ELOQUENT SILENCE IN HAROLD PINTER’S MOUNTAIN LANGUAGE

Document Type : Original Article

Author

Lecturer in the Department of English Language and literature, Faculty of Education, Alexandria University

Abstract

Harold Pinter’s dramatic technique is renowned for its emphasis on silence in dialogue; the pause has become a signature of Pinter’s play. Pinter reveals character through a precisely plotted evasion of speech and his characters engage in subterfuge through their spoken and unspoken language, doing battle with other characters, themselves and the audience. Nevertheless, the silence of Pinter’s characters has a very rich sound.  The Elderly Woman’s silence, in Mountain Language, explicitly contributes to the development catastrophic theater in post-war British drama. Thus, this paper attempts to show how Pinter employs silence as a dramatic technique in Mountain language by addressing the following questions: What is the role of language and its connection to silence in Pinter’s plays? What is the function of silence in Mountain Language, and how does Pinter relates it to torture? Accordingly, this paper sheds light on Pinter’s effort to show how the reigning power provides no space for the marginalized to express themselves in words or action. The conclusion summarizes how Mountain Language seriously presents a prevailing image of the suffering imposed by authoritarian regimes, and how it depicts the victimization of people through the suppression of language and individuality.
Keywords:
Mountain Language, silence, torture, voice-over, catastrophic theater.
 
 
 
 

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History

  • Receive Date: 25 April 2019
  • Revise Date: 20 May 2019
  • Accept Date: 26 May 2019

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