Time as a word game

Abstract

The demonstration of the principles of time and space in Harold Pinter's work shows the
boundaries between fantasy and the reality and the gap between them. The past is presented as not
as it is but in the form of illusions. Dreams often do not reflect reality.
The play “Tea party” raises the issue of social incompatibility. “Blindness” is used as a tool. The
character wants to run away from reality to hide that he is from the lower class, and his “blindness”
is aimed at turning away from the past and avoiding responsibility.
In the play “Landscape”, the subconscious appears as memories. Two characters, who suffer from a
lack of communication and loneliness, are spiritually alien to each other. The memory does not
serve to determine the time, but it serves as a tool to explain the morality and psychology of the
heroes. The existence of an inhumane environment in which moral values are not evaluated is
reflected as a usual case in this play.
In the play “Basement” the concept of space, the problem of fighting for ownership over a certain
space becomes relevant again. Pinter's deceptive, changeable depictions of space can also be
interpreted as a desire for ideas and principles about a world of truths.