The Homecoming

by

Harold Pinter

MacGregor Character Analysis

MacGregor is an old friend of the family. Max repeatedly references MacGregor’s masculine authority and physical prowess as a contrast to Max’s brother Sam, whom Max considers effeminate and lazy. In the play’s climactic closing sequence, Sam reveals that he witnessed MacGregor having sex with Max’s late wife Jessie—and in the back of Sam’s cab, no less. Sam’s admission, if true, leaves open the possibility that MacGregor fathered at least one of Max’s children, though the play doesn’t confirm this one way or the other. MacGregor himself never appears in the play.

MacGregor Quotes in The Homecoming

The The Homecoming quotes below are all either spoken by MacGregor or refer to MacGregor. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Resentment  Theme Icon
).
Act 1 Quotes

MAX. Before he died, Sam. Just before. They were his last words. His last sacred words, Sammy. A split second after he said those words…he was a dead man. You think I’m joking? You think when my father spoke—on his death-bed—I wouldn’t obey his words to the last letter? You hear that, Joey? He’ll stop at nothing. He’s even prepared to spit on the memory of our Dad. What kind of a son were you, you wet wick? You spent half your time doing crossword puzzles! We took you into the butcher’s shop, you couldn’t even sweep the dust off the floor. We took MacGregor into the shop, he could run the place by the end of a week. Well, I’ll tell you one thing. I respected my father not only as a man but as a number one butcher! And to prove it I followed him into the shop. I learned to carve a carcass at his knee. I commemorated his name in blood. I gave birth to three grown men! All on my own bat. What have you done?

Pause.

What have you done? You tit!

Related Characters: Max (speaker), Sam, MacGregor
Page Number: 39-40
Explanation and Analysis:
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The Homecoming PDF

MacGregor Quotes in The Homecoming

The The Homecoming quotes below are all either spoken by MacGregor or refer to MacGregor. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Resentment  Theme Icon
).
Act 1 Quotes

MAX. Before he died, Sam. Just before. They were his last words. His last sacred words, Sammy. A split second after he said those words…he was a dead man. You think I’m joking? You think when my father spoke—on his death-bed—I wouldn’t obey his words to the last letter? You hear that, Joey? He’ll stop at nothing. He’s even prepared to spit on the memory of our Dad. What kind of a son were you, you wet wick? You spent half your time doing crossword puzzles! We took you into the butcher’s shop, you couldn’t even sweep the dust off the floor. We took MacGregor into the shop, he could run the place by the end of a week. Well, I’ll tell you one thing. I respected my father not only as a man but as a number one butcher! And to prove it I followed him into the shop. I learned to carve a carcass at his knee. I commemorated his name in blood. I gave birth to three grown men! All on my own bat. What have you done?

Pause.

What have you done? You tit!

Related Characters: Max (speaker), Sam, MacGregor
Page Number: 39-40
Explanation and Analysis: