TEARS IDLE TEARS:LORD ALFRED TENNYSON

The poem Tears Idle Tears is a philosophical and tragic poem composed by the greatest Victorian poet of England, Alfred Lord Tennyson.In this poem,the poet gives an account of tears, their origin in our hearts and its comparison to different objects of nature.According to the poet,tears are the product heavenly sorrow at the loss of some friend or some tragic incident of life.Whenever we recall the death of a neat friend  tears come up in our eyes from the heart and dazzle like the first ray of the sun that falls up n the boat.The poet makes  use of beautiful  simile.The boat is compared to the ray of the sun.It shows that the tears have the save importance as the first say of the sun has for the boat or living things.

Tears are shaded for the loss of fast friend whom we love to much.Our sorrow is compared to the last red leaf that hangs against the bough of a tree in the Autumn season.They bring fresh memory of the past days that cannot be brought back to life.secondly,they are compared to a dark morning at the time of sunrise when he sun goes behind the cloud.They are as powerful as the song of the singing birds early in the morning.At that time,people on bed can hardly listen to the birds,a man recalls the past days of his  life and his eyes are full of tears.When the sun appear behind cloud all of a sudden.Its entrance to the window appears like the shaft of light.

Further,the poet compares tears to the tears of the beloved when she recalls the kisses planted on her cheeks by her lover. At the death of her lover, the beloved sheds tears and is full of deep sorrow of separation from him. So these tears appears to be as intense emotional as the passionate love.They are as deep as the joy when the pair of lovers  fall in love at first sight. At such situation, the beloved becomes mad with grief at her lover's death. Her existence in this world is as good as death in life. Really, a man feels utmost sorrow for the tragic loss of his dearest friend and his eyes are suffered with tears.

In this way ,Tennyson presents the importance of tears in life.They are symbolic of divine despair in life and are as good as death. Hence, tears are not idle but are full of meaning. These are alliteration in words like divine despair and fancy-feigned.

there are beautiful epithets like below the verge, dark summer dawns, half-awakened birds, dying eyes and glimmering square.Thus, the poem is tragic and philosophical presenting the genesis and cause of tears that roll down our cheeks. The poem has been Tennyson's poetic work "Princess".

           

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SPARROW BY K. A. ABBAS

               CRITICAL NOTE ON K.A.ABBAS'S ART AND

                   TECHNIQUE AS A STORY WRITER   

The story,Sparrows,written by K.A.Abbas is remarkable for his art and neat characterization.This writing,particularly short-stories usually deal with the themes of poverty,peasantry and rural life. Starting his career as a journalist in which profession he gathered realistic experiences of rural living of village people,their struggle,hopes and aspiration,their destinies and frustration.Later, when he turned to film making, he made a great success by presenting stark realities of the poor rural people. But in all his writing, there is a unique beauty of setting a skill in characterization and artistic appeal. They leave an easy impression upon the readers of his creativeness . Two volumes of his short-stories-Rice and other stories and One Thousand Nights On A Bed Of Stone, are an eloquent evidence of his artistic sense and mission.
 The present story,sparrows seems quite remarkable for his art of narrative,rural-setting,realistic treatment and neat characterization .Abbas  draws a fine character sketch. of Rahim Khan,his frustrations,cruelty,tenderness,human sense of sympathy and his fatalism. He is farmer by profession. But farming is not his natural choice. He chooses it as a last resort as if he were submitting himself to his fate. This strong ambition in his youth has been to join a circus-party and make love to Radha. But his ambitions are frustrated either because of orthodoxy,tradition and parental authority of his father. Failing at both,he turns bitter unsympathetic to the extent of being inhuman. So,when he is married to a rustic woman,which has been his forced marriage under parental authority and orthodox tradition,he has been living an unhappy married life.He has been cruel to his wife for the thirty years of his married life. As a result of his unloving marriage and frustrations of his ambitions,he develops an odd habit having grievances against his life,family and society. He begins to scold his wife and sons on all occasions of their insignificant faults.So,one day when he returns from his field after tilling the land , tired and hungry , he does not find his wife at home and gets furious to know that she has left for her brother's home. Though an elderly woman informs him that she  has gone to her brother's home only for a few days.He knows it  fully, that she has left him for ever. Similarly, his sons have done with him.He is now alone, sad, unhappy and uncomfortable.His cruel indifference to his family may partly accountable for his sad and unhappy life.But it does not seem to be the whole truth. For, when he goes into his room,he hears a flutter caused by two sparrows in their nest inside his room. He goes to the nest out of curiosity to see what the sparrows have been doing in their nest. Looking into the nest, he discovers two more little sparrows. As he stretches his hand to get hold of the two little sparrows, he finds the mother-sparrow attacking him with all his courage and might. He is moved at her heroic defence of her family and children. This small incident proves a significant point in the story as the story writer comments;

"He was strongly amused by the little bird's heroic efforts to save his home and children. The sparrows nest suffered  no harm that day and peace reigned in Rahim Khan's hut."

This change of Rahim Khan's heart comes at last to the notice of his villagers When he is no longer seen outside his room for many days,village people become curious to know as to what has happened to him. So, some of them peep into his room through a crack in the door and see a strange sight. They find him when I am gone."

