Silence of the Subaltern as Civil Disobedience in Harold Pinter’s Mountain Language

Abstract

This paper examines the notion of silence as representing civil disobedience in Harold Pinter’s Mountain Language (1988). It argues that the old woman character in the play, who visits her imprisoned son, represents the figure of the speaking subaltern. The play’s portrayal of the subaltern’s rejection of the state oppression lies in Paulo de Medeiros’ argument that literature itself is a domain of resistance in the face of discrimination. The paper thus examines the act of the woman – mainly performed in an intentional manner – in Mountain Language in the light of David Thoreau’s arguments, in his Civil Disobedience – over the ideas of disobedience in a civil manner. The elderly woman, therefore, protests the state’s policy of commanding by means of silence, a performative act putting Spivak’s argumentation on the subaltern’s inability to speak in dialogue and at question. The elderly woman correspondingly encapsulates the notion of resistance move and rejection in the face of commanding authorities and suppressive governments. The subaltern’s silence is explored as being a matter of choice to annul the state’s systematic domination as exercised by the so-called superior groups. The paper therefore argues that the formula of silence is a reference to a new form of outspokenness; it is both a peaceful from of resilience and is an empowered space for the oppressed thereby expressing their rejection to the state’s divine laws.