ABSTRACT
In 1962, between The Collection and The Lover, Pinter wrote his first screenplay, The Servant, his baldest evocation of the dominant/ subservient conflict which, more closely than any other screenplay, resembles the paradigmatic portrayal of that conflict fractally conveyed in The Dumb Waiter and The Birthday Party. After The Servant the Pinter screenplays generally marked a respite from the strict fractal geometry of the dominant/subservient conflict, but here that conflict assumes full force. In The Servant, adapted from the novel by Robin Maugham and directed by Joseph Losey, Tony, a young bachelor of independent means, hires Barrett as his butler. Barrett then usurps Tony’s position as master by fostering Tony’s total dependence and bringing in as a maid his own lover, Vera, who poses as Barrett’s sister to win Tony’s affection from his fiancee, Susan.
