Direct-indirect Impoliteness and Power Struggles in Harold Pinter's Plays

Characters in Harold Pinter's plays are always on alert against any kind of physical or psychological threat. They verbally struggle for survival or dominance. This struggle is characterised by direct or indirect impoliteness strategies they use. Impoliteness in their language is the most important weapon to win the struggle for power. Taking Culpeper's five impoliteness strategies as its basis, this paper examines Pinter's The Birthday Party (1957) and Old Times (1970) in terms of the linguistic impoliteness strategies the characters employ in their power struggles, their preferences to adopt direct or indirect strategies and the way these preferences affect the power relations between them.