36 pages • 1 hour read
The Odd Couple
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Symbols & Motifs
The Apartment
The apartment is a hotly contested battleground between Oscar and Felix. The physical staging of the apartment allows the audience to see the extent of how Oscar’s and Felix’s attitudes impact their environment and contribute to the deterioration of their relationship. Their various conflicts over its maintenance highlight each man’s flaws in their past marriages.
The initial staging of the apartment is a physical reminder of Oscar’s shortcomings. At the beginning of Act 1, Simon’s stage directions describe the apartment as “a study in slovenliness,” featuring “Dirty dishes, discarded clothes, old newspapers, empty bottles, glasses filled and unfilled, opened and unopened laundry packages, mail and disarrayed furniture abound” (5). Oscar frequently chalks this up to his divorce, but his behavior suggests otherwise. Stage directions for the actor playing Oscar involve physical cues, such as “wip[ing] his hands on the sleeve of Roy’s jacket which is hanging on the back of the chair” (10). Both the setting and blocking show the extent of Oscar’s apathy and selfishness.
Conversely, the apartment under Felix’s influence is immaculate. Simon’s stage directions describe it as “Sterile! Spotless! Not a speck of dirt can be seen under the ten coats of Johnson’s Glo-Coat that have been applied in the last two weeks. No laundry bags, no dirty dishes, no half-filled glasses” (41). While Murray and Vinnie are excited about the changes, their excitement quickly ends when Speed and Roy become irritated by Felix’s constant presence and leave the game. They say it is impossible to focus with his cleaning, and Roy says, “Oscar, it’s all over. The day his marriage busted up was the end of our poker game” (44). The characters’ reactions to this new setting showcase Felix’s obsessive and controlling nature.
Oscar’s management (or lack thereof) of the apartment provides insight into his divorce. Though there are no scenes taking place during his marriage, the audience gets a glimpse into his relationship with Blanche when she calls him in Act 1. When she tells Oscar he is a month behind on his child support payments, he denies it, insisting “Four weeks?? That’s not possible…Because it’s not possible…Blanche, I keep a record of every check and I know I’m only three weeks behind!” (13) While Oscar maintains his innocence, the state of the apartment gives audiences reasons to mistrust him. If he refuses to clean his apartment, it is dubious he would do anything requiring organization, such as tracking his payments. The apartment and its staging serve as a physical manifestation of Oscar’s worst flaws.
This is also true of Felix. As was the case with Oscar, Simon never has Felix directly share the stage with Frances. However, Simon provides insight into their partnership when revealing the nature of their divorce. When Murray reveals the news, the men are shocked:
VINNIE. They were such a happy couple.
MURRAY. Twelve years doesn’t mean you’re a happy couple. It just means you’re a long couple. (18)
On the outside, Felix and Frances had a perfect relationship. However, this did not reflect their internal strife. This is also the case with Felix’s influence on the apartment. When the group reconvenes for the poker game, they are awed by the cleanliness and the abundance of food that is not just safe to eat but also delicious. Despite this, Felix’s constant cleaning and serving irritates some of the men. Speed laments the death of the game at the hands of Felix’s meticulous housekeeping, telling the group, “In the last three hours we played four minutes of poker. I’m not giving up my Friday nights to watch cooking and housekeeping” (43). Oscar echoes his frustration, responding “I’m cooped up here with Mary Poppins twenty-four hours a day” (44). Roy goes so far as to say he preferred the apartment when it was filthy. This alludes to the cause of Felix’s divorce. He repeatedly crosses the line between care and control, thus alienating his friends. Felix’s stewardship of the apartment represents his difficulty maintaining interpersonal relationships.
The Poker Game
Despite the notable differences between Oscar and Felix, they are each enthusiastic participants in their routine poker games. By placing the pair in a shared social situation, Simon is able to juxtapose their radically different characteristics. It also allows the other players to provide unbiased commentary about their evolving relationship.
The poker game is a fixture in the play’s three acts. Act 1 and Act 2 drop the audience in the middle of the game, which provides exposition into each protagonist’s personality. In Act 1, Oscar’s slovenly nature is on full display. During the game, Oscar offers his guests “brown sandwiches and green sandwiches,” saying the green is “either very new cheese or very old meat” (9). Roy warns the men against accepting them, saying, “His refrigerator’s broken. I saw milk standing there that wasn’t even in the bottle” (9). We also gain insight into Oscar’s financial habits. Since his divorce, he has been unable to gamble his own money, opting instead to borrow from Murray. After Oscar asks Murray for more cash, Murray complains, “I keep winning my own money back” (11). Oscar’s financial situation is also negatively impacting his family: The game is interrupted when Blanche, Oscar’s ex-wife, calls him to remind him that he is behind on his child support payments. The initial poker game showcases Oscar’s flaws and his friends’ and family’s mounting frustration with him, thus foreshadowing the problems that will plague his future living arrangement.
Felix is the primary focus of Act 2’s opening poker game. Simon’s stage directions highlight the immediate change of the apartment since Felix’s arrival and describe it as “Sterile! Spotless!” (41). While Felix is at the game, he is hardly playing. He is more focused on maintaining the apartment’s conditions and serving his guests. Act 2’s poker game juxtaposes specific elements of Oscar’s poker game: Where Oscar was content offering his guests moldy sandwiches and flat soda, Felix is constantly fixing gourmet food and custom drinks, filling the roles of chef, waiter, and bartender. Vinnie expresses his surprise at receiving an edible sandwich:
FELIX. Bacon, lettuce and tomato with mayonnaise on pumpernickel toast.
