The second part firstly gives an illustration of illness narratives in literary history. Based on medical theory，this chapter gives an analysis on the illness images in Pinter’ s plays，and divides them into three groups as physical ill-ness，mental illness and injury. The various types of illnesses in Pinter ’ s plays may arouse the readers’ interest. It may be related to Pinter’ s life ex-perience. In his childhood， Pinter witnessed the 1940 Bombing of London. Therefore he has a deep understanding of the brutality of the war. Having the identity as a Jewish descent，Pinter experienced the injustice and the hardship of life even when he was very young. The cynical attitude similar to a fighter adds more to his sympathy towards the weak，and to his re-sentment towards the powerful ruling classes. Besides，literary trend of illness， especially contemporary writers such as Samuel Becket，Franz Kafka also exert an influence on his writing. All these factors have formed a kind of synergy to drive Pinter to choose illness as his key component in his works. From the viewpoint of post-classical narratology，there is an interpretative and communi-cative process between authors， texts and readers. In this process， text itself may generate energy to promote the development of the plot，to realize the the-matic significance and to strengthen the characterization. Both the instability generated in illness and the dramatic tension generated in theatricality push the plot forward. In addition， the subtle selection of narrative perspective of illness and narrative voice of illness also contributes to the realization of the-matic significance. Moreover， the illness narratives promote the formation of characters’ images and demonstrate their character.
The third part points out that since illness in Pinter’ s plays is generated in specific social and historical background，it is provided with strong function of metaphor. In Pinter’ s plays，the misery of illness is often fond of the ethnic minorities. They suffer from physical illness such as blindness，deafness，apha-sia，as well as mental disease and even death，which can be traced to Pinter’ sidentity as a minority，and is also closely related to the common race discrimi-nation phenomena in contemporary western society. Illness is a metaphor of the miserable life of ethnic minorities. In Nietzche’ s view，God has died. To the Existentialism philosopher Heidegger，human’ s life purposes are confused. Freud believes that mental disease is the normal state of modern people. Attributed to the influence of the specific context，Pinter in his plays shows a number of psychopaths， who distort the traditional notion of love， family affection and ethical morality. In his plays，people lose their faith，and often their spirit is in decadence. In Pinter’ s view，the traditional religious notion of kindness and love has already been lost in this extremely alien world. As an abnormal phenomenon，illness is generated in people’ s bodies and is regarded as the dark side of life. Therefore，the politics of illness is ac-tually the politics of the body. In macro-politics， illness is utilized by the ruling classes to control， discipline and punish the dissidents. Those victims are persecuted to be ill with limbs injured or even to be dead. In micro-poli-tics，illness is utilized as a discourse strategy by both patients and healthy peo-ple to conceal their real purposes or to form alliances to compete the interests in daily life， which is a political struggle without declaration， but also thrilling. In female politics，illness exists only as a representation. Being ill or not ill is actually determined by social culture. The disease of sadomasochism is the projection of the real life of female in Pinter’ s times. In his plays，Pin-ter also shapes scenes with lots of ruins and wounded limbs and bodies，which are attributed to the brutalization of war. Through these injuries， Pinter ex-presses not only his condemnation and resentment towards war，but also emo-tional pains and wounds in his heart.
The fourth part mainly focuses on the discussion of the relationship be-tween illness and poetics of the Absurd.“Uncertainty”and“threat”are two distinct features and the main styles in Pinter’ s plays. Not just pursuing the rhythm of the dialogues，Pinter also intends to make his plays similar to poetry which merely presents image， but not with any explanation. Illness hasstrengthened the feature of uncertainty and increased the possibilities of inter-pretation. Meanwhile， the illness ’ s feeling of misery， its universality， its relation to violence， coupled with its social effect adds more atmosphere of threat to Pinter’ s plays. Sometimes， to appreciate ugliness is to appreciate beauty. To make illness public engenders the allegory effect. Illness，the ab-normal state of human is similar to the absurd， the abnormal state of society. To make illness， which is regarded as ugliness widely known is in-tended to reveal the absurdity of the society and to satirize the society. Illness plays an important role in achieving theatricality and dramatic tension，which finally contributes to the dramatic effect of catharsis，and which not only clarify the audience’ s emotion，but also the playwright Pinter’ s emotion.
Through the research，one conclusion can be drawn that illness is Pinter’ s strong psychological experience of life，which plays an important role in Pin-ter’ s dramatic poetics and is one element which has a surprising variety of types，a wide range of symbolic meanings，and which is also quite expressive and active. The various types of illness， its violent quality and its political metaphorical quality make Pinter’ s illness application unique in the contem-porary theatre，which on one hand highlights Pinter’ s personal style，on the other hand enriches the poetical forms of the Theatre of the Absurd. In the viewpoint of sociology， illness is related to both the individual and society. Therefore， Pinter ’ s illness narratives are the reflection of social reality . Compared to the traditional playwrights who believed that drama could be used as moralization，playwrights in modern times believe that drama can be used to explore the complexity of human beings，then as a mental treatment to cure audience and themselves. Therefore， illness， while helping Pinter to express his emotion， actually plays another role of revealing sufferings， pains and finally instructing the audiences and readers， which is also a symbol of Pinter’ s superb artistic skills and his strong sense of humanism.
