Drama
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Volpone
By Ben Jonson
Ben Jonson was a classicist whose masters were the ancients.
Jonson’s plays obey the rules of unity that of action and time, and he
added to them the unity of place. The action takes less than a day and
the scene never moves from the initial setting. Jonson’s characters are
very simple and they were modeled on the idea of the four humors, sanguine,
choleric, phlegmatic, and melancholic; which mixed in different proportions
and gave different human types. He wrote remarkable comedies like Volpone
and The Alchemist. He is concerned with making his comedy out of the situations
of his own time; he is always contemporary in his themes and settings.
Jonson’s gift is verbal and it is coupled with sharp observation, a keen
sense of satire, and a strong sense of humor.
Volpone is a rich gentleman of Venice who plans to get richer
by pretending to be near death so that his friends will bring him valuable
gifts in the hope that he will assign one of them to be his heir. His servant
Mosca aids him in his plan. Volpone is visited by Voltore, a lawyer, Corbaccio
who is a deaf old gentleman, and Corvino who is a young merchant. Through
Mosca, Volpone learns that Corvino is a jealous husband of a beautiful
wife, and he determines to see her.
In Act II Volpone is disguised and pretends to sell a magical
ointment under the window of Celia, Corvino’s wife. Young Peregrine and
the foolish knight Sir Politic Would-Be stood watching the scenery. But,
after she appears, Corvino arrives and acts nervously. Then, Mosca visits
Corvino and informs him that the doctors have prescribed a cure for his
sick master and that this cure is to find a woman to sleep with him. Out
of eagerness Corvino offers his wife and tells Celia that they have been
invited to a feast at Volpone’s house.
During Act III we know that Bonario, Corbaccio’s son, will be
disinherited by his father in favor of Volpone. Mosca promises him to let
him hear his father saying so. At the same time, Sir Politic Would-Be’s
wife comes to visit Volpone and chats too much to the extent that Mosca
gets rid of her by saying that he has seen her husband in a gondola with
a courtesan. Corvino and Celia arrive before Corbaccio, and Volpone, in
a long seen, tries to seduce her. When he is about to rape her, Bonario
enters, takes her away and threatens that he will bring a lawsuit against
him (Volpone). Quickly, Mosca thinks and tells Corbccio, who has just arrived,
that his son Bonario intends to kill him, also, he tells Voltore that this
plan is for his own sake and that he will be able to inherit two fortunes
(Corbaccio’s as well as Volpone’s). So the lawyer agrees to defend Volpone
against the charge of rape.
Mosca, in Act IV, convinces lady Would-Be to testify against
Celia and says that she is the courtesan who seduced her husband. Moreover,
Voltore argues that Bonario and Celia are secret lovers who wanted to bring
a false charge against Volpone. Corbaccio gives evidence against his son
and Corvino against his wife. When Volpone is carried in to the court,
the judges did not believe that he was capable of rape. Bonario and Celia
were sent to wait for their sentence.
In Act V, Volpone plans to win more; he writes a will in favor
of Mosca and spreads the news of his death. Then, he watches Mosca while
dismissing Voltore, Corbaccio, Corvino, and Lady Would-Be, in a scornful
way. They get furious at the way they were tricked, and when the court
is set to pass sentence on Bonario and Celia, Voltore confesses his earlier
lies and places the blame on Mosca. Volpone, feeling danger, and in disguise,
informs Voltore that Volpone is still alive and intends to make him his
heir. Voltore changes his words in front of the judges once more and they
get confused. Mosca enters and assures that his master is dead, and consequently,
Volpone tries to negotiate the situation with his servant and finally takes
off his disguise and reveals the whole truth. The judges end the play by
passing heavy sentence on all the guilty persons.
The Classical Characteristics
Of
Jonson’s Volpone
Jonson was influenced by classical ideas about drama. Concerning
the idea of unities, he did not accept the unities as laws, but welcomed
them as optional aids to the artistic development. He is one of the masters
of dramatic structure, but his pattern is more complex. The play’s events
are obeying the unity of time. It opens after sunrise and all the events
follow in a sequence that meant to end at the end of the day. The unity
of place could be noticed only if we considered that the action happened
in the same town. This is a neo-classic convention that demanded that everything
should take place in one town. The unity of action, according to Jonson,
means that one should not be able to remove a part without troubling the
whole. In Volpone, there is the sub-plot between Sir Politic Would-be and
Peregerine. It is not an essential part in the play and if excluded the
play would have followed the strict unities as represented through Jonson’s
point of view.
Concerning other classical features in the play, we know that
the classical comedy had its aim. The classics conceived of comedy as a
play that satirizes human follies and aimed to change them in a comic manner.
This is exactly what Jonson did; he criticized the human greed represented
in almost all of his characters, Volpone, Mosca, Corbaccio, Voltore, and
Mr. and Mrs. Would-be. Moreover the plot of the play is borrowed from classical
sources, but transferred to suit the Elizabethan audience.
Note Concerning Dr. Faustus.
He is a tragic Hero.
The play fulfils the aim of tragedy, (pity and fear).
The role of the chorus.
Marlowe was indebted to the classical influence, yet he
disagreed with the idea of fate. He gave his hero the free will to choose
the right as opposed to the wrong. Furthermore, his tragic hero is not
of a noble birth or belongs to the elite, yet he successfully presents
the tragic hero.
A Comparison Between
Doctor Faustus & Volpone.
The Renaissance Influence
The Renaissance was featured as an age of acquisition and quest.
There was an acquisition of knowledge as represented in Faustus’s character.
Faustus:
Typically Renaissance figure.
His longing for knowledge and power.
Evil represented through the character of Faustus does
not prevent the audience from feeling sympathy with the hero. The world
is no longer divided into two parts or evil and virtue. This is a Renaissance
concept that is against this division.
Volpone is a story of another kind of longing or acquisition,
that of money. All of the characters are motivated by greed, and they are
all searching for material gains.
The play ends without the conception of virtue rewarded
and vice punished. At the end of the play we know that justice is served
and it is left to us to naturally understand the reason.
Twelfth Night
Twelfth Night, the most carefully plotted and expertly written
of Shakespeare's romantic "Golden Comedies" is a miracle of musical form
and balance. The festive, gently satirical comic plot centers around a
series of practical jokes and mistaken identities. Two plots are inextricably
related to each other, while at the same time balancing and counteracting
each other in tone and mood.
A nobly-born twin sister and brother, Sebastian and Viola, are
separated from each other when their ship is wrecked in a storm at sea,
and each fears the other has been drowned. Viola, who is rescued by the
ship's captain, arrives in the romantic kingdom of Illyria (on the coast
of the Adriatic sea) where she decides-for safety's sake-to disguise herself
as a boy and seek service with the Duke Orsino, the ruler of the country.
This melancholy and rather affected young man has been vainly courting
the Countess Olivia, a local lady who has consistently rejected him because
of a melodramatic resolve to mourn the recent death of her brother for
seven years. Viola, disguised as the boy "Cesario," successfully ingratiates
herself with the Duke and is soon sent by him as a messenger-with gift
and declarations of love-to his beloved Countess.
In the meantime, we're introduced to several members of Olivia's
household, the "low" characters whose antics will advance the comic side
of the plot, just as Orsino's, Olivia's and Viola's problems will advance
the romantic side. The leader of this group of characters is Sir Toby Belch,
Olivia's fat, jolly, hard-drinking cousin, whose love for pranks and merrymaking
in general motivates much of the comic action. His companion, Sir Andrew
Aguecheek, is a wealthy, skinny, rather feeble-minded knight who has come
to Illyria to woo Olivia. Sir Toby encourages his hopeless courtship because
he wants Sir Andrew handy for the sake of this money. The three other important
comic personages are Maria, Olivia's shrewd servingwoman, who has designs
on Sir Toby; Malvolio, her unpleasant, Puritanical steward; and Feste,
the household jester, or "Fool."
Viola comes to court Olivia for the Duke, and she does her job
with so much grace and wit that the unhappy lady (thinking, of course,
that Viola is "Cesario," a handsome young page) falls passionately in love
with her. She has her steward Malvolio follow the "boy" with favors and
messages. But Viola has herself fallen in love with Orsino, so she's distressed
for good reason when she discovers that her rival for his affection, Olivia,
harbors a similar passion for her. In the meantime, it turns out that Sebastian,
Viola's twin brother, has also been rescued from drowning-by Antonio, a
kindly sea-captain, with whom he soon sets out to visit Illyria.
While the romantic triangle of Olivia, Orsino, and Viola is
thus stalemated, and before the arrival of Sebastian in town, the comic
subplot begins to develop. Sir Toby, Andrew, Feste, and Maria are carousing
one night when the priggish Malvolio bursts in to soundly scold them for
their merry ways. Determined to revenge themselves and to show up his egotism
and pretentiousness, the other comic characters plan to play a practical
joke on him by sending him an anonymous love-letter which he'll think is
from Olivia herself. They leave the letter in the garden, where Malvolio
discovers it when he's strolling already deep in fantasies of being the
"Count," Olivia's husband. The unnamed letter-writer (supposedly Olivia)
suggests to the egotistical steward that he can become "great" by wooing
his lady, the Countess, in yellow-stockings and cross-garters, and by continually
smiling at her while at the same time being "surly" with other members
of the household. Naturally, the letter fires all his ambitions, and he
determines to follow its instructions, instructions which were, however,
deliberately designed by Maria to make a fool of him.
Meanwhile, Olivia's own passion for Cesario has become so intense
that she openly woos Orsino's "page," much to Viola's discomfort. Indeed,
Viola has grown so desperately attached to Orsino that she herself is barely
able to keep from confessing her love to him - and when Olivia makes her
declaration, she emphatically swears that she can never give her heart
to any woman - which is reasonable enough, since she's a woman herself.
At this point, Sebastian and Antonio have arrived in Illyria,
and because Antonio once opposed Orsino in a "sea fight," arousing the
permanent hostility of the Illyrians, the two decide to separate, Antonio
to remain concealed at a nearby inn, and Sebastian to join him there after
doing some sightseeing in the town.
By now Malvolio has followed the instructions of the false love-letter,
and crazily costumed, he makes a fantastic approach to Olivia, as her wooer.
The Countess, supposing him mad-which is just what the plotters intended-gives
him into Sir Toby's care to be imprisoned as a lunatic. And with Malvolio
"safely" out of the way, she herself once more resumes her own courtship
of Viola.
But her favors and attentions to the Duke's "man" have so enraged
Sir Toby's friend, the foolish Andrew, that this basically cowardly knight
actually challenges "Cesario" to a duel. Though both are anxious to avoid
any real fighting (especially, of course, Viola), Sir Toby and Fabian,
another of Olivia's servants, egg them on to the point where bloodshed
is only avoided by the sudden appearance of Antonio, Sebastian's friend,
who, thinking Viola is Sebastian, draws his sword in her defense and ends
up battling Sir Toby himself. A group of police officers, however, also
appear on the scene and quickly arrest Antonio. The beleaguered captain
then asks "Sebastian" (Viola) for a purse he's lent the real Sebastian
earlier, and when Viola doesn't know what he's talking about, he accuses
her of ingratitude, calling her by her brother's name as the officers lead
him away. Viola now realizes that her twin must be alive, and in Illyria,
and she goes off in high excitement.
Soon Sebastian himself wanders in and he, in turn, is mistaken
for "Cesario" (just as Viola was taken for him) by the clown, Feste, as
well as by both Sir Andrew and Sir Toby, who (imagining that he's still
as timid as the original "Cesario") attack him once more with their swords.
This time, however, they don't find themselves opposed by a young girl
with no knowledge of dueling, but by her brother, who spiritedly defends
himself and is on the verge of soundly beating them both when Olivia arrives
and, like the others, supposing Sebastian to be "Cesario," scolds her cousin
for fighting with him and lovingly invites him into her house.
While Sebastian and Olivia are ripening their relationship in
one part of the house, Feste, the clown, is persuaded by Maria and Toby
to visit the imprisoned Malvolio disguised as "Sir Topas," the priest.
After tormenting the unhappy steward for a bit, the jester then returns
in his own person - again at the instigation of Toby (who has at last tired
of the whole affair) - and provides Malvolio with pencil and paper so he
can write to Olivia informing her of his plight.
In the meantime, Olivia persuades Sebastian, who's fallen in
love with her quickly enough, to marry her at once. She still thinks, of
course, that he's "Cesario," and not trusting his sudden apparent change
of heart, wants to make certain of him while she can. Sebastian is aware
that there must be some mistake in all this, but he decides that, even
if he's mad or dreaming, Olivia is a beautiful hallucination and he, too,
will take advantage of the opportunity the moment brings.
At last Orsino, accompanied by Viola and his entire retinue,
visits Olivia to renew his suit in person. There he encounters Antonio,
who again claims that Viola, as Sebastian, has mistreated him - and when
Olivia appears, to the Duke's surprise and anger, she addresses "Cesario"
as husband. Viola, of course, denies both Antonio's and Olivia's accusations,
but the priest who married Olivia and the other "Cesario" (Sebastian) supports
the Countess's claim. Orsino is ready to banish or condemn Viola, when
Andrew and Toby also appear with a complaint; they accuse "Cesario" of
having beaten them. Viola again denies all knowledge of the affair, but
she seems to have become a general object of blame when Sebastian himself
at last appears onstage, and all the complications are satisfactorily resolved.
It's clear, of course, that he, and not Viola, is responsible
for Andrew's and Toby's injuries. The twins are reunited. Olivia discovers
that, after having unluckily fallen in love with the sister, she's luckily
married the brother. Antonio learns that Sebastian had kept faith with
him after all. And finally Orsino, finding that his devoted "page" is really
a woman, decides that he can easily return her devotion and lovingly proposes
to the happy girl.
In the midst of all this rejoicing, Olivia remembers Malvolio,
and after Feste has given her the steward's letter, outlining his grievances,
the miserable man himself is brought in to have the secret of his "madness"
- Maria' letter - explained by Fabian. Fabian also reveals that Sir Toby
has rewarded the servingwoman for her cleverness by marrying her, and when
Malvolio - still as nasty as ever, despite the lesson he's been taught
- rushes off in a rage to seek his revenge, the rest of the party is left
onstage to plan a celebration of the three marriages which bring Twelfth
Night to its joyous conclusion
Mistaken identity, frequently based on the confusion of twins
of different sexes, has been a favorite device of comic dramatists from
the time of the Roman playwright Plautus. In the Renaissance the device
became especially popular - and Shakespeare used it often, in the Comedy
of Errors and Two Gentlemen of Verona as well as Twelfth Night. In Twelfth
Night, of course, the whole play is based on Viola's being disguised as
"Cesario." This enables Olivia to fall, apparently hopelessly, in love
with her - and it enables her to fall hopelessly in love with Orsino. No
one can respond to anyone else's passion in this mixed-up triangle because
Viola's true sex isn't known. Later, when Sebastian appears on the scene,
mistaken identity again becomes of paramount importance-in this case, in
resolving the plot complications it caused in the first place. At last
Olivia can get married to the "man" she loves - "Cesario," now, of course,
really Sebastian and therefore able to return her feelings. And at last
Viola can reveal her true identity, and in her "woman's weeds" win the
heart of Orsino.
But besides triggering the romantic plot, mistaken identity
motivates a good part of the comic plot-particularly that section concerned
with the duel between Andrew and Viola. If Viola hadn't, to begin with,
been mistaken for a boy by Olivia, then Andrew's jealousy would never have
been aroused; and if Andrew himself didn't also imagine her a boy, he'd
never have challenged her to a duel. Furthermore, if Andrew hadn't challenged
her to a duel, Antonio might never have intervened, thinking she was Sebastian.
Again, in the end, Sebastian's presence resolves the whole affair. When
Toby and Andrew mistake him for Viola, they're soundly beaten, as they
deserve to be, and this episode too comes to a happy conclusion.
Finally, one might even claim that mistaken identity plays a
part in the important Malvolio sub-plot, since the unfortunate steward
is led by Maria to mistake her identity (her words and handwriting in the
"anonymous" love-letter) for Olivia's. Later, too, when he's been imprisoned
as a lunatic, the unhappy man mistakes Feste for "Sir Topas," the priest.
Indeed, such misrule - the misrule of the Twelfth Night festivities - as
evidenced in a wealth of mistaken identities-is practically universal in
this play!
A DOLL’S HOUSE
REALISM:
A DOLL’S HOUSE is a modern drama, it is different
from the classical drama Realism is one of the movements in modern
drama ; it aims at reflecting life as it really is by showing representative
characters because it is basically in order to remind you cure problems
in society.The end was to convince the audience that what is going on is
a reply in reality ,it is not imaginary piece. There are no asides or
dramatist does not use any element of pretense.
The aim of
realism ,as of modern drama , generally , is truth of life .But what distinguishes
realism is the truth to life in external and particular details.The background
is immediate in time and place to the author and his social manners. The
truthfulness characters are normal to the background . The newly arisen
middle class had become the theater audience, this class was interested
in itself .Playwrights of the middle class arose with them . The
middle class is commonly identified as the average level of human life
which is the most representative of its truth.
Formally, the
method of realism was an attempt to reduce theatrical conventions to a
minimum. Masks, for instance, were a convention of ancient Greek theatre.Greek,Japanese,
and Chinese all involved non-realistic conventions in custom, setting,
the use of poetry, song and dance , and in a variety of devices. For example,
the Greek chorus for delivery of exposition to the audience. Soliloquy
and asides are familiar conventions of English drama from the Elizabethan
age to the rise of realism in the 15th century. Realism undertook to create
an illusion of actual life;it provide us, nearly as possible,with actual
furnishing, to dress characters as in life , and to limit the means of
communication to prose dialogue in a language essentially natural to life.
The aside and the soliloquy were eliminated because they break the realistic
illusion. In short, the object of realism is the representation of life
externally as is possible to the theater. In other words, realism as a
theatrical method is in itself a convention which depends on the audience’s
acceptance that the production is not a play but life.
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SYMBOLISM IN A DOLL’S HOUSE :
One of the most significant features
of A DOLL’S HOUSE is symbolism. Ibsen choose a title that is very significant.
Nora is treated as a doll by her husband and consequently she treats her
children in the same way.Thereby,the title is a symbol of what is happening
on stage. Following the same trend,Ibsen provides different symbols.The
most important could be best represented through the stove, the Christmas
tree, the tarantella dance, darkness, light and the slamming of the door.
The stove is
a conventional source of heat but it signifies an emotional as well as
physical warmth. In Act one, when Krogstad has gone into Helmer’s study
to have a talk with him; Nora walks across the room and ‘sees the stove’.
There is no real need for Nora to touch the stove but her action reveals
the state of her mind. Krogstad’s visit awakened her fears and so she makes
up the fire seeking a phisical remedy for a nervous discomfort. Similarly,
when Dr. Rank has declared his love for her, she walks over to the stove
seeking a mental comfort. Dr. Rank’s unexpected declaration of love caused
her a mental disturbance and a change of her plans to ask him for money
and that is why she is seeking for a refuge in the warmth of the stove.
Thus Ibsen makes use of a symbolic device to establish the emotional state
of a character.
We see the Christmas
tree twice in act one. First, it appears for a short time, then Nora asks
the maid to hide it. It denotes the time of the year and shows Nora’s care
about her family’s happiness. Near the end of act one it appears once more.
Krogstad has left after threatening Nora and she orders the maid to bring
it back in the middle of the room. The tree serves as a symbol of security
and love. Nora tries to concentrate on its decoration in order to forget
Krogstad’s threatens. At the beginning of act two,Nora’s state of mind
is revealed through the altered look of the tree. It is described as standing
in a corner stripped off its decorations and with its candles burnt out.
It is clear from the bare look of the tree that Nora has failed to overcome
her fears.
Nora learned the
tarantella dance during the year she and Helmer lived in Capri. The dance
involves a suggested tip and emotions but Helmer feels it is too realistic.
The dance is a symbol of suicide. A trapped tarantella will sting itself
to death rather than die slowly. Helmer encouraged Nora to perform the
dance in order to increase her attractiveness to him. On the other hand,
she feels that the dance is a symbol of suicide she is about to commit.
Nora says “seven hours till midnight. Then twenty-four hours till midnight
tomorrow. Then the tarantella will be over.”.
Moving towards other
symbols, we can notice the successive use of darkness. In the scene between
Nora and Dr. Rank, darkness serves as a
cover for their aims. Dr. Rank declares his love to Nora
which is a shameful deed. Moreover, Nora had been planning to ask Dr. Rank
for money but she was stopped by his shameful declaration of love. The
following light chases away the semi-darkness of the room in which she
and Dr. Rank had been conversing.
At the end of the
play Nora slams the downstairs door. This action happened after two important
events. Nora’s husband discovered her forgery and knew what she has done
from Krogstad’s letter. He accused her of being a liar, a hypocrite and
a criminal. He told her that she had inherited her father’s moral weakness
and that she had no morals or sense of duty. Nora was bitterly disappointed.
She expected Helmer to reject Krogstad’s demands and to take any reputation
of guilt upon himself. After Helmer burns the bond and told Nora that he
forgave her, she discovers that she has been treated as a child. She accused
him of treating her as a doll to be played with having no life of her own.
Having been a doll all her life, she had no personal opinions, ideas, experiences
or wishes. Now, she no longer believes in family, duty, religion or law.
She decides to leave Helmer and desert her family. Nora wants to learn
about the world and become a real person. Consequently, she leaves the
house slamming the downstairs door. This slamming signifies her decision
to put an end to her first idle life with Helmer. She enables every one
to hear the door and know that she deserted her life and husband. For Nora,
the slamming of the door shuts the doll’s house and introduces her to real
life.
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THE DEVELOPMENT IN NORA’S CHARACTER:
Through out the play,
the reader can notice that Nora of act one and two is completely different
from that of act three. In the first and second act, Nora has been treated
as a child. She is an innocent and loving person who cares much about her
husband and children. In act one she cares about her children’s happiness
during Christmas. She is an obedient wife who does not understand the reality
of her husband. Nora never makes her husband angry and would never allow
anyone to speak about him in bad words. This is obvious when she warns
Krogstad that she would request him out of the house if he spoke worse
about her husband. Her simplicity is expressed after being threatened by
Krogstad. She concentrates on decorating the Christmas tree in order to
overcome her fears. Nora did every thing to make her family happy and never
did something wrong. All events during the first two acts stresses on these
features of her character.
Unlike the first
two acts, Nora in act three seems to have discovered the reality of her
husband. After Helmer has read Krogstad’s first letter, he started talking
to Nora. She stared at him and was not afraid anymore. She was shocked
of his words and discovered, after eight years of marriage, that she has
been living with a stranger. After Helmer had received Krogstad’s second
letter, this fact has become more obvious to her. She decides to take off
her masquerade dress as a symbol of getting rid of her life. Her words
to Helmer reflect that she is not afraid of him. For the first time she
took a decision by herself which is the most important decision she ever
took.Nora decided to leave the house, desert her family and start a new
life.
From the play,
we know that Nora was treated as a doll by her father. Moreover, her husband
treated her in the same way. No one understood her and that is what she
said to Helmer in act three. She expressed her feelings saying that he
has treated their marriage like a game. Nora discovered the selfishness
of her husband and was completely changed. Her final decision and her slamming
of the downstairs door prove that Nora at the end of the play is completely
different from that at the beginning.
THE CONTRAST BETWEEN NORA AND Mrs. LINDEN:
Through out
the play, a clear contrast appears between the character of Mrs. Linde
and that of Nora. Both of them were friends since they were little children;
but there is a great difference in how each character handeled its life.
Mrs. Linde had different responsibilities; she had a helpless mother and
two little brothers to take care of. First, she was in love with Krogstad
but she did not marry him. Instead, she chose to marry a rich man to support
her family and helpless mother. During her life with this man, her mother
died and her brothers grew up an depended on themselves. After that, her
husband died. Through her life, Mrs. Linde had a great experience. She
made some projects; one of them was a school and another was opening a
small shop. At the same time, she knew that Helmer, Nora’s husband, became
a bank mannager and can help her find a suitable job. After her husband’s
death her life seemed to be a long working day, but now she feels her life,
incredibly, empty. She never stopped searching for a job and she represents
a very practical woman. Mrs. Linde is a clear example of a very practical
woman. We can, also, notice that her experience gave her a far view of
life. She talked to Krogstad and offered him to marry her as he wanted
a mother to his children and she wanted children and family.Meanwhile,
Krogstad told her that he wanted to deliver his letter to Helmer. Although
she noticed that the life between Nora and Helmer should be stopped and
restarted on a base of truth, she refused to do so.
On the contrary,
Nora who was treated as a doll all her life; never had the chance to express
herself. This treatment, she had, during her childhood and through eight
years of marriage; disabled her to enjoy any kind of experience. She was
never exposed to life nor to the outer society. She found herself married
to a selfish husband who loves her because she is amusing him and making
him happy. He never treated her as an adult. Nora was shocked after her
husband received Krogstad’s letters. As a result of his behavior towards
her after reading the letters, she finally realised that she had her own
duties. She felt that she must change her life and she must fulfill her
duties towards her self. She decided to start a new life facing the society
and taking experience she lost during her past life with her father and
her selfish husband.
Both, the character
of Mrs. Linde and Nora, could represent two styles. The former is an independent
lady who had her own aims and was able to fulfill them. While, the later,
took a lot of time to discover that she wasted a lot of time as a doll
in a doll’s house and at the end of the play she felt it is time to be
a real woman and to to start a real life.
The method
of using contrasting and parallel characters is clear through out
the whole play. For instance there is a parallel structure between Nora
and the old nurse. The old nurse has left her child to be brought up by
others and Nora has come to fear a similar separation from her own children.
Also Nora and Doctor Rank suffer; but Nora’s suffering is moral while Doctor
Rank suffers from a physical disease. More over Nora, as Helmer pointed
out, has inherited from her father some of her moral faults and weakness.
Similarly, Doctor Rank has inherited his desease from his father. Both
characters are waiting for the last step in their problems, Doctor Rank
has one examination to be certain that death is upon him, while Nora has
one more hope for changing her fate.
