Probing Ideology through the Lens of Critical Discourse Analysis in Harold Pinter’s Early and Late Drama of 1950’s, 1960’s, 1980’s and 1990`S

Abstract

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. .