Repetition as a Stylistic Device of Violence in Contemporary Drama

Repetition is a common stylistic device that can play a variety of macrostructural roles: from that of aesthetically pleasing textual ornament, to that of emphatic sequence attracting the readers’ or listeners’ attention. This talk addresses those instances of repetition and recurrence in the contemporary drama that helps to establish the power position of the speaker who uses their superiority to intimidate, humiliate or otherwise degrade the addressee – usually in the role of a victim. The traditional patterns of repetition and recurrence are identified, analysed and categorized according to the intensity of the repression and the salience of the type of recurrence. The examples are taken from plays by playwrights such as Arthur Miller, Harold Pinter and Drago Jančar.