Other similar
structures of parallelism could be traced in the play. For example, Helmer
appears as a moralist, early in the play, soon we find Doctor Rank in the
role of a moralist. In addition to that, there is the parallel between
Nora and Krogstad. The two characters had committed an act of forgery.
Krogstad has paid heavily for it and Nora’s act will lead to very serious
consequences and she, too, will pay heavily for her forgery.
_______________________________________________________________
AN INTRODUCTION TO THE IDEA OF PARALLELISM AND CONTRAST :
Ibsen has made
a great use of parallelism and contrast in his play. The characters in
the play are represented in a way that shows similar and contradictory
features. The reader can find a clear contrast between Nora and Mrs. Linden.
Further, there is parallelism between Nora and the old nurse, Helmer and
Doctor Rank, Doctor Rank and Nora and between Nora and Krogstad. This structure
helps the audience and the readers to get closer to the characters and
have a better understanding of the play.
_______________________________________________________________
THE USE OF DRAMATIC IRONY:
Dramatic irony
is a commonly used device. It is a contrast between appearance and reality.
In other words, it is the opposite of what appears infront of the audience.
Dramatic irony is of two kinds; conscious and unconscious. The first is
done in purpose, while the second is noticed through the development of
incidents. In A Doll’s House there is an extensive use of both kinds of
dramatic irony.
One of the
clearly noticed examples of conscious dramatic irony is when Nora says
to Helmer that whatever he does, he is always right. He thinks it is a
compliment while she meant exactly the opposite. Ibsen, also, makes use
of unconscious dramatic irony in several parts of the play. Early in the
play Nora tells Mrs. Linde that she and Helmer are extreemly lucky, Helmer
became the bank mannager and from now on they will never worry about money
and they will lead a happy life for a long long time. Nora is visualizing
a bright future for herself and her family; but, unfortunately this is
not going to happen and she will not enjoy the kind of life she is dreaming
of. More over, she tells Mrs. Linde that she is going to keep the secret
of her having borrowed money and will not reveal it to Helmer till one
day when they are old. Unconsciously, she does not know that her life as
Helmer’s wife will end so soon.
Another example
of unconscious dramatic irony is represented by Helmer. He accused Krogstad
of forgery and is talking about him with Nora. He starts moralizing and
says that he is a liar and due to that in the house of such a man there
is an atmosphere of moral disease and infection. He adds that such a person
is corrupting his children. These words convey an ironical situation because
both Nora and the audience know that Helmer’s words, unconsciously, are
applicable to Nora. Nora feels that all of Helmer’s words are directed
to her and that she might be corrupting her children too. Helmer’s speeches
here does not have a comic effect because we feel moved to pity for Nora
in her present state.
The most striking
example of dramatic irony, unconscious irony again, is to be found in Helmer’s
boastful remark to Nora that he has enough strength and courage for whatever
happens. The opposite of what he is claiming here will happen. After he
had received Krogstad’s first letter, he proves to be very weak and far
from taking every thing on himself he starts blaming Nora for having ruined
his happiness and having damaged his future career by her criminal act
of forgery. Looking at Nora’s side, when she was talking to Dr. Rank, she
says that her husband is deeply and passionately in love with her and that
he would not hesitate, even for a moment, to sacrifice his life for her
sake. We, as well as Nora, are ignorant at this stage that, far from being
ready to sacrifice his life for her sake, he would not be willing even
to sacrifice his reputation for her sake.
At the end of the play there is another striking example of
unconscious irony. After Helmer has gone through Krogstad’s letter, Nora
says to him that she does not want him to take the blame of her guilty
action on his shoulders. Nora thinks that Helmer would take the whole blame
for her guilt on his own shoulders, but exactly the reverse is going to
happen. The irony here becomes clear to us the very next moment when Helmer
begins to accuse her of being a hypocrite, a liar, and a criminal. Far
from taking the blame on himself, he brings a charge-sheet against her.
Ibsen made
a plentiful use of dramatic irony in the play. This lead to different effects,
sometimes it is a comic effect, but it is mostly having a pathetic effect.
Through the unconscious irony we are really moved to pity for Nora.
Adventure Story
by Rattigan
Realistic drama
started to dominate the English theatre during the last period of the 19th
century as a reaction to the ‘Well-made Play’. The well-made play depended
on plots that describes the highest point of a story that started before
the play itself. This kind of play was attacked for its superficial characters.
On the other hand, the realistic play studied individual men and used their
usual language.
Terence Rattigan
is considered one of the most important figures in writing realistic plays.
In his opinion, a successful writer should not try to convey any messages,
but should concern himself with the plot and the profound study of character.
His plays, although has a large number of critics, yet, they were famous
for his ‘sense of theatre’. Rattigan was influenced by the ‘epic theatre’
and his plays were divided into several episodes. In this play there are
twelve episodes, each one relates a year in Alexander’s reign. Another
feature in the play is the device of using an open end. In act one, Alexander’s
years of success are presented. The second act deals with Alexander’s reversal
or descent. Finally, there is the epilogue (end), where we cannot find
a resolution. The point of attack begins at the end of the play. Each one
of the audience would think about a suitable resolution according to his
own beliefs, ideas and culture. The third feature in the play is the use
of the ‘alienation device’. Rattigan’s aim was to let the audience think
and criticise, he wanted them to take action against the social reality
represented on stage.
In writing
Adventure Story, Rattigan attempted to portray a historical figure, incident
and concept, in modern everyday language. This technique is called ‘anachronism’.
He made Alexander’s language a modern middle class language in order to
bridge the gap between Alexander’s age and our modern time. Moreover, he
wanted people to
realise that history repeats itself. As a matter of fact,
this is what happened when people saw the play; they started to compare
between Alexander and Hitler.
Rattigan prefers
ideas that springs from characters, more than characters created as a mouthpiece
for ideas. The play is written in the epic technique, and its episodes
are independent and can change places with another. Using an open end the
audience’s conscious is raise in such a way that allows them to think about
their own reality. The end of the play does not lead to an emotional balance,
but leads to the raising of consciousness.
In the prologue,
Alexander is laying on a litter surrounded by his generals who want him
to name his successor. Alexander sets the question ‘Where did it first
go wrong?’. A question that becomes the focus of the play. Historically,
the scene is true; Alexander refused to name a successor and is said that
he left his power to the strongest. The five scenes of act one dramatise
his raise to power, the next five scenes in act two show his descent and
despotism, while the epilogue reveals the evaluation of his adventure.
From the first
scene, we learn that Alexander’s relationship with his father lacked respect
and affection. His father was a drunkard who left his mother and remarried.
The scene reveals hatred between the father and his son. In the first two
scenes we have a contrast between two characters. Alexander, the man of
action who would like to conquer the world through his campaigns, and Darius
who is a man of thought and peace and whose country has lived in peace
for more than two-hundred years. Darius said that if he catches Alexander
he will make him a friend and will not kill him.
Alexander’s
desire to conquer the world, had a psychological motive that is revealed
in the same scene. He tells Pythia that he had to fulfil a boast he made
to his father. He remembers his father’s accusations that he was a ‘coward’,
then he replaces his fear with anger
before the final battle with Darius. At the moment of
his victory, he begsthat his father’s spirit could see him and burn with
envy.
In order to
answer the question ‘When did it first go wrong?’, we have to follow the
reasons. One of the reasons may be his desire to prove a boast to his dead
father, thinking that he is an invincible creature. Another reason could
be the fact that he is a man of action not of thought who changed his fear
into anger. However, Rattigan raises other issues that were not accepted
by critics.
In portraying
Alexander’s character we see that in his conversation with Pythia, he brings
up the question of his divinity. He does so again after his victory over
Darius and in his confrontation with Philotas. Further more, in the Pythia
scene, Alexander said that some people think he is mad, and in five other
scenes he wonders if he is mad or driven mad by others. Another idea about
Alexander is raised by Darius in the first act and by the Queen-mother
in the second act, it is the theory that there is a devil in Alexander
which will destroy him. By using the device of the open end, these ideas
add to the possibilities of the answer to the question ‘Where did it first
go wrong?’.
Adventure Story
is an attempt to highlight the psychological flaws of a great man of action.
He uses a hero who is a universal character who has similar psychological
problems to those of normal people. Rattigan tries to emphasise Alexander’s
greatness as well as weakness as a human being.
Rattigan developed
the British well-made play by using a realistic character. He worked against
types in characterisation and against giving superficial solutions at the
end of his plays. He is a typical 20th century dramatist in his deep interest
in characterisation, as well as applying the concepts of realistic drama.
His characters are ordinary people and speak the language of real life.
Moreover, the representation of power and authority is relevant to the
20th century and its nature.
ALL FOR LOVE
BY
JOHN DRYDEN
John Dryden
is an English poet, dramatist and critic. His plays include the heroic
Conquest of Granada, the comedy Marriage a la Mode, and his masterpiece
All for Love. The play discusses the famous theme of Antony and Cleopatra.
The hero and heroine in the play, are portrayed in a different way than
that represented in Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra. Dryden, like most
of great Augustan satirists, was suspicious of romantic feelings. In All
For Love, Dryden ignores the pessimistic view of human nature, instead,
he depicts a love which rises above selfishness and corruption. It is obvious
that the play does not represent a heroic love theme, and here lies the
difference between him and Shakespeare.
Shakespeare’s
play is a drama in the shape of chronicle, while Dryden’s is a drama in
the shape of drama. The importance of Antony and Cleopatra is exaggerated
in Shakespeare's play, while Dryden treated his characters as human beings
and not historical figures.
It seems, after
surveying the play, that All For Love has greater unity than Antony and
Cleopatra, but a closer study reveals that Shakespeare’s unity is much
more deeper and real than Dryden’s. The unity in Dryden is based on poetical
conception and this is expressed through style. Dryden’s style is sometimes
elevated, but it is frequently rhetorical and occasionally flat. His images
do not spring naturally from his theme and though they may illuminate separate
ideas, feelings, and even characters and scenes, they serve to destroy
rather than to create the unity of the whole. All For Love is a fine tragedy
decorated with poetry, rather than a poetic tragedy as the term suggests.
In Shakespeare’s
play, we can see Antony of the last phase, in the phase of his glowing
manhood with no reasons for the inferiority of Cleopatra that Dryden applied.
But Dryden’s Cleopatra is well drawn, and is more within the range of ordinary
experience. Shakespeare’s play has a greater effect of warmth, color and
light which Dryden failed to give. Dryden had to adopt a different color
scheme. He was giving us an account of a catastrophe that happened during
one tragic day, because he confined himself to the Unity of Time.
The main difference
between both plays is that in Shakespeare, the tragedy depends on the real
struggle in Antony himself. It is a struggle between his blind infatuation
for Cleopatra and his Roman thought. In Dryden, Antony is already lost
at the begining of the play; the struggle is over and the Roman warrior
has become extreemly weak. The play is proved to be narrative rather than
dramatic.
Concerning
the technique of the play there is a sense of artificiality in the
structure due to Dryden’s confinment to the Greek Unities. The play is
a series of confrontations between Antony and Ventidius, Antony and Alexas,
Antony and Cleopatra, Antony and Octavia, Octavia and Cleopatra, etc, etc.
The scenes does not lead to each other nor does the characterization. Unlike
Shakespeare, Dryden’s use of the unity of place did not trouble him with
the entrances and exits of characters. More over, violence was permitted
in the death of five of the characters.
As for the
verse of All For Love, his skilful use of blank verse gave the play more
credit than was intended. The poetic justice in the play was respected,
only through the death of the hero and the heroine. Despite its faults
All For Love is the happiest result of the French influence on English
tragedy. It is the best proof that Dryden became the founder of the eighteenth
century classic literature.
An Inspector Calls By J.B. Priestley
Plot and Theme:
J.B. Priestley was
born in Bradford in 1894. He described himself as a socialist intellectual.
His early life had shown him that large numbers of people in England were
living blighted by poverty, bad housing, and the fear of loosing their
jobs. He thought that this was unfair and unnecessary. Priestley had sympathy
with, and understanding of the problems of the poor and the unemployed.
These people were like Eva Smith the victim of the Birlings in the play.
The play starts in
the dining room of the Birlings’ house. The family is celebrating the engagement
of the daughter, Sheila, to Gerald, whose father, like her own, is a wealthy
manufacturer. Birling sees this relationship in terms of business. It will
allow the two firms to work together “for lower costs and higher prices”.
Birling appears to be egoistic and greedy. His advice to the young is that
“a man has to mind his own business and look after himself and his own”.
He attacks those who speak of “community and all that nonsense”. Birling
is totally convinced that a person has to make his own way disregarding
any sort of restrictions. The house is shown as rich and comfortable but
not ‘home-like’. After about ten minutes into the play, the doorbell rings.
The visitor announces himself as a police inspector and the main events
of the play start to take place.
The inspector reveals
that a young woman has died ‘in great agony’, having swallowed disinfectant.
