Mother and Whore: The Role of Woman in The Homecoming

IN THE HOMECOMING THE CHARACTERS of Ruth and of Jessie, the dead mother, demonstrate a strange dichotomy in the concept of the female as both vacillate between the role of mother and the role of whore. This is, of course, not the only time Pinter explores this psychological area, but in no other play, including The Lover, does he place such emphasis upon the ambiguous role of the woman.