THE KITE:BY W.S Maughan

      Critical Appreciation Of W.S. Maugham's "The Kite"

The Kite written by W. S. Maugham is one of his psychological short stories. Maugham's stories like those of Maupassant generally mark a development of plot and character.He has a rare skill in vesting his tales with a plausibility that sustains the interest of the readers throughout the stories. His stories are largely readable and entertaining.
Though Maugham's stories are deeply psychological like those of Katherine Mansfield and Virginia Woolf,there is a difference between them . For,the stories of Katherine Mansfield and Virginia Woolf lack in plot and neat characterization and seek to active an effect by creating an atmosphere or recording a mood. There is a great deal  of suggestiveness in their stories.A Cup Of Tea by Katherine Mansfield and The Dutches And The Jeweller by Virginia Woolf may be cited as examples.
But Maughan's stories are known for realism,an economy of presentation and a simplicity of style. Maughan's psychological stories have a bias towards neat characterization analysis of human character and provide a deep in sight into the working of human nature and mind.Such stories of  Maughan as Mr. Know-All, The Lavender Scarce, A door of opportunity, The Kite etc. Clearly illustrate the important features of Maugham as short-story writer.
The Kite as Maugham himself says, is an old , unusual story about "the Psychology of the human animal." He attempts to throw some light on the complication of human nature in it. He bases the story upon Freudian theory of obsession and presents the character of a young man whose obsession with kite flying breaks up his marriage and sends him in prison.
The young man in this story is Herbert Sunbury. He is quite good and normal. He works in an office and earns his living. He loves and marries a young lady called Pretty Prevan. But he has courage for kite-flying. He has taken a keen interest in  it since his childhood,and as he has grown in years. His interest has also grown deeper and deeper. It has now become a craze and obsession with him. For he is so much fond of it that he cannot leave it even when he is a grown up man,employed, and married. His wife objects to his habit of kite-flying. But he listens to no arguments. He even quarrels with her and parts from her, and when she smashes his kite to rid from it,he refuses her alimony and prefers imprisonment to having relation with her. He says to the magic state;
"I said I wouldn't pay her and I won't not after she smashed my kite. And if you send me to the prison, I'll go to prison."
Obviously, the story of the life of Herbert Sunbury is a strong story because his love of kite flying is stronger than his love for his wife. It seems difficult to explain his conduct in normal human terms. But it ceases to be strange if it is seen in the light of Freudian assumptions. Freud is a great psychologist and founder of psycho-analysis. His researches have thrown new light on man,his mind and behaviour. He says that when a man develops an abnormal fondness for a thought or an idea,than that thing of idea seized his mind so strongly that he cannot live without it. This seems true of the character of Herbert Sunbury. For he likes kite-flying more than his wife and social prestige. He loves it as deeply as a man loves an ideal.When he flies kite he feels a unique joy born either of his sense of power as he watches  it soaring towards the clouds,or of his sense of mastery over the elements of nature,or of his sense of freedom symbolized by thee kite flying so high and free or of his sense of ideal of adventure. This explains his obsession with kite-flying.
There is also a great deal of the psychology of woman nature. The psychologists says that a normal married demands all attentions of her husband to herself and feels jealous of anything that divides the attention of her husband.
It is in her nature to claim about love,loyally,and attention of her husband to herself. She cannot tolerate her husband going more love and attention to say politics,games or studies. She becomes jealous of the object of passion of her husband and stops at nothing short of complete destruction of that object. This explains pretty Prevan's jealousy of Herbert Sunbury's kite-flying. She notices that her husband is more fond of kite-flying than of her. So she warns him against his habit of kite-flying and when he does not give this habit up,she threatens to desert him. When this does not work,she goes to smash it altogether. As Mr. Sunbury's reports to Herbert Sunbury:
"She did it all right. She told me straight out. She's proud of it . . .the long and short of it - was she jealous of the kite. She said Herbert loved the kite more than he loved her and so she smashed it up and if she had to do it again she said do it again:
Clearly, The Kite by Mangham is a profounbly psychological story,a study in the psychology of human mind and behaviour. Commenting upon this aspect of the story,Derek Hudsen says:
"And the collection demonstrates . . . the new awareness of the lights and shadows within the human mind which has been generated by modern psychology and by the nervous intensity of contemporary life in his compelling story 'The Kite'  Mr. Mangham shows that he has moved in step with the terms."
Obviously modern short stories like modern poetry and drama seek to achieve a close approximation to real life in a style becoming increasingly responsible to human emotion and behaviour.

Questions :

• Attempt a critical appreciation of Maughan's The Kite.
• Discuss critically the theme of The Kite.
• Write a note on the art of story writing of W. S. Maughan.

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LIFE IS NOTHING BUT AN EMPTY DREAM

Life is nothing but an empty dream
Dream may succeed,
Only through our deed
But no one cares
No one dares.
Why one ignores,
Why one bemoans,
I tried to find many times
But found it as old regimes.
Life is nothing but an empty dream.
Why no one understands
I could never guess.
Everyone stands
To win one's race.
Be quiet,be calm,
Don't sit with your palm,
Dream may come true
When we follow its clue.
Life is a reward of nature
Don't spend it in flatter
It gives us pleasure
Drive away our tiredness
And convert it into happiness.

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Edward II By Marlowe

       Edward II  And Mortimer As A Tragic Protagonists

Edward II And Mortimer As Tragic Characters      

 Edward II written by Marlowe is a wholly different kind of drama. It is different from his Tamburlaine, Dr. Faustus, The Jew of Malta etc.
 As F. S. Boas observes;

"Turning aside from the fortunes of foreign and semi-legendary  personages like Tamburlaine, Faustus and Barabas, he went for his materials to the national history of his own country and selected for dramatic treatment, the tragical career of Edward  II....Thus Edward II  stands on a different level from any of its authors' previous work."
What makes it different kind of drama from Marlowe's dreams is a tragical treatment of the historical figures. It is a history treated dramatically as a tragedy.The important dramatic characters in it are the King Edward II and the king's main opponent,Mortimer.The other important characters like Gaveston and Queen Isabella are only secondary  characters moving round the central character of Edward II  and Mortimer.While Gaveston is on the side of the king Edward II,Queen Isabella is on the sick of Mortimer.
As F.S.Boas says:
"But it is above all in power of characterization that the olay shows most distinctive evidence of growth.Marlowe's earlier dreams are dominated by the commanding figure of the hero which over shadows and dwarfs the other personage. . .In Edward II  this fault is avoided and which the king stands clearly out as the central character.We have other well defined types in Gaveston and Mortimer."
Needless to stress that Edward II and Mortimers are the most central characters in the drama and the conflict between them brings out their tragic noisy and death..
Both Edward II and Mortimer are tragic characters They have each potent tragic trail in fatal flaw in their characters that brings out their downfall and misery.
This story of Edward II's life which is the theme if the drama in the story of his downfall and death brought out by his weakness for Gaveston. As A.Nicoll puts it:
"Marlowe tried his hard at one work of this kind,dealing(Edward II) with a young king whose impolitic and unhealthy devotion to a favourite brings view to ruin."
Gaveston,a French,is the favourite of Edward II.He knows the king's love for poetry and music.So,he manages to strengthen his hold on the king's affections and musical tastes and providing him with entertainment of all kinds. His devices are so successful that Edward II begins to neglect his duties as a king and husband. The king makes Gaveston an Earl Lord Of Man. This makes the nobles,Lords,peers and church to raise in revolt against the king as the king tells then:
"Make several kingdom of the monarchy,And shave it equally amongst you all,So,I may have some nook and corner left,To frolic with my dearest Gaveston."
The king's unnatural love for Gaveston which A Nicoll calls; "a private story of a homosexual infatuation." offends his wife, queen Isabella. She treats Gaveston as her rival.As she says;
 

"Unto the forest, gentle Mortimer,
To live in grief and baleful discontent;
For now, my lord, the king regards me not,
But doats upon the love of Gaveston.
He claps his cheeks, and hangs about his neck,
Smiles in his face, and whispers in his ears;
And when I come he frowns, as who should say,
“Go whither thou wilt, seeing I have Gaveston.”

Edward Kent,the king's brother warns him against his love and liking for Gaveston. He tells the king;
"My lord I see your love to Gaveston will be the ruin if the realm and you,for now,the wrathful nobles threaten wars.And therefore,brother, vanish him for ever."
But the king pays no attention. The king does not mind his neglect of his kingdom and Queen and ignores the protests of his nobles,lords, peers and church.The king expresses his will and determination to live with Gaveston rather than care for kingdom, wife and protests of his noble men.As the king says;
"I'll bandy with the barons and the earls'
And either die or live with Gaveston."
As a result of this weakness of the king for Gaveston, the Queen Isabella sides with the king's hostile noble men led by Mortimer. They together rise n revolt against the king and fight for the Queen's right and farewell of the kingdom. So, Mortimer kills Gaveston and assumes power after the king'S imprisonment.The king is imprisoned and sentenced to death.Now the king realises his fault.As he says;
 "O Gaveston!it is for thee that I am wronged."                                                                      .Thus,Edward II is brought to ruin and tragic death because of his weakness for unworthy Gaveston. He is not like the protagonists of Marlowe's earlier plays. He lacks in Tamburlaine's commanding power and Dr. Faustus' indominatable  will. He exhibits every form of royal baseness.
Another central character in the drama is Mortimer. He is a leader of the nobles in their conflict with Edward II and his favourite Gaveston. He is rough and determined in his opposition to the king. He is jealous of Gaveston. He is an accomplice of Queen Isabella. He kills Gaveston. He defeats the king's army and then orders the  king's imprisonment and death. He usurps the royal power for his own selfish ends and employs vulgar murderers for the murder of the king. Clearly, he is mean, jealous,proud,selfish and ambitious. After deposing the king and assuming royal power,he vacants his authority with despotic arrogance.
"The prince  I rule the queen do I command,And with a lowly conge to  the ground.The proudest lords salute me as I pass;I seal, I cancel I do what I will."
Clearly,Mortiner is ambitious of power like Tamburlaine. He often speaks of himself in the true spirit of Tamburlaine. His lawlessly aspiring ambition make him a traitor. So when prince Edward II that is Edward III comes to know about Martiner's hand in the murder of his father of Edward II he orders Mortiner's imprisonment and death. Mortiner meets his fate with a haughty indifference and without a touch of repentance and regret. As he says:

 " Base Fortune, now I see, that in thy wheel
There is a point, to which when men aspire,
They tumble headlong down: that point I touch'd,
And, seeing there was no place to mount up higher,
Why shall I grieve at my declining fall?
Farewell, fair queen. Weep not for Mortimer,
That scorns the world, and, as a traveller,Goes to discover countries yet unknown.” 
The note in the given passage is what pervades in all Marlowe's tragedy.The note is that of a contempt for earthly limitation and human yearning for attaining the unattainable.This is Renaissance spirit in the character of Mortimer.
J.C. Maxwell rightly says," ..that dynamic and ambition element is transferred to the Machiavelian Mortimer"  But this very spirit in him makes him traitor and ill at lover and a murderer.They are also a tragic trait in him that brings him to ruin and tragic misery and death.
 Clearly Edward II and Mortimer in their characters are doubtless tragic characters.They have each a tragic trait. If Edward II has an unnatural weakness for Gaveston ,which is unworthy of a king Mortimer has an undesirable ambition of power and authority. This tragic trait brings them to ruin and tragic death.

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Question

Question

Write a critical note on the character of Viola?

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MACBETH: THE DRAMA THAT MOVES AROUND THE VILLAINY OF LADY MACBETH

 LADY MACBETH: THE FOURTH WITCH OF THE DRAMA

Lady Macbeth is such a character in the drama 'Macbeth' that attracts all attentions of readers and audiences only towards herself.When Lady Macbeth appears in the drama,she is most commanding and awe-aspiring.She is fired by the same passion of ambition as Macbeth.She plans how she may help Macbeth achieve his promised greatness.She finds his nature to be full of of the milk of human kindness. She finds him to be a man whose ambitions,the will to achieve his ambition. So she but without taken upon herself to prepare him.She appeals to the spirits to help her by changing her sex from a woman to man and filling her body and mind with cruelty.She wants them to take away all her feelings ie. kindness and pity from her heart and feel it with gall and poison.She wants them to cover the night with the darkness of hell.So that her eyes may not see the wound that her hands cause and stop her from committing murder of the king Duncan.
when Macbeth meets her,she rouses him to action.She provokes him for murder of the king.She animates him by picturing the deed as heroic and willfully ignores its cruelty and faithfulness.She uses her sneers and taunts which Macbeth is unable to bear.She tells him;

"What beast was't, then

That made you break this enterprise to me?

When you durst do it, then you were a man

And, to be more than what you were, you would

Be so much more the man. Nor time nor place

Did then adhere, and yet you would make both:

They have made themselves, and that their fitness now

Does unmake you. I have given suck, and know

How tender 'tis to love the babe that milks me:

I would, while it was smiling in my face,

Have pluck'd my nipple from his boneless gums,

And dash'd the brains out, had I so sworn as you

Have done to this."

This works  affects upon Macbeth.He tells her-

"Prithee,peace ,I dare do all that may become a man who dares do  more, is none."

Thus,Macbeth is persuaded to commit the deed of murder of Duncan.Clearly she appears to play the role of an accomplice,instigator,a bettor and the wicked woman.So dramatic critics level to call her a Fourth Witch in the drama.As A.C. Bradley comments;

"In the earlier sevens of the many,Lady Macbeth's character is the most prominent.And if she seems invincible,she seems also inhuman.We find no trace of pity for the kind old king,no consciousness of the treachery and fussiness  of the murder,no sense of the value of the lives of the wretched men on whom the guilt is to be laid;no shrinking even from the condemnation or hatred of the world"                      But if one examines her character closely,one finds it to be an unfair judgement of her character. There are quite good  reasons to believe that she may be partly but not wholly responsible for the tragedy of Macbeth.

Firstly,one finds that that Lady Macbeth in the end of the drama is not the Lady Macbeth of the beginning of the drama. She is quite a different woman at the beginning of the drama. She is feared, afraid and weary. She is afraid of darkness. She walks in light (burning candle) by her all the night. She losses her sleep and peace of mind. She turns mad and commits suicide. This shows clearly that she is essentially a woman -weak,cowardly,sentimental,and nervous. Her will and courage at first act is momentary. It is a pretending  and show-done purposefully to get Macbeth to commit murder of the king and persuade him to become the king. Had she been really bold and courageous,she would not have been a weak,suffering woman to die by committing suicide.

Secondly,whatever she does to incite Macbeth for deed of murder is done from a sense of wifely duty to her husband. As a wife she thinks it to be part of her duty to help her husband achieve the glory and greatness of life. Had she not done as she did,then she would have failed in her duty and fallen in the estimation of people.

Thirdly,and the most important reason is that Macbeth,being a man and valiant soldier should have refuse to accept her suggestion. He would have told her sternly that murder is a crime and immoral sin and he would not commit it. But he yields to her. How unreasonable to believe that a soldier who could conquer many battles in life and could not prevail over a woman at the home. But the soldier is not unreasonable. There is an expectation for it. the fact of Macbeth's acceptance of his wife's suggestions makes it clear that the thought of murder of the king and seizing his power and authority has been already in mind it has been there from before. So when Lady Macbeth makes the suggestion he accepts it and acts upon it. The result of his deed of murder is his misery and tragic death.

Again Shakespearean tragedy is a tragedy of character. This means that the tragedy of a Shakespearean hero is all due to some weakness evil passion in his own character. It is never caused by any external power or agent.

As A.C. Bradley says:

"what we do feel strongly . . . is that the calamities and catastrophe follow the inevitably from the deeds of men and that the main source of these deeds is character."

Clearly,Macbeth's tragedy is the result of his vaulting ambition, that blinds him to the resultant consequences of his act and murder. Thus one may say that Lady Macbeth is at least partly responsible for Macbeth's tragic misery and death. Macbeth himself is wholly responsible for the tragic misery suffering and death in his life.

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Question 3

•  Do you think Lady Macbeth is the fourth witch in the drama,'Macbeth'?

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Question 2
Write a critical note on the character of Malvolio?

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your question

Question 

How Far is Lady Macbeth responsible for the tragedy Of Macbeth?

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About My Blog

➤➤Myself  Jeetendra kumar Mishra Present you my short description.I am very much intersted in English literature as it is the key to root out all the miseries of life. Having taken benefit from the literature,I want to share some with you.I hope You will like it after reading my posts.

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TWELFTH NIGHT AND THE CHARACTER OF MALVOLIO

           MALVOLIO IS MORE SINNED THAN SINNING  

MALVOLIO IS  ESSENTIALLY LUDICRUS

Malvolio is the most central character of the sub-plot or the secondary plot in Shakespeare's' Twelfth Night' speaking about Malvolio,F.S.Boas says;

"From love in its sentimental excess and its silent strength,we turn to love in its grotesque insufficiency,born not of the heart,nor even of the fancy,but of inflated self-conceit." 

 F.S.Boas means that Duke Orsino's love is a love born of the fancy and sentimental and Viola's love is a love born of the heart and genuine,Malvolia's love is a care of self - love,and selfish. His self- love is born of a high opinion of himself. As Maria describes Malvolio:

             "The devil a puritan that he is or anything constantly,but a time - pleasure ; an affectioned  ass, that cons state without book and utters it by great swarths : the best persuade of himself, so crammed, as he thinks with excellencies, that it is his grounds, of faith that all that look on him love him; and on that vice in him will my revenge 

                        Clearly Malvolio's  self-love is vice born of his puritanism his puritanical nature and character. He is austere, reserved, serious and rigid. So, he is averse to all cakes and ale and  dislike amusements. This is why he rebukes sir Toby Belch for his midnight revels and Fabian for his love of bear-baitaing.
He also rebukes Feste for his loose sallies and remarks.As a shepherd and manager of opinion  of olivi's estate,he thinks it to his duty to enjore .And for this reason,he rebukes Sir Toby:
"My masters,are you mad?Or what are you?Have you no wit,manners,nor honesty,but to gabble like thinkers at this time of night? Do you make an ale house of my lady's house?"
And again:
"Toby,I must be round with you. My lady bade me tell you that though she harbors you as her kinsman,she's nothing allied to your disorders.If you can separate yourself and your misdemeanors,you are welcome to the house.If not, an it would please you to take leave of her,she is very willing to bid you farewell." 
This is an example of Malvolio's high opinion of himself of his proud and haughty nature and puritan,thought and character,He is a puritan like Ben Jonson's puritan types.Here Shakespeare's intention is not praise but satirize Malvolio's character. Shakespeare treats excessive puritanism or false sense of puritanism as a vice.When there is an excess of it,it becomes a show,a practice to his law vices of gluttony and covetousness(greed).He satirises Malvolio's hypocrisy that is Malvolio's external show of austering and restraint,but internal desire and temptation for the pleasure of the senses and enjoyment.As F.S.Boas observes:
"It is only the last sheer of puritanism that becomes the prey of the selfish desires of the flesh.... that are the most prone to be the victims of the narrow brain and still narrower heart."
It is in this sense, in the sense of exposing hypocrisy of human nature that Charles Lamb says:
"The character of Malvolio is not essentially ludicrous"

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TWELFTH NIGHT AND THE CHARACTER OF VIOLA

                       VIOLA AS A TYPICAL HEROINE OF THE SHAKESPEARE

John Ruskin says,"Shakespeare has no heroes but heroines."He perhaps means that heroines of Shakespeare surpass the heroes in romantic comedies. Whether 'As You Like It' or 'Twelfth Night' or 'The Merchant Of Venice' the heroines are the queens of beauty, wit intellect,wisdom and faithfulness. They are more sensitive to intuition and responsive to emotion.Such a heroine is Viola in 'Twelfth Night.' As F.S.Boas says;"Equally removed from the Duke....and from Olivia....stands the figure of Viola,perfect in its balance of sensibility,gaity and strength. In her,Shakespeare has united qualities,which he usually tends to divide between ftwo different types of women.She has the softness of hero Priavea combined with the resolute will and ready tongue of Portia and Rosalin When Viola's ship is wrecked and she is helpless and shelterless,she decides to shelter in the court of Duke Orsino. But she is a young girl and cannot protect her modesty herself.So,she decides to disguise herself as a boy and assumes the name of Cesario. Clearly, her disguise, iintelligent and clever device to meet her differently.This also points out of her presence of mind,boldness and sharp intellect.

