The Dumb Waiter Summary & Analysis

Ben’s refusal to let Gus ask or answer questions further establishes Gus as Ben’s subordinate and the play’s more submissive character. Furthermore, Ben’s refusal to answer Gus about cigarettes shows he doesn’t care about Gus’s wants or needs. Already, the play has established a connection between a person’s power and a person’s ability—and perhaps even their incentive—to exploit people with less power. Finally, note Gus’s mysterious reference to an unknown “he” responsible for laying out fancy crockery (tableware). It’s yet unclear who this person is, but Gus’s focus on the high-quality crockery this person apparently has access to introduces themes of class and economic disparity. It’s not clear who this “he” is, but it seems that he, with his nice dishware, is wealthier than Ben and Gus, who have few possessions other than their work uniforms. Also note how Ben continues to order Gus around, interrupt him, and ignore his questions, suggesting that Ben feels his higher status entitles him to disrespect Gus—he even orders Gus to make him tea, as though Gus were his servant rather than (presumably) his partner.

Gus keeps talking about a job, but it’s still unclear what that job is. Ben’s second newspaper story is just as violent as the first—and perhaps even more disturbing, as it implicates a young child in a heinous act of violence. This further establishes that the world of the play is saturated with violence—or at least, the knowledge that danger may strike at any time. With Ben’s remark of “It’s enough to—,” he seems about to repeat his earlier comment about the story making him want to puke. Repetitive, circuitous language/dialogue is another feature of absurdist theater. This passage also includes another reference to a mysterious “he.” Ben’s remark that “he” will contact Ben and Gus “any time” sheds light on what Ben and Gus are doing in this basement room in the first place—they’re waiting for someone, possibly their boss, to contact them. This alerts the audience to the fact that Ben and Gus are under some unseen authority’s control and so must answer to him. With this, the play shows that while Ben might be marginally more powerful than Gus, ultimately, they’re in the same boat.

It adds a layer of absurdity and meaninglessness to the play that Gus should be so fixated on the lavatory’s flushing mechanism. Still, the lavatory’s broken condition alerts the audience to the condition of the building that Ben and Gus are waiting in—it’s run-down, and nobody has bothered to fix any of its malfunctioning appliances.

Gus’s complaint about the room being “a dump” further shows how lacking his and Ben’s present accommodations are, though it’s still unclear why they’re in this room in the first place. It’s also significant that the room is windowless: without a window, Gus and Ben are completely cut off from the happenings of the outside world; as such, they must rely on the mysterious “he” that Ben mentioned earlier for information about what’s going on and what they must do.

Though Gus and Ben’s exact profession remains unclear, Gus’s complaints reveal what their working conditions are like. From Gus’s remarks, the audience can discern that Gus and Ben deal with a lot of uncertainty and unpredictability in their line of work: they never work in the same place, and their surroundings are always unfamiliar to them. And even though they only work once a week, they’re constantly on call, which suggests that their work consumes much of their life, and perhaps also that their boss doesn’t have a lot of respect for Gus and Ben or for their time. Ben’s suggestion that Gus would be less unhappy if he found a hobby and was thus “never idle,” like Ben, suggests Ben’s acceptance of their unideal working conditions. Finally, note that this time, Ben and Gus hear the lavatory flush. This implies that there’s a functioning lavatory somewhere in this building—but that Ben and Gus’s boss, who presumably sent them here to do their job, didn’t feel it necessary for them to have access to it. This further establishes that Ben and Gus are low on the food chain and that their superiors don’t respect them all that much.

Ben’s behavior in the car is odd—and maybe even suspicious, given Ben’s alarmed reaction when Gus asks him about it. Ben and Gus’s curious interaction in this section also introduces the idea that not only are Ben and Gus not equal, but also that they might not have equal access to information regarding whatever job they’re supposed to do tonight—that Ben, as Gus’s superior, is privy to more insider information than Gus. Gus’s observation that Ben seemed to be “waiting for something” in the car further supports this theory. It also alludes to the play’s title—The Dumb Waiter. A dumbwaiter is an elevator-like platform that uses a pulley system to move items between floors of a building (usually food between the kitchen and the dining room). But this section suggests that “dumb waiter” also may be a play on words in the sense that quiet, waiting Ben is a literal “dumb waiter” (with “dumb” meaning unable or unwilling to speak). 

