Stephanie Gamarra Wäntig First Paper

The 30^th of November, 2005

Group: A

Times Space,

Osborne vs. Pinter

In the following plays, “Look Back in Anger,” written by john Osborne and “Betrayal”, written by Harold Pinter we can come across some similarities and some differences. In these two particular plays we can clearly see a lot of contrasts. For example, one of the many contrasts that we cans see is, the time in which both these plays take place, and how the time passes by from one scene to another.

According to both authors, both plays were written around the same time. “Look Back in Anger”, takes place after World War II and slightly before 1960. In the other play, “Betrayal”, takes place around the 1970’s. Between both these plays there isn’t much of a time difference. Unlike the other play by Osborne, this play seems to be more recent, due to the fact that the plot in this play doesn’t indicate that we can see throughout this play can be a problem or conflict in or daily lives now. Also, we can see that throughout the play, there are no indications that mention any historical event during that time.

Unlike Pinter, in Osborne’s play we can relate the plot of the play to a conflict common around the 1950’s. For example, we can see how World War II had an after effect on the English society, such as Jimmy Porter, the main character in “Look Back in Anger.” Jimmy, an university-educated man working at a sweet stall, is a clear example in which Osborne uses to represent the difficulties which the English society had to face after the war.

Throughout the play we can see how the high-class switches to the middle-class. We can see this through the role of Alison Porter, Jimmy’s wife. Alison came from a high-class family. Her father was a well-known colonel, but Alison stepped down from her social life by marrying Jimmy, and by that she started living a mediocre life.

Another contrast that we can find between these two plays relating to the time space is the way time passes by from one scene to another. Both Osborne and Pinter use different techniques. In Osborne’s plays we can see the use of the common technique used in many plays, lineal. In the three-scene play we can see a chronological order and also we can see how the time passes by from two weeks to several months. Throughout the play everything takes place in the present.

On the other hand, in Pinter’s play we can see how this author doesn’t follow any kind of chronological order, or any kind of pattern. From scene to scene Pinter plays with the time. He jumps from present to past and past to present, which is known as the term, flashback. Although in Pinter’s other plays, we can see that in his plays, “Ashes to Ashes”, where he does use a chronological order.

To sum up, I think that the play, “Look Back in Anger,” it was much easier to follow due to the fact, as I mentioned before, that Osborne uses the chronological order. In the other play, “Betrayal,” you had to really situate yourself and try to understand and find out whether the scene took place in the past or in the present. In conclusion, I think both these plays were very easy to read although they didn’t have much of a climax.