The rest of the play reveals the connection between the girl and the members
of both families. First, Mr. Birling fired the girl for helping to organize
a strike for higher wages. Sheila calls this ‘a rotten shame’. A moment
later, we discover that the girl was, also, fired from her job as an assistant
in a fashionable store for no reason except Sheila’s pique. Then Gerald
found her in a shady bar, set her up as his mistress and left her. Repeatedly,
Birling’s son, Eric, was drunk, picked her up from the same place and impregnated
her. After that, she approached Mrs. Birling’s charitable committee and
was rejected as undeserving. All the characters of the play seem to form
a chain that led logically to her death.
Preistley makes it
clear that the moral and social faults were crimes against Eva Smith or
whatever identity she adopted. Through the character of the inspector,
he underlines his stated belief that there is not much difference between
‘respectable citizens’ and ‘criminals’. As a result of all the previous
incidents, Sheila’s engagement to Gerald is temporarily off. Eric has been
revealed as a drunkard and a thief; he stole from the family firm to help
the girl. But then, after they made some phone calls, they discovered that
there was no inspector Goole in the local force and
no dead girl in the local hospital. The household begins
to return to normal, that is, to blindness and self-satisfaction. It seems
that the younger generation, in the play, has learnt something. Sheila
and Eric reached the conclusion that if they have not caused a suicide,
they all acted in ways that might, easily, have done so. The end of the
play carries a surprise for all of them. The phone rings, a girl has died
after swallowing disinfectant and a police inspector is on his way.
The play, as a whole,
is an impressive work. Priestley represented a girl with all the qualities
he admires. Eva Smith, although she is in a deep need for money, refuses
Eric’s money, on the grounds that it is stolen. Additionally, the play
could be seen as a morality play where each character is an embodiment
of a feature. For instance, Birling representing avarice, Mrs. Birling
pride, Sheila envy and anger, Gerald lust and Eric embodies lust, gluttony
and sloth. Priestley’s sense of responsibility generated perfectly interwoven
incidents that have carefully delivered his social and moral message.
AN INSPECTOR CALLS
BY
J. B. PRIESTLY
THE ELEMENT OF REALISM IN THE PLAY:
An Inspector Calls
was first produced in the summer of 1945 in Moscow. The play involves the
realistic element in its theme and construction. It is current to the events
of the time and the social situations that prevailed during the same period.
The action of the play does not involve any complications or subplots.
More over, the play lasts for the same amount of time the actions could
take in reality. Priestly intended not to break between acts in order not
to interrupt the action. Every thing that happened to Eva Smith is described
or reported directly and realistically to the audience. From the very beginning
of the play and its setting, an element of realism is detected and clearly
noticed by the audience through out the play.
( This part serves after your introduction. )
All the incidents
of the play are carefully-knit and have a real and logical sequence. Also
the problems of the post-war society, the gap between generations and the
oppression of the poor, are expressed realistically through the conversations
between the characters and Priestly’s mouth piece, the inspector.
( This part serves before your conclusion.)
ON-REALISM IN THE PLAY:
The play, although,
is based on actual happenings and social circumstances of the time, involves
a non-realistic situation. Through out the play, an inspector and a young
woman, Eva Smith, will represent the unreal part of the play. *The play
starts in the...................... .
.........led logically to her death.
It is noticed
that all the characters of the play had a direct connection with the victim
that may be the cause of her suicide. This fact represents a non-realistic
sense in itself. First, each character is shown a picture of the girl not
knowing whether she is the same girl or not. Second, the sequence of the
events that faced Eva Smith is carefully prepared. Each character moved
her a step towards the other till she committed suicide and this logical
sequence is, in itself, unreal. Yet, the writer managed to deliver a certain
message through the inspector, the victim and all the characters involved.
.........is on his way.
The surprise
at the end of the play,shows that everything in the play is unreal. The
inspector, the victim and her suicide, were invented by an unknown character
to deliver a certain message. The inspector served as a mouthpiece for
Priestly and the victim is a symbol of the poor low class. Further more,
the final phone call announcing the arrival of a new inspector for the
same reason, stresses the fact that the previous situation was unreal and
that the real thing is about to happen.
ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA
BY
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
ANTONY’S CHARACTER AND HIS CONFLICT:
The events
of the play have a profound effect upon Antony. They cause his character
to undergo a number of changes and a final development at the moment of
his death. When we meet him for the first time, he is the lover of the
queen in Egypt, having replaced Julius Caesar, his best friend, in this
capacity. He is shown to be a man of integrity and deep feeling. He also
shows a love of entertainment and a lack of responsibility.
The first side
of Antony that we see is his “feminine” side, that which is devoted to
love and to Cleopatra. The problem to be understood is that this is his
strong side, not his weak one, as it is accused of being by all Rome and
by many readers. This devotion to love is, itself, a major change in his
character, because his entire youthful life before the play opens had been
devoted to the game of power.
The first major
change in Antony comes with the arrival of Caesar’s messenger with the
news that Pompey has attacked Rome. Antony’s sense of responsibility, his
honor and reputation are stirred by Caesar’s message. This results in a
conflict between love and duty. After that there are stages of Antony’s
character development. In the process of this development, he realizes
the uselessness of power and ambition and his desire to protect his good
name and he comes to accept the fact that he values his love for Cleopatra
more than anything else.
Before this
happens, he has to go through a number of terrible trials. He loses his
sense of balance and his reason seems to depart. He knows that his military
strength is in his land soldiers, but he fights Caesar at sea. His flight
after Cleopatra’s retreating ships is his lowest point. By this action,
he is responsible for the loss of many of his ships and men. His faithfulness
to Cleopatra is shaken badly, and he accuses her of being responsible for
his own defeat. Again, at the second battle, he is defeated because the
Egyptians surrender to Caesar. This time, too, he doubts her love and is
very harsh with her. But, these two defeats were caused by his own lack
of rational planning. He acted emotionally, rather than intelligently.
Then the final change occurs, he tries to kill himself, fails and is taken
to the monument where Cleopatra is hiding. When she refuses to meet him
in order not to indanger herself, he had to be hauled up to her on a rope.
At this point his conflict is over. He finally realizes that the entire
world of power is not worth that one kiss of Cleopatra’s. He has been moving
toward this realization throughout the play, while struggling against it,
or at least struggling to maintain his Roman honor and reputation at the
same time, which was impossible.
THE CHARACTER OF CLEOPATRA:
In Cleopatra,
there is a development that parallels the development in Antony. In the
beginning of the play, she is a charming woman, who has the power to inslave
men. She is devoted to Antony, but her expression of love is through her
physical charm and her wit. She enjoys play-acting, which is how she mannages
to keep Antony interested in her. Moreover, she is filled with fear for
her own safety, which is threatened at the battle of Actium. In certain
ways, she does put herself first.
Through out
the play, her love to Antony grows enormously and deepens into something
more than physical passion. Through this love, she overcomes her fears
and accepts death with dignity and selfassurance. The pretence that she
puts on for Caesar in the last act is meant to put him off his gaurd so
that she can join Antony in death. She still has her skill at acting and
she deceives Caesar about her real intentions.
Later, when
she calls Charmian to bring her her “best attires,” she puts them in a
spirit so that Antony will recognize her when they meet in the afterlife.
They are the symbol of her royal spirit; her crown is the symbol of her
triumph over herself. When she dies and knocks this crown out of position,
Charmian pauses before her own death to set it straight. Cleopatra’s death
is an assertion of the spirit and the emagination over material things.
_______________________________________________________________
A COMPARISON BETWEEN THE GREATNESS OF ANTONY AND OF CAESAR:
Antony rose
to power by military skill and leadership in avenging the murder of Julius
Caesar. He widened Roman military power in the east. He holds the loyalty
of all his followers until his defeat at Actium. His mistake in judgement
arise entirely from his infatuation with Cleopatra, a personal situation
in which passion overrules judgement and which Caesar holds against him
only because of his effect on Octavia and Rome.
Caesar is an
opponent. He was taken into his powerful position only because he was Julius
Caesar’s nephew. He had no military renown, but his control of the home
third of the empire gave him opportunity to win prestige at Rome. His wisdom
in selecting associates resulted in winning him fame. Caesar proves disloyal
to his associates by destroying Pompey, deposing Lepidus and attacking
Antony, using the excuse of his abandoning Octavia, to remove the only
obstacle to taking absolute control of the state. He is affectionate with
his sister, but treacherous and deceptive with Cleopatra.
CLEOPATRA’S RELATIONSHIP WITH OCTAVIA:
The two women
never met each other, but each is sensetive about the other. Cleopatra
knows that Antony, in loving her, has been unfaithful to his wife, Fulvia.
She uses this example as a reason for believing that she will be deserted
when she hears of his marriage to Octavia. At the same time, she also reacts
in another very feminine way. She sends an observer to see Octavia and
report back what sort of woman she is. On the basis of the report, she
judges herself the better and more attractive woman, whom Antony must continue
to love. But this realization does not really relieve her fears.
The two women
symbolize Egypt and Rome. Octavia is really only a pawn thatCaesar uses
to bind Antony to him, but this plan is unsuccessful because Octavia cannot
give Antony the deep experience of life and love that Cleopatra can. Octavia
is too Roman, too much like Caesar. She is really not competition for Cleopatra.
Nevertheless, when it is time for Cleopatra to ask for Caesar’s favor,
one thing that prevents her is the thought of the pleasure it would give
Octavia to see her in the streets of Rome as a prisoner on exhibition.
She cannot stand such a thought.
In a sense,
these two women are opposites; Cleopatra is the fullest expression of love,
and Octavia is a woman in whom we see little of this emotion. Like her
brother she is generally cool in love.
ARMS AND THE MAN
BY
BERNARD SHAW
George Bernard
Shaw was born in Ireland 1856. His early plays were collected in two cattegories,
Plays Pleasant and Unpleasant. The “Pleasant” plays include Arms And The
Man satirizing romantic attitudes toward love and war.
The two interlinked
themes of the play concern the romantic ideas held about war and marriage.
Shaw wished to show that reality was very different than ellusion. The
character of Sergius is a typical romantic hero, idealistic, and wealthy
aristocratic. Catherine describes him as “the hero of the hour and idol
of the regiment.” In love, he is so idealistic and noble, his love to Raina
is the “higher love” though it is tiring. When Louka accuses him and Raina
of cheating each other, he is unable to accept that Raina may be like himself
and he hurts Louka’s arm. At the beginning of the play, especially at Raina’s
eyes, Sergius is a traditional hero, but he realized that warfare is far
from his ideals and resigns. Sergius starts to discover himself very late.
He does not believe in the romantic ideas any more, no more in the heroics
of war. He is torn between being superficial and a realist. He is suffering
because he is thinking which character of the six in him he is. He asks
himself many questions which have no answers. Shaw implied that common
soldiers were usually concerned with simply surviving rather than becoming
heroes and that food was something more important than ammunition.
On the other
hand, Bluntschli is not a heroic figure, he is a mercenary. For him war
is regrettable necessity not a chance to obtain glory. He is a professional
soldier, who is trained to stay alive and who treats war as a trade. Yet,
he sees nothing romantic in his profession. All through the play he mocks
and comments on the foolishness of idealism and makes us wonder if romance
can exist with materialism.
Marriage is
a theme that was treated more lightly. Shaw wants to show that romantic
illusions often blind us to the truth and thus lead us to unhappiness.
Sergius knows that he is acting the part of a romantic hero because it
is expected of him. He flirts with Louka, the servant telling her that
“higher love” is very fatiguing to keep up for any length of time. Louka
is very cunning. She pretends to resist him, but in fact leads him on until
she can plant in his mind the suggestion that Raina has been unfaithful.
She succeeds in her plans and fool him into marrying her. While, Raina
holds on to her hero-worship of Sergius for a long time. She is a romantic
idealist young woman of twenty three. She views war in terms of noble and
heroic deeds. Raina changes mood and personality more than any other character
in the play. There is often contradiction between what she says and
what she feels. She criticizes the fugitive for not being a gentleman while
she is attracted to his pitiful condition. Through the development of the
play, Raina is recognized as a liar and a deceiver. She deceived everyone
with her thrilling voice and refined manners; her nurse, her parents and
fiance.
By the end
of the play the characters had lost more of their illusion about themselves,
about each other, about war and about marriage. The themes were portrayed
through skilfully drawn characters that balance each other and represent
the contradictions between war, romanticism, realism, love and marriage.
Dr. FAUSTUS
BY CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE
The play written by Marlowe deals with the idea of selling one’s
soul to the devil for the sake of knowledge. It is a universal sin, the
sin of pride. Faustus is a representative of every man. From the very beginning,
Faustus masters all branches of science, art and theology; then he starts
longing for black magic. It is this power that could make a person half-human
and half god. Faustus is trying to change his position and the law of his
creation. This is the sin of presumption. While Faustus is in his study
he drops himself into the sin of despair. These two sins are said to be
the two faces of the sin of pride.
Faustus sells his soul for twenty-four years of sinful pleasure.
This part points the moral idea in the play, it is that of trading with
values and exchanging the higher with the lower. It is a struggle between
heaven and hell for Faustus soul. Both, Faustus sin and the struggle between
good and evil, form the theme and its moral aim.