Bundu and Nuru are the name of his two sons who have left him long ago.Ever since they have left him, his love and sympathy turns to the two meek sparrows and names them after his two sons. But his villagers make no head and tail of his speech. They take him to be mad and then they also begin to sympathise with him in his lonely life of toil and misery.They informed his wife about his madness.Responding to their request for her return to look after him, she went along with her two sons only to find him cold senseless and dead. Clearly, the story ends on a tragic note. speaking reflectively;

"O Bundu,O Nuru,who will feed you

It is thus obvious that the meaning of the story is more suggestive than what is on the surface. This suggestiveness is implicit in the tragic note at the end of the story.One may say that Rahim Khan's cruelty is not his natural instinct.It is a result of his frustration in his life-frustration is both love and career.The psychologists calls this inhuman and unnatural cruelty as 'sadism.' Human beings are not instinctively sadistic. But they acquire it in a hostile situation of their life.Secondly, the change in his heart from cruelty to tenderness, from indifference to sympathy is traceable to his instinctive human spirit. Human beings are essentially human and divine,and if they are devilish, it is a kind of supreme position born out of their hostile situations and indifferent fate. When Rahim Khan finds himself getting ill-treatment at the hands of his parents,family and society he develops an unnatural habit of being cruel,indifferent and unsympathetic. What human society fails to evoke in him, the animals and birds do it in his case. This brings out the significance of the title Sparrows. For, the sparrows do not form the central story nor does the story writer profess to offer any detailed study in their life,habitation and character. So, one may argue that the title is misleading. But it will be an unfair comment. For,sparrows provide and bring out the most significant change of heart in Rahim Khan's life and character. They mark a turning point in Rahim Khan;s character. As for Abbas's art and technique one may point out that he uses the fine literary elements of irony,contrast,symbolism through the plain narrative ans skill of characterization.It will be a common sense and general comment to say that the story has a stark realism,realism,rural fatalism and psychological significance.  

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THE RIVALS:Main Lines

GET READY FOR AN EXCITING CAREER IN MODELLING AND ACTING

                                       EXPLANATION

I do not mean to distress you.—If I lov'd you less, I should never give you an uneasy mo∣ment.—But hear me.—All my fretful doubts arise from this—Women are not used to weigh, and separate the motives of their affections:—the cold dictates of prudence, gratitude, or filial duty, may sometimes be mistaken for the pleadings of the heart.—I would not boast—yet let me say, that I have neither age, person, or character, to found

This passage taken from 'The Rivals' written by R. B. Sheridon Faulkland is speaking to Julia.
When Faulkland arrives at Bath and calls on Captain Absolute at his residence in Bath,he learns from him that his (Faukland) beloved Julia is also at Bath. He goes to see her and Faulkland and Julia meet,they began to make an issue of the absence of one from the other. Faulkland complains to her that he has come to know about her taking part in a dance in his absence,he has began to have some doubts about her loyalty in love to him. His doubt is that if she has been learning him sincerely then she should not have offered to dance with some other one in his absence. This shows that her love for him is questionable. He thinks that her love for him is born not out of her heart but out of her mind and duty. He has a doubt if she loves him out of her sense of her duty and obligations because their marriage was settled by her dead father before they were grown up. So she may be loving him out of her sense of duty to the wishes of her great father. She perhaps love him not because she likes him but because of the fond of duty and the prudence of her mind which says that a dutiful daughter must obey her dead-father's will. This kind of time generally happens with women.
Speaking father's will Faulkland tells her that women are generally apt to make this kind of mistake. They are generally unable to distinguish between the heart's desire and mind's dictation. They go more usually by the dictates of mind,sense of duty and obligations which daughters do as their duty to their parents.They neglect their heart's desire for the sake of obedience to the will of their parents. In this kind of circumstances,women generally mistake the dictates of their mind and wisdom for their likes and desires of their heart. In a word they mistake prudence for their affection. So he must tell her if she loves him not because she likes him but because she has duty to him,then it is no sincere love. In that case he is prepared to release her from the fond of duty and makes her free to love any young man whom she likes.
Clearly,the passage brings out the character of Faulkland as a sentimental drama of Richard Steele,Hugh kelley,Richard Cumberland and Colley Cibber etc.The episode of Faulkland in Julia provides some ground for supposing this drama to be a sentimental drama. But Sheridan's purpose to not to write a sentimental drama this episode therefore is a kind of skit and a caricature of the treatment of love in the drama.

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The Rivals And Its Some Favourite Lines

                                EXPLANATION" 

There, Sir Anthony, there sits the deliberate simpleton,who wants to disgrace her family and lavish herself on a fellow not worth a shilling."

Answer:-

In this passage taken from 'The Rivals' written by R. B. Sheridan,Mrs. Malaprop is speaking to Sir Anthony Absolute about her niece,Lydia Languish camping at Bath a famous health resort for the affluent,upper class people.Sir.Anthony Absolute and his son Captain Absolute are also therefore speaking the summer. Captain Absolute is rich having an income of three thousand a year. He loves Lydia. But Lydia is a young,sentimental and eager to love and marry a poor beggarly and penniless young man. So she does not love and like to marry Captain Absolute. Captain Absolute learns about her romantic and whimsical nature and behaviour and disguises himself as a poor beggar and penniless young man called Ensign Beverley.
Thus he disguises to win her love. In this disguise she wins her love and now she wants to marry him. But Mrs. Malaprop does not approve of her niece's choice of marriage with Ensign Beverley. Mrs. Malaprop wants Lydia to marry Captain Absolute. Thus there is s conflict between Lydia and Mrs. Malaprop. So, when Sir. Anthony Absolute comes to meet Mrs. Malaprop, she complains to him about the whimsical nature and behaviour of her niece, Lydia and condemns her.
Complaining against Lydia's whimsical nature and mind, Mrs. Malaprop tells sir Anthony Absolute that her niece, Lydia is a foolish girl. She(Lydia) is a simpleton and fool because she wants to marry a poor beggarly, penniless young man called Ensign Beverley.By rejection his rich, affluent son Captain Absolute Mrs. Malaprop says that she is very much shocked at and sorry for her niece's choice of marriage for if she marries Ensign Beverley, she will only bring a shame and disgrace upon her rich aristocratic family.
But her niece is utterly a fool to follow her own bent of mind and to think of the fame and reputation of the family. She means to say that she is against her niece's will and choice of marriage because wha tshe is going to do is neither good to her nor good for their family.
Clearly, the passage brings out the conflict between the aunt and niece on the one hand and sentimentality of the 18th century,sentimental drama of Richard Steele, colley, Cibber, Hugh, Kelly and Ciber etc. Secondly, it brings to light the nature and character of Lydia Languish  to the sight of different class of people of the society.

