Honesty Isn't Always a Virtue

I recently did a production of Betrayal, and there was a lot of work regarding character. For those who don't know, Betrayal is a work by Harold Pinter telling the story of a woman who has an affair with her husband's best friend. The play is presented backwards, starting two years after the affair is over and going back in time so that the final scene is the one where the affair begins. Thus, interactions between the characters are presented and only later do you find the instigating circumstances that led up to it. Robert and Emma are the married couple, Jerry is the friend. Robert is a book publisher and Jerry is a literary agent. They have known each other since college.

As it turns out, Robert finds out about the affair from Emma but does not tell Jerry that he knows. Too, Emma does not tell Jerry, either, until after the affair is over. The first set of scenes has Emma and Jerry meeting for a drink two years after the affair is over. Emma tells Jerry that she and Robert had a fight and she told Robert everything about the affair. They are getting divorced. Jerry, in shock, immediately calls Robert to talk to him, ostensibly to ask forgiveness, only to be shocked yet again when Robert tells him that he has known for years but never said anything.

We then go back in time to see the end of the affair, Emma and Jerry realizing that they simply can't find time for each other and deciding to shut down the flat they have been using for their trysts. The next scene is of Jerry over for a drink. He and Robert exchange some pleasantries when Emma joins them. Robert complains that he and Jerry never play squash anymore and when Jerry finally agrees to a game, Emma pipes up to ask if she can join to watch. Robert then launches into an ostensible tirade about how, "We wouldn't actually want a woman around, would we, Jerry?" With tension in the air, Jerry says that he'll be hard-pressed to find time as he is off traveling for business. It isn't directly stated, but it is clear that Emma is frustrated that Jerry no longer has time for her. The affair is over. After Robert escorts Jerry out, he returns to his wife and they share a kiss, but Emma breaks down crying.

In the next scene, Robert and Emma are in Venice, Italy on vacation. In a highly oblique way, Robert tells Emma about going into the American Express office and being offered a letter that was delivered for Emma from Jerry. With a great deal of beating around the bush, he finally cajoles Emma into admitting that she is having an affair with Jerry. Robert says he had no idea up until this letter. The affair has been going on for five years.

When they return from Italy, Emma and Jerry meet in their flat and they talk about Emma's holiday. Emma does not tell Jerry that Robert has found out, though she does press him about when Jerry and Robert may meet again as they often have lunch together. Jerry then does have lunch with Robert, who gets stinking drunk. They discuss Robert's holiday and Robert gives a miserable speech about how he feels he's sold out as a literary editor, ranting on about how Jerry and Emma have that in common: "You love modern prose literature. I mean you love the new novel by the new Casey or Spinks. It gives you both a thrill." The speech leads to what should be a climax of Robert saying that he knows, but he instead backs down, saying that he and Emma are very good together, that he values Jerry's friendship, and that Jerry should come over sometime as Emma "would love to see you."

It is a few years earlier and Emma and Jerry are establishing their flat. Emma has a revelation: She is pregnant. From the earlier scene in Venice we know that it is Robert's.

The final scene is a party at Robert's. Emma has gone to the bedroom to freshen up only to find a drunken Jerry in there, waiting for her. He woos her with passionate words which Emma seems to deflect off but it is getting to her. Robert comes in just as they kiss but sees nothing. Jerry sings the praises of Emma's beauty to Robert, who praises Jerry's friendship, in turn. Robert leaves and Emma follows, but Jerry takes hold of her hand. The affair has begun.

Now, the title of the play is Betrayal and everybody is betraying something here. Clearly Emma and Jerry are betraying their respective relationships to Robert, but what exactly is Robert betraying? And just as importantly, if not more so, why would Robert not say anything when he finds out?

My interpretation of Robert is that he truly did not know. His speech during lunch about how he has compromised his principles is indicative of why he doesn't say. He has worked hard to build what he thought would be the perfect life: He works in the world of books, which was his passion. He has a loving wife, children, a home. He has the best friend in the world.

And none of it is real.

