%0 Journal Article %T Machiavellianism and Cruelty in Harold Pinter's The Homecoming and Barzan Faraj's Yousif Nightmares %J Journal of Garmian University %I زانکۆی گەرمیان %Z 23100087 %A Hama, Bakhtiar Sabir %D 2020 %\ 12/01/2020 %V 7 %N 3 %P 362-370 %! Machiavellianism and Cruelty in Harold Pinter's The Homecoming and Barzan Faraj's Yousif Nightmares %K machiavellianism %K cruelty %K Lust %K egotism %K Human Nature %R 10.24271/garmian.2070325 %X Cruelty and evil behaviors, widespread among human beings, have inspired many authors to examine the reasons and justifications for violence which destroys the life of man. This study inspects two plays, The Homecoming by Harold Pinter (1930-2008) and Yousif Nightmares by Barzan Faraj to show how the family members, as Machiavellian individuals, exploit and confront one another only for their own interest. The research observes the cruel nature of man in these texts written in two different periods by two playwrights who were born in two distinct countries with diverse social and cultural background. Harold Pinter is a British writer and wrote the play in 1964 and Barzan Faraj is a Kurdish playwright and wrote his play in 2001. The characters are tied by blood, but have no regard for one another's emotions. The needy are ignored and the females are exploited. The psychological study of the oppressors and the oppressed is based on Roy F. Baumeister's theory on evil and the origin of cruelty. Baumeister (1999) summarizes the roots of evil into lust (desire), egotism, revenge, fundamentalism and idealism. He believes that evil and violence have deep roots in the history of human kind and the problem is that most people who commit evil acts do not themselves regard their actions as evil. The study focuses on egotism and desire and concludes that the characters perform physical, verbal and sexual assaults without feeling guilty or showing regret. This shows that man creates several motives to commit crimes, and violence is part of human nature %U