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THE RIVALS AND THE LINES OF FAULKLAND

                                    EXPLANATION

O! upon my soul, I never have;—but what grounds for apprehension did you say? Heavens! are there not a thousand! I fear for her spirits—her health—her life.—My absence may fret her; her anxiety for my return, her fears for me, may oppress her gentle temper. And for her health—does not every hour bring me cause to be alarmed? If it rains, some shower may even then have chilled her delicate frame!—If the wind be keen, some rude blast may have affected her! The heat of noon, the dews of the evening, may endanger the life of her, for whom only I value mine. O! Jack, when delicate and feeling souls are separated, there is not a feature in the sky, not  a movement of the elements; not an aspiration of the breeze, but hints some cause for a lover's apprehension!
Answer:-     

This passage taken from 'The Rivals' written by R.B.Sheridan. Faulkland is speaking to Captain Absolute.

When Faulkland comes to Bath he calls on Captain Absolute at his residence in Bath. As they meet, they begin discussing the progress in each others affairs of love. Captain Absolute reports to him that his affair with Lydia is going on well. But Faulkland  who was not well his beloved,Julia as yet expressed his anxieties to know about Julia's life, health and spirits. But Captain Absolute who knows that Julia is at Bath,conceals the fact from him for the sake of fun. So when Captain Absolute invites him to a dinner at the hotel, Faulkland ignores by saying that he not well disposed to partake in such rejoicings and entertainment. On being asked by Captain Absolute as to why he declines the invitation, Faulkland says that he has many serious apprehension in his mind about the life,health and spirit of Julia.Captain Absolute asks him to say about the ground of his apprehension.

Replying to Captain Absolute Faulkland says that he has many grounds of apprehension about his beloved, Julia. One of the grounds is his long absence from Julia and his absence may be causing doubts, fear and anxieties in her mind. Secondly she may be anxious to know about his return. Thirdly her health is so weak and tender that even the slightest change in the weather may affect her health. It often changes from a good to a bad one. The heat of the noon ,the dews of the evening and strange winds are the variations in the weather. These variations are surely to affect her tender health.
It is a human nature that when the two lovers are separated from each other, both of them have fears and apprehensions about each other,s health and welfare. These fears and apprehension increase all the more when weather is an element that affects one's health. Thus Faulkland gives sufficient examples for his(Faulkland's) anxieties and apprehension. They are usually the fears and apprehensions of a lover.
Clearly, the passage brings out the character of Faulkland  as a sentimental lover of that kind which is seen in the earlier sentimental drama of Richard Steele,Hugh,Kelly,Richard Cumberland and Colley Ciber,etc. The episode of  Faulkland and Julia provides some grounds for supposing this drama to be a sentimental drama. This episode therefore is a kind of skit and caricature of the treatment of love in the sentimental drama. 

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THE UNIVERSITY WITS

                THE EARLY ELIZABETHAN DRAMA

The university wits/or Pre-Shakespearean Drama/or the drama of Predecessors of Shakespeare or The Early Elizabethan Drama (Elizabethan's Reign 1558-1603) or the pay of Marlowe.

The Pre-Shakespearean Drama is mainly the drama written by the university wits.In the second half of the 16th century,that is,between 1550-1590,a group of English writers who had university degrees chose to write plays for English theatre. Before the university wits,there existed the classical drama of Greece and Rome. English drama lacked in fire and passion.The English drama which was chiefly morality play, was still struggling to be born as a dramatic art. The university wits who had academic training, passion and poetry brought a new life into English drama and paved the way to the emergence and expression of the genius of Shakespeare.
The university wits consists mainly of the dramatists like Robert-Greene,Thomas Lodge.John Lily,Christopher Marlowe,Thomas Nash,George Peele and Thomas Kyd. These dramatists lay a sure basis for the English theatre and provide a fertile period of English dramatic writing. Peele's theatrical work,for example,is diverse in character. He attempts a pastoral, a romantic tragedy,chronicle history etc. Kyd attempts plays on Senecan model and introduces the tragedy of revenge. His plays are full of strong external actions. They are well-constructed. Greene contributes much to the development of romantic comedy,and Lily to the portrayal pf comic characters. But Marlowe's contribution is the most outstanding,clearly,of all these university wits or predecessors of Shakespeare,Marlowe is the most eminent playwright.
Marlowe breaks away slightly from the ancient medieval drama. He substitutes ordinary human beings for the royal personages. Marlowe's Tamburlaine, for example,is a peasant,the Jew is a money lender and Dr. Faustus is an ordinary German doctor and alchemist. Thus, the medieval conception of the tragedy is substituted by the Renaissance ideals. They may be ordinary human beings.But they are ambitious and achieve great heights of earthly power,wealth,knowledge,and glory.They represent English Renaissance ideals of ambition and individual worth. So, A.Nicolls says ;
"The Marlovian approach brings intensity,admiration and wonder into tragedy." Putting the same thing in a different language,A.J.Wyatt and A.S. Collins say;
"Marlowe's conception of tragedy is the classical Greek conception modified by the spirit of the Renaissance."
Again,while medieval conception of tragedy is distinctly moral,Marlowe's conception of tragedy is dramatic and realistic. Though death comes to all his tragic heroes,the essence (of his plays) lies in the struggle of a brave human soul against the forces which prove stronger than it is at the end So,the interest in his plays lies wholly in the presentation of conflict and the personality of the hero. His hero is like a super man with unsurpassed will, strength and sense of adventure. He is a giant figure,the embodiment of consuming passion, coming to ruin,through a struggle between his conquerable soul and physical limitations. But in the plays of Shakespeare he is brought down to the human level.
Other characters in his plays lack in their individuality. They are only puppets moving round the central characters. So,they are less developed and shadowy. There is also a lack of woman characters in his plays.
Another contribution of Marlowe to English Drama is the use of blank verse. Before him,there is, no doubt,blank verse but it is still unformed,artificial and monotonous.It is Marlowe who breaths spirit of poetry in to blank verse.
There are,however,some flaws in his plays. They are not compact and well constructed. Dr. Faustus,for example,is largely a collection of heterogenous scenes loosely linked together.