Gus’s question to Ben about whether “someone had to get out before” adds to the play’s mysterious and menacing atmosphere—it shows the audience just how uninformed Gus is (and possibly Ben, too) regarding who is involved in their job and who was (and is) in the building they’re required to wait in to perform that job. That Ben and Gus may have been provided used, dirty linens is further evidence of their low rank and the lack of respect their superiors have for them. When Ben immediately rejects Gus’s claim that they were given dirty linens, it further shows that he is far less interested in complaining about their working conditions or criticizing their superiors than Gus is.    

Gus thinks that being in Birmingham might afford them the chance to have some fun and see a football (soccer) game. When Ben shuts this down, explaining that “Things have tightened up,” though, it suggests that their work no longer affords them the luxury of free time—as Gus has previously established, they’re expected to be on call at virtually all hours of the day. This section reinforces the men’s poor, exploitative working conditions. 

Gus and Ben’s argument over the football game doesn’t contribute to the play’s “plot” (in so much as the play has a plot), but the banality and circuitousness of the argument further establishes the play’s absurd tone. It makes whatever Ben and Gus’s job is (which so far has only involved waiting around in a dingy basement) seem totally pointless. 

The envelope’s appearance is a major turning point in the play: it’s the first indication that there’s a person (or people) outside the room monitoring Ben and Gus. Whoever delivered these matches has somehow learned that Ben and Gus need matches to make tea, and this implies that somebody is listening to them. This, in turn, adds to the play’s threatening, dangerous tone. The revelation that Gus (and presumably Ben too) is armed is another key development; it presents another clue about their line of work while also contributing to the play’s threatening atmosphere. It seems more likely now that Gus and Ben are involved in some kind of illegal activity—perhaps they are hitmen. Also note how Ben makes Gus go to the door to investigate, a further instance in which Ben uses his authority over Gus to protect his own interests—at the expense of Gus’s safety. In other words, Ben’s relative power doesn’t make him merciful or kind—on the contrary, it makes him selfish and indifferent to the suffering of others.

Ben and Gus’s failure to communicate lends another element of absurdity to the play—absurdist plays (and Pinter’s in particular) frequently portray the underlying meaninglessness and futility of the human condition through characters who use circuitous, nonsensical language. But Ben’s insistence on using “light the kettle,” a common saying, further suggests his conformist attitude—he believes that it’s important to speak the idiomatic language of the masses. Because of this, he resents Gus for questioning the correctness of an idiom’s meaning which everyone has accepted—even if the idiom’s literal meaning doesn’t make sense. Finally, Ben’s comment about Gus not having seen his mother in some time provides additional insight into Ben and Gus’s job—it’s apparently so time-consuming that they have little time even to see their families.

Ben explicitly confirms what the play has only hinted at thus far: he is “the senior partner,” and Gus is his subordinate. Ben’s suggestion that he’s only looking out for Gus doesn’t only apply to their ongoing kettle-semantics argument; it’s a broader suggestion (and maybe even warning) that bad things may happen to Gus if he continues to challenge authority and scrutinize the agreed-upon way of doing or saying things—a case he drives home when he physically assaults Gus. Finally, note that Ben slips up and accidentally asks Gus to “Put on the bloody kettle,” an expression he just finished telling Gus was incorrect. This suggests that Ben’s learned manner of speaking and behaving is artificial, possibly an effort to appear more refined or knowledgeable than he really is. 

Gus’s question about “who it’ll be tonight” hints at the nature of his and Ben’s yet-undisclosed profession. They seem to be waiting for someone’s arrival, so maybe this is the “who” to whom Gus refers. It’s also apparent that Ben has no interest in answering Gus’s question—though whether this is because Ben doesn’t understand the question, doesn’t know the answer, or knows and doesn’t want to answer remains a mystery. Finally, the total lack of understanding that Ben and Gus achieve in this conversation adds to the play’s absurdity: absurdist theater frequently uses communication breakdowns and nonsensical, ineffective language to illustrate human connection’s—and by extension, life’s—ultimate meaninglessness.

