Genre
Drama
Language
English
Setting and Context
A Converted Farmhouse 1971, Autumn
Narrator and Point of View
POV is that of Deeley and Anna
Tone and Mood
Dramatic, Serious.
Protagonist and Antagonist
Protagonist is Kate. Antagonists are Anna and Deeley
Major Conflict
Kate has a friend coming over that she hasn't seen in years and Deeley wants to know what she is like.
Climax
Anna is the friend that is coming, but she has been there the entire time. And, we find out that Anna is actually dead. She died in Kate's room.
Foreshadowing
Dark. The opening word of the play foreshadows the emotional quality of the play that is to come.
Understatement
It is understated that Anna is dead.
Allusions
The play is an allusion to how one person's memory of an experience can be vastly different from another person's.
Imagery
Anna uses imagery to describe Kate's incapacity to relate to other people. How Kate, when she goes out for walks becomes only depressed and wants to come home. And, also how Kate is very shy. Anna uses the description of a shy fawn to spark the reader's imagination as to what she does when she is sitting with anyone.
Paradox
Anna and Deeley talk as if Kate is dead, paradoxically it is Anna that is definitely not living.
Parallelism
The end of the play with each character motionless parallels the beginning of the play where Deeley, Kate, and Anna all sit or stand motionless, absorbed in the thoughts in their minds.
Personification
Pinter has Anna describe Kate as shy as a fawn. That Kate becomes shyness in her relating to any person that attempts to get close to her.
Use of Dramatic Devices
Pinter uses bright shining stage lights at the end of the play in order show that this moment is not realism.
