Filling Gaps The Reader of Harold Pinter's 'Monologue'

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(PHD.) Department of English Faculty of Arts – Beni-Suef University

Abstract

This paper attempts to study the role of the reader in one of Pinter's short memory plays, Monologue, using the theory of Wolfgang Iser concerning the gaps which the text leaves blank. Filling these gaps, the reader plays an important role in completing the text and reaching to the satisfaction which leads to a psychological equilibrium. The reader becomes a partner in the process of authoring a text. 
 This paper is divided into two parts; the first part is a general introduction to the theory of the reader in general, and the theory of filling gaps as introduced by Wolfgang Iser in his book entitled "The Act of Reading". The second part is an application of this theory on Harold Pinter's play entitled "Monologue". The paper raises the question of how Monologue is full of gaps and the reader tries to fill them. Monologue is a monodrama intended to portray the inner conflict of the narrator till the end.  Through a long solo speech, the monologist is confined to his memories, unable to flee or even to communicate with the outside world.  He becomes incapable of getting rid of his feeling of loneliness in an absurd society that deserted him, leaving him to undergo a feeling of futility, vacuity and a profound sense of void.


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