Wilson seems to be Gus and Ben’s boss and the unnamed “he” that Ben referenced earlier. Gus and Ben’s argument over Wilson’s poor communication further establishes Ben as the obedient partner who respects authority and Gus as the rebellious partner who refuses to respect an authority figure who doesn’t respect them back. This scene makes it clear that Gus is dissatisfied with the way Wilson runs things and thinks he deserves better working conditions. Ben, on the other hand, thinks that he and Gus have a responsibility to “get ready anyway” and do what Wilson asks of them, regardless of how he compensates them for their work. Finally, though Ben does end up polishing his revolver, his action of picking it up may also be read as a veiled threat against Gus—a warning that Ben has a revolver and has no qualms about using it on Gus if Gus continues to ask so many questions and criticize their boss.

Gus doesn’t seem to have an obvious reason to assume that the building he and Ben are in right now is Wilson’s, but he does suggest that Wilson is wealthy enough to own property—which places him in a class above Ben and Gus, who seem to be underpaid members of the working class. If Wilson is wealthy, the audience may interpret Gus’s criticisms against Wilson not only as a critique of authority but also of class. In light of this, when Gus complains that Wilson ought to at least provide them with enough gas to make tea, he’s suggesting that Wilson’s disregarding their comfort is even more egregious, given he has the means to provide them with adequate accommodations and simply chooses not to. 

Gus’s comments about “the last one” and a “girl” seem to allude to a previous job they performed. Given the seemingly illicit, secretive nature of their work and the fact that they’re both armed, the audience might guess that Ben and Gus are hitmen. (This guide will assume that Ben and Gus are hitmen, though the play never explicitly states that this is so.) Ben and Gus’s profession, then, adds to the play’s violent, threatening atmosphere. It also makes Ben’s apparent willingness to go along with whatever their bosses say all the more troubling, since it suggests that he's willing to obey authority even if an authority figure orders him to kill another person. Also note how Ben seems physically uncomfortable with Gus discussing what seems to be a previous hit, a detail that further suggests that, even though Ben follows orders to carry out hits, he’s not necessarily okay with the things he’s asked to do. Finally, Ben’s anger at Gus for asking him to “look here” and see things from Gus’s perspective shows just how determined Ben is to preserve the power imbalance between himself and Gus: he’s effectively stating that he doesn’t have to do or think anything Gus asks him to do because he’s in charge and Gus isn’t. 

This scene adds further credence to the theory that Ben and Gus are hitmen—the “mess” that Gus describes here seems to refer to the gory aftermath of a hit. When he talks about how the woman “spread,” he seems to be referencing the way her blood spilled out after they shot her, presumably with the revolvers they’re armed with now. Why Gus remains fixated on the gory aftermath of this hit remains unclear, but it could be that he’s troubled by the acts of violence that Ben and Gus commit as hitmen and so can’t stop thinking and talking about past hits. Ben, by contrast, can only squeeze his eyes shut tight—perhaps symbolic of the way he must turn a blind eye to the brutal reality of their work in order to live with himself. Ben and Gus’s opposite ways of coping with their job further establishes Gus as someone who questions everything and thinks for himself. Meanwhile, Ben believes it’s important to always obey authority—and he refuses to think for himself and confront the brutal reality of their work because doing so would make it harder to obey authority. Finally, Ben’s remark that their organization has “departments for everything” suggests its size, power, and reach—and Ben and Gus’s relative lack thereof. Increasingly, the play asks the audience to see Ben and Gus as working-class everyman-type characters who are rendered powerless in the face of a much larger, nefarious institutional power.

Finally, the titular “dumb waiter” appears. That the dumb waiter has started to deliver what seem to be restaurant orders to two hitmen adds another element of absurdity to the play. Additionally, it further solidifies Ben and Gus’s status as lowly, working-class people who have no choice but to obey the wealthier, more powerful upper-class people who order them around. As far as the audience knows, Ben and Gus have no food, and it’s already well established that they have no gas for the stove, either, making it impossible for them to fill the order the dumb waiter has sent them. This surely will create conflict for Ben, whose entire personality is rooted in upholding hierarchies and following orders. 