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The Rivals: Explanation

                                    Explanation

By heavens:I shall forswear your company. You are the most teasing,captious,incorrigible love! - Do love like a man.

                                                        OR

Am not I a lover; aye, and a romantic one too? Yet do I carry every where with me such a confounded farago of doubts, fears, hopes, wishes, and all the flimsy furniture of a country Miss's brain?

ANSWER:-

This passage taken from The Rivals written by Sheridan, Captain Absolute is speaking to Faulkland. In another passage Faulkland calls on Captain Absolute at his first dance in Bath and he is curious to know about his beloved, Julia. Captain Absolute understands Faulkland's anxiety, but he is trying to tease him by withholding the information from him.After taking for some time without informing him about his beloved, he invites Faulkland to a dinner at the hotel but Faulkland is so much curious to know about his beloved that he declined Captain Absolute 's invitation. He tells Captain Absolute that he is not disposed to entertaining himself with nice dinner because of his low spirit. He tells Captain Absolute that his mind is so much full of anxiety that he cannot derive any pleasure from this kind of feasting.
To this reply of Faulkland ,Captain Absolute advises him that he should learn to love a woman like a man. Captain Absolute means to tell that he(Faulkland) should appear to be behaving like a normal man for love is not the only business in a normal man's life.It is one of the many things that a normal has to do.So, the proper thing is that a normal man should as much care of his love as of father's duties in his life.If Faulkland's whole business is only love and thoughts of love, then one can only say that he(Faulkland) is a teasing, capricious incorrigible love. Captain Absolute means that Faulkland is a sentimental lover and his conduct as a sentimental lover is beyond correction.
As an example of a normal lover, Captain Absolute cites his own case. He tells Faulkland that he is also a lover like him and a romantic lover. However love is not the only business in his life. He loves a girl and yet does all his normal duties. Though he also has all kinds of anxieties in his mind, he does not allow himself to be abnormal.
Wherever he goes and whatever duties he does, he does them while keeping love also in his mind.As a normal lover, he has sometimes doubts and fears whether he is going to succeed in his love. So, it is quite normal to have all kinds of belongs and thoughts in the mind of a lover in the same manner as the minds of country girl is full of confessed ideas and miscellaneous thoughts.
Having read the characters of Faulkland and Captain Absolute one may easily say that while Faulkland is a sentimental lover,Captain Absolute is an anti-sentimental lover.    

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The Rivals And The Character Of Mrs. Malaprop

