The Caretaker Themes

The Caretaker’s main characters—Davies, Aston, and Mick—are all powerless in the face of the chaotic, oppressive forces that rule their world. Aston is forcibly institutionalized because of his mental illness, Davies’s homelessness makes him desperate and reliant on others, and Mick’s many familial and financial obligations overwhelm him. In response to their lack of power, every character—even the comparatively altruistic, harmless Aston—engages in manipulation and deception in an attempt to…

The Caretaker contains elements common to a movement in drama called the Theater of the Absurd, a term coined by British critic Martin Esslin to describe the plays of Samuel Beckett, Arthur Adamov, and Eugene Ionesco. Absurdist plays encapsulate the irrationality, contradiction, and meaninglessness that their writers see as symptomatic of the modern world. The particular absurdity in The Caretaker directly relates to issues of class and social conformity, with each character desperately trying to…

While The Caretaker centers entirely on the characters of Mick, Aston, and Davies, it’s difficult to get a sense of their true personalities. In fact, it’s often the case that the characters know more about what one another do (or hope to do) than who they truly are: Mick owns a building and maintains some kind of business, Aston has aspirations to build a shed that never come to fruition, and…

Throughout The Caretaker, Mick, Davies, and Aston do a lot of talking, yet they never manage to convey any meaningful information that might deepen their understanding of themselves and one another. Effectively communicating through language isn’t something that Mick, Davies, or Aston seem willing to do or capable of doing. Time and again, the men fail to listen to one another, often changing the subject in lieu of answering questions or uttering…