Introspection and Retrospection in Doris Lessing’s Play with a Tiger.

Abstract

This paper examines Doris Lessing’s Play with a Tiger through the lens of Hans-Georg Gadamer’s dialogical hermeneutics, focusing on the roles of introspection and retrospection in shaping character, meaning, and dramatic form. Drawing on Gadamer’s concept of dialogue as a transformative encounter with the “other,” the study argues that the play stages two parallel hermeneutic circles: one between the reader and the text, and another between the protagonists, Anna and Dave. Their extended duologue becomes a site for critical self-reflection, where understanding emerges through questioning, listening, and the reconstruction of memory.

The analysis explores Lessing’s preoccupation with time, memory, and self-knowledge, demonstrating how introspection (self-examination) and retrospection (recollection of the past) function as complementary processes through which the characters attempt to comprehend their present and determine their future. Attention is given to Lessing’s rejection of naturalism and her manipulation of dramatic form—particularly the transition from conventional realism to a dreamlike, stripped-down stage space—which reinforces the psychological and hermeneutic dimensions of the play. The paper further interprets the symbolic significance of the title Play with a Tiger as an expression of the danger inherent in authentic dialogue and emotional exposure. Ultimately, the study reads the play as a psychological drama that foregrounds memory, dialogue, and self-understanding as precarious yet necessary acts.