Laughter as a Rational and Irrational Phenomenon in Harold Pinter’s The Hothouse

Abstract

Harold Pinter’s 1958/1980 play The Hothouse presents the laughter effect by making use of rational and irrational approaches of comic. In its absurdist tone, the two act play aims to mock hierarchical power structures with its setting and characters. With its witty and playful dialogues, the play creates the laughter effect by amalgamating the social and psychological functions of laughter. This article seeks to study Pinter’s play closely from the use of rational and irrational way of the laughter effect. Using the theories of Henri Bergson’s laughter concept as a rational comic approach and Freud’s joke concept as an irrational comic approach, this study shows how laughter effect is constructed in Pinter’s play.