                                            MRS. MALAPROP
        A TYPICAL REPRESENTATIVE OF 18TH CENTURY UPPER CLASS
Of all female characters in The Rivals written by Sheridon, Mrs Malaprop's character is the most important,interesting and amusing. She is an elderly lady and a widow. She is the aunt of Lydia Languish. But, as Lydia Languish is still a minor girl, she is in the charge and care of her aunt, Mrs Malaprop.
Mrs.Malaprop objects to Lydia's love for a poor, penniless, beggarly young man called Ensign Beverley . She wants her niece to marry Sir Anthony's Absolute's son Captain Absolute, who is rich and an heir to three thousand a year. She considers the marriage between Captain Absolute and in keeping Lydia as a matching one and in keeping with social reputation and prestige of her family. But as she finds Lydia insistent on marrying Ensign Beverley, she calls her niece a simpleton, a foolish girl who is determined to disgrace her family by lavishing her love on a fellow who is not worth a shilling. As she tells Sir Anthony Absolute;
"There, Sir Anthony, there sits the deliberate simpleton,who wants to disgrace her family and lavish herself on a fellow not worth a shilling."
 But the all in Malaprop's character is that  when she is angry with  Lydia's love for Ensign Beverley,   she herself loves and wants to marry an Irish Baronet Sir Lucius O' Trigger. She carries  her love with him in the name of Delia. When Sir Lucius O' Trigger comes to know that his lovely Delia is Mrs. Malaprop, he rejects her offer of love and marriage saying;
"You, Delia-Pho! Pho! be easy."
He then asks Bob Acres to marry her But Bob Acres also refuses to marry her. At this stage, Sir Anthony Absolute cuts a joke with her saying;
"Come, Mrs Malaprop, don't be cast down-you are bloom yet." Replying to him sharply she says,
"Oh, Sir Antony-men are all barbarous."
This episode of love between Malaprop ans Sir Lucius expresses her hypocrisy and hypocritical character in that what she disapproved in Lydia's case. She appears in her own case.
But the most important trait of her character is to pass as a lady of fashion and culture in the aristocratic society of London and Bath. She gives herself airs of an educated lady of a socially high, elegant and accomplished lady. So, she is famous for her "niece derangement of epitaph." In Julia's light and satirical comment upon Mrs. Malaprop,she is a lady "with her select words so ingeniously misappealed without being mispronounced." To take a few examples of her words which she misapplies without mispronouncing them some of refer to illiterate for obliterate, progeny for boarding, reprehend for comprehend, local language ornacular for vernacular epitaphs .This becomes more evident in the following speech of Malaprop to Captain Absolute as she says to him;
"There, Sir, an attack upon my language, what do you think of that? an aspersion upon my parts of speech! sure I reprehend anything in this world, it is the use of my oracular tongue, and a nice derangement of epitaphs."
Mrs. Malaprop's style of speaking , of misapplying words without mispronouncing them, has given birth to a new figure of speech in English called Malapropism.
Commenting upon this aspect of Mrs. Malaprop's character,Robert Herring says;
"Sheridon perhaps overdid this trick of misusing word, and certainly Mrs. Malaprop has received to much attention because of it, but it may be noticed that many of her mistakes, such as her choice of the words, 'locality', 'oracular', and 'malevolance' result is a dramatic irony that is wholly amusing."
Clearly, Mrs Malaprop is an inimitable comic figure. She is the provincial woman desperately trying to live up to the smartness of Bath, and be not too far behind London at the same time.Her vulgarity stands out against the century refinement of Sir Anthony Absolute.
However, she has examples in other female characters in English comedies. Mrs. Malaprop is closely allied to Goldsmith's Mrs. Hardcastle,in She Stoops To Conquer to Fielding's, Mrs. Slipston  and several other characters.
Thus Mrs. Malaprop's character  is lively, comical and delightful. Much of the comic effect,mirth and gaiety will disappear if Mrs. Malaprop is not there in the drama.
So, speaking about Sheridan's art of characterisation, a critic rightly observes;
"The great strength of The rivals is that its characters are admirably contrasted and varied, that the plot is skillfully managed and that the verbal felicities are many and delightful."
A. J. Wyatt and A. S. Collins also observe;

"The main qualities of the play are intellectual; its excellence lies in the amusingsituation, the speaking witness, the lively reproduction of contemporary life, the clear, natural but somewhat superficial characterisation."

1. Question Mrs. Malaprop is atypical representative of 18th century upper class human society. Discuss.
2. Give a character sketch of Mrs Malaprop.
3. Give your impression of the character of Mrs. Malaprop.

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THE RIVALS BY R. B. SHERIDON

          

     PLOT CONSTRUCTION OR SIGNIFICANCE OF THE RIVALS

The Rivals written by Sheridon is a comic treatment of the theme of love of the hero and the heroine-Caption Absolute and Lydia Languish. They are modelled after the Jonsonian type called the comedy of humours.

There is no suggestion of Shakespeare reminiscence here, but the empress of Jonson and of Congrive is amply apparent. The name given to many of the persons such as Sir Lucius O! Triggar ,Sir Anthony Absolute and Lydia Languish take us back to the comedy of humours - -"

               Lydia Languish who is rich,tender, sentimental and fond of Novel reading is a romantic girl. She takes a fancy  for a poor penniless young man called  Ensign Beverly for her lover. She likes him for his poor beggarly look and dress. As Mrs. Malaprop tells Sir Anthony Absolute;

"There Sir Anthony there sits the deliberate Simpleton,who wants to disgrace her family and lavish herself on a fellow not worth a shilling."  

Captain Absolute disguises himself as a penniless Ensign Baverly only to humour the whims of Lydia Languish and wins her love. He knows that she cannot love him in his real identity. Captain Absolute is also very rich and is heir to three thousand a year.

But she is so whimsical and capricious by nature that she cannot love him as a captain Absolute. The truth of Captain Absolute's disguise and the whimsical nature of Lydia Languish is brought early to light by Fag, a servant to Captain Absolute. Fag explains to a coachman;

