THE STUDY OF IMAGERY IN ARNOLD WESKER’S DRAMA

Presented by Ndèye Khary SENE Introduction

The British literature in the 20th century is marked by a wave of anti-conformist writers who adopt a different style in their writings. In effect, after the two world wars, many illusions disappear and the literary field is where people’s concerns are much illustrated. Among others, drama is a literary genre that underlines many trends in relation to the period and people’s concerns. It is in this sense that, in the 1950s, a tendency in theatre begins and constitutes the contemporary British drama. Actually, that period witnesses a realism that is manifested in a faithful representation of the society after the war. Disillusionment and disenchantment inhabit people, mainly intellectuals. A group of young dramatists, known as the “angry young men” commit themselves to depict the social reality of their society after the war and all the problems that derive from it. Arnold Wesker is one of them. Wesker is politically committed, and alongside with his political orientation, people’s aspirations and preoccupations are deeply present in his dramatic production. In fact, Wesker’s works encompass an ideology of subverting traditional norms in the thematic as well as in the formal aspects. It is then relevant to stress on the images he uses to convey his message. In this present study, we intend to survey the imagery in Wesker’s drama by focussing, in the first part, on the major images that can be found in almost all his plays. In the second stance, we will focus some of the dramatic techniques that highlight Wesker’s use of images.

The British drama after the two world wars had been particularly influenced by the social changes after the wars, as well as the political situation of Britain in the 1950s, which is highlighted by the collapse of British imperialism. Adding to that are the effects of technological progresses and the growing of urbanisation