Harold Pinter
Harold Pinter is one of the greatest British dramatists of our time. Pinter has
written a number of absurd masterpieces including The Birthday Party, The Caretaker,
The Homecoming, Betrayal, Old Times, and Ashes to Ashes. He has also composed a
number of radio plays and several volumes of poetry. His screenplays include The French
Lieutenant's Woman, The Last Tycoon, and The Handmaid's Tale. He has received
numerous awards including the Berlin Film Festival Silver Bear, BAFTA awards, the
Hamburg Shakespeare Prize, the Cannes Film Festival Palme d'Or and the
Commonwealth Award.
Harold Pinter was born on October 10, 1930 in Hackney, East London. He was
the sole child of Jack Pinter and Frances Franklin. His father was a ladies’ tailor whose
family was among Jewish immigrants that reached the East End of London. Both sides
of Harold’s family were Jewish, but they had different personalities and characteristics.
His paternal side was Orthodox Jewish and they had an artistic background, whereas his
maternal side was more secular and skeptical about strict rules of religion and were
known for their entrepreneurial background. Although the Pinter’s were relaxed and
music-loving, they got along well at family gatherings with the noisy and clamorous
Franklins.
Since Harold was an only child, he would imagine a life with brothers and sisters
and would create imaginary friends and play out adventures and scenes in the backyard
of his home. This isolated world created a place where Harold felt warmth and security.
However, this childhood was interrupted by the outbreak of war in 1939. Harold had to
leave his home in Hackney as part of a nationwide evacuation, and along with twenty
four other children, Harold was sent to John Nash, a fabricated castle, from the
elementary school. This was a traumatic and disturbing experience for all of the boys
who were isolated from their homes and families, especially for nine-year old Harold.
Some boys took advantage of this experience and were happy to be exposed to rural life.
“For Harold, the disturbing experience blended with a magical eye opening encounter of
rural life and his tendency to introspect blossomed” (Top Biography). At the same time,
his awareness to sounds and images developed, and these permeated his later life and
work.
This encounter left a mark in Harol...
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...lways isolated from something, whether it be from the lack
of feeling of love from non-existing siblings and creating imaginary friends in his
backyard, or being isolated from his parents during his evacuation throughout the war.
Pinter’s life was filled with significant events, but he claims that his life is and was
confusing and has had no influence through his works. In this case, his plays, like his
life, are just a series of events that happen in real life, but are not supposed to mean a
certain thing or express a certain thought. His most recognizable plays mostly take place
in just a room filled with people dealing with a certain issue, but they mean so much
more; or do they? These situations can be so awkward and silly at times that they are
absurd enough to see humor in them and laugh at. This is the way Pinter wanted his
plays to be looked at. He was never trying to get a message across and his plays are
meant to show a situation at hand and how people deal with it. It is so easy to try and
come up with a reason for his menace which causes critics to over-analyze his work.
This is what makes Harold Pinter one of the greatest British dramatists of our day.
...plays run many common themes, often themes from Williams own life. He was a writer who broke taboos and wrote about depraved people, people going crazy and many other themes that weren’t considered appropriate at the time. His own life was very chaotic. He was always feeling guilty about his sister.
created the play as a comedy, showing how the world might be in the times of the
The disastrous World War II began on September 1st 1939. The devastating Holocaust was in full swing around this time and only got worse soon after. This mortifying pogrom assassinated an overwhelming amount of people, injured so many others, and continually haunts the lives of the survivors. As terrible an event that this was, thankfully some were saved. Many youth escaped the destructiveness of war through the great Kindertransport.
parts in the play. I will look at his effect and how he is affected in
the plot of the play, this worked well as he still kept the essence of
...the protagonists in his stories. His experience as a soldier in WWII forever changed the way he looked at the world. His cynical views of war, violence, sex, obsession and government control stemmed from an atrocious past; mainly from the memories of his experience during the firebombing of Dresden Germany. His satire is genius because it comes from an understanding of the implications of war, controlling governments and so forth. He never outright condemned these elements; instead he used dystopias as a subtle way to ridicule them. The works he wrote were absurd as a means to caution and expose the nature of sex, war, violence, obsession and government power. The nature of his satire was strange and demented because the things he was criticizing displayed the same characteristics. His works were brilliant, eye opening and raw because of his personal ties to them.
Hamlet's antic disposition may have caused him in certain times that he is in a roleplay.
Characterisation is vastly different in the film when compared to the play. This, however, is done so as to make more sense to a modern
Melodramas were slowly pushed out of the metaphorical spotlight as Realism and Naturalism took its place. Naturalism is a philosophy of being able to put a ‘slice of life’ on stage (Hartnoll (ed.) 1967, p. 67); that is, a small piece of everyday life, as if the audience wasn’t there. Naturalism was a leader into the modernist period and was considered a revolutionary movement of the time. Naturalism was a new and improved kind of theatre, often confused with and mistaken for realism, which, in itself is a very similar type of theatre that began to emerge alongside Naturalism in the late 19th Century. Realism is the practise of Naturalism’s ideology; Naturalism being the theory of putting a ‘slice of life’ onstage; once something is placed on stage it is no longer ‘natural’, therefore Naturalism can never be created on a live performance stage. Realism however, is the practise of this theory in which the stage is made to look as close to real life a possible, accompanied by psychological development of characters rather than physical development, accompanied by extravagant stages, costuming and make-up, common in the melodramas seen before realism became
What is life? If we analyze that looking at the “big picture” life is just a combination of decisions. Since we are young we are making decisions. What to wear, what to drive, where you want to go to college, what kind of job you want, just to mention a few. Sometimes we make good decisions and other times we don’t. How do we know that we are making the right decision? That uncertainty is what makes life difficult.
...s with his actions during the Reign of Terror, showing that he became a monster, or rebel, as a product “of oppression, misrule, and despotism under the ancien regime” (Zizek 78). This is according to the ideas of both Zizek and Mary Wollstonecraft.
Life is surprising and is full of opportunity and taking chances, but it also has faults and tragedies. Life is a
His writings have also impacted many poets and popular novelists in the past and present, including Charles Dickens and Herman Melville to name a couple. As an example of where plot is used, Hamlet is a great example where he integrated characterization with plot such the main character and who they are is set in stone. If they were changed in any way, the story would be totally different and would be perceived as something different
audience and given the qualities of a tragic hero. Throughout the play he is dominated
Historical Criticism is criticism that “considers how military, social, cultural, economic, scientific, intellectual, literary, and every other kind of history helps us to understand the author and the work” (Lynn 142). Simply stated, unlike the previously discussed criticisms, Historical Criticism connects a work to certain times or places, revealing its historical influences. Therefore, the reader is required to perform research in order to learn more about the author’s life, the author’s time period and culture, and the way of reasoning during that time. Accordingly, with a critical eye, the reader should relate the information back to the work which will provide the reader with a richer understanding of the reading as well as with author’s message to the reader (Lynn 29-31). Beyond “close reading”, the reader must research what establishes the foundation of the work. Although, below the foundation of a work there lies an even richer understanding of the