All of it is a facade. Yes, he is a book publisher, but he doesn't like any of the books he publishes. He has become a purveyor of popular pulp when his first love is poetry. And his wife and best friend are sneaking around behind his back. Everything that he anchored his life around is nothing more than a façade, all surface and no depth. So, he decides not to break it. He will maintain the fiction of his life so that he can keep it.

In the first scene, when Emma is telling Jerry that she has told Robert everything and that they are getting divorced, she mentions that Robert says he's been having affairs. This leads to the question of the lies these people tell each other. My personal feeling is that actually, Robert never lies throughout the entire show. The actual statement of Emma's is, "You know what I found out...last night? He's betrayed me for years. He's had...other women for years." But given the elliptical way Robert speaks throughout the play, I think all Robert has actually said is that he has betrayed Emma and she has taken that to mean he has had affairs, too. When Robert and Jerry meet right after that scene, Jerry brings it up:

Jerry: But you betrayed her for years, didn't you?

Robert: Oh yes.

Jerry: And she never knew about it. Did she?

Robert: Didn't she?

Robert never comes out and says it. And thus, I don't think he actually has had an affair. He has betrayed her, and deeply so, but it wasn't by having an affair. It was by not putting his foot down when he found out, by not fighting for his marriage, by letting Emma flounder in this affair rather than making it stop, by holding her back but not holding her close. So, since everything else in his life regarding Emma was a fiction, he will let her have that fiction. Let her think that he turned around and did it to her, too, so that she can move on with her life. What's one more betrayal? In the entire play, Robert is completely honest, but nothing he says is ever what he truly means.

This led to the only real conflict I had with the director regarding Robert's character. In Scene 4 where Jerry is over for a drink and Robert launches into his monologue about squash, the director wanted me to direct that at Emma. After all, it is instigated by Emma's request to watch the two play and all the direct words seem to be a berating of Emma for daring to suggest such a thing:

Robert: Well, to be brutally honest, we wouldn't actually want a woman around, would we, Jerry? I mean a game of squash isn't simply a game of squash, it's rather more than that. You see, first there's the game. And then there's the shower. And then there's the pint. And then there's the lunch. After all, you've been at it. You've had your battle. What you want is your pint and your lunch. You really don't want a woman buying you lunch. You don't actually want a woman within a mile of the place, any of the places, really. You don't want her in the squash court, you don't want her in the shower, or the pub, or the restaurant. You see, at lunch you want to talk about squash, or cricket, or books, or even women, with your friend, and be able to warm to your theme without fear of improper interruption. That's what it's all about. What do you think, Jerry?

On the surface, that's a pretty damning thing to say to Emma, but the script has Robert and Emma sharing a kiss just a few moments later. If Robert is truly revealing his disgust for Emma in particular or women in general in this speech, then what on earth could possibly motivate him to try to become intimate with Emma just a dozen or so lines later? After seeing Jerry out, he would just go straight to bed. And just as importantly, why would Emma kiss him back? If she bore the brunt of that oration, why would she allow Robert to come near her?

True, the kiss doesn't go anywhere: She is crying because she realizes that she is alone now. The affair with Jerry is over except for the packing up and there is no way she can patch things up with Robert for she doesn't love him anymore.

Instead, that speech has to be directed at Jerry. It is Robert's way of telling Jerry to get away from his wife. It is not direct for Robert is never that obvious. Squash is a metaphor for friendship and to have a woman come between them would ruin it. Robert is not berating Emma for wanting to be part of the game but rather he is having at Jerry for having the gall to bring a third party into their friendship.

Now, Robert isn't a nice person. I certainly don't think he could ever be portrayed as the innocent party. His inability to directly articulate his feelings leads him to betray both his wife and his friend. Despite having the power to do something about their situation either by fighting for his wife or letting her go, he avoids all responsibility and lets them drown. Certainly the primary failure is the affiar between Emma and Jerry, but Robert does nothing to resolve the situation.

That is the reason for why Robert doesn't say anything: He doesn't know how. His passion is poetry where everything is told in metaphor, words have meanings stacked upon other meanings. A direct statement of, "I love you," or, "Stop screwing my wife," is the world of prose which he cannot stand. He doesn't know how to say anything directly and thus his only way of surviving is to be swept along in the actions of others.