Published Paper Details:

The quest for identity has always been a recurring theme in literature since times immemorial, but in recent times the endeavor has become more complex. The so-called Theatre of the Absurd, hailed in the 20th century which has Harold Pinter as one of the canonical writers, produced some intriguing works focusing on the nothingness and meaninglessness of existence, offering us vague glimpses of a person's identity. Pinter's introduction of the "menace" and his pinteresque style further complicate the quest for the identity of his characters. Lack of adequate background information and antecedents about the characters and the resultant ambiguity shrouding their identities in all his plays is a strategy he has employed to make the plays open-ended. The present article thus aims to answer the question of identity of the characters of Pinter's maiden play The Room by looking at both the historical and cultural perspectives of the time when the play was written. Since the characters in the play are highly ambiguous and obscure with almost no past and no future, it is only possible to trace and explore their present identities based on the history and the culture of the current society where the play was written.