Disguise may be a common devise for most of the heroines of Shakespeare as Portia and Rosalind do,Viola does not use for roguish pleasures. Again though she disguises herself as a boy,she is unable to change her nature and heart.When she listens to Orsino's story of love and sorrow,she moves to pity. Her tender, loving heart goes out for him. She begins to love him without telling him know that she is a woman.Though he finds that she has all the resemblance to a woman, that she has "Diana's lips and a maiden's shrill small voice,"he does not doubt her sex identity.This points out her intelligent handling her situation.

         Viola's love is pure noble and sacrificing.Her love is not the sentimental love of Duke,Orsino for Olivia not the impulsive love of Olivia for Sebastian, nor the sensual love of Sir Toby Belch for Maria, nor the shallow love of Sir Andrew for Olivia, nor the self love of Malvolio. Viola's love is sincere and noble love of the heart. She loves Orsino and never speak of .She suffers in her love when she,goes to woo,Olivia for Orsino. She is not zealous in her love.Her love is a monument of patience smiling at grief. Clearly her love is noble, ideal, and self-sacrifice.

                Viola is sincere, honest and truthful.She performance her duty  to win Olivia for Orsino,              does it honestly and faithfully when she meets Olivia,and Olivia falls in love with her,she tells Olivia truthfully that she will never marry any woman.She tells Olivia;

"I have one heart,one bosom,one truth and that no woman has;nor never more shall mistress him of it,save I alone"

Viola is not ungrateful to anyone.She hates ingratitude.When Antonio charges her with igratitude

she repudiates it saying,"I know of none nor know  you by voice or any feature.I hate ingratitude more in a man than lying vainness..."

Viola is essentially a woman.She may disguise herself as a man,but she has woman's tenderness, pity lack of physical boldness and courage.She is afraid of blood shed and violence. She nearly faint at the

sight of bright swords in the brief comic scene of her fight with Sir Andrew.

           Above all, Viola is witty. She is as strong a wit as any other heroines of Shakespearean comedy. When she meet Olivia for the first time, Olivia asks her if she is a comedian. Viola replies,"I am not that I play." Again when Olivia wants to know about her beauty from Viola,she tells Olivia:                                                            " Lady you are the cruelest

                If you will lead those graces to grave

               And leave the world no copy."

Once again,when Olivia wants to know how much Orsino loves her,Viola says:

                       " With adorations,fertile tears,

                With groans that thunder love,with sighs of fire."

Thus,Viola is typical Shakespearean heroine.She has beauty,wit and honesty,truthfulness,wisdom ,delicacy and tenderness.She has compound of beauty,Portia's wit and Rosalind's loveliness.She is an example of one who is born great and achieved greatness.She is a heroine.Drama is completely in live with other great heroines of Shakespearean comedy.

                                     

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SONNET:SHAKKESPEARE'S AUTOBIOGRPHY

             SHAKESPEARE'S  SONNETS:A KEY TO UNLOCK HIS HEART

   

  Though Shakespeare  is better Known as a dramatist , his sonnets numbering 154  in all are no mean contribution to the development of Elizabethan literature. Before Shakespeare's sonnets there had been a tradition  of Italian or Petrarchan sonnet. Wyatt, Surrey, Sidney, Constable, Daniel, Dayton etc. have all written sonnets in the traditional manner and style. But, Shakespeare introduces some interesting variations in the rhyme-scheme.Shakespearean sonnets or English's differ significantly from Petrarchan sonnets in form, structure and rhyming.]
Some of Shakespeare's are addresses to a fair youth,some to the Dark lady.Shakespeare names the fair youth  as W.H. whom critics speculate to be William Herbert who becomes Earl in 1601.The fair youth i smart,handsome and attractive.Describing the fair youth in sonnet 18th,the poet says;
             "Shall I compare thee to summer's day?
              Thou art more lovely and more temperate."
Again ,in sonnet 54th, he says;
            "O! how much more doth beauty beauteous seem
            By that sweet ornament which doth give?"
                #                        #                       #
           And so of you beauteous and lovely youth,"
This fair youth is Shakespeare's close friend. But this friendship reaches a critical point or a breaking point whom both of them fall madly in love with the same woman as the sonnet 144th suggests .
Shakespeare introduces this woman as a Dark Lady in his sonnets. This dark lady is identified as Marry Eitton as maid of honour to Queen Elizabeth.
She is presented as possessing certain qualities corresponding to Shakespeare's mistress,a ready wit artistic accomplishments and having dark hair  and steals the heart of the poet's friend to herself. This three form is a triangle of one woman and two men. She becomes a cause of poet's alienation from the close friend. As the  poet describes in sonnet 33rd:
       "But,out! attack! he was but one friend
    The region cloud hath marked him from me now."
Thus Shakespeare suffers  a double wrong,a double loss- the loss of his beloved and the loss of his friend. However,he prizes friendship more  than his love. He takes a saner view that it is natural for a fair youth to fall a victim to  the arts of a tempress. So, he condones his friend forgives his friend's fault and makes peace with him. He advises his friend in the sonnets from 27th to 32nd to marry and perpetuate his fairness by producing progeny of his own face and handsomeness. He also promises to make his friend immortal in his verse ( i.e. sonnets ). Clearly, Shakespeare's life and love go through different phases - the phases of love,  of separation,of sorrow, depression,of betrayal and ingratitude of union of hope,trust, tolerance,of forgiveness and reconciliation. Sonnets 116th brings out the tone of reunion between them.
Now after analyzing the whole series of sonnets, it becomes obvious that Shakespeare's sonnets present a sequence connected stories of his life and love. They reveal his heart, record his feelings and sentiments,joys and grief,hopes and despair. His sonnets are all love sonnets dealing with the varying moods of his own mind as a lover and a friend giving expressions to his passion of love,of hatred,of jealousy,of despair and now to that of trust,hope,sweet  reasonableness,tolerance,forgiveness and reconciliation. All his sonnets are autobiographical touch upon the personal elements; events in his life and love. They unlock his inner heart and feelings and read like a personal dairy. As J.C. Grier son and J.C.Smith observes:
"The thought of transience of youth and beauty only hinted at in the comedies,is the burden of the sonnets. Apart from personal references they are a descant on Time and Death."
Speaking further,they observe: "The remarkable change that comes over Shakespeare's works after 1600 must surely reflect some change in himself. He had left his youth left behind. Perhaps in his weak state the wounds that the "dark lady" had dealt him began to ache again.''
Similarly, Wordsworth says that Shakespeare "expresses his own feelings in his own person." Many other critics like,to name a few, Hallam,Swinburne,Dowden,Furnivall Tyler etc. believe that his sonnets are" genuine autobiographical confessions."
The other opinions on Shakespeare's sonnets regard them to be "the free outcome of a poetic imagination." The critics of these opinions considers sonnets as "mere exercises inverse." But Professor Dowden contradicting them,says:

"In the sonnets, as  the  other forms, the poetry of the time,which possessing and enduring quality was not commonly caught out of the air, but  however large the conventional element in it may have been,was born of the  union of heart and  imagination; in it  real feelings and real experiences submitting to the  poetical fashion of the day, where raised to an ideal expression."
Similarly,F.S.Boas observes;
"It is inconceivable that such intensity of passion as the reveal - the love,jests,remorse and the striving between the sense and spirit should spring from no solid basis of fact."
There is also a great deal of own-ship with the fair youth.If some consider it to  be transcendental others consider it to be physical and quasi- sexual.Most critics agree that during renaissance "passion of friendship was often placed  on a more transcendental height than the passion of love."
As Ingram and Theodone Redpath observe;
"It may ,however be in place to state our general impression which is that the relationship was one of profound and times agitated friendship,which involved a certain physical and quasi- sexual fascination emanating from the young friend but did not necessarily include pederasty in a lurid senses"
"Discouraging scholars and students against such notion,they argue;
Elizabethan speech-habits and literary connections certainly encouraged a more fulsome and more frankly emotional style of expression in such relations than would prevail today. . . "
Whatever be the truth-whether the passion of friendship in a transcendental sense or the passion of love in a lurid sense;the fact remarks that Shakespeare's sonnets relate to his personal life,love,events,incidents,fortunes, misfortunes,a sequence of events in his personal life and history.

                                       J K Mishra

                                         

                                    

     

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TWELFTH NIGHT :ROMANTIC COMEDY

 TWELFTH NIGHT:POPULAR ROMANTIC COMEDY OF SHAKESPEARE 

Shakespeare's Twelfth Night is a romantic comedy written almost in the some style as Two Gentle Man Of Verona and The Comedy Of Errors. All of them are fundamentally a poetic and imaginative approach to human quest for happiness in life. The characters seem to be the voyagers in pursuit of happiness,joy,mirth,gaity, fun and humour. So the scenes and characters are all of conceived in the glow of strange and beautiful fancy.
                                                          Shakespeare's romantic comedy is fundamentally different from the classical comedy of manners and a realistic comedy aims at exposing and expected and social morality the comedy of humour and the comedy of manners aim at holding up to contempt and ridicule the oddities of individual or of a social institution. Similarly the romantic comedy aims a removing man's romantic illusions woven round the socials concepts of love war, marriage,   patriotism duty morality etc. All the varieties of comedy are satirical in tone and reformative in purpose. But a romantic comedy is essentially poetic and imaginative.It stresses a romantic treatment of themes and characters. The setting is all imaginative.It is either unhistorical. France or the forest of Arden of Illyria not wholly unrelated to real life.So,there is strange union of fantasy and realism.The scenes are such as make a romantic of the things of life and realistic of the imaginative and improbable events and situations. Besides the wit and humour, mirth and gaity predominate in a romantic drama. The humour is born of a union of intellect and emotion eradicates both the scenes and characters.
Among the themes of romantic comedy or Shakespearean comedy love is more particularly love, at first sight is the main theme. It occupies a central position and provides the main dramatic interest    As H.B .Charlaton says.
"It is not worthy that some of his great comedies are even more exclusively the plays of lovers and their wooers."  
Another important aspect of Shakespearean romantic comedy is that the heroines surpass the heroes. Unlike his tragedy in which hests predominate in his comedy,the heroines play aleading role.So,John Ruskin Bond says,"Shakespeare has no hero but heroine." This is true of all his great comedies like,
"As You Like It","Twelfth Night","The Merchant Of Venice".All the comedies have a galaxyof the queens of beauty ,intellect,wit and wisdom.They love sharp intellect,a more penetrating wit and imagination and maturer than the heroes. It is perhaps, because Shakespeare found sensitive to intuition and responsible to emotion.Clearly,romantic comedy is more prominently a comedy of love.
                Disguise or mistaken eternity is another important element in the plot construction of a romantic comedy and produces,a great deal of mirth and gaity, fun and humour.
It is now desirable to examine Twelfth Night in the light of alone discussion for the sake of example.
Viola and Sebastian set out on a voyage and level unhistorical city of Illyria.              
 Viola, the heroine of the drama disguises herself as a boy and appear before Orsino,The Duke of Illyria for his scenes and livelihood. While serving Orsino, she falls in love with him. Orsino loves Olivia and Olivia loves Viola who is in disguise of a boy named Cesario, Orsino's love of Viola who is  narrating of fancy and and sentimental love.Olivia has a certain and austere temper.
But Viola has a balance of heavenly wit and sensibility.According to F.S. Boas,"She has due softner of hero and Olivia combined with the resolute will and ready tongue of Portia and Rosalind.
In contrast with the sentimental love of Orsino and silent love of Viola and Viola's love for Orsino is carried through mistaken identity of  Viola who disguises herself as a boy Olivia also mistaken Viola's brother Sebastion for Viola and marries him hastily,early love and disguise are the main themes and provides the main dramatic interest as well as the fun and gaity in the drama.The fun and gaity is further provides by the loose sallies of the witty Fabian and Festle,the fools and clowns in the drama.The pair of Maria and Sir Toby Belch also adds to the fun and gaity in the drama.There is of

course an unhappy world of Malvolio, where love for Olivia ends in his frustration.But it is a small episode of a subplot in the drama,and its purpose is to expose the hypocritical vice of puritanism.Puritanism may be a virtue but when it becomes a guise for concealing selfish desire,it becomes hypocricy and a vice.There is a slight abstain in the character of  Malvolio. So,Charles is of opinion that Malvolio's character is not essentially ludicrous .
Thus a close analysis of the plot and theme of Twelfth Night makes it clear that it is a romantic comedy. Speaking about the theme of love  in this drama,F S.Boas observes-
"The relation between Twelfth Night and Two Gentle Men Of Varona is of a more intimate kindfor in both plays the dramatist is chiefly occupied with the same fundamental themes of love in its varied manifestation."
Clearly, the treatment of the theme of love and the role of disguise provides the main romantic setting.Besides,it has an unhistorical setting and an imaginary situation.There is a happy world and love,joy,fun and gaity throughout the drama.So J.C Maxwell observes;
                      " . . . Twelfth Night is justly praised as a masterpiece of stagecraft and is perhaps the most popular work of Shakespearean comedy."


JEETENDRA MISHRA
                                                                                                           















                                                                                                                                                      a                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            
                                         
     

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MACBETH : A TRAGEDY OF CHARACTER

MACBETH: TRAGEDY  OF AMBITION

             Shakespearean tragedy A.C. Bradley say,"is pre-eminently the story of one person,the  hero or at most of two, the hero and the heroine as in the love tragedies like Romeo And Juliet  and "Antony And Cleopatra"
Secondly Shakespearean tragedy is always concerned with great persons-persons of high degree and station of life.Shakespearean heroes are either the kings as in Lear or princess as in Hamlet  or leader of the state as in Coriolanus or persons of high public importance as in Macbeth   and Othello. Macbeth and Othello are no mere private persons but the generals of the republic on whose strength and weakness depends the general welfare of the state.they are so great persons that their personal fortunes or misfortunes affect the welfare of the whole state. Modern tragedy is obviously a contrast from Shakespearean tragedy. For modern tragedy introduces small men and women as heroes- the men and women drown from a common and humble station of life.