Gus acknowledges that his life and work are meaningless, and this allows him to see the absurd humor of his and Ben’s present situation. Ben, meanwhile, believes that people need to obey their authority figures at all times, even if they don’t understand or agree with what’s asked of them—and also that failure to obey orders should be met with violence and punishment. Because of this, Ben treats his present situation as a serious problem, and maybe even a threat to his life. Finally, Gus’s curiosity about who owns the café upstairs and inability to grasp the idea that cafés change hands all the time reflects his critical attitude toward social and class hierarchies. His lower-class status makes it difficult for him to grasp that anyone could be so wealthy that they could buy property and then leave it behind so casually. Ben’s remark about it being normal for cafés to switch hands, meanwhile, suggests that he respects hierarchies. Also note how often Ben uses words like “common” or “normal” (as he does here)—this habit further suggests his conformist sensibilities. Ben is a big believer that people should go along with reigning systems, hierarchies, and social conventions—even if those accepted systems and behaviors act against a person’s best interest.

Again, this section demonstrates how Ben uses his relative power over Gus to protect himself at Gus’s expense. That Ben holds his revolver as Gus approaches the dumb waiter shows that he feels threatened and yet afraid—and more importantly, that he has no qualms about putting Gus’s life at risk to save his own. Next, the dumb waiter serves two main purposes. For starters, it adds another element of absurdity to the play, as it’s unclear who is using it to send Ben and Gus meal orders, why they’re sending them, and how they expect Ben and Gus—two hitmen who have neither food nor cooking supplies at their disposal—to make them. The dumb waiter also shows how relieved Ben (and even Gus) is to finally have explicit directions to follow. Though it seems implausible that they’ll be able to fill the orders the dumb waiter has sent down to them, they find comfort, purpose, and certainty in having such a straightforward task assigned to them after hours of waiting in a windowless room with no communication from their boss. On the subject of their boss, Wilson—is it possible that he is the one sending these messages? And if so, why?

Ben disapproves of Gus carelessly shouting up the hatch because he respects (and fears) authority and thinks that Gus’s yelling will insult and anger whoever is up there. Ben’s impulse to place Gus’s cheap snack food on the dumb waiter—even though it’s not what the order asks for—reinforces his need to adhere to accepted social convention. He feels it’s better that they send something up, since the authority figures upstairs clearly expect them to. Finally, Ben’s explanation that they still have to send up the Eccles cake (a type of pastry) even though the people upstairs don’t know that they have it reinforces his unwavering obedience to authority. Ben is suggesting that a person has to obey authority at all times—not just in situations where they’ll be caught if they don’t. Ben’s extreme obedience adds to the play’s threatening atmosphere: even in situations where there’s no obvious sign of danger, the mere threat of danger motivates Ben to act cautiously and obediently to avoid punishment.

Ben sees Gus’s withholding the crisps (chips) from him as an affront to his power: he thinks that Gus is “playing a dirty game” in thinking that he can keep things from Ben, his superior. 

Ben blames Gus for missing the box—yet if Ben hadn’t wasted so much time reprimanding Gus over the crisps, they may have had enough time to place everything in the box before it returned upstairs. Though both (or neither, really) are to blame for missing the box, Ben uses his power over Gus as an excuse to scapegoat Gus for his own mistakes. Also, if anyone is to blame in this situation, it’s the people upstairs—Gus and Ben’s higher-ups—for taking the box upstairs before Ben and Gus were ready. Ben’s misplaced anger toward Gus thus metaphorically illustrates how exploitative hierarchies and working conditions pit working-class people against each other.  

Ben claims to be familiar with this supposedly “Greek” dish that Gus has deemed “pretty high class” in order to seem more refined and more knowledgeable about fine dining than he really is—it’s an attempt to distance himself from the working-class status of which he’s so ashamed and to make Gus feel comparatively foolish, ignorant, and classless. But the only person Ben has made a fool of is himself, since Ormitha Macarounada is in fact a nonsense dish—it doesn’t exist. The fact that the people upstairs have sent Ben and Gus an order for a nonexistent dish adds another element of absurdity to the play—absurdist theater frequently features characters faced with impossible, pointless tasks to emphasize the absurdity and futility of the human condition. The Ormitha Macarounada order also underscores the power imbalance between Ben and Gus and the authority figures upstairs—it suggests that they’re messing with Ben and Gus and perhaps laughing at the thought of Ben and Gus struggling in vain. 

