says the two people in there just now said the room was going vacant. She wants to know what they were talking about. Kidd replies that as soon as he heard the van go, he got ready to come and see Rose. He adds, “I’m knocked out.” Rose continues her line of questioning, asking if the people got hold of him.
Kidd asks who got hold of him. Rose explains again that it was the two people she just told him about, two people who were looking to rent her room. Mr. Kidd has no idea what she is talking about. He explains that he has been waiting the whole weekend for Bert to leave. He tells her he has had a terrible weekend, and that she’ll “have to see him.” Kidd says he can’t take it anymore, repeating that she has to see him.
Rose asks who. Kidd explains that there’s a man in the basement who wants to see her. Kidd can’t get rid of him and he’s been there the whole weekend. Kidd explains that he (Mr. Kidd) came up earlier but saw Bert was still there, so he went back down and told the man. The man insisted Kidd ask Rose if he’ll see her. When Rose asks who the man is, Kidd says he doesn’t know. The only thing he knows is that the man won’t indulge in any conversation. All he asks is whether Bert has gone yet. Kidd says the man wouldn’t even play chess when he offered to start a game. The man just lies there, waiting.
Kidd asks if it is all right to tell the man she will see him. Rose reminds Kidd that she doesn’t know him, so why should she see him? Particularly when her husband isn’t there. Kidd insists that the man knows her. Rose asks how he could when they’ve just moved into the district and keep to themselves. Kidd suggests she might know him from another district, and Rose takes offense at the insinuation that she goes around “knowing men in one district after another.” Kidd says he doesn’t know what he thinks, but he may be going crazy.
Kidd asks Rose to have pity and see the man. She says again she doesn’t know him. Kidd suddenly rises and says he doesn’t know what will happen if she doesn’t see him. Kidd adds that if she doesn’t, the man will likely come up to the room when her husband is there. Rose is alarmed by the idea. Kidd says he will do it, because she can’t expect the man to have come all that way only to leave without seeing her. After a pause, Rose tells Kidd to bring up the man, urging him to be quick. Mr. Kidd exits.
Analysis
As the scene with the Sands continues, Rose returns to her theory from the first scene that the basement is riddled with damp (moisture in the walls). The subject leads to Rose learning that the Sands were in the basement before coming up the stairs to her floor and happening to be outside her door. Pinter builds further on the basement’s symbolic importance as the opposite of Rose’s familiar room—a place of security set in contrast against a subterranean zone of uncertainty, darkness, and threat.
As Pinter contributes to the play’s growing sense of menace, the Sands casually speak of the man they encountered in the pitch-black basement. The couple are momentarily distracted by their worst argument yet, absurdly based on whether or not perching against a table constitutes sitting. The argument devolves into deeper issues in the couple’s relationship as Clarissa makes bewildering accusations that reference members of Toddy’s family who may or may not be to blame for shaping the person he turned out to be.
Putting up with (or ignoring) the couple’s bickering, Rose orients the conversation back to the subject of the unknown man in the basement. Many audience members might logically infer that the couple must have encountered Mr. Kidd or even Bert in the basement, but Clarissa’s explanation sows doubt about the most likely assumptions. Whoever the mysterious figure is, he has no issue being in a basement that is damp and almost completely shrouded in darkness. With this bizarre development, Pinter injects further unease and absurdity into the narrative.
The situation becomes even more bizarre when Rose learns that the mysterious man in the basement told the Sands that her room was available to let. Her place of security threatened, Rose repeats, “This room is occupied” to get the message across to the Sands, who realize they may have accidentally revealed the unfortunate news that Rose’s landlord is planning to evict her. Sensing that they have made the situation unbearably awkward, Toddy and Clarissa quickly make their excuses and leave.
Bewildered by what could either be a threat to her housing security or a simple misunderstanding, Rose grows restless with the uncertainty she suddenly finds herself in the middle of. When Mr. Kidd enters, she is eager to gain clarity on the issue. However, Kidd redoubles the strangeness and uncertainty by explaining that the man in the basement has been waiting to speak with Rose. In an instance of situational irony, Pinter reveals that Kidd had earlier visited the flat to see whether Bert had left yet, as the man in the basement wants to talk to Rose alone. Although she insists there’s no way this stranger could know her or she could know him, Rose agrees to see him because she fears what might happen were the man to call on her when Bert is home.