Faustus’s soul undergoes different conflicts. First, it is the
inner conflict, when his pride prevents him from relating Mephistopheles’s
words, about hell, to reality and when his despair prevents him from repentance
and makes him sure about being damned. Second, is the outer conflict which
is represented by the Good and Bad Angels. They are two different forces
trying to encourage Faustus, each to his side. The Good Angel is the voice
of God trying, through out the whole play, to convince Faustus that it
is never too late to repent and that he can give up magic and its books
and confines himself to the Bible. The opposite side is represented by
the Bad Angel who tries to mislead Faustus and keeps him on the path of
sin. Although Faustus feels that he can repent and he is encouraged by
the Good Angel, his ‘heart is hardened’ and he does not repent.
Faustus is given signs to stop and repent but his pride prevents
him, side by side, with his despair. At first his blood congeals and his
pride prevented him from surrendering to the will of his own blood. Through
the events his despair blinded his eyes. The moral idea is also shown through
those signs. Marlowe represented the ‘Seven Deadly Sins’, Pride, Covetousness,
Envy, Wrath, Gluttony, Sloth and Treachery, on stage. He did so to achieve
different rolls. Their appearance is to entertain Faustus and to grasp
his attention far from repentance. Moreover, they appear to show Faustus
life of moral degradation.
After the appearance of the ‘Seven Deadly Sins’ that improves
the idea of the play as a morality play, Faustus is given his last chance.
The old man, or the voice of reason, tries to persuade Faustus that he
still has time to repent. His efforts go in vain and the moral idea is
on its way to be completed. Faustus is on his way towards damnation.
The thematic level improves the moral idea in the play. It is
during the last scene of Faustus’s life when we notice that despair controlled
his soul. The copulation with the spirit of Helen marks the climax of the
sin of pride because it involves a communion with the devil. Faustus’s
fear from the devil’s punishment provides the last strike to his will during
the last hour in his life.
The final part of the play, played by the chorus, concludes
the theme. Faustus is damned. The moral lesson of the play is to warn everyone
against Faustus’s sins and against struggling with the heavenly power.
Dr. FAUSTUS
THE TECHNIQUE OF THE PLAY
In his play, Christopher Marlowe, skillfully, combined the classical
religious beliefs and the modern Renaissance view of life. In order to
accomplish this aim, Marlowe had to use suitable tools borrowed from classical
drama; so appeared the part played by the chorus. The prologue and the
epilogue spoken by the chorus helps in giving the narrative material needed
by the audience to understand the coming action, Faustus’s biography, Faustus’s
fabulous journey’s, and finally it sums up the play and its moral lesson.
The influence of the Middle-Ages morality play is clearly noticed
by the personification of the Good and Bad Angels, who represent Faustus
outer conflict. Moreover, the character of the old man reveals the same
attitude of the Good Angel, but through the old man’s situation against
Satan, Marlowe shows that temptation could be resisted and the moral victory
could be achieved through faith. The appearance of the ‘Seven Deadly Sins’,
also, helps in showing the moral degradation that Faustus reached.
The hero represents the Renaissance view of life at its best.
Faustus is a typical Renaissance figure that shows the aspiration for knowledge,
power and beauty. He is an adventurer who seeks knowledge beyond the limitations
of the medieval mind. His motive is power and the desire to posses god-like
power.
The play starts with the exposition and reaches its climax when
Faustus signs the contract with Mephistopheles, then, finally, the denouement,
which shows Faustus’s damnation and delivers the moral lesson. No unities
are followed; the unity of time and of place are violated because the play
lasts for about twenty-four years and takes place in different countries,
while the unity of action could not have been accomplished due to the play’s
episodic structure.
Other technical qualities had improved the play and its aim.
Marlowe used parallel and contrasting elements to clarify the theme and
the moral idea. Moreover, dramatic irony is shown on two levels the verbal
and the visual. Faustus name, which means ‘good omen’, is a clear example
of verbal irony. On the other hand, when Faustus called for Christ’s help,
Lucifer shows instead. The appearance of Lucifer emphasizes the fact that
Faustus did not, seriously, will to repent.
Through out the whole play, Marlowe, in spite of the weak comic
scenes, has achieved a tragic balance through using the chorus and stressing
the moral on one side. The other side is through representing a typically
renaissance hero.
The Family Reunion
The Family Reunion is a play that deals with the idea of guilt
that shadows the main character in the play. Moreover it shows the artificial
relationships between the members of one family.
Harry, the hero of the play is emotionally isolated and has
a strong sense of guilt. Eight years ago, after a short period of marriage,
and while traveling by sea, he either pushed his wife over board or at
least watched her slip down. He is not clear, but he does mention his desire
to kill her. This is due to the fact that his father, in the past, had
wanted to kill his mother and since then he has been haunted by this idea.
After leaving Wishwood for eight years, his spiritual suffer is noted from
his strange external behavior on the very moment of his return home. Instead
of responding to the greetings of his aunts and uncles, he stares to the
window.
Harry suffers from a deep spiritual distress and do not know
how to set matters right, neither can he communicate his feelings. He experiences
a great difficulty in communicating his inward experience and what his
mind senses. He suffers a sense of sin. He must suffer not only for his
own sin, but also for that of his father. He must suffer and through suffering
must redeem his family from the curse which has fallen.
Through out his short stay, Harry is faced with a choice, and
it is Agatha who helps him to make the right choice. The choice offered
a comfortable life with Mary who tempts him for such a life by the offer
of her love. He is tempted but only for a moment. Furies appear to him,
but Mary cannot see them. This makes him realize the insensibility of Mary,
and turns away from her. He realizes that the ordinary life is not possible
for him. Thus he is led to make the right choice.
As Harry comes to Wishwood in the beginning of the play, he
is described as a man caught between two worlds. By the end of the play,
his struggle is over. He is able to make the choice, and follow the chosen
path with courage and determination. He has risen above normal fears and
his life would be lived on a higher spiritual level.
ALL MY SONS
SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY VERSUS SELF INTEREST
Man’s social
responsibility is the major theme in All My Sons. It is his responsibility
as distinguished from a man’s self interest or his devotion to his family.
Miller individualizes the theme of the play through the character of Joe
Keller. Both Joe and Steve are partners in a firm that plays an efficient
part in supplying the American Air Force with cylinder heads during the
war. Joe had been responsible for the supply of defective cylinder heads
to the Air Force. This lead to disastrous loss in aircrafts and pilots.
During the trial, Joe passed the blame to Steve who, consequently, was
sentenced to a long imprisonment.
The play starts
by the awareness of being guilty. Joe knows this fact about himself, and
he tries to mend it by an offer to Steve’s daughter, Annie. He tells her
that he will help her brother George to establish himself in life and,
also, he is going to provide her father, after getting out of jail, with
a well-paid job. It is generosity that seems to be the reason of his behavior;
instead it is his sense of guilt.
George knows
the truth and he accuses Joe as being responsible for his father’s situation.
Moreover, he reveals this truth to Joe’s son Chris who does not believe
him. After that, Chris’s mother confirms the truth to him, she tells him
that his father gave instructions to Steve to dispatch the cylinder heads
to the air force, and that these instructions were during a phone call
between both partners.
Chris starts
to accuse his father and asks for a suitable reason. Defending himself,
Joe tells his son that he had to do so for the sake of his business and
his family, he added that he did not know that this would lead to the death
of pilots. His reasons were not accepted by Chris whose ideas were that
a person must give priority to his country and the society he is part of
and not to his firm and family.
Larry, Joe’s
second son could not bear the guilt of his father and commits suicide.
On the other hand, Joe realized that his guilt was extremely large and
that is caused the death of a large number of young men of his country
in addition to that of his son. As a result he puts an end to his life.
He found out that he ruined the life of his friend, other families and
his own and that is why he took this decision.
Joe’s wife,
also, has no moral responsibility. She agreed to keep quite for a long
time. Although she knew the truth, she did not speak and her selfishness
for the sake of her family prevented her from saying the truth. All of
these events resulted in the destruction of Joe’s family, which was, from
the beginning, the main reason for the act of guilt performed by Joe.
Briefly, the
play focuses on the idea of social responsibility towards higher values.
These values that are more important than the financial interest and the
prosperity of a family.
HAMLET: THE PLOT
Hamlet, prince of Denmark, is at school in Germany, when his
father dies. He comes home to find his mother, Queen Gertrude, married
to his uncle Claudius. Claudius has had himself crowned king. Through his
friend Horatio, Hamlet knows that his father's ghost has been seen. Hamlet
goes with them to see the ghost, which speaks to him, saying that Claudius
has murdered the king by pouring poison in his ear and that he, Hamlet,
must avenge his father's murder. Hamlet swears to do this, but his philosophic
mind is deeply upset at the shock of his uncle's treachery and his mother's
possible involvement in it.
In the meantime, Polonius the chief adviser is troubled by the
behavior of his son, Laertes, and his sensitive daughter, Ophelia who is
attached to young Hamlet. She is asked to be careful, since it's not likely
that the heir to the throne would marry someone below his rank. At the
same time Claudius and Gertrude are concerned over Hamlet's behavior, which
has become increasingly disturbed, though they of course do not know why.
They send for two of his school friends to try to discover the source of
his moodiness. These two try to cheer Hamlet with news of a traveling company
of actors on their way to Elsinore. This gives him a solution to one of
his major worries. He will have the actors put on a play about a courtier
who poisons a king and seduces the queen. Claudius' reaction to the play
will reveal the truth.
Meanwhile, Ophelia tells her father about Hamlet, who was behaving
strangely. Polonius concludes that Hamlet's frustrated love for her has
made him go mad. To prove this to Claudius, he has his daughter confront
Hamlet where he and the king can spy on them. Hamlet comes in, talking
about death and whether or not he has the right to take a man's life. When
Ophelia interrupts him, he becomes emotionally violent and denies he ever
loved her. Claudius is greatly upset by the scene, which makes him begin
to fear that Hamlet has found out the truth about his father's death.
During the performance of the play Hamlet starts making remarks
that drive Claudius out when the actors have begun to speak. Hamlet tells
Horatio he is now totally convinced the ghost was telling the truth. Gertrude,
furious with her son sends to tell him she wants to see him in private,
in her chambers. On the way there Hamlet sees Claudius kneeling and attempting
to pray. Hamlet thinks about killing him there, but holds back, believing
that a man killed while praying would go to heaven.
Arriving at his mother's room, Hamlet is harsh with her. He
accuses her of murder and he attacked her so forcefully that Polonius,
who was hiding, cries for help. Hamlet stabs what he thinks is Claudius,
and is disappointed to learn he has killed only the old man. He tries to
convince his mother to give up her second marriage. He is interrupted by
the ghost, who reminds him that he has sworn to kill Claudius and leave
his mother in peace. Their conversation convinces Gertrude, who cannot
see the ghost, that her son is indeed mad.
In the meantime, Claudius will send Hamlet, guarded by his friends
on a diplomatic mission to England, carrying a sealed letter that asks
the English king to arrest Hamlet and put him to death. On the way there
they pass Fortinbras' army marching to Poland and Hamlet remembers his
failure to avenge his father.
When Ophelia learns of her father's death, she goes insane.
Laertes returns from Paris, swearing vengeance on his father's murderer.
He allows Claudius to convince him that her madness is all Hamlet's fault.
Meantime, luck has saved Hamlet's life: The ship he sailed on was attacked
by pirates, who took him prisoner but let the others continue. Since Hamlet
had discovered the treachery in Claudius' letter and replaced it with one
requesting instead the execution of his companions, the two have sailed
to certain death. Hamlet is released by the pirates on the Danish coast.
Claudius convinces Laertes to take his revenge in a duel, in
which he will wound Hamlet with a poisoned sword. Before it takes place,
the two have an unexpected clash in the graveyard where Ophelia, who has
drowned herself, is being buried.
Having received Laertes' formal challenge, Hamlet apologizes
to him before the duel begins. They are evenly matched, so Claudius attempts
to improve the odds by offering Hamlet a cup of poisoned wine, which, however,
Queen Gertrude drinks. Laertes manages to wound Hamlet with the poisoned
sword, but in the fight they switch weapons and Laertes is wounded with
it, too. Feeling the effect of the poisoned wine, Gertrude collapses, and
the court finally realizes what Claudius has been up to. Hamlet at last
achieves his revenge by stabbing Claudius with the poisoned weapon. Laertes,
dying, confesses and begs Hamlet's forgiveness. Hamlet has just enough
strength left to stop Horatio from drinking the dregs of the poisoned wine,
and dies in his friend's arms, begging him to tell the world the true story.
HAMLET (The Character)
Hamlet may be the most complex character any playwright has
ever placed onstage. Hamlet often sees immediate events in a larger perspective.
Ophelia's "O what a noble mind" speech is one of many suggesting that Shakespeare
meant us to think of him this way. Yet Hamlet is a deeply troubled young
man who, by the end of the play, caused many violent deaths. While the
earliest view was that Hamlet is simply a victim of circumstances, later
critics saw him as a beautiful but useless soul who lacked the strength
of will to avenge his father. Passages in the play provide justification
for this point of view, most notably in Hamlet's own soliloquies. Hamlet's
behavior with Ophelia, his rough treatment of Polonius' corpse, his reason
for refusing to kill Claudius at prayer, and most of all the callous and
seemingly unjust way he has his friends put to death clarify the disturbed
character of the hero.
