Harold Pinter’s The Dumb Waiter as an Allegory of Capitalist Slavery

Abstract

Harold Pinter’s The Dumb Waiter takes lowly characters and makes them perform silly little repetitive actions, through which the power structure of the capitalism is visible. Ben and Gus are two hit-men, who are puppets of the capitalist world assassinating other on the directives of capitalists. In the process, they are unaware that the power of capitalism force is using them against each other and thereby is making its network stronger and powerful. Here lies the bitter reality of the normal folks, who are similar to Ben and Gus, as they too are trapped in the world of capitalist allegory.