When Ben urges Gus not to shout, it reinforces both his characteristic need to conform to social norms and his class anxiety—he doesn’t want Gus to shout because Gus’s shouting will alert the people upstairs to the fact that Ben and Gus are classless commoners ignorant of the refined etiquette of the civilized upper class. The same logic applies to Ben’s order for Gus to polish his gun—Ben thinks an unpolished gun will make them appear slovenly and undeserving of their higher-ups’ respect. Finally, Ben’s insistence that they’ll be called soon also reinforces his respect for authority—and also the way this respect makes him appear foolish. All their superiors have done thus far is tease and taunt them with matches they can’t use and food orders they can’t fill—yet Ben continues to have faith in them and wait dutifully for them to call him to act. At the beginning of the play, it seemed that Gus was the fool, but it’s becoming increasingly clear that Ben’s unwavering obedience to authority clouds his judgment and makes him behave foolishly, too. Meanwhile, Gus’s constant scrutiny of their superiors seems increasingly prudent.

Ben continues to be made the fool as he insinuates that Ormitha Macarounada—a dish that doesn’t exist—is exceedingly difficult to make. Meanwhile, Gus’s skepticism seems increasingly warranted. His observation that it makes no sense to have a café upstairs—but no real kitchen downstairs—reaffirms that something fishy is going on here. When Gus places his gun in his holster, it suggests that he believes he and Gus may even be in danger.

In addition to highlighting the absurdity of Ben and Gus’s situation, this section also reinforces their powerlessness: Ben and Gus lack the supplies and equipment necessary to send up even a simple meal—and they certainly can’t send up the order of “One Bamboo Shoots, Water Chestnuts, and Chicken. One Char Siu and Beansprouts” the people are now asking them to make. Ben is alarmed because he simultaneously understands the grave importance of obeying authority—and also that his present circumstances leave him powerlessness to do so. Meanwhile, the fact that Ben is interpreting the returned teabag as a threatening coded message suggests not only his deference to authority but also that he is privy to information that Gus is not.

This section marks a turning point in the play. Up until now, Ben and Gus haven’t had the means to communicate directly with their superiors, but their discovery of the speaking-tube seems to offer a solution to this problem. Even so, the speaking-tube isn’t an ideal form of communication: only one of them can use the speaking-tube at once. This means that one person must rely on the other to relay information to him, placing him in a position of relative ignorance—and powerlessness.

It's curious that only Ben gets a response from his and Gus’s authorities when he uses the speaking-tube, and it suggests that Ben, as Gus’s superior, is privy to info that Gus is not. It’s also possible that something more nefarious is going on: are Ben and Gus working together to fulfill orders of their unseen higher-ups—or are the higher-ups and Ben scheming against Gus? Indeed, the higher-ups’ dissatisfaction with Gus’s food seems to suggest that Gus is the odd one out. This section also places the audience and Gus in the same boat, as neither can hear the voice on the other end of the speaking-tube, and so both must rely on Ben to tell them what the voice is saying—and must trust that Ben will be truthful about what he hears. 

The order from upstairs to “light the kettle” recalls the earlier scene in which he and Gus fought over which expression was correct: “light the kettle,” “put on the kettle,” or “light the gas.” Ben is excited because the superiors have used his phrase and so confirmed its correctness. He also interprets this as proof of his relative acceptance among the upper classes. Gus sees through the charade, though: the people upstairs don’t respect or accept Ben, and the fact that they’ve denied Ben and Gus basic “sustenance” and played games with them this entire time is evidence of their disrespect.

Ben’s comment that “Time’s getting on” builds tension and adds to the play’s menacing atmosphere—he’s suggesting that it’s nearly time to carry out the night’s hit. Meanwhile, though Gus has repeatedly exhibited his preference to think for himself instead of blindly following orders, the ease with which he repeats instructions back to Ben suggests that he, too, finds it easier—and perhaps even comforting—to sit back and do what someone else tells him to do rather than act of his own volition.

Has Ben really “forgotten” the step where Gus draws his gun—or does he know that it’s not part of the plan and accidentally alerted Gus to something Gus isn’t supposed to know? Ben has warned Gus multiple times that it’s in Gus’s best interests to obey orders and not complain about their job or ask too many questions. If Ben didn’t slip up, and Gus’s being unarmed is really part of the plan for tonight’s hit, it’s possible that Ben hasn’t been making empty threats—that Gus will actually pay for his disobedience and curiosity.