All the action of Hamlet is based on the one task the ghost
sets the prince to avenge his father's murder. Throughout the play Shakespeare
raises questions about whether justice is to be left to the state or taken
into one's own hands, and about whether it is possible to tell the good
man from the criminal. These questions are focused on Hamlet, who must
decide whether to avenge his father or not, and if so, how. They are reflected
in the parallel stories of Fortinbras and Laertes, who also have obligations
of revenge to fulfill.
The question of Hamlet's sanity is openly discussed in the play
and has been a subject of debate for centuries. Is Hamlet really mad? If
so, what causes Hamlet's madness? Is it his hesitation to take revenge?
Is it his confused feelings about his mother? Is he in fact sane and the
world mad for failing to understand the things he says? Is he sometimes
pretending to be mad and at other times genuinely unbalanced? We must also
remember that the play gives another example of madness in Ophelia.
Hamlet is a person of exceptional intelligence and sensitivity,
raised to occupy a high station in life and then suddenly confronted with
a violent and terrifying situation in which he must take drastic action.
The fact that Hamlet is a thinking as well as a feeling person,
conscious of the good and bad points in every step he takes, makes the
act of revenge particularly painful for him. Revenge is not Christian,
and Hamlet is a Christian prince; it is not rational, and Hamlet is a philosopher;
it is not gentle, and Hamlet is a gentleman.
As we read Shakespeare's play we can discover the specific things
Hamlet says and does that make his motives understandable to us. If you
follow the play closely and seriously, we can find out that Hamlet is the
unquestioned center of the play. If he is not onstage he is almost always
the subject of discussion in every scene. Nevertheless, Shakespeare has
taken pains to give the other characters as strong and independent an existence
as possible. They are not mere foils for Hamlet, but distinct individuals
that exist and conflict with him, though their stories are told in a more
fragmentary fashion.
Julius Caesar
The play starts with the great Roman general, Julius Caesar,
has become master of Rome and some fear that he will become king. A group
of young men led by Cassius planed to prevent this by assassinating him.
They gain the support of Brutus, a close friend of Caesar but a passionate
republican. Brutus becomes the leader of the conspirators, who led
Caesar to a meeting of the Senate and there stab him to death. At Caesar’s
funeral Brutus gave Antony a permission to speak in praise of Caesar. Antony
urges the people against the conspirators who are forced to escape from
Rome.
Civil war breaks
between the supporters of Brutus and Cassius, on the one hand, and the
followers of Antony and Caesar’s nephew, Octavius, on the other.
Despite Cassius’s
warning and the appearance of Caesar’s ghost, Brutus fights his enemies
at Philippi. The battle goes badly for Cassius and he commits suicide.
Brutus fights on but is defeated. As night falls he also kills himself.
From the very
beginning Caesar is portrayed as a great man who believes in his courage
and in being a legend. He is a man of power and pride, overweening pride.
We can feel great excess in the way Caesar speaks about himself. But, Caesar’s
portrait is warmed by touches of kindness and humanity; his concern for
his wife, his hospitality to his visitors on the morning of his death,
his good humoured affection for Antony, and at the very end, the shock
he suffers in seeing his other dear friend, Brutus, among his killers.
Above all,
he is most important in the play as a power over other’s men’s feelings,
actions, and ideas. The various voices of the play speak more of him even
when he is dead than of any other character, even Brutus. During his life,
Caesar’s weakness was his over reaching pride, his attempt to convince
himself and those around him that he is more than human. This human weakness
vanishes with his death and remains all that is great about him.
There is a
lot of disagreement about who is the hero of the play. Caesar certainly
has the characteristics of the tragic hero. He fulfils the mediaeval concept
of tragedy as the story of the fall of a great man from power and that
his fall is brought about by a flaw in his character which is pride. It
is the sin of claiming to have risen above humanity to equality with gods.
At the moment Caesar equates himself with Olympus he gets killed as if
it is his direct punishment. The second half of the play is concerned only
with the revenge of his murder. But, it is true that Caeasar,s spirit continues
to dominate the play after his death. The chief difficulty in regarding
Caesar as the hero, is that we have been unable to sympathise with him
sufficiently for his death. We have had only occasional glimpses of his
humanity, and even his greatness is not fully convincing until after his
death. With Brutus, however, we are able to sympathise from his first appearance.
We may disapprove of his decision that Caesar must be killed, but he is
the only character who suffers an internal conflict and we are admitted
to his mind to share it. We can sympathise with him and his death is a
natural tragic climax of the play.
NOTE: ( REMAINS BRUTUS & OTHER IDEAS CONCERNING THE POLITICAL
THEME TO ENABLE YOU TO WRITE ON THE PLAY IN A CONVINCING MANNER )
Brutus
In the play
Brutus is represented as a deep thinker and a true scholar. He is an idealist,
and he tries to conduct a revolution on moral lines. All speak of his reputation
for virtue and honour. Brutus’s character is also developed by our seeing
him as both the public figure and a private individual, Brutus’s personal
life reveals the humanity that lies behind the public person. Wee see more
deeply into him than into Caesar. Yet, the nature of Brutus is not that
of a successful man of action, and his errors of judgement produce the
dramatic action.
Brutus has
no sufficient experience of human nature. In all his actions he is guided
by an abstract conception. This explains his fatal error in giving Antony
permission to speak at Ceasar’s funeral. This brought about a sudden change
of fortune.
Brutus always
has a fixed determination of character and is often described as a stubborn
person. This is a characteristic of the type of man who settles all problems
by reference to an abstract code of duty, rather than the practical examination
of the problem itself. He forces his opinion upon Cassius, disregards the
ideas of the later that Antony should die along with Ceasar in the first
place, ignores Cassius warning that it will be dangerous to allow Antony
to speak at Ceasar’s funeral, and finally rejects Cassius’ plan of battle,
and generally commits every mistake which can be made. The humanity which
made him keep the life of Antony is a fatal mistake to a successful conspirator.
It is also
on Brutus that the central themes of the play are focused; the morality
of political action and the conflict between the public responsibility
and private loyalties. As soon as he joins the conspiracy he is forced
to compromise his ideals. We are torn between sympathy with his regret
such deceitful methods must be used and grief that he should shut his eyes
to their nature as he continues. While Antony deceives others, Brutus deceives
himself. For him, as much as for Antony, the end must justify the means.
For the question of whether the preservation Roman’s liberties (the end)
justifies the murder of Caesar (the means), the play gives no answer, and
it is complicated by the peculiar nature of Brutus’s reasoning. He concludes
that Caesar must be killed not because he shows signs of becoming a tyrant
but from fear of how he might change once he is crowned. It is clearly
unjust to kill a man for what he might do in the future, but Brutus is
in a dilemma. If he is persuaded that Roman liberty is threatened, it would
be wrong not to act, he cannot escape responsibility by washing his hands
of the dirty work of politics. Brutus is not the traditional idealist;
once his mind is made up he is firm and steady. He gives sensible reasons
for his three major errors; the sparing of Antony’s life and permitting
him to address the crowd and the advance on Philippi. He is initially successful
in battle; and to save Rome from monarchy he is prepared to kill his best
friend.
KING LEAR BY WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
Shakespeare
did not have much of his own plot material in his plays. Almost every thing
he wrote for the stage has an origin in literature. Shakespeare’s King
Lear depended, mainly, on Chronicles Of England written by Ralph Holinshed.
It deals with a king who divided his kingdom between two daughters, egnoring
a third. This division depended on a weak test of the love of the three
daughters to their father. It resulted in Lear’s unjust division of the
kingdom. After that, Lear starts to suffer the consequents of his behaviour.
He faces the truth that he was not just or right and he sways between sanity
and insanity.
Lear’s speeches,
at the beginning of the play, shows that no experience has led him so far
to hesitate over the significance and duties of kingship. His relations
with those closest to him, mirror his own attitudes. He inspires in Kent
a strong and durable loyality. Banished for plain speaking, Kent in disguise
is quickly by the king’s side. He tells himself that he will work well
for the master he loves. Kent’s boundless loyality to the king shows that
there are qualities in Lear that are hardly noticed in his relation with
others who associate with him.
Lear’s character
is revealled fully by the end of Act I. His exchange with the fool settle
for all the flaws in the king, and the omens are not good. At the end of
this scene, we see the king praying not to go mad. After that, Lear is
rejected by Goneril; despite of the sympathy of Albany, her husband. Also,
rejected by Regan, he decides to face adversity without the advantages
of comfort and respect that go along with his status. Lear, by this point,
reached an awareness of the only thing that can bring him ultimate reconciliation
with the realities of the human conditions, a deeper search for what is
essential to mankind.
Lear’s next
appearance shows him fantastically dressed with wild flowers. This appearance
marks the disturbance of mind from which he is recalled when Cordelia,
by her natural self, brings him back to consciousness of the life he has
known. He accepts prison in the British camp, prefering it to having to
face up to unconfined nature. We become aware that his reason has returned,
for his choice makes sense. When he brings in on the stage the dead Cordelia,
his rage is towering, his grief bitter and frightening, but they are not
the cries of a madman. His passing is a loss not of mind but of consciousness.
THE CHARACTER OF CORDELIA:
Although her
appearances are few in number, and what she actually says and does, when
she is on stage, is very small in quantity, she is never far from our minds
as the play procceeds. Her style of speech has a hard compact and self-confident
even in emotion. Her appearance break down into three episodes.
In the first
episode, she is the truth-sayer and the enemy of hypocrisy. Her directness
and sincerity of purpose lead her to say things that she knows, perfectly
well, her father will misinterpret. Cordelia loses her father’s blessing,
a loss that would have made it possible for her to marry as a princess
was expected to do.
The second
episode does not appear until Lear’s suffering has passed and his mind
stands in need of the comfort, his affectionate daughter can give. On his
side, Lear’s shame at his misjudgement keeps him from approaching Cordelia.
She believes her father wants to see his other daughters, but this is not
so. He accepts being in prison so long as she can be with him. Yet, Lear’s
restoration is her victory.
In her final
appearance, she is brought in dead in Lear’s arms. She was hanged on Edmund’s
orders. We are left with Lear’s lament for her.
King Lear
Lear is basically a generous and unsuspicious man, but he is
too used to getting his own way after a long lifetime of absolute rulership.
He is also hot-tempered and self-willed. Despite his age he is in top physical
condition at the beginning of the play (he goes out hunting when he is
staying with Goneril). His disinheriting of Cordelia is not an act of senility
but the act of a man who will stand no opposition to his slightest whim.
What the opening scene does prove is that he lacks common sense and insight
into people and that he puts too much faith in outward show. He seems to
have known enough about his daughters before to have preferred Cordelia
to the others, but his folly consists in his accepting at face value the
hypocritical protestations of love by Goneril and Regan.
Lear is like a man who wants to eat his cake and also have it.
Having given away his kingdom, he expects to retain the dignity and power
of kingship and refuses to accept a lesser role in life. This first scene,
however, is the only one in the play in which Lear is shown in an unsympathetic
light. Immediately afterward, when he goes to stay with Goneril, his suffering
begins. It is so intense that we can only sympathize with him. We lehrn,
too, that Lear has attracted the intense fidelity and devotion of Cordelia,
Gloucester, Kent, the Fool and, later, Albany. He must have had good qualities
to do so. Hurt deeply by his daughters' ingratitude, Lear throughout the
play is desperately fighting a losing battle with madness. He is determined
to remain "every inch a king." His deep-rooted pride will not allow him
to diminish his retinue by one knight. He would rather go out into the
storm. There, as his trials increase in intensity, a transformation seems
to overtake Lear. He loses his temper less and less and begins to learn
patience and humility. His suffering makes him aware of the suffering of
all humanity-something he had been protected from by court flattery when
he was a King. There was also a streak of self-pity in Lear. He feels himself
"a man more sinned against than sinning," and keeps reminding his daughters
that he "gave them all." This self-pity, too, is purged from his character,
and he comes to realize that the world owes him nothing. In his madness,
Lear comes paradoxically to a true vision of the workings of the universe
and of man's place in it. He rebels, with puritanical disgust, against
the lust, greed and hypocrisy which run the world. Toward the end of the
play, under the love of Cordelia and the care of her physician, Lear achieves
a degree of serenity until the final blow - the death of Cordelia - deprives
him of all reason for living.
