OTHELLO SYNDROME IN HAROLD PINTER’S THE LOVER

Abstract

This study focuses on Othello syndrome-an imaginary sexual jealousy in Harold Pinter’s The Lover. English playwright William Shakespeare (1564-1616) not only contributed to literature and language, but also continues to inspire other branches of science. Characters such as King Lear, Hamlet, Ophelia, and Othello in Shakespeare's works have been named for syndromes in psychology. Shakespeare's play is about the tragedy of Othello as a result of his jealousy. Considering he was cheated on by Desdemona, Othello first kills his innocent wife and then commits suicide. The common themes both in Shakespeare’s Othello and Harold Pinter’s The Lover are marriage, love, betrayal, madness and jealousy. Both Shakespeare's Othello and Pinter's Richard are sexually jealous of their wives and cannot escape the irrational infidelity fantasies they have created in their brains. These husbands start to go mad thinking that their spouses are cheating on them at every moment of the day. In Pinter’s 1963 play, Sarah and Richard have been married for ten years and own a small house. Every day when Richard leaves for work, he asks when Sarah's lover is coming today, what she is going to do with him, how he is doing, and when he comes home from the office in the evening he asks how their afternoon together was. Thus, The Lover demonstrates us an abnormal marriage in which the wife is unfaithful and the husband without jealousy. However, as Pinter’s play progresses, we understand that the couple has created an imaginary male character who is in love and relationship with the wife. Over time, Richard becomes jealous of this fictional character and at the end of the play he imaginary kills both himself and his wife