When Gus questions why “he” (presumably Wilson) left them matches when he knows they have no gas to use them with, he’s acknowledging that something fishy is going on— that perhaps his and Ben’s fates are in the hands of powerful forces who do not have their best interests in mind and take pleasure in messing with them. That Ben and Gus should receive matches right after expressing a need for matches suggests two things: that Wilson is somehow surveilling them and listening in on their conversations, and that he is perfectly capable of giving them the supplies they need. Gus takes issue with Wilson’s providing them with matches but no gas because it reaffirms his suspicion that Wilson is only messing with them: he never intended for Ben and Gus to use the matches and only provided them to remind Ben and Gus of their low status and powerlessness. The matches put Ben and Gus in their place, showing them that Wilson controls everything they do, even down to the banal act of making tea. 

Ben’s irritation suggests that he does know something Gus doesn’t know—and that Gus may be very close to finding out what this something is. It could also simply be Ben’s effort to remind Gus of his place. Throughout the play, Ben’s paper has symbolized his intelligence and refinement, particularly relative to Gus—and how Ben uses this superiority to exert power over Gus. When Ben grabs his paper here, he’s reminding Gus that he (Ben) “r[u]n[s] this place,” and Gus would be wise not to cross him. This section is also significant because it features one of the play’s few moments of physical violence. Normally, the characters or stage directions merely hint at violence—as in the newspaper stories that Ben reads aloud or the veiled threats Ben makes against Gus. That Ben makes good on his threats here builds tension and reveals that Ben’s obedience to authority isn’t totally unfounded—that there are indeed real consequences for people who don’t do as they’re told.  

The “he” to whom Gus refers is presumably Wilson. That Gus can’t even say Wilson’s name out loud points metaphorically toward Gus’s awareness of the distance that his and Wilson’s power imbalance creates between them.

Where Ben and Gus direct their anger reveals a lot about their attitudes toward authority. Ben’s alarmed, angry response to Gus’s shouting reaffirms his obedience to—and fear of—authority; he’s terrified that Gus will upset their superiors and get both of them in trouble. Meanwhile, Gus grows increasingly angry at their authorities, suggesting his unwillingness to show deference toward people who have done nothing but manipulate and exploit himself and his partner. 

The audience and Gus are in the same boat: neither can hear what the voice on the other end of the speaking-tube is saying and must rely on Ben for information. Gus’s ignorance reinforces his relative powerlessness: his inability to speak directly with his superiors limits his ability to make informed decisions and possibly even puts his life in danger. This section also adds to the play’s absurdity. Ben and Gus’s present conversation is nearly identical to their conversation at the start of the play, and this reinforces the absurd futility of their situation: they’ve spent the entire play trying to meet their superiors’ increasingly unreasonable demands, yet in the end, they’re right back where they started, and all their work was for nothing.

When Gus enters the room through the right-hand door—the door the target is supposed to walk through—he reveals himself to be the target. It’s left ambiguous whether Ben has known this to be the case the entire time, or whether he’s only learning about it now. Either way, that Ben must now betray his partner illustrates how exploitative working conditions and hierarchies pit workers against each other. The play’s closing scene also sheds new light on the play’s title, revealing that Ben and Gus have both been “dumb waiters” all along. Gus has dumbly waited around for hours, utterly ignorant of the fact that he has a target on his back. Meanwhile, Ben has been a “dumb” (as in mute) waiter too: he has spent the entirety of the play waiting for his boss to tell him what to do, unwilling to speak out against his higher-ups and question his exploitative working conditions. Up to this point, Ben has blindly obeyed authority, seeming to believe that doing so will present him with the opportunity to improve his social standing and quality of life. This final scene shows the grave consequences of Ben’s unquestioning obedience—it has incentivized him to betray his partner. Not only this, but it's not even clear if killing Gus will improve Ben’s standing at all, or if he’ll continue to be exploited and undermined by more powerful forces who know that his lower-class status leaves him with no choice but to do as they say, even if that means harming himself and others. Finally, that both Gus, the rebel nonconformist, and Ben, the obedient follower, should meet such grim fates reinforces the play’s underlying position that life is absurd and meaningless. People are doomed to fail, regardless of whether they think for themselves or seek reassurance in upholding the status quo.