Gloucester
Like Lear, Gloucester is an old, white-haired man, a widower,
whose children are still comparatively young. He, too, has been guilty
of folly and injustice. He, too, is normally affectionate, but over-hasty
in his actions. Like Lear, he cannot distinguish between his good child
and his wicked one. His son Edmund, as a bastard, is an embarrassment to
Gloucester, and he keeps him away from court for several years. But then,
when Edmund returns to court, Gloucester is all too willing to believe
his slander against Edgar. He is far more superstitious and credulous than
Lear. In fact, he is the only completely superstitious character in the
play, giving great credence to such things as eclipses and the movement
of the stars as forces in human behavior. He is also a very weak, though
good-hearted man. Although he disapproves of what Cornwall and Regan are
doing to Lear and although they are doing it in Gloucester's own castle,
all he can do is chide them for it; he can't stop them. This is partly
because he is only an earl, whereas Cornwall is a duke. But partly it is
because Gloucester doesn't have the strength of character necessary to
put a stop to rampant evil. His life, too, has been more devoted to the
enjoyment of sensual pleasure than Lear's, as the begetting of the illegitimate
Edmund shows. In his suffering, Gloucester seems like Lear, but to nearly
so impressive. He tends more to whimper than to lash out at his oppressors
as Lear does in his great biblical tirades. His blinding by Cornwall makes
him pessimistic to the brink of suicide. Even then he is gullible, believing
Edgar's story that he is on the brink of the cliffs of Dover, instead of
simply on level ground. It is harder for Gloucester to learn what Lear
and Edgar know: that a man must endure whatever horrors the fates may heap
on his shoulders. He doesn't have to grin and bear it, but he must bear
it.
Goneril
Lear's oldest daughter is a supremely evil woman. She understands
her father very well and plays up to him with her hypocritical avowal of
love in the first scene. But she knows that he is willful and changeable
and decides to play him for all that she can get. She knows, too, that
Cordelia has always been Lear's favorite and is jealous of her, as Edmund
is jealous of Edgar. She is highly intelligent, but has no sense of proportion.
She despises her husband, Albany, for being weaker-willed than he is, but
fails to see that if he is, it is a sense of decency which makes him so.
She fails utterly to see Lear's inherent nobility. She is also very thick-skinned
and callous. It doesn't bother her that her bargaining with Lear about
how many knights he is to retain is for him the most inhuman degradation.
His justifiable tirades against her just slip off her like water off a
duck's back. She is determined to reduce Lear to beggary, to utter dependence
on her charity for the means to live, and doesn't care about the devastating
psychological effect such an attitude would have on a man used to being
an absolute ruler all his life. Her "love" for Edmund is pure lust for
sex and power. It is based on Edmund's handsome exterior and on his temperamental
likeness to herself. He, too, will stop at nothing to get his way. Far
more ambitious and unscrupulous than Albany, Edmund appeals to Goneril
as the kind of man who is worthy of her.
Regan
Like her older sister, Regan is intelligent, grasping and cruel.
The only thing she lacks is initiative. She is always following Goneril's
footsteps, sometimes even outdoing her in cruelty, but never originating
anything. Typical of Regan is her remark when Cornwall orders that Kent
be placed in the stocks until noon. "Till noon!" Regan exclaims, "Till
night, my lord; and all night too." She is always going others one better
in cruelty, but she doesn't poison anybody, commit adultery or plot against
her husband's life, as Goneril does. She is p esumably more "happily married"
than Goneril because her husband, Cornwall, is just as vicious and strong-willed
as she is. She even slays the servant who kills Cornwall. Nevertheless,
when Cornwall is killed, Regan immediately transfers her affections to
Edmund, for the same reasons that Goneril loves him. Regan shamelessly
throws all her possessions at Edmund after he wins the battle against France.
It is typical of Goneril's power over Regan, however, that it is Goneril
who poisons Regan and not the other way around.
Cordelia
The youngest sister is almost like the Virgin Mary in her meekness
and gentleness. As good as her sisters are evil, Cordelia is a unique portrait
in literature. Only Shakespeare could draw a picture of such utter goodness
in so few lines and not become sentimental. Although Cordelia is present
in only four of the 26 scenes of the play, we never forget her during the
long stretch when she is offstage. Her character is based on three traits:
reverence, pity, and absolute devotion to the truth. It is this latter
trait which gets her into trouble at the beginning of the play. She lacks
any of her sisters' hypocrisy, but is too severe and unyielding in her
insistence on telling Lear the truth. She tells him, "I love your Majesty
/ According to my bond; no more no less." This shows that although Cordelia
had always been Lear's favorite daughter, she understands him as little
as he does her, and much less than Goneril and Regan understand him. During
the course of the play the two come to a mutual understanding, and Cordelia
learns the same lesson of humility that Lear must learn. She is married
to the King of France at the beginning of the play, and is able to arouse
enough love in him for him to take her without a dowry and to bring his
whole army to Dover to re-establish her father on his throne. She also
has aroused intense devotion in Kent, who gets himself exiled for speaking
out in her favor, and in the Fool, who pines away for her when she is in
exile. When she is reunited with her father, she looks out anxiously for
his welfare, and assures him of her undying devotion to him in words of
noble simplicity. Most critics and spectators of Lear find Cordelia's death
the most unbearably poignant episode in the play.
Edgar
Edgar undergoes one of the most marked developments of any character
in King Lear. At the beginning he is as credulous as his father, Gloucester.
It is ridiculously easy for Edmund to fool him. He cannot suspect evil
because he is wholly good himself. Also, Edgar is the most religious character
in the play, who believes that the gods are always just. Edgar learns,
however, to be resourceful and ingenious in order to survive. He adopts
the disguise of Tom of Bedlam because he knows that since nobody will take
a mad beggar seriously, he will be able to survive while Edmund is plotting
against him. Later, his disguise as a peasant is good enough to fool even
his own father. He learns to be cheerful in adversity and helpful in a
practical way. When the Fool drops out of the play, it is up to Edgar to
cheer and comfort Lear and look after his welfare. He is reliable, and
the state is in good hands with him at the end of the play. By the time
of his duel with Edmund, he has become a strong, self-reliant man. He is
still deeply good, sometimes even priggish, as when he tells Edmund that
Gloucester was blinded because of his "pleasant vices." Edgar is no longer
taken in by evil, and yet has not become hard-hearted or cynical.
Edmund
Edmund is the complete opposite of his brother. Where Edgar
is religious, Edmund is a complete atheist and materialist. He believes
that men just use the gods as excuses for their own bad behavior. "Thou,
Nature, art my goddess," he proudly proclaims, meaning that he thinks of
himself as a natural man, not bound by any moral or ethical considerations.
The gods are to Edmund merely "an admirable evasion of whore-master man,
to lay his goatish disposition to the charge of a star!" Edmund is highly
intelligent. He plots coldly and brilliantly to gain first his brother's
inheritance, then his father's title, and finally the entire kingdom. He
is, in short, an ambitious adventurer. He lets nothing stand in his way.
He even betrays his father to his enemies. Although Edmund is physically
handsome, he suffers deeply from the fact of his illegitimacy and the mockery
he has had to endure because of it. At the very beginning of the play his
being a bastard is discussed in his presence, with cynical wit by his father
and Kent. In his first soliloquy he reflects, "Why bastard? Wherefore base?
/ When my dimensions are as well compact, / My mind as generous, and my
shape as true, as honest madam's issue?" Then, thinking over his plot,
he concludes, "I grow, I prosper; / Now, gods, stand up for bastards!"
Edmund's psychological suffering for being a bastard provides him with
at least a speck of motivation for his evil in the play. Other sympathetic
aspects of Edmund are his subtle humor and his refusal to fool himself.
He says, while dying, of Goneril and Regan, "I was contracted to them both:
all three / Now marry in an instant," and we feel a pang of sympathy for
him when he says, "Yet Edmund was belov'd." Also, at the point of death
he tries to save Lear and Cordelia from his own cruel death warrant. In
these ways, Edmund is a much more appealing villain than Cornwall, but
he is still a coldly calculating villain, much like Iago in Othello, or
Richard III. The one thing his intelligence fails to comprehend is that
evil is self-defeating, a failure of comprehension that is his destruction.
Kent
The key to Kent's character is his absolute devotion to Lear.
An old man, although not as old as Lear or Gloucester, Kent puts himself
to endless trouble to be with Lear and to help him whenever he can. What
makes his behavior all the more admirable is that since Lear banished him
in the first scene for defending Cordelia, Kent is in England on pain of
death, should he be recognized and captured. Hence he must maintain his
disguise throughout. He is blunt and eccentric, utterly lacking any of
the smoothness and suavity of the usual courtier. He is a plain, honest
man, who, like Lear, acts hotly and rashly. To Cornwall he is merely "some
fellow / Who, having been prais'd for bluntness, doth affect / A saucy
roughness" - in other words, he is putting his bluntness on. But this is
untrue. Kent simply cannot control his temper when he sees the ingratitude
and injustice of Lear's daughters, or the lack of respect for Lear that
Oswald shows. He is the typical warrior, rather than courtier: unthinking,
hot-tempered, but profoundly loyal and unselfish. He is also a fatalist.
When he is placed in the stocks and there is nothing more he can do, he
simply says, "Fortune good night; smile once more; turn thy wheel!" and
promptly goes to sleep. His devotion to Lear is such that when Lear dies
and Kent is offered a share in ruling the kingdom, he refuses, because
"My master calls me, I must not say no." In short, he must die, too, once
Lear is dead.
The Fool
Another devoted servant of Lear's. In happier days he entertained
the king and court with his quips and riddles. When we first see him, he
is unhappy because his favorite, Cordelia, has been exiled. He alternately
cheers and torments Lear with his witty insights into Lear's folly and
the ingratitude of his daughters. Like Kent, he cannot be separated from
Lear, but he is not so brave as the old warrior. Goneril and Regan stun
him into silence, and he is so terrified of the storm that Kent has to
comfort him. The Fool has true insight into what is going on in the world,
but he is also more than a touch insane. This is part of the convention
of court jesters, however, and is not original with Shakespeare's Fool.
The Fool is someone who is so far outside the realms of political and social
power that he is privileged to make any comments on his superiors that
he chooses, as long as he is witty and amusing. In Lear, the Fool sings
songs, speaks in puns and riddles, and is often rather difficult to understand.
He is apparently quite young, and the suffering he has endured and seen
around him has been too much for him. He disappears mysteriously half-way
through the play, after he has taught Lear all he can about the ways of
the world.
Albany
A vacillating man, but not nearly so weak as Goneril thinks
him. It merely takes him a long time to make up his mind because he is
the kind of man who has to weigh allegiances very carefully. Albany at
first doesn't interfere with Goneril's cruel treatment of Lear, and Lear
makes no distinction between him and Cornwall. He is obviously in love
with his wife for her physical beauty. But as the play progresses, Albany's
essential decency emerges. He cannot bear the cruelty that has been shown
Lear, and at the risk of losing his wife to Edmund he defends the old King.
He roundly upbraids Goneril as "Most barbarous, most degenerate," and when
he hears that his brother-in-law Cornwall was slain while gouging out Gloucester's
eyes, Albany cries out in exultation: "This shows you are above, / You
justicers, that these our nether crimes / So speedily can venge!" Nevertheless,
Albany is a patriotic man, and leads his troops in the war against the
French, although he must fight on Edmund's side against Lear and Cordelia.
He is a man who can be pushed around only so far, and when he learns of
Goneril's plot to have him killed and to marry Edmund, he has the plotters
arrested for treason. He has learned that there is no compromise with evil.
Cornwall
Cornwall seems at first to be as much under Regan's thumb as
Albany is under Goneril's. It soon becomes obvious, however, that Cornwall
is at least the equal of the sisters in cruelty. He thinks nothing of putting
Kent in the stocks for insulting Oswald, taking over Gloucester's castle
completely, siding with Regan against Lear and even locking Lear out in
the storm. Cornwall's crowning moment of villainy comes when he gouges
out Gloucester's eyes with his own thumbs. It is for this last outrageous
deed that Cornwall's own servant stabs him, (an unheard of act in those
days). As another servant says, "I'll never care what wickedness I do /
If this man come to good." Regan wastes no time mourning for him, and neither
do we.
Oswald
Oswald, like Kent, is fiercely loyal, but to the wrong person.
He will do anything for Goneril. But unlike Kent, instead of being blunt
and outspoken, Oswald is an oily and suave snob, which is why Kent despises
him. When Oswald speaks disrespectfully to Lear at Goneril's house, Kent
immediately trips him up and sends him sprawling for his insolence. Later,
at Gloucester's castle, Kent rightly calls Oswald "a lily-livered . . .
super-serviceable, finical rogue," and "a knave, beggar, coward, pandar,
and the son and heir of a mongrel bitch." Oswald is loyal, however, and
even performs Goneril's evil missions with more zest than is necessary
because he has a taste for cruelty himself. His loyalty is shown when Regan
tries to worm out of him the contents of the letter he is carrying from
Goneril to Edmund. He steadfastly refuses to let her see it. His cruelty
is shown by his willingness to stab the defenseless Gloucester in the back.
When he is prevented from doing so by Edgar, disguised as a peasant, Oswald,
the complete snob, is insulted that a social inferior should dare to fight
him. But his final action is a loyal one: he begs Edgar to deliver the
letter with which he had been entrusted. Oswald is the kind of man who
might have been decent if he had attached himself to a decent master, but
with no conscience of his own, he is a complete villain in the pay of a
Goneril.
France
The King of France is a generous, intelligent man, who sees
enough in Cordelia to be willing to marry her without a dowry. He goes
to immense trouble to launch an invasion of England in order to rescue
Lear. But then he makes what may have been a fatal mistake by returning
to France just before the battle because of urgent business at home. By
leavi g his army in the command of a marshal, he may have forfeited the
victory. His motives in landing an army at Dover are completely honorable.
