The Unrelinquished Metaphysical Desire in Pinter’s The Lover and Stoppard’s The Real Thing

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 PhD Candidate of English Language and Literature, Department of Literature and Foreign Languages, Karaj Branch, Islamic Azad University, Karaj, Iran

2 Assistant Professor of English Language and Literature, Department of Literature and Foreign Languages, Karaj Branch, Islamic Azad University, Karaj, Iran

10.34785/J014.2020.779

Abstract

The purpose of the present study is to employ René Girard’s concept of “metaphysical desire” in a comparative study of Pinter’s The Lover and Stoppard’s The Real Thing. René Girard has investigated the idea of imitative desire in a rather distinguished way. He contends that the nature of desires is neither innate nor autonomous, but rather we borrow them from the others. He argues for the idea that human beings are always looking for stronger mediators to gratify their desires. The imitative desire itself, once satisfied, is not gratified and the search for stronger impulses or mediators always continues in a never-ending process that Gerard refers to as “metaphysical desire”. The present research intends to look for metaphysical desire in the lives of the characters, wherewith they can examine the role of the mediator in the characters’ lives as well. Since metaphysical desire, as Gerard argues, leads individuals either to perfection or destruction and alienation, the characters are shown to imitate their metaphysical desire leading them to experience destructive consequences and family corruption. Consequently, the characters who have pursued their metaphysical desire on the verge of a negative sideline all fail to enjoy a life they long for, and are subject to alienation and misfortunes within which they constantly experience great pains. The characters also turn into obstacle-addicts who, metamorphosed into masochists and losing their lives for good, find no chances to change life as they long for.

Keywords

References

Alabdullah, Abdulaziz H. “Home as a Battlefield: Power and Gender in Harold Pinter’s The Collection, The Lover and Old Times.” Global Journal of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences. Vol. 4, No. 3, 2016, pp. 29-38.
Baker, William, and Amanda Smothers. The Real Thing: Essays on Tom Stoppard in Celebration of his 75th Birthday. New Castle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2013.
Bora, Rashmi. “Reading Harold Pinter’s “The Lover” as a Schizophrenia play” International Journal of Science, Engineering and Management. Vol. 3, No. 5, 2018, pp. 66-67. 
Burkman, Katherine H. The Dramatic World of Harold Pinter. Ohio: Ohio State University Press, 2005.
Cowdell, Scott. Rene Girard and Secular Modernity, Christ, Culture and Crisis. Indiana: University of Notre Dame Press, 2013.
Fleming, Chris. Rene Girard, Violence and Mimesis. Malden: Polity Press Ltd, 2004.
Girard, Rene. Evolution and Conversion. New York: Continuum International Publishing, 2008.
---. Resurrection from the Underground Feodor Dostoevsky. ed. James G. Williams. Michigan: Michigan State University Press, 2012.
---. Violence and the Sacred. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1972.
Grande, Per Bjornar. “The Mimetic Nature of Desire.” LAP. Lambert Academic
     Publishing, 2009.
 Jacobus, Lee. A. The Bedford Introduction to Drama. 5th Ed. Vol. 2. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2005.
Jenkins, Anthony. The Theatre of Tom Stoppard. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1989.
Krüger, Johanna Alida. The Actual versus the Fictional in Betrayal, The Real Thing and Closer. Diss. The Unisa Institutional Repository, 2018.
 Milne, Drew. “Pinter’s Sexual politics.” The Cambridge Companion to Harold Pinter. Ed. Peter Raby. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2009. 233-249.
Nanda, Leena. An Analysis of the Unsatisfactory Male-Female Relationship in the Plays of Harold Pinter. Diss. Iowa State University Capstones, 2018.
Palaver, Wolfgang. Rene Girard’s Mimetic Theory. trans. Gabriel Borrud. Michigan: Michigan UP, 2013.
 Pinter, Harold. The Lover, Tea Party, the Basement: Two Plays and a Film Script. New York: Grove Press Inc., 1963. 
Pisk, Jernej. “Mimetic Desire and Scapegoat Mechanism in Sport.” Acta University Palacki Olomuc Gym Journal. Vol. 42, No. 4, 2011, pp. 9-17.
 Saevarsdottir, Guorun Baldvina. “The Portrayal of Women in Harold Pinter’s Plays Night School, The Lover and Homecoming.” Islandiae Sigillum Universitatis. Vol. 1, No. 1, 2011, pp. 1. 1-38.
Stokes, John. “Pinter and the 1950s.” The Cambridge Companion to Harold Pinter. ed. Peter Raby. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2009. 27-43. 
 Stoppard, Tom. The Real Thing. London: Faber and Faber, 1982.
Critical Literary Studies
Volume 2, Issue 2 - Serial Number 4
September 2020
Pages 79-97

Files

History

  • Receive Date: 13 April 2020
  • Revise Date: 10 September 2020
  • Accept Date: 25 September 2020

Share

How to cite

Statistics