Language and being in Harold Pinter’s plays : the room and the caretaker as a case study

Abstract EN

Most of us are forgetful of being, in the sense that though, as humans, we are capable of experiencing the wonder and mystery of it, we are also immersed in it, and do not think of it as something which needs to be interpreted.

We are surrounded by particular things in existence, but we sometimes forget to question existence itself.

Pinter is a playwright whose writings, suggestively, attempt to interpret what we are immersed in, and opens our eyes to the essence of the word existence and its significance through language.

This article is, therefore an attempt to examine Pinter’s characters or actors’ use of language to explore themselves and their being in the absurd world and undefined system of life.

Focus is put on some extracts from the two plays: (The Room) and (The Caretaker) in which communication between people lead but to solitude and wondering about belongingness and nothingness.

This article also scrutinizes Pinter’s characters in their struggle to define their being and determine their position in this absurd universe through their language.