What Theme Or Themes Are Explored In The Servant? Your Arguments Should Be Supported By Evidence From One Or Two Scenes From The Film As Well As From Secondary Source Material.

What theme or themes are explored in The Servant? Your arguments should be supported by evidence from one or two scenes from the film as well as from secondary source material.

The Servant tells the story of an intriguer and manipulating butler who achieves to domain his boss’ life, taking advantage of his sexual weakness. It is considered a psychological drama as there are many controversial themes treated in this story and making reference to one of its scenes, they are going to be explained. This essay will, however, consider a further reading based on close analysis of the ‘Dinner with Susan’ scene. There is evidence in this scene to suggest that Barrett wants to get something from Tony and he is always intervening between Tony and Susan.

The ‘Dinner with Susan’ scene sees Susan meeting Barrett for the first time at Tony’s new house and since this moment we observe that Susan does not accept Barrett for the way she treats him and that Barrett has some secret intentions regarding Tony. In the first shot, we see a long shot of the building, while it is snowing and the place is dark and quiet. In the second shot, from a low angle of framing a car arrives and parks. At this moment there is no more snow, so snow symbolizes the situation of Barrett before his boss arrived; snow means tranquility and no snow, no more tranquility. Tony and Susan ring the bell. In the third shot Barrett opens the door and Tony and Susan enter the building. With a close-up shot, Tony introduces Barrett to Susan and he asks her if she wants to take out her coat but she does not want to, a sign of distrust towards Barrett. Every time that the three characters appear together, Barrett is going to be in the middle, and this symbolizes that Barrett is trying to destroy their relationship.

Tony and Susan go to the dining room, Susan expresses her opinion about the room and has a little talk with Barrett but it seems that she does not want to speak with him. When they are trying to relax and have a nice time Barrett appears as a reflection in the mirror and interrupts them by bringing some drinks, standing in the middle again. Then, while Barrett prepares the dinner, he listens to the conversation between Tony and Susan and when he is serving it, they maintain a conversation about wine and gloves, but it finishes soon because Susan does not show respect for Barrett, as he is trying to interfere between the good relationship of the couple, standing always in the middle from a close-up shot.

In the final shot we see Barrett sat in the kitchen drinking, smoking and relaxing, something that a servant should not be doing during his work hours. This image shows us the real intentions of Barrett as he changes his mood immediately after having left the dining room knowing that Tony cannot see him.

Barrett does not want to be a common servant, he is very smart, and he is going to try to persuade his boss, Tony, to trust him always

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