Dramatic Space Of Harold Pinter's "Memory" Plays

Memory not only serves as an important part of'Pinteresque', but also one of the themes in Pinter's drama that receives more attention. The scholars abroad have made overall studies on the form and motif of Pinter's memory plays or an interpretation of the specific motif and technique in one certain or several memory plays. Nobody has related study of Pinter's memory plays with the perspective of space. And compared with the international research focus of Pinter's memory plays, the domestic scholars seem to far lag behind. This thesis intends to examine Pinter's spatial practice in his memory plays through influential views from contemporary dramatic space, targeted at his three major memory plays, namely Landscape, Old Times, and No Man's Land. The dramatic space in Pinter's major memory plays is essentially constructed on the basis of an ordinary, enclosed room which is shown to be not only a physical space, but also a psychological space and political space. The three aspects provide the framework for this thesis.Scenic space in chapter one aims to analyze the scenic presentation of Pinter's dramatic space and the dramatic effect achieved. Scenic space created by Pinter is characterized by individuality. Room with naturalistic setting, the commonplace characters and action comprising ordinary business of secular life portrays an easily recognizable domestic surrounding in reality, which reveals the verisimilitude to life of Pinter's dramatic space. However, the subjective, ambiguous and uncertain memory casts mysterious, inconsistent and opaque features on the presentation of details in the plays, including the ambiguity of the fictional event, the unintelligibility of the characters'behavior and the language in the form of memory characterized by illogicality, frequently pauses and silences, thus uncovering the dramatic space of hyper-reality in Pinter's major memory plays which is also the general feature of Pinter's memory plays.Chapter two mainly investigates psychological space of the plays through a specific exploration of the symbolic meaning that the room carries in different plays. Room exists as home for the characters in the plays. However, the characters'inner truth presented by their memory invests homes with different meanings in the plays respectively. The characters cherish memory as an ideal to escape the dull and unsatisfying reality, to long for sense of peace and security that gradually lost in reality, and to strive for an emotional attachment and belonging in reality. The paradox between the characters'emotional truth and their state quo discloses the rupture, separation and destabilization of home. Thus the home is presented to be a space of change, vulnerability and disintegration.Chapter three, political space, gives an account of the political connotation of the room as dramatic space in the plays. The problems and troubles in the vulnerable home illuminate the essential cause of the domestic fortune in the plays. The characters take memory as weapon or arena to subvert or deconstruct others'memory world, in order to defend or fight. On one side, the family members attempt to take over and dominate each other. On the other side, the home faces with menace and intrusion from outside force.To conclude, Pinter fabricates a dramatic space of hyper-reality based on the material room with his unique employment of memory. Dramatic meaning, dramatic effect as well as Pinter's dramatic concern embedded in the major memory plays are exhibited in the construction and transformation of the spaces. And this thesis with dramatic space as an entrance expects to provide some references to the studies of stage plays.