Résumé:
The present thesis is concerned with the analysis of ideology in dramatic texts. More
specifically, it seeks to probe ideology through the lens of critical discourse analysis in Harold
Pinter’s selected plays from his early and late drama. With the analysis proposed, and by
investigating the role that the functional analysis of modality plays in reflecting the underlying
ideologies in practical analysis of Pinter’s early and late drama, the systematic account of
modality will help present a practical consideration of the reader’s role in the process of
interpretation of texts. The aim of this enquiry is first to reveal the transition from indirect to
direct politics in Pinter’s evolution. In other words, from apolitical to overtly political texts in
three selected plays from Pinter’s early works and three others from his late drama. The second
purpose is to relate the linguistic features of modality to that principal aspect of social structure
known as ideology. After analysing the data, the findings of the present enquiry demonstrate
how a systematic and functional analysis of modality is adequate in critically analysing the
ideologies present in these dramatic texts.
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