Look Back in Anger: Three Gazes in Harold Pinter's Old Times

김정수

Look Back in Anger: Three Gazes in Harold Pinter's Old Times

Journal of Modern English Drama
Abbr : JMBARD
2009, 22(2), pp.125-142
Publisher : 한국현대영미드라마학회
Research Area : Humanities > English Language and Literature > English Literature > Contemporary English Drama

김정수 ¹

¹이화여자대학교

Accredited

ABSTRACT

Old Times is a play in which Harold Pinter experiments with the problem of the subject and of the object of the gaze. This paper focuses on three layers of gazes existing in the play. At first, the owner of the central gaze seems to be Deeley, and he presents himself as the observer of two women—Kate and Anna. Typical of the male gaze, his position is similar to a painter drawing a model or a film director behind the camera lens. As the play unfolds, however, Anna starts to present herself as another owner of the gaze. Both as the owners of the gazes, Anna and Deeley compete against each other to gain dominance over their helpless object—Kate. However, toward the end of the play, Kate suddenly presents her own gaze and thus kills both of them using her ‘memory’ as a weapon. She asserts herself as the owner of the ultimate gaze of the play. Considering the other two characters’ helplessness in the face of Kate’s gaze combined with her memory, the entire situation suggests the play to be Kate’s dream play.

KEYWORDS

Harold Pinter, Old Times, gaze, Laura Mulvey, film spectatorship, memory, dream

Citation status

* References for papers published after 2023 are currently being built.

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