Alluding indirectly to this critical pattern, Brantley observes, however, that, in time, the play may appear more realistic and more relevant to the lives of theatre audiences than it may have seemed when they themselves were younger or more naive about the nature of marriage and family life. To those with strong religious values, like Hobson, the play appears, to say the least, immoral or amoral. Yet, to others, its moral value resides in its very questioning of commonly accepted shibboleths about marriage and the family: "People who were originally put off by "The Homecoming" may now find it too close to home. It's a bit like Picasso's shockingly severe painting of Gertrude Stein from 1906, the one he predicted in time would resemble its subject. We may not have thought we saw ourselves in "The Homecoming" four decades ago. Now it feels like a mirror", posited critic Ben Brantley. Other critics, like Lahr in "Demolition Man", remind their readers of the strong element of comedy in this play, as in many of Pinter's other plays.