Again Shakespearean tragedy is essentially a tale of  suffering calamity leading to the death of heroes.  But suffering and calamities of the heroes do not simply happen nor they are sent above or from outside.They proceed from the deeds actions and character.This is to suggest  every Shakespearean tragic hero is possessed  by some violent passion - the passion of love as in Romeo , or of ambition as in Macbeth or of jealousy in Lear, or of pride as in Coriolanus or of world scruple as in Hamlet. This passion gives rise to an inner conflict of wills, desires and motives. This also works as a terrible force and leads them to a tragic situation which they are unable to resist. As A.C. Bradley puts it:

" . . . desire, passion or will attains in them a terrible force. In almost all we observe a market one sidedness, a predisposition in some particular direction; a total incapacity . . . of resisting the force which   . . . in the direction; a factual tendency to identify the whole living with one interest,object,passion or habit of mind. This is the fundamental tragic trail." 
Exactly for this reason of violent passion, Mrs. Campbell calls Shakespearean tragic heroes "a slave of passions." Their slavery to passion is their tragic trait or factual flaw that works out their tragic doom and misery. Clearly, Shakespearean tragedy is a tragedy of character. The character of a hero     becomes his fate or destiny.This is to say that tragedy of a Shakespearean hero  is determined by the passion and traits in his character, and not by and external fate as one finds in Greek tragedy nor by any hostile environment. As one finds in modern tragedy. The idea of a tragic hero as a passion destroyed solely by external forces is quite alien to Shakespeare.
Judging the character of Macbeth in this light, we find that Macbeth is a tragedy of character of ambition and his own character is his fate and destiny.
Macbeth is a general of the state of Scotland and his endowed with  great human qualities. He has will, courage, valour and determination. he is proud and commanding. He shows great personal courage in putting down a rebellion and repelling the invasion of a foreign army, and rises to great power and glory.
But he has a valient passion - a vaulting ambition in him. He is ambitious of power and crown. His passion for power is so strong that he thinks only of the ways that can make the attainment of power, passion for him. He is so much possessed by his ambition, by his will to attain power and crown that he does not visualize the dark side and consequences of it.
As A.C. Bradley observes:
"ambition the love of power extinct of self assertion are much too potent in Macbeth to permit him to resign even in spirit."
Clearly, the Macbeth's vaulting ambition is a tragic trait  on factual flaw in his character. One may, however say that the witches misguide him, or lady Macbeth provokes him the crime of murder but it does not appeal to the reason to hold the witches responsible for Macbeth's crime. For Macbeth is a brave soldier, and has a freedom of will and action. He is free to accept or reject the prediction of the witches or the provocation of Lady Macbeth.
He accepts them because he has already in him a predisposition towards power and royal authority. He has already had a vague ambition of power and kingship from before.  The witches only articulate what is vague and in articulates in his mind. Thus, Macbeth's vaulting ambition leads in him in to a situation in which he commits murder of Duncan and realises him ambition. He achieves power, authority and kingship. Now to keep himself safe and secure in his power and authority he plans and executes and series of murders - the murder of Banquo, of lady Macduff and her children. He ceases in his acts of murder only when the forces against him. Combine overpower and kill him.
Clearly, Macbeth's miseries and death are wholly caused by his passion, deeds and character. Since Macbeth's character is the spring of his deeds and actions. His characters become his fate or destiny and is responsible for his tragic miseries and death.

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SHAKESPEARE'S FOOL IN 'KING LEAR'

     ROLE AND SIGNIFICANCE OF FOOL IN SHAKESPEARE'S DRAMA KING LEAR

     It is quite paradoxical that a fool should find a place in the tragedies. Unlike comedies,tragedies are serious plays dramatising the 'vales of tears' of human life. So, comedies are the fittest place for a fool. However Shakespeare introduces fool alike in his 'comedies and tragedies. His comedies like As You Like It and Twelfth Night and tragedies like King Lear and Antony And Cleopatra and Timon of Athens have the fools and clowns. In many of his other comedies and tragedies, there may not be distinct fools, but there are characters who perform the roles of the fools and clowns
The tradition of introducing fools and clowns comes from the Morality plays. They are beloved of the groundlings. Their antics, songs, dances, and jests often too gross and unverified delighted them and did something to make the plays a kind of variety entertainment. However, they are not always wholly conducive to the dramatic unity. This is why learned critics have often commented upon their relevance and wished their abolition altogether from the drama. Incidentally one may refer to Hamlet's objection to  them in emphatic terms. No wonder if their parts begins to decline as the time passes and drama advances. Their roar is diminished markedly towards the end of the 16th century. Ben Jhonson and Massinger completely exclude them.Even Shakespeare abstains from introducing  in his Roman plays and their is no fool in the last of his pure tragedies Macbeth.
whatever may be said about the history and the tradition of the fools in the drama and their relevance, the fact remains that the fool in King Lear is an important character and has been a favourite subject for the comments of the dramatic critics. A.C. Bradley, for example, says:
"But the fool is one of Shakespeare's triumphs in King Lear. Imagine the tragedy without him, and hardly him, and you hardly know it. To remove him would spoils its harmony as the harming of a picture would be spoiled if one of the colors were  extracted."
Similarly, F.S. Boas observes:
"The fool in King Lear is the only specimen of his class who appears  in Shakespearean tragedy, and he fills a unique role."
Needless to stress that Shakespeare treats the fool in King Lear with as much skill and perfection as he does the other important characters like Lear, Edgar, Kent etc. He makes the fools in this plays perform a curiously specialized function.
But before one proceeds further it is relevant to state that there is a great difference of opinion among the dramatic critics on the point whether the fool is a boy or a grown-up man or whether he is really a same man pretending to be half-witted or not. Though Lear often addresses him as a boy, it remains vague whether the fool is really a boy in his age or not, or whether Lear addresses him. So in a lighter mood or because of his closeness to and intimacy with Lear. But these points are beside our relevant discussion. Our discussion is restricted to a consideration of the fool's role and significance in the drama.
Again it is also desirable here to state that the fool is a  timid, delicate, and frail being. He pines away when Cordelia goes to France. Though he takes great liberties with his master, he is frightened by Goneril, and becomes quite silent when the quarrel between Lear and Goneril rises high and serious. In the terrible scene between Lear and his two daughters and Cornwell, he says not a word making us forget his presence.
It is also a common place criticism to say that the fool is a mere jester and his job is to divert and entertain Lear, the king, or to say that the fool is just a substitute in the Elizabethan drama for the chorus in the Greek drama. The role of the fool in King Lear is dramatically immensely significant.
Comment upon the significance of the fool in the drama, A.C.Bradley rightly refers to the storm-scenes. Bradley says that the effect of  the storms -  scenes depends largely on the presence of three characters - Lear, Edgar and fool and on the affinities and contrasts among them. All of them are different in their station and status  - Lear, a king, Edgar, a beggar , noble , and the fool, a commoner and lowly but all of them are leveled by one blast of calamity and afflicted by common insanity. This is to say that calamity and nature's cruelty overtakes them all without distinction. All of them suffer equally,through for different degrees.
This brings out another aspect of the fool's character. That the fool is heroic, is a remarkable quality in his character.His heroism consists largely in his efforts to out jest his master's enquiries at a time when it is most difficult to do.  It is a kind of heroism which is equal to Lear's personal endeavour to learn patience  at the age of eighty.
Further, the fool's comage devotion and faithfulness are equally heroic and admirable. In all days of prosperity and adversity of his master and at all places whether the court or the bad inclement whether out of the court, the fool follows his master and serves him best. Referring to this virtue in the fool, A.C.Bradley comments :
". . . his faithfulness and courage would be even more heroic and touching."
Above all, the fool plays the role of a regular commentator on the follies of Lear. Discussing this role of the fool, F.S. Boas rightly says, "The one theme upon which he harps without rest is the egregious folly of Lear in parting with his crown and putting his neck under Goneril and Regan's youk."
He regrets this folly in Lear.He brings to Lear's consciousness his helplessness  because of his folly to commit himself to the care of his hypocritical daughters.He brings out Lear's helpless position by comparing him with the lowest forms of animal life, with the snail, the eel,the oyster, the hedge-sparrow. He often attacks Lear's folly with dogged  snatches,with conundrums and epigrams. Clearly,the fool has a strange mixture of simplicity and acuteness. He has very keen mind,a sharp intellect and penetrating power.
He also performs a symbolic role, the role of Lear's guilty conscience. He is all most an outward form of Lear's voice of conscience.
Thus, to conclude, the fool in' King Lear' performs various roles-the role of jester, of a faithful friend,of a devoted servant,of a critical guide and commentator. so, he is "all things to all men." But he reforms his different offices with his unique devotion and humility sincerity and faithfulness and often with, half lavity and half seriousness. This Boas puts it:
The typical fool as has been seen in the case of Feste, is all things and it his office to sandy world with every chance comes on any topic . . ."  

