Abstract
Today, Harold Pinter is still one of the most studied, analyzed, and discussed playwrights of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. And yet, while there is much excellent material available that addresses his enigmatic earlier dramas, and his middle period as an author of “political” plays, there is far less analysis of the work he produced in his later years. This article investigates his last screenplay, an adaptation of a 1970s British psychological thriller. This article demonstrates how Sleuth is a projection, and a violent expression, of Tindle's and Wyke's patriarchal urges to establish and maintain social, sexual, and masculine power over “Maggie,” and one another. The article explores and explicates how, through the application of a variety of complex verbal and nonverbal stratagems, the men seek to maintain and strengthen their psychological advantage. The work also addresses a range of other issues including epistemology, performance, and identity. It is important to note that the subject of this article is the text of Pinter's film script and the film itself.
