Recurrent themes[I1] [I2] in his works are:

1. The menace

In Pinter’s plays there is always something threatening. This theme is recurrent especially in the earlier plays, for this reason called also “comedies of menace”[E2]. The nature of this menace is vague and can be identified with:

• distressing news from outside

• past memories

• mysterious calls or knocking on the door

• doubts

• the thread of a cosmic disaster

The menace has three levels: physical violence, the outside world, the loss of emotional security. All these characteristics are connected with a sort of alienation that seems to mark the modern world.

2. The room

Pinter’s early plays are usually set in a room. This room is like a world for the occupants. It may symbolize:

• a refuge protecting from the outer world

• a safe haven

• a kind of prison

• a status symbol

3. The intruder

The intrusion can be physical (an unexpected stranger, friends, potential enemies) or metaphorical (hallucinations, memories, possessive attitudes)

4. Blindness

It may stand for:

• inadequacy

• fear of life

• failure

• death

• fear of sexuality

5. Mistrust in human relationships

6. Inability to communicate

7. Solitude

A focus of Pinter’s plays is the existential meaninglessness of life.