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King Lear: Critical note on the dramatic significance of double plot or secondary plot or sub plot

KING LEAR:  DRAMATIC POEM 

King Lear is vast in magnitude, large in number of characters and various in interpretation. It is poetic,imaginative and at times very dramatic. If Gervinus, for example, calls it an epic tragedy and compares it to the classical and medieval tragic epics, Brineck  declares it to be" the mightiest work that Shakespeare  has created." Again, if Professor Dowden speaks of it "as the greatest single Teutonic or northern genius."Schlegal is of opinion that" the picture becomes gigantic.; We seem to be outlookers  at a great commotion in the moral world." If Hazlitt calls it"the best of his plays," A.C. Bradley calls it " to be the Shakespeare's greatest achievement." Bradley groups it with works like Prometheus Victus and Divine Comedy. . ."

L.C. Knight observes:

"The essential structure of Shakespeare's plays is poetic ."Adding further, he says: "Lear. . .is a universal allegory and its dramatic technique is determined by the need to present certain permanent aspects of the human situation, with a maximum of imaginative realization and a minimum regard for the conventions of naturalism."
So, Charles Lamb declares that Lear is "essentially impossible to be represented on a stage."
Clearly, Lear is a vast and complex drama having a meaning at different levels__ poetic,symbolical,allegorical,moral and imaginative.
The vastness of canvass variety and complexity of interpretation is largely due to double-plot, meaning and symbols. 'King Lear' has two plots a main plot consisting of Lear,his three daughters Goneril, Regan, and Cordelia his three sons-in-law,Duke of Albany, Duke of Cornwall and king of France, his associates like Earl of Kent and Fool,and a sub-plot or a secondary plot consisting of Earl of Gloucester, his two sons,Edgar and the bastard, Edmund. The two plots together make the whole drama.All dramatic actions,interactions, events, movements proceed from the characters of the two plots. Thus,there is a double-actions in the drama.

This double-action serves a great deal of dramatic purpose and implies a complex dramatic significance. The sub-plot or secondary plot-fills out a story that would have been otherwise slight, thin and less impressive. The main plot by itself is slight. And, what is slight is expanded and extended to a complete story by the sub-plot or under plot.The two plots together add to the tragic strength,depth,scale and grandeur of Lear's tragedy
It is true that the sub- plot simply repeats the theme of the main plot.For,what happens to Lear also happens to Gloucester.Like Gloucester, Lear is also affectionate, credulous, unauspicious and self-willed. He, too deeply wrongs a child who is loyal and sincere to him - Edgar to Gloucester and Cordelia to Lear. Both of them are betrayed by the child ( or children in Lear's case ) who are disloyal and in sincere to them.- Edmund to Gloucester and Goneril and Regan to Lear. They suffer from monstrous in gratitude betrayal, mistrust, misplaced confidence from the very child whom they favour ; and are tortured and tormented to misery and death. Thus the repetition of the theme of filial love, filial ingratitude, of betrayal, cruelty, lust, greed etc. in both plots reinforces a point - a point that ingratitude or more particularly, filial ingratitude is no mere accident or individual moral aberration but a universal phenomenon. As A.C. Bradley observes:
"This repetition does not simply double the pain with which the tragedy is witnessed; it startles and terrifies us by suggesting that the folly of Lear and ingratitude of his daughters are no accidents or merely individual aberrations, but that in the dark cold world some fateful malignant influence is abroad, turning the hearts of the fathers against their children smiting the earth with a curse, so that the brother gives the brother to death and father the son, blinding the eyes, maddening the brain, freezing the springs of pity, numbing all powers except the nerves of anguish and dull lust of life."
This is the effect of double action which Schlegal first point out in his criticism  of  'King Lear.'
                                                       Similarly,L.C. knights says;
". . . the consciousness of Lear is part of the consciousness of human world. There is the same destiny of effect throughout. One character echoes another the blinding of Gloucester parallels the cruelty  done to Lear; Gloucester loses his eyes, and Lear's mind is darkened; Gloucester learns to see better in his blindness, and Lear reaches his final insight . . . through madness ''                                  Thus, Lear's characters is central and other characters are peripheral. They exist only in relation to him.Lear's tragic misery,suffering and death brought about by the ingratitude of his daughters is central, and those of others are only subservient to Lear's tragic pity, terror and appeal. It only adds to the epic dimension to the Lear-theme. As F.S. Boas says, ''It (King Lear) has a  main plot of absorbing interest into which minor plot. . . dovetail with exquisite nicety. . ." or, as A.C. Bradley says, " While reading   or watching' King Lear' we feel as though we were witnessing something universal of conflict not so much of particular persons as of the powers of good and evil in the world.''
Lear's  tragic life and fate is symbolical of that of humanity,of universal human life.This epic treatment ,epic dimension given to Lear's tragedy is a masterstroke of Shakespeare's dramatic and poetic genius. Lear's story is allegorical in this sense,in the sense that the particular represents the general,the personal,the universal. It is also unfair to think that it has no action.It has doubtless,action .but the action is more of mental,intellectual poetic,moral and psychological than physical. Action occurs more in the mind than physical and bodily.' King Lear 'has more of inward action and progressive movement than 'Macbeth' and 'Othello' .As A.C.Bradley observes:
" . . . that which makes the peculiar greatness of 'King Lear' -the immense-scope  of the work, the mass and variety of intense experience which it contains . . . the vastness of the convulsion both of nature and of human passion ;the vagueness of the sense where the action takes place . . . the half-realized  suggestions of vast universal fates and passions-all this interferes with dramatic clearness  . . . This is not so with the other great tragedies."
This is why Charles Lamb holds the opinion that "theatrical representation of 'King Lear' gives only a part of what we imagine when we read them."
  

