During his lifetime, Harold Pinter found considerable fame and critical acclaim. In an introduction to the 2001 collection, The Cambridge Companion to Harold Pinter, scholar Peter Raby explains that "Pinter is, by purely statistical reckoning, one of the most widely performed and best-known dramatists of the contemporary world" (p. I). Pinter's status was cemented when he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2005.
The Nobel Prize in Literature is widely considered the most coveted and prestigious award given to a living writer. Each year, the recipient is selected by the 18 members of the Swedish Academy who also provide a brief citation, or explanation for why the recipient was chosen. In Pinter's case, the Swedish Academy's citation stated that Pinter's work "uncovers the precipice under everyday prattle and forces entry into oppression's closed rooms." This brief but wordy statement might require a little bit more unpacking. Doing so while help us understand the ways in which Betrayal is an exemplary work of Pinter's characteristic style.
We can start by breaking the Swedish Academy's citation into two parts, beginning with the claim that Pinter "uncovers the precipice under everyday prattle." Here, the Academy is highlighting Pinter's ability to draw out the dramatics and danger (hence "precipice") of daily life and mundane human interaction (hence "prattle"). This is especially evident in Betrayal, in which regret, loathing, and passion are always lurking behind dialogue that might otherwise seem flat or uneventful. By writing realistic dialogue exchanged between believable, all-too-human characters, Pinter was able to tap into the various conflicts and dramas that exist in all of our lives.
Next, the Swedish Academy observed that Pinter's work "forces entry into oppression's closed rooms." Here, they reference Pinter's willingness to confront taboo or controversial subjects (hence the "closed rooms). For example, Pinter's 1964 play, The Homecoming, Pinter openly discussed prostitution. In the case of Betrayal, that taboo subject was adultery and divorce. In the final scene, Pinter even brings us inside one of the "closed rooms" where Emma and Jerry's affair begins. By bravely writing about these subjects, Pinter sought to open up these proverbial rooms for discussion, thereby reducing the taboo.
Pinter died just three years after receiving the Nobel Prize. A decade and a half later, his influence on the field of contemporary of theatre is still felt, and Betrayal remains to be work that shows a master at the height of his powers.
