Sexuality in the Homecoming

Sexuality (and lack thereof) plays a major role in the British play The Homecoming, by Harold Pinter. Starting with the tension of four grown men living together in the same house with no female figure of any sort around, an excess of testosterone that leads to constant bickering and locking of horns over the most mundane minutia. In this environment, sexual prowess is seen as a sign of superiority. Max takes pride on having 'given birth to three grown men! All on my own bat'. At the same time he questions his brother Sam's inability to find a woman of his own, hinting at a sexual shortcoming, either homosexuality (not that it is a shortcoming in and of itself, but it was certainly a drawback in that day's society; Max himself may or may not be gay), or impotence (for which there was no generic Viagra then as there is now).

When a female character does appear onstage, sexuality is further explored, discussed in the form of Joey's 'touch with the ladies', and the proposal that Ruth enters the 'game', which leads to the play's denouement. Moreover, offstage there is an encounter between Ruth and Joey, that leads Lenny to label her a tease, while Joey argues that a man can be satisfied without going all the way. In the end there is an alpha male competition to see who gets Ruth and in what capacity, where being her husband does not necessarily give Teddy an advantage, though he may not be all that interested in winning either. Somewhere in the course of the action Sam faints, but don't believe that any of his relatives runs to the best pharmacy to seek help, rather they leave him lying on the floor, seemingly still alive, but left for dead for all intents and purposes. At the conclusion (which is not certainly conclusive), it appears as if Ruth has used her womanly appeals, both strengths and weaknesses, to her own benefit, and she who seemed to be a trophy that the men contended over may end up as the new ruler of the household.