Existentialism in the Plays of Harold Pinter and John Osborne
Author : Dhanyashree CM
Abstract :
Post-World War II marked the era of prevalence of insignificance and irrationality among humans. Among different cultural activists, John Osborne and Harold Pinter are identified as the dramatists who in order to understand the human psychology depict the implementation of existentialism in their dramas by discriminating appearance with reality. This study aims at assessing Existentialism in John Osborne and Harold Pinter plays. Osborne by some of his famous plays like “Look Back in Anger”, “The Entertainer”, “Luther” and “Inadmissible Evidence” stated the due to social and political situations human does experience feeling of frustration, anger, alienation, and isolation but still through time and experience transformations in human being attitude is possible. On the other hand, Pinter with his plays “The Room”, “The Dumb Waiter”, “The Birthday Party” and “The Caretaker” mentions due to social aspects humans experience insecurity, lack of communication, unknowingness fear, and insecurity which worsens anxiety, conflicts and self-knowledge of an individual, is making them a threat for the society.
Keywords :
Existentialism, Osborne, Pinter, World War II