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King Lear

Of all Shakespeare's great tragedy  'King Lear' is considered to be the most vast and complex. It admits of interpretation at various levels. To quote some opinions, Gervinus calls it an epic tragedy, and compares it to the classical and medieval tragic epic. Brinek declares that "taken as a whole, it is the mightiest work that Shakespeare has created." Dow den speaks of it''as the greatest single achievement in poetry of the Teutonic or northern genius"Sch legal is of opinion that"the picture  (in king Lear) becomes gigantic, we seem to be out lookers at a great commotion in the moral world."Hazlitt calls it"to attempt to give a description of the play itself, or of its effect on the mind, is mere impertinence"A.C.Bradley observes.

" 'King Lear'  Seems to me Shakespeare's greatest achievement, but it seems to me not his best play . "  Adding further, he says   "I....am grouping it in my mind with works like the Prometheus victus and the Divine Comedy,and even with the greatest Symphonies of Beethoven and the Statues in the Medici chapel" So there is little wonder when lamb declares that it is "essentially impossible to be represented on a Stage ".

All these different opinions imply a very rich tribute to Shakespeare's intellectual and poetical power s  what accounts for the greatness of  King Lear may be summed up in a single word- "vastness"According to Bradley , the peculiar greatness of king Lear rests upon " the immense scope of the work, the mass and variety of intense experience, the sublime imagination, piercing pathos, the vastness of convulsion both of nature and of human passion , the half - realized suggestions of vast universals powers working in the world of individual fates and passions. " Clearly, the unique mixture of Teutonic vastness and passion with orderly elaboration of devils leads the great number of critics to place king Lear at the head of Shakespeare's writings.

In spite of all this, the basic fact  is that king Lear is one of Shakespeare's great and mature tragedies. As one of the four great and mature tragedies, king Lear has all those important features and tragic ingredients which Macbeth , Othello and Hamlet have. It is fundamentally a shadow tragedy.

Shakespearean tragedy according to A.C. Bradley, "is pre-eminently the story of one person, the hero, or at most, of two the hero and heroine. But the hero is not a small man. He is great and eminent-either a king as in Lear or a prince in Hamlet, or a person of high public importance as in Othello and Macbeth.  

Though he is a man of uncommon virtue, he is not a superman. He has also some common human failing and weakness in his character.

Again as Bradley says Shakespearean tragedy  " is essentially a tale of suffering and calamity leading the hero to death at the end of the drama. But the calamity dose not simply happen, nor it is sent from above or outside." It  proceeds from  the  mature, character,  disposition and actions of the hero. The  source of all these is a character. So, his character  becomes his fate or destiny.  Thus ,Shakespeare's tragedy becomes a tragedy of  character. This means that all misery and loss,suffering and death of the hero is due to some  tragic trait or fatal flaw in the character of the hero himself. It means that some strong desire, will, passion and interest in the character of  the  hero leads him into a situation that causes suffering and death to him. As Bradley puts it--------

".....desire , passion or attains in them (heroes) a terrible force. In almost all we observe a marked onesidedness , a pre-disposition in some particular direction a total in capacity.... of resisting the force which draws in that direction, a fetal tendency to identify the whole being with one interest,object , passion or habit of mind.this...is......fundamental trait."

This tragic trait, for example, is the pride and  anger in Lear,  ambition in Macbeth, moral scruple  in Hamlet, jealousy and credulity in Othello. This passion in his over-mastering passion. This initials him into action, and starts a course of  action which he cannot  control nor can he alter its consequences.This passion works like a fury and blinds him to other possibilities. so, Mrs. Campbell calls a Shakespearean   hero" a slave of passion." Clearly, Shakespearean tragedy is fundamentally different from the Greek and modern tragedy in many respects. The idea of a Shakespearean tragic  hero as a being destroyed  simply and solely by external forces is quite strange to Shakespeare. 

Now judging 'King Lear' in the light of the observation made above ,it becomes clear that Lear is a tragedy of character and passion. All Lear's misery and suffering are the consequences  of his action and conduct ......... . They determine the consequences of his life. There is an intimate connection between his conduct and consequences.

Let us now briefly explain Lear's  conduct. Lear is very  old and has been the king for a long time. As an old man, he has become childish, infirm, choleric  and wayward. As Lear him- self admits....

                             "Pray, do not mock me.

                          

 I am a very foolish bond old man,

  Fourscore and upward......                   

 And to deal mainly,

  A fear I  am not in my perfect mind."

As a king for a long time, he has developed a sense of absolute power, a certain amount of folly and rashness and a love for flattery. His pride and anger are deeply ingrained in his nature. All this is made clear from Kent's speech to Lear:

  "when power to flattery bows? To plainness honour's bound.

when majesty falls to folly. Reserve they state; And in the best consideration, check this hideous rashness......"

All these traits of his character pride, anger, consciousness of power and authority, unsuspiciousness, love of flattery and childish foolness lead him into situations in which he commits a series of errors, blunders and wrong actions.

His rash and childish scheme of dividing his kingdom among his daughters on the basis of their professions of love is one of the great example of his various errors. As A.C. Bradley comments;

"His fatal weakness, error, wrongdoing continues almost to the end."

The result of all these errors is his misery, madness,suffering and death.

It is another matter, as professor Dowden says, that his suffering also start a process of his education and purification. Bit the realization of his errors comes too late to save him from his Catestrophe . So, A.C. Bradley rightly comments:

"The centre of the tragedy, therefore,may be said.... to lie in actin issuing from character issuing in action.''

Needless to add that Lear's tragedy is a tragedy of character and passion in the same way as that of Macbeth's, Othello's, and Hamlet's.

                                             

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