English Article

English Article

LITERARY ANALYSIS CHAPTER ONE – Using the Works Cited references

Develop 10 Professionally articulately written pages of scholarly content in MLA format, as chapter one of 5 for a analytical thesis on Harold Pinter, The Homecoming, focusing or the character “Ruth” and the changing role of woman in the 19th century. In this play, the modern family faces major challenges, thus collapsing under the weight of conflict but saved by the transformation of Ruth from intended victim, expected to be exploited to female empowerment, exhibiting sexual and mental control over physical strength, violence, chauvinistic control, dominance and resentment.UNIT ONE The female presence, Ruth in the play The Homecoming” by Harold Pinter, establishes a change in the woman’s roles within the modern family.

a.) Supporting evidence (Ruth uses her wits and sexual power to get the men to soften their aggression and from this power, she changes her plot to become less victim and more ambitious with a strategy and an organizational power broker in full control and exercising a calculated plot that confirms her status as the real person in control.

b.) She becomes the main beneficiary in the family business and therefore wins.

c.) Create more supporting evidence

d.) Conclude the chapter

Note: Objective Analysis

An objective analysis makes uses the technique of independently investigating a particular subject matter with reference to the existing facts, figures, events and background information. An objective analysis can also be referred to as statistical interpolation, objective mapping, or systematic probing into a subject and is completely devoid of personal feelings and viewpoint.

. Hence, literary criticism or literary analysis can be defined as,

“An informed analysis and evaluation of a piece of literature”.

OR

“A written study, evaluation and interpretation of a work of literature”.

The literary criticism is a concept, formed on the basis of critical analysis and primarily estimates the value and merit of literary works for the presence or quality of certain parameters of literary characteristics.

Literary Analysis on the Basis of Literary Theory

The literary theory is a boarder concept incorporating various strict senses and merits for the systematic study of the nature of literature and provides a complete set of methods for analyzing literature.

MORE NOTES & complete bibliography document provided.

Ruth as strong female lead

During the 1960s many male critics would have been shocked at Ruth’s seeming adapting to the role. Penelope Gilliatt, a female critic for The Observer and novelist, pointed out that Ruth achieves a form of empowerment over the male characters. “Ruth looks on her body rather as a landlord would look on a corner-site,” Gilliatt said. “As soon as she has apparently been exploited sexually she really has the advantage because she owns the property.” The play suggests that Ruth rediscovers her previous identity prior to her marriage to Teddy and, symbolically, comes home to herself. Ironically, as she “comes home” to this woman-less family, she renders her own family with Teddy similarly without. By the conclusion of the play, she appears to have assumed the multiple roles of Jessie, the London family’s missing wife and mother. The missing woman in their household puts the American family in a parallel position — ironically reversing the situation at the beginning of the play. “In that sense, the play recalls Edward’s reversal of roles with the silent Matchseller in Pinter’s 1959 play A Slight Ache, initially broadcast on BBC Radio 3, and similarly ironic plot and character role-reversals resulting from power struggles throughout many of Pinter’s other plays,” John Lahr, a critic wrote for The New York Times, said. In October 2007, he quoted Pinter stating that he considers The Homecoming as his most “muscular” play.

After Teddy comes home and introduces his London family to his wife (Pinter 35–40), Max invites her to remain with them in London; as Teddy puts it to her euphemistically: “Ruth . . . the family have invited you to stay, for a little while longer. As a . . . as a kind of guest” (Pinter 91). Whereas Teddy ultimately decides to return home to his family in America (Pinter 96), Ruth agrees to “come home” (Pinter 92) as the family’s missing mother figure and possibly also a prostitute whom Lenny can pimp (Pinter 92–94), filling in the gap created when their mother died: “I’ve never had a whore under this roof before. Ever since your mother died” (Pinter 58). Upon first seeing Ruth, Max believes his eldest son, Teddy, has brought a “filthy scrubber” (like Jessie) into “my house” (Pinter 57–58). A major irony of the play is that Max’s apparently-mistaken first assumption comes to appear accurate as the family (and the audience) get to “know” Ruth better (Pinter 65–76). The play exposes to Teddy’s family that Ruth has been unhappy in her marriage. Though Teddy insists that she is “not well” (Pinter 85) and simply needs to “rest” (Pinter 71), he may not have recognized the cause of her apparent depression. Nevertheless, ultimately, he appears willing to leave her with his family in London, or at least wants to give the others that impression (perhaps to save face; or perhaps he really does want to leave her there).

The play introduces sexual intrigue along with sexual guilt, family ghosts, corrupted power and revenge as its theme. All of which diverts from traditional roles of a modern family. Ruth’s exchange value is her sexuality. As the play begins Ruth had already expressed a detachment from her husband in challenging his authority upon entrance to her father-in-law’s house. Critics can argue that her character shows a strong female presence, demonstrating a nontraditional role of suvival, in a male dominated society.

Thomas Postalwait describes it as a haunting within the home, based on past crimes concerning sexual matters and the misuse of power. “Almost all of the aspects of the homecoming story are present in some form: the double identity of woman, a son’s return home, a ghostly prescene hovering over the action, the false power of a father figure, the imagery of blood and pollution,the violation of sexual taboos, confusion or controvery over conception, family violence, breakdown of moral codes, revenge of or against the mother, and the call or impulse for vengence,” he said.

Works Cited

1. Pinter, Harold. The Homecoming.
2. Harold Pinter – Interview”, British Library Online Gallery: What’s On, British Library, 8 September 2008.
3. Billington, Michael. Michael Billington Themes: Exploring identity, 20th-century theatre, Gender and sexuality Published: 7 Sep 2017

1. Lahr, John. “Demolition Man: Harold Pinter and ‘The Homecoming’ The New Yorker, 24 December, 2007.
2. Postlewait, Thomas. “Pinter’s the Homecoming: Displacing and Repeating Ibsen.” Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism, edited by Jennifer Baise, vol. 82, Gale, 1999. Literature Criticism Online, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/MUSLVA632264600/LCO?u=morr47546&sid=LCO&xid=a3c64412. Accessed 22 Sept. 2019. Originally published in Comparative Drama, vol. 15, no. 3, Fall 1981, pp. 195-212.
3. Monogue, Valerie. “Taking Care of the Caretaker.” Contemporary Literary Criticism, edited by Carolyn Riley and Phyllis Carmel Mendelson, vol. 6, Gale, 1976. Literature Criticism Online, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/VZZXNM812763975/LCO?u=morr47546&sid=LCO&xid=60a2985d. Accessed 22 Sept. 2019. Originally published in Printer: A Collection of Critical Essays, edited by Arthur Ganz, Prentice-Hall, 1972, pp. 72-77.
4. 1. Expand on this outline, and consider perceiving Ruth as a metaphor for modern women, resistance, and hope in a patriarchal world.