The Power Of The Past In Harold Pinter’s Plays

The portrayal of the past has always been a crucial issue for dramatists. In the traditional realistic plays, the past is a series of facts used to push the plot to move forward and to show the causality of a present action in theatre. Harold Pinter, as one of the leading British playwrights adopts a unique perspective in memory and past portrayed in his plays. He holds that the past is never past and no one can have a certain map of the past; the memories are actually subjective and imaginary, capable of being invented and the past thus can be recreated through characters’narratives to satisfy their temporary needs. This thesis selects three representative works in different stages of Pinter’s career and gives a close examination on the representation of the past and its relation to the present so as to reveal that the past holds a mighty power and can exert an inescapable influence upon the characters’present in Pinter’s works.The first chapter explores the fundamental reasons for the protagonist Stanley’s aversion to his past in The Birthday Party and analyzes the violent intrusion of his past represented by two figures. Thus it concludes that the intruding of the past into Stanley’s present destroys his unique self and turns him into a puppet of the institution. The second chapter focuses on the unforgettable past in The Homecoming. This chapter discusses why the two characters, Max and Ruth, refuse to let go of their past and how the unforgettable past impacts their present and future, arguing that by sticking to their past the two characters keep themselves from the harsh realities and maintain a certain degree of personal autonomy. The third chapter examines the ways in which the three characters Anna, Deeley and Kate recreate their past in the present of the memory play Old Times. Through analyzing their recreations of the past and the corresponding influences, this chapter argues that characters’recreation of the past shall consequently shape their present and even future, and only those who construct the best versions of the past or tell the stories of past in a best way are capable of winning a final victory in the power game of memories.Through the analysis of the representation of the past and its relation to the present in these three plays, this thesis points out that neither aversion to nor obsession with the past is capable of guaranteeing characters’survival in a hostile and threatening world; only those who realize and use the subjectivity and fictionality of the past can override the powerful past and make use of the past to shape and define their present and future according to their own will and desire.