VINNIE. (Unbelievingly.) Where’d you get it?
FELIX. (Puzzled.) I made it. In the kitchen.
VINNIE. You mean you put in toast and cooked bacon? Just for me? (42)
Vinnie’s reaction highlights Oscar’s previous shortcomings as a host. His shock suggests that he never received hospitality from Oscar and is not used to this kind of treatment during the game. While Felix’s cleanliness is extreme and eventually stops the guests from playing, it highlights that Oscar could show more care to his friends. His sour attitude at Vinnie’s response suggests he is beginning to realize this.
The final poker game is later in Act 3 and does not feature the stark juxtaposition of its predecessors. This is likely because this game shows Oscar and Felix’s eventual resolution. While the majority of the game is dedicated to showing the pair’s reconciliation, it also shows each man’s growth. Oscar receives a phone call from Blanche, who thanks him for catching up on his child support payments. He refuses to accept praise for this, assuring her “I’m just doing what’s right” (89). This is a stark juxtaposition to the first game, where Oscar is only prompted to catch up on payments when Roy reminds him that Blanche could have him arrested. He is also marginally cleaner, as he chastises his friends for not using ashtrays. Felix also emerges from the apartment as a changed man. He realizes his uptight and controlling nature jeopardizes his relationships and tells Oscar that being forced out gave him clarity, saying, “Thanks a lot. Getting kicked out twice is enough for any man” (88).
By repeatedly referencing key moments throughout the poker game, Simon is able to highlight the development of Oscar and Felix’s friendship. The poker game ultimately serves as an opportunity for Simon to provide exposition about Oscar’s and Felix’s flaws and foreshadow their conflict while still keeping the audience engaged.
The Ex-Wives
While Blanche and Frances are never directly featured in the play, they still have enormous influence on Oscar and Felix’s growth. Despite their absence, each man’s recollection of their failed relationship shows the audience what can happen when their vices go unchecked. When the audience is first introduced to Blanche, it seems she and Oscar’s post-divorce relationship is contentious. After waiting for Oscar’s child support payment for almost a month, she has their son call him to ensure he answers the phone. This implies that Oscar would be reluctant to pick up if he knew she was calling. Their conversation is acrimonious—Oscar initially denies his late payments, first stating that he is one week behind, before escalating to three weeks, and eventually conceding on four weeks. Blanche threatens him with prison, and he hangs up on her. While this interaction is initially framed as a way to introduce Oscar’s reasoning for moving in with Felix, it shows an example of a relationship he ruined due to his apathy. Felix’s experiences with Oscar are suggestive of what Blanche could have gone through during her marriage. During their final fight before he moves out, Felix tells Oscar all the reasons he is difficult to live with: “You’re also one of the biggest slobs in the world [...] And completely unreliable [...] Undependable [...] And irresponsible” (78). After directly observing his time with Oscar, the audience can understand why Felix would think this. However, his unreliability and irresponsibility echo what contributes to his bitter relationship with Blanche. Oscar is only able to mend this after he and Felix acknowledge their respective issues. When he catches up with his child support payments, he tells Blanche she doesn’t have to thank him because he is “doing what’s right” (89). His time with Felix allows him to be introspective and consider the impact his extreme carelessness has with others. In mending his relationship with Felix, he mends his relationship with Blanche.
Felix goes through a similar experience in the wake of his divorce from Frances. When Frances tells Oscar about their separation, all the men are shocked. Vinnie says, “You’re kidding?” and Roy says, “I don’t believe it” (18). They all imagined Felix and Frances to have a perfect relationship and can’t fathom what could have driven them apart. Oscar quickly solves this puzzle after Felix moves in with him. In Act 2, Scene 1, Felix serves the members of the poker game to mixed reactions. Vinnie and Murray are excited by the fresh sandwiches, but Roy and Speed feel stifled by Felix’s constant presence. Roy exclaims, “It was better before. With the garbage and smoke, it was better before,” and Speed says, “I’m going out of my mind” (44). Oscar is even more frustrated. He says that Felix runs the household in an incredibly controlling manner, and it’s nearly impossible to get space for himself. The dichotomy between each group’s reaction provides insight into why Felix’s marriage ended. Vinnie and Murray reflect how Felix and Frances’s marriage looked on the outside. They are enamored by the food, drinks, and continual service. Conversely, Oscar, Speed, and Roy are completely smothered by Felix’s doting. This symbolizes that while Felix appears to be a good partner (and housemate) on paper, he and Oscar have the same problem. They cannot rein in their negative traits. Since the audience already knows the fate of Felix and Frances, they can imagine the future of his relationship with Oscar. This almost comes to fruition when Oscar kicks him out by telling him, “For the sake of [our] friendship, please say ‘Oscar, we can’t stand each other, let’s break up’” (82). By having Oscar frame their conflict as a breakup, Simon draws a direct parallel to Felix’s previous romantic woes. As was the case with Oscar, Felix is only able to forge a new path forward once he realizes how his behavior affects others. Upon reflecting on the fact that he was kicked out twice in a row, Felix is able to learn from the mistakes he made with Frances and repair his relationship with Oscar.
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