Pinter's 'The birthday party' and Wilde's 'The Importance of Being Earnest' - a comparison

Seminar paper from the year 2005 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature grade: 17 Humboldt-University of Berlin (Anglistik /Amerikanisitik) course: Expressionism and theatre of the absurd language: English abstract: It seems that the Theatre of the Absurd is not considered as civil theatre and that means that there must be big differences between the drama we know from Shakespeare or other famous authors and the work of Beckett and his companions. This work is going to define the differences between a classic drama (a comedy) and a modern drama (theatre of the absurd) and it will make them clear using examples from both The Importance of Being Earnest and The Birthday Party written by Oscar Wilde and Harold Pinter respectively.