"Ah! Thomas there lies the mysteryo' the matter Harkee, Thomas my master is in love of a very singular taste of lady who like him better as a half pay Ensign than if she knew he was son and heir to Sir Anthony Absolute a baronet a three thousand a year."
Thus as Fag confirms it Captain Absolute and Ensign Beverly are one and the same person. So, one set of rivals in this drama and perhaps the only real rivals for the love of Lydia Languish is the two different appearances of Captain Absolute himself. For as the plot of the drama develops, we find the two persons of the name of captain as the rivals for the Lydia Languish.
Ensign Baverly is the person whom Lydia Languish loves and wants to marry. But as Ensign Beverley looks poor and beggarly and penniless,Lydia Languish's aunt Mrs. Malaprop does not approve of this match. She arranges Lydia's marriage with captain Absolute and a baronet of three thousand a year Mrs. Malaprop thinks that the marriage of her niece with the son of Sir Anthony Absolute will be proper and matching. This brings an element of conflict in the drama. The conflict is that Lydia Languish wants to marry Ensign Baverly but Mrs. Malaprop does not like and she arranges her marriage with captain Absolute whom Lydia doesn't like. Clearly the conflict between niece and aunt seems to be a conflict beyond all solutions.
There is a similar conflict between captain Absolute and his father Sir Anthony Absolute. Captain Absolute wants to marry Lydia but his father arranges his marriage with a girl whom he doesn't name to him. Their conflict seemingly serious provide much of mirth,joy and laughter in the drama.
The two elements one between Lydia and Mrs. Malaprop and other between captain Absolute and Sir Anthony Absolute and however happily resolved when Lydia,Mrs. Malaprop,Sir Anthony Absolute find to their wonder and amusement that captain Absolute and Ensign Baverly, the rivals of Lydia's love are the one and same person. Similarly captain Absolute also finds that the girl whom his father has chosen for him to marry is exactly the same girl whom he wants to marry. Thus the conflict between the aunt and niece on the one hand and between the father and the son the other hand is resolved to the joy and mirth of all conserned.
The other set of The rivals though not very important consists of Ensign Baverly and Bob Acres. Bob Acres who loves and wants to marry to learn from Lucius O' Trigger that Lydia wants to marry Ensign Baverly on the instigation of Lucius O' Trigger. bob Acres throws a challenge to Ensign Baverly to settle the matter. He sends his challenge to Ensign Baverly to reply to his challenge through a duel and sword fight. Bob Acres finds to a wonder and disappointed  that Ensign Baverly and captain Absolute are the one and the same person and finally makes peace with him.
Clearly, the title The Rivals is very appropriate and significant for the rivalry between Ensign Baverly and captain Absolute for Lydia Languish is central character to the plot and story of the drama. The whole drama revolves round captain Absolute and Lydia Languish. The episode of Julia and Faulk Land is only secondary to the main plot and serves as a contrast between the treatment of love in a sentimental drama and the treatment of love is an anti-sentimental drama of Eighteenth Century.

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THE MAYOR OF CASTERBRIDGE

      

        HARDAY'S VIEWS OF LIFE IN THE MAYOR OF CASTERBRIDGE 

While reading Harday's novel like Tess Jude The Obscure,The Woodlanders and The Mayor Of Casterbridge, one faces the inevitable question- what is Harday's view of life? To this question one may answer that it is futile to seek for any coherent systematic philosophy of life in Harday's novel or in any novels presenting a study in the character and situation of human life. For philosophy generally has a root in religion and involves a spiritual or an intense intellectual thought process and expounds the mysteries of life and death and of human existence upon this fevered planet of ours. Clearly, there is no such ambition effort t philosophy in Harday's novels. By Harday's philosophy of life we perhaps mean Harday's attitude to life, The Immortals and the dark sinister force of nature, chance and coincidence acting against the welfare of human beings. In Harday's characters, we find that happiness is an occasional episode in the general drama of pain of life." Clearly, Harday is quite different from Jane Austen and Charles Dickens in his conception and experience of human life and predicament.
Harday's interpretation of the human situation is that man is fatally pitted against an omnipotent and indifferent fate which is hostile to, and works against the malevolent nature which never fails to wreck his happiness. As L.   David Cecil says;
"Man in Harday's book is ranged the impersonal forces, the forces conditioning his fate in The Mayor Of Casterbridge."
Henchard is ambitious wealth and happiness but a turn  of weather ruins his ambition. The weather personifies the  fate. Chance and love are the other personifications of fate,which play a dominant role in the life of his characters Harday, it seems is aware of the presence and dominance of a blind force which is brute and nothing sort of a blackguard.Man to this force is what flies are to wanton boys. All this gives an easy impression of pessimism in Harday's novels. But this is a misnomer or a gross misinterpretation of Harday's presentation of human characters and situations. Clearly, we may call Harday's view of life tragic rather than  pessimistic.
Harday also rejects pessimism in his novels.Replying to the charge of pessimism, Harday says in  his apology to his Late Lyrics  and Earlier;
"What is today alleged to be the present another pessimism is a truth only questioning in the exploration of reality and is the first slip towards the soul's betterment and the body's also."
Thus Harday's concern seems to be with the reality and truth of human situation and character. He places human beings against a particular situation and studies than their character, propensities and emotional reaction. From the very beginning Henchard faces an adverse situation in his life. Poverty struggles and disappoint forces him to sell his wife at Waydon Fair.But as soon as he repeats of his sin and takes a solemn vow not to touch wine for twenty one years to come just to make amends for his sin.Again when Susan returns to him he arranges his re-marriage with her to make up for the earlier moral lapses in his chapter. But she does not live long with him. She dies leaving him alone to plod the weary ways of his life. Donald Farfrae, Elizabeth, Jane, Lucetta all come in his life and desert him one after the other.Whatever Henchard may to do make his life better and happier, all his attempts fail,making him worse than before. Even his attempts in business transaction to succeed and prosper is frustrated by a sudden change of weather. All their event seems to conspire against his welfare and happiness and cause him a deep gloom and despair. Driven by despair Henchard says to himself;
"I am to suffer,I perceive. This much scourging than it is for me."
Though he feels he will suffer, he does not give up his attempts to fight and get over them.He opposes the force of the circumstances and does not yield. As Harday says about Henchard;
"Misery taught him nothing more than defiant endurance of it."
Toward the end of the novel Henchard says to himself;
"If I had only got her with me if only had!Hand work would be nothing to me then; But that was not to he. I can go alone as I deserve an out-cast and vagabond. But my punishment is not greater than I can hear."
Clearly, there is a protest,a rebellion in the tone of Henchard, which suggests that Henchard may break but he will not accept defeat in life. There is no denying the fact that Henchard is a strong man of character, will and passion. He has a courage and patience,a sense of struggle and fight against the situations of his life. He struggles, endeavours, fights and does not submit or yield. He keeps up the spirit of rebellion and endurance till the end of his life. As Walter Allen says;
He(henchard) has innate elementary grandeur. He is like a force of nature whose power is as much destructive as veneficant. He is capable of immense and sustained effort..." 
Again as Professor Pintu says;
"What saves him(Harday) from pessimism in his high and noble conception of human nature.To transform this view of the universe from pessimism tragedy, it unnecessary to show that human beings can resist their destiny,if not physically at any rate,in the spirit.It is this resistance of enduring the blows of fate with courage never to submit or yield, that is the essence of Harday's great novels. Like the tragic drama of Sophoeles and Shakespeare, they leave the readers in no mood of disgust or depression,but rather in one of admiration at this greatness and magnificence of human passion and courage and of awe at the insoluble mystery of human suffering."
Clearly, Harday's view of life is tragic rather than pessimistic. There are no doubt,misery, suffering and futility of human endeavour in the character of Henchard .But there is also a strength of will,character,courage, endeavoring,patience and endurance in him.It is this sense of struggle, endeavour and patience in Henchard that saves Harday  from being pessimistic

