Pinter enigmatist : a selective study of the stage plays of Harold Pinter

O'Dea, Shane (1974) Pinter enigmatist : a selective study of the stage plays of Harold Pinter. Masters thesis, Memorial University of Newfoundland.

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Abstract

This thesis examines the achievement and innovation in Harold Pinter's stage plays as well as his use of enigma in them. In the introduction Pinter himself - as person and as writer - is considered as presenting an enigma. Both his own personality and the form of his work evade definition. -- In the first section Pinter's achievement and innovation in the areas of structure and dialogue are examined. It is seen that Pinter has taken the theories of both the Naturalists and the Realists and brought them to a logical conclusion - he has used reality in what is probably its barest sense, a reality apparently little altered or adapted. In this use of reality lies both his achievement - in that he has used it successfully - and his innovation - in that it had not been used on the stage before. -- Pinter's use of enigma is the subject of the second section of the thesis. The enigmas are an element of his innovation in that those he uses are the enigmas encountered in reality. Pinter, recognizing that reality has many faces, recognizes that it does not always provide clear answers or subscribe to fixed definitions. It is this reality that constitues his enigmas. The enigmas considered are those of character - that a person does not always have to have an established background or personality to be dramatically effective; of sexuality - that people do not always fit easily into their expected sexual roles, a development of the enigma of character; of time - that time is unfixed and it, as well as what happens in it, depends on the mind of the character.

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