A Study Of Illness Narratives In Harold Pinter’s Plays From The Perspective Of Rhetorical Narrative Theory

Illness in literary works has rich connotations.Moreover,illness in Pinter’s drama promotes the formation of his dramatic style.Pinter presents various forms of illness in his plays,and uses illness as a text component to highlight the the text’s theme,so illness narrative has an important position in his dramatic narrative.James Phelan’s rhetorical narratology advocates that the instability and tension simultaneously promote the narrative progression.Therefore,with the application of Rhetorical Theory of Narrative to Pinter’s three dramas,Moonlight,The Caretaker and The Birthday Party,this thesis explores the influence of illness narrative on the drama’s narrative progression,and reveals the connotation of dramatic narrative.Based on the rhetorical narratology,this paper discusses the role of illness narrative in the dramatic narrative progression from the textual story level and discourse level.Illness,as an instability,plays the role of textual narrative dynamic in the drama’s story layer.However,illness narratives appearing at different parts of dramatic narrative have distinctive driving forces.The illness narrative at the beginning of the drama is the starting point of the drama’s narrative;the illness narrative at the body of the drama is the turning point of the drama’s narrative;and the illness narrative at the end of the drama is not only the end of the drama’s narrative,but also the climax.At the same time,the tension formed by illness narrative also plays an important role in the drama’s discourse layer.The textual development direction about illness narrative deviates from the implied author’s intention so as to make the reader get the voice of the implied author and discover the true intention of the implied author.By exploring the influence of illness narrative in Pinter’s drama,this paper reveals the connotation of illness narrative,and holds that illness narrative forms narrative instability and tension,which promotes the narrative progression in drama,enriches the plot,expands the space and time of drama,forms strong theatricality,and arouses readers’ reflection on the reality.