He desires no territorial conquest, but merely to see Cordelia happy again.
The Duke Of Burgundy
We see Burgundy only briefly in the first scene. He is the other
suitor for Cordelia's hand. Apparently he has priority over France, but
he loses out on marrying Cordelia because he is too cold and materialistic
to wed her without a dowry. France puns on his name and character by calling
him "wat'rish Burgundy." Even Lear doesn't seem to think much of him in
the scene, although he has no sympathy for Cordelia either, then.
The Physician
A quiet, obedient and intelligent practitioner, the physician
realizes that the only hope of restoring Lear to a degree of sanity is
to let him rest after his great travail. "Our foster-nurse of nature is
repose," he says, "The which he lacks; that to provoke in him, / Are many
simples operative, whose power / Will close the eye of anguish." The physician
probably represents the best Elizabethan medical practice. He intelligently
asks Cordelia to be the first to speak to Lear when he awakens, and his
idea of awakening Lear to the sound of music is highly interesting because
this was the way in which the essayist Montaigne, who greatly influenced
Shakespeare, used to be awakened. He very much resembles the doctor in
Macbeth.
Minor Characters
Other minor characters, with the exception of Curan, Edmund's
servant, tend like the physician to be good, simple men. The Gentleman
who keeps Kent abreast of latest developments, and Cornwall's servants
who revolt against their master and try to comfort the blinded Gloucester,
are humble, decent men who do much, in their small ways, to offset the
aggressive evil of half the major characters.
LADY WINDERMERE’S FAN
BY
OSCAR WILDE
Oscar Wilde
was born in Dublin, Oct. 16, 1854. He is an Anglo-Irish poet, essayist,
novelist, and dramatist. Wilde is one of the most publicized figures of
Victorian England. He wrote brilliant theatrical comedies, most notabaly
Lady Windermere’s Fan and The Importance Of Being Earnest.
In Lady Windermere’s
Fan, Wilde was too close to the idea of a well-made play. The plot of a
well-made play deals with a secret which is known only to some of the characters.
In the play there is an unrevealed secret between Lord Windermere and Mrs.
Erlynne. This secret shows the fact that Mrs. Erlynne is Lady Windermere’s
mother, who eloped with her lover and deserted her daughter. No one else
knows this secret till the end of the play; even Lady Windermere never
knows the truth about her mother. First, she thought that Mrs. Erlynne
is her husband’s mistress, then, she did not accept her in her birthday
party and decided to accept Lord Darlington’s offer. As a result, she leaves
the house leaving a letter to her husband explaining to him her action.
This letter, accidently, falls into the hands of Mrs. Erlynne who follows
her to Lord Darlington’s house and saves her from a shamefull situation.
Before this situation, Lady Windermere did not expect Mrs. Erlynne to behave
in such a way. Yet, she did not know that this behaviour was a result of
a mother’s feelings towards her daughter. Oscar Wilde was very close to
revealing the secret but he never did it.
A second feature
of the well-made play is the conflict in the action, especially the duel
of wits. This feature is shown between different
characters in the play. There is the duel between Lord
Windermere and Mrs. Erlynne, Mrs. Erlynne and Lady Windermere; where Mrs.
Erlynne did not intend to be an opponent, and between Lady Windermere and
Lord Darlington; where Lady Windermere was the weak opponent of all.
The well-made
play created suspense through different devices of mis-understanding, compromising
letters, precisely timed entrances and exits and other such devices. In
Lady Windermere’s Fan mis-understanding started when Lady Windermere discovered
that her husband gave Mrs. Erlynne large sums of money; she thought this
money was the price of a relation between her husband and Mrs. Erlynne.
The idea of letters was, also, represented by the letter left by Lady Windermere
to her husband. The letter was accidently discovered by Mrs. Erlynne who,
quickly, understood her daughter’s action and feared that she might repeat
her own mistake. Following her to Lord Darlington’s house and being both
at the same place; Wilde makes use of the precisely timed entrances and
exits. Suddenly, Lord Darlington, Lord Augustan and Lord Windermere arrive
to the house. The two Ladies hide and at the same time Lord Windermere
discovers his wife’s fan. Insisting on searching the house, Mrs. Erlynne
covers Lady Windermere’s escape and faces the situation pretending to be
the one who brought the fan by accident. She did not reveal the whole story
in an attempt to protect her daughter’s marriage and reputation.
The main characters
in the play fall into fixed patterns. There is a formed triangle between
a wife, a husband and a lover. This triangle causes the main conflict in
the play. Lord Darlington, the lover encourages Lady Windermere to search
behind her husband and pretends to be Lord Windermere’s best friend; while,
Lord Windermere is totaly engaged in an attempt to protect his social position
as well as his wife’s.
In order to
bring the play as close as possible to the technique of the well made play;
we have to provide a more detailed disccussion. Every event in the play
has its own importance. The fixed characters are shown from the very begining.
Lady Windermere, at the begining of the play, talks to Lord Darlington
and gives him a background of her upbringing. She says that she was taught
the difference between right and wrong. In other words, her character does
not understand that there are things that could not be classified between
right and wrong. On the other hand, Lord Darlington tells her that it is
not right to divide people to good and bad. Through this conversation we
are prepared to hear Lord Darlington’s love offer. More over, the other
characters are shown to be trivial and also fixed. This is clear through
the characters of Agatha and her mother.
The character
of Lord Windermere is also shown as a fixed character who suffers from
his relation with Mrs. Erlynne. His main
concern is to help her back to society and to give her
sums of money. In return, she will not reveal the secret of being Lady
Windermere’s mother.
Following the
structure of the play, we can notice that Oscar Wilde mannaged to make
each scene lead to the other. First, we are introduced to Lady Windermere’s
fan which will be of great significance through out the play. Then, Lord
Darlington’s words that prepares us to expect his love offer. After that,
during the party Lady Windermere drops her fan and writes a letter to her
husband. This letter is the main cause for Mrs. Erlynne to follow Lady
Windermere to Lord Darlington’s house. When the three characters, Lord
Windermere, Lord Augustan and Lord Darlington arrive to the house, the
fan serves as an introduction to the main climax of the play. Lord Windermere
insists on searching the house; that leads to another event. Mrs. Erlynne
shows and this action covers Lady Windermere’s escape. The men are surprised
by Mrs. Erlynne’s appearance and Lord Windermere speaks to her in a hard
manner that enables him to release himself from being responsible for her
return to the high class society. He returns back home and relates what
happened to his wife who changes her point of view about Mrs. Erlynne.
On the other hand, Mrs. Erlynne finds a suitable reason to her visit and
she finally reaches her aim of returning back to the society she desires.
Through this
structure and the well connected events, Wilde was able to provide the
closest shape to the well-made play. The denoument was carefully
prepared and within the frame-work of the manuplated action believable.
LADY WINDERMERE’S FAN
THE MELODRAMATIC ELEMENT IN THE PLAY
MELODRAMA: Melodrama was popular in the 18th century. It is
characterized by exaggerated emotions, stereotypical characters (fixed),
interpersonal conflicts, smashing climaxes and it often includes a recognition
scene and ends in the triumph of virtue.
_______________________________________________________________
In Lady Windermere’s
Fan, Oscar Wilde used some features of the melodramatic technique. The
main theme of the play is based on the character of Mrs. Erlynne. She is
a typical example of the fallen woman. Mrs. Erlynne’s past shows that she
had eloped with a lover, leaving her little daughter behind. Due to her
past, she tries to regain her position in society. She is a character that
introduces a melodramatic element. This element is emphasized through the
fact that she is Lady Windermere’s mother. This is a secret that
was kept hidden till the end of the play.
Mrs. Erlynne’s
mistake was about to be repeated by Lady Windermere. Lady Windermere is
suspicious about her husband’s relation with Mrs. Erlynne and is about
to elope with Lord Darlington. At this point the mother decides to rescue
her daughter. She feared that she might repeat her mistake and so she decided
to risk her return to society by saving her daughter.
The whole play
is featured by an excess of emotions. Lady Windermere, strongly, suspects
her husband. Lord Windermere’s desire to prevent Mrs. Erlynne from revealing
her secret and his desire to keep safe his social position as well as his
wife’s; is the main motive for all his actions. Mrs. Erlynne is in an extreme
need to regain her social society and when her daughter is in danger she
is totally controlled by a mother’s feeling towards her daughter. More
over, Lord Windermere’s trust in his wife is incomparable to her behavior
behind his back.
Another melodramatic
feature that is clear in the play is that of climaxes and misunderstanding.
At first when Lady Windermere discovered the money given by her husband
to Mrs. Erlynne. She misunderstood the idea of giving money to a lady except
as a price for an illegal relation. Although it is a normal development
in the play, but it is a turning point in Lady Windermere’s attitude towards
her husband and towards Lord Darlington’s offer. Another incident is in
the birthday party, where Mrs. Erlynne shows and another climax is introduced.
Lady Windermere decides to accept Lord Darlington’s offer. She writes a
letter to her husband and leaves the house. At Lord Darlingtons house,
Mrs. Erlynne meets Lady Windermere and tries to convince her not to follow
her suspicions. Here, Wilde introduces his smashing climax. The men arrive
to the house, the ladies hide and the fan is noticed by Lord Windermere.
This is the most melodramatic scene in the play. Although Mrs. Erlynne’s
appearance is misunderstood, she decides to sacrifice herself for the sake
of her daughter. She bears all of Lord Windermere’s words to her for the
same reason.
The use of
the melodramatic features enabled Wilde to master the construction of his
play through suspense, which is created all the time. The audience are
always waiting for what is about to happen and at the end of the play,
through her courageous sacrifice, Mrs. Erlynne is accepted by the audience
and enabled, by Wilde, to regain her position in society through a reasonable
reason for her presence in Lord Darlington’s house. Through this structure,
Wilde was able to end his play avoiding the recognition scene of the melodramatic
play. At the same time, Lady Windermere was safe, Lord Windermere was able
to end his commitment to Mrs. Erlynne, Lord Darlington, after his attempt
towards Lady Windermere, gains nothing and finally Mrs. Erlynne is rewarded
for her behavior by being able to return back to her desired society. Through
this end the melodramatic convention of virtue rewarded is replaced by
a happy denouement for those who deserve it.
LADY WINDERMERE’S FAN
AS
A COMEDY OF MANNERS
The comedy
of manners flourished in the 19th century. It is that type of comedy
satirizing the attitudes and behavior of a particular social group, often
a fashionable society. In it the writer depends on representing type characters,
witty dialogue and conversations and, also, makes use of immorality. Oscar
Wilde applied these characteristics in his play in order to intertain people
by making them laugh at their own attitudes. He says about his plays that
they are “trivial comedies for thinking people”. In Wilde’s play he made
use of epigrams and polished sayings that involves a satirical intention
and also the dandies with their extreem elegance in clothes and manners.
One of the
main features in this comedy is the representation of the dandies. They
are represented,mainly, through the character of Lord Darlington. The dandies
are the most attractive of Wilde’s characters. They have their own sense
of dress and their cultural individuality. The dandies avoid all useful
work and gives great importance to pleasure and leisure. Lord Darlington’s
behavior, portrays him as a dandie from the begining of the play. His conversarion
with Lady Windermere reveals his witt and his attitude towards life. He
expresses his idea about life showing that it must not be judged through
the terms of right and wrong and his immorality is proved by his words
about resisting any temptation except that of a woman. Wilde stresses on
the contradiction between appearance and reality and through his witty
dialogue he attacks the traditions and social conventions showing the roll
of the dandy as an outsider.
The upper class
is criticized through different situations and characters. For example,
Cecil Graham, Dumby, the Duchess of Berwick and Mrs. Cowper reveal the
attitude of the rich people of the Victorian society. More over, Lord Augustus
is teased by Cecil Graham and Dumby because of his relation with Mrs. Erlynne.
Their comments reveals their hypocricy and affection. When a conversation
about women is introduced, their immorality is proved through their ideas.
In Dumby’s words he reveals that a relation with a married woman could
not be compared to any other kind of relation. Also, Cecil Graham expresses
that the devotion of a married woman is extreemly strong and thats why
it is irresistable.
During Lady
Windermere’s birthday their were other signs that add to the idea about
the upper class society. Dumby asks whether the ball will be the last one
for this year. The reply comes from Lady Stutfield affirming that it will
be the last one and that it was a delightful season. Dumby agrees and then
contradicts himself when he accepts the Duchess’s opinion that it was a
dull season.
Mrs. Erlynne and Lady Windermere forms an important part in
the idea of “The Comedy of Manners”. Lady Windermere represents strict
puritan beliefs due to her upbringing, while Mrs. Erlynne is partially
a dandy. The former’s opinion about fallen women, at the begining of the
play, is that they should be never forgiven or accepted in society. But,
the later has played an important roll in changing Lady Windermere’s attitude.
After Mrs. Erlynne had saved her daughter’s reputation, Lady Windermere’s
puritan beliefs are not as strict as before. She is ready to forgive and
not to