THE DRAMA OF HAROLD PINTER EVOLVES in an atmosphere of mystery. While the surface of life is realistically detailed, the patterns that lie below the surface are as obscure as the motives of the characters, the pause, as prominent and suggestive as the dialogue. "The more acute the experience the less articulate its expression," is the author's own defense of his technique, a technique that he uses to heighten the sense of mystery and of menace in A Slight Ache. Still, the audience experiencing Pinter's "comedy of menace" is not simply thrust into the world of a nameless terror and left there. Although Pinter is unwilling to explain the mysteries in his dramas and is impatient with critics who seek to pin down his meanings, a close examination of his plays reveals their careful structure and precise use of symbol. At the same time that his art reflects the mysterious universe as he perceives it, it also attempts to approach the mystery that it reflects.