POLITICAL DISCOURSE IN HAROLD PINTER’S DRAMA

Abstract

Abstract. Introduction. The problem of political and mental disorder, which has been addressed to by many writers, – and the expressive figure of the British playwright, director and screenwriter, a poet Harold Pinter (1930-2008) is no exception. Apparently, his theatrical and acting performance has dwelled upon many issues, similarly significant to social and interpersonal spheres of life, since he stated that these may be diverse parts of similar mental activities. Methods. The complex descriptive analysis and historic cultural methods have been selected as the main tools to approach the issue under discussion. It also uses hermeneutic analysis and intertextual method in accessing the main Pinter’s style characteristics. Results and discussion. His writing blends violence, menace and terror, intimacy and authoritative oppression. The author build his own language of the highest metaphoricity up, arguing upon the concepts of gender and language, being and non-being, misogyny, totalitarianism. His characters are the embodiment of the idea that any person can meet his extreme limits in attempt to tolerate pain and traumatic experience, physical and mental tortures, language abuse that leads to violence, which in Pinter’s plays are merely subjectified in order to depict a distorted dramatic reality. Conclusions. This study has demonstrated the complex character of Harold Pinter’s drama, which functions on various layers of interpretation and reception. It has also pointed out some peculiarities of his style and method that is intrinsic to many of his works, thus giving enough space for deeper investigation of the issue in its connection with the literary and theatre studies.
Key words: politics, Harold Pinter, Pinteresque, drama, violence, traumatic experience.