  

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Edward II Explanation

                         
             LINES FROM EDWARD II 
"My heart is as an anvil unto sorrow,
Which beats upon it like the Cyclops hammers,
And with the noise turns up my giddy brain.
And makes me frantic for my Gaveston.                                                                                              Ah!had some bloodless fury rose from hell
And with my kingly sceptre struck me dead,
When I was forced to leave my Gaveston."
In this passage king taken from Edward II written by Marlowe,king Edward II  is speaking to himself which is called soliloquy in the drama.
When Edward II the king dismisses Gaveston's banishment from England and recalls him, the Lords,Nobles,Peers etc join together and resent the king's decision.They threaten to rise against the king and take up arms against him.They compel the king to rebanish Gaveston. So under their threat and compulsion,the king banishes Gaveston  again. But the king does it with a heavy heart and deep sorrow. At the same time, the king banishes his wife, the queen Isabella also from his court. The king tells her that she can be allowed to appear at his court only when she succeeds in persuading the lords, nobles and peers to cancel Gaveston's second banishment and recalling Gaveston to England. The queen succeeds in it. But so long as Gaveston does not come back to England and be again the king's dear companion. The king is unhappy and unrestful.
So, expressing his grief and sorrow, the king says that his heart is beating with sorrow and feels as much restless with the noise of his heart as the noise of cyclops' hammers do on the anvil. Anvil is the block on which iron is hammered. Cyclops are mythological characters who are employed to work on an anvil and hammer, the iron to make thunderbolt for Jupiter. Jupiter is a god of the thunderbolts. According to Greek mythology: "When He is angry with anyone, He strikes him with His thunderbolt and kills him."
 Thus,the comparision in between the noise of the beating of the king's heart with sorrow and grief for Gaveston and the noise of hammering upon by the cyclops on an anvil to make thunderbolts for Jupiter.
Expressing his grief further,the king says that his lords,nobles and peers are  like the bloodless Fury. The Furies are the goddesses of revenge and punishment. They are cruel and pitiless. They punish people for their sins without any kindness and pity. Like the Furies the king's, lords,nobles and peers are punishing him for his weakness for Gaveston and have no pity for the sorrows and sufferings of the king.While the king is dying for the love and company of Gaveston, the lords, nobles and peers are celebrating happiness.
Thus, the passage presents the king's grief at his separation from Gaveston with the help of classical imagery drown from Greek mythology.    

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EDWARD II :A RENAISSANCE ELEMENT

             EDWARD II IS A TYPICAL PRODUCT OF ENGLISH RENAISSANCE

Renaissance is a French word employing a sense of rebirth of regenerations of a great outburst of activity in all the fields of human thought and action.As A.J. Wyatt and A.S.Collins observe;

"The new slant was in critical in revolt against authority men started to think for themselves, and to question accepted beliefs. Above all, there was in the air a fresh enthusiasm which urged men to enter into every field of experience."

In English Renaissance, the term signifies an enthusiasm, a spirit of adventure and experiment, an ideal, a delight in beauty, imagination, ambition and power. As F.S Boas Says:

               "For a distinguishing note on the Renaissance ape .......was an uncontrollable aspiration after the ideal, a scorn of earthly conditions, a soaring passion that sought to scale the infinitude's of power,beauty,thought and love."  

16th century or Elizabethan period in English literature  is regarded as the period of English  Renaissance .There is a high spirit of ambition of power, knowledge, wealth, patriotism, friendship prevalent in the writings of Spenser, Bacon, Sidney, Marlowe,Shakespeare etc.

Sir Thomas More's vision of a perfect society,Spenser's pattern of the highest manhood, Bacon's call to the conquest of all knowledge,wealth and friendship,are all Renaissance spirit.
Judged in this light Marlowe's Edward II is a renaissance play.The two most central characters-the character of Edward II and of Mortimer are the obvious characters of Renaissance spirit. If Edward II aims at achieving the highest ideal of friendship,Mortimer aims at achieving the highest ideal of power and authority.They are portrayed with this spirit and vigour . They are drown perfectly in line with Tamburlaine,Dr. Faustus and Barabas. It is a common element in all Marlowe's plays
Edward II is a king of England. He has all power,authority and wealth. But he is not satisfied with them. It is a historical fact that he distinguishes himself as a seeker of the high ideal of friendship with Gaveston. Gaveston is a French and favourite of the king Edward II. He manages to strengthen his hold on the king's affections by ministering to his artistic and musical tastes,and providing him with entertainment of all kinds. Edward II is so much devoted to Gaveston that he begins to neglect his duties as a king and husband. He also makes Gaveston an Earl,Lord Chamberlain, chief secretary and Lord of Men.This favour of the king to Gaveston makes the nobles ,lords,peers and church hostile to the king. They oppose the king and rise in revolt against him. But the king does not care. He only says;
"Make several kingdoms of the monarchy,
And share it equally amongst you all,
So I may have some nook or corner left,
To frolic my dearest Gaveston."
Clearly, the king's only care and desire is to frolic with his dearest Gaveston.
Queen Isabella also opposes her husband's  unnatural association with Gaveston. She treats Gaveston as her rival and feels miserable. As she says;
"Unto the forest, gentle Mortimer,
To live in grief and betrayal discontent,
For now my lord , the king regards we not,
But dotes upon the love of Gaveston."
Clearly, their friendship is impolitic, unnatural and unhealthy. It is suspected to be a homosexual relationship.A.Nicoll deals with"a private story of a homosexual infatuation."
But king does not care for the feelings of his wife and opposition of the nobles and church.He values his friendship with Gaveston as greater than his love for his wife and kingdom. He even says;
"I'll bandy with the barons and the earl,
And either die or live with Gaveston"
As a result of this story a lord of friendship with Gaveston,Edward II loses his queen, kingdom, power and crown and suffers imprisonment and death. He also realizes his fault at the end. As he says;
 "O Gaveston, it is for thee that I am wrong'd."
It is now clear that Edward II is a typical renaissance character. He is of strong will and determination. His notion of the ideal of friendship is so high and aspiring that he does not mind the neglect of his duties as a king and a husband,and willingly suffers his tragic misery and death. This is quite like Tamburlaine and Dr. Faustus.
Another typical Renaissance character in this drama is Mortimer. He is a leader in this drama of the nobles and Lords in there conflict with the King ,Edward II and his friend and favourite Gaveston. He is determined in his opposition to the King and his friend Gaveston. He encourages the Lords to be resolute in opposing the King:
"My lords,now let me all he resolute,
And either have our wills,or lose outlive,"
After winning lords to his side,he wins queen Isabella, and promises to restore her to her rightful position.As he tells her;
"We come in arms to wreck it with the sword;
That England's queen's peace may repossess
Her dignities and honours;and withal-
We may remove these flatters from the king
That havoc England's wealth and treasury,"
Thus, he becomes an accomplice of the queen. He kills Gaveston and wages war against the king's imprisonment and murder of the king.After deposing the king and assuming royal power,he boasts of his authority;
"The prince rule,the queen do I command,
And with a lowly Cong to the ground
The proudest lords solute me as I pass;
I seal, I canal, I do what I will."    
Clearly,Mortimer is ambitious power like Tamburlaine. He often speaks of himself in the true spirit  of Tamburlaine:
tceit and murder. This is why J.C.Maxwell remarks, "the dynamic and ambition element is transferred to the Machiavellian Mortimer."
But this very element in his character makes him a traitor, an illicit lover and a murderer. While receiving punishment of imprisonment and death for all these,he  is no longer repentant and perverted. He is still proud  and ambitious and says that he is like a traveller  who after achieving greatness in his life, goes to discover countries unrenounced.
Needless to add that Edward II and Mortimer are conceived as the typical Renaissance characters. The Renaissance element in Edward II is his ambition of achieving the high ideal of friendship,and in Mortimer the ambition of achieving high power.In achieving their ambitions,they do not care for earthly limitations.They only aim at attaining the unattainable. They attain them even at the risk of suffering tragic misery and death.

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History Of Indian Cinema

History of Indian Cinema

The first time the Indian  audience was introduced to cinema was when the Lumiere Brothers came from France  to present six soundless short films. The screening took place at the Watson Hotel on 7 July on 1896. However, the first experiment with film by an Indian was the production of two short films of Save Dada who exhibited them with the help of Edison’s kinetoscope. Cinema as a new entertainment from, however, took its first steps in India in the 1900's and in less than a century, became the largest film – producing industry in the world .

The man behind the production of India’s first fully indigenous silent feature film , Raja Harishchandra was  Dadasaheb Phalke . He was man a of various talents and he enjoyed a varied and colourful career as a painter, photographer, playwright and magician before he too an interest in films.Dadasaheb Phalke is also known as the father of Indian Cinema for his contribution to the industry. The Dadasaheb Phalke award is the highest award for contribution to cinema and is given at the national film award by the government of India.

This film Raja Harishchandra was an excerpt adapted form the Mahabharta. the titles of the film were both in Hindi and English.

The movie was released on 3 may 1913 at the Coronation Cinema in Mumbai. this laid the cornerstone of what is now known as Bollywood.

most of the films made around this time were adaptations i.e, the stories were taken from already successful novels and short stories that had been published around the time. The films were also often religious in content, drawing events and incident from Indian mythology and folktales.

with the onset of the 1920's, Indian cinema gradually grew into a regular industry, producing silent films. this decade was marked by the arrival of many new filmmakers and production houses. As cinema became a profitable art form, given that it needed to be produced only once and could be presented a number of times and that it charged per viewing, this encouraged filmmakers to further invest their profits in new films and set up infrastructure such as studios, laboratories and theatres that would stilt the industry and take it to the next level.

A momentous event in the history of Indian cinema was the arrival of sound in films in the 1932's. the first such sound film, then known as ‘talkies’ ,was Alam Ara (1931). the talkies soon wiped out the previous tradition of silent films, and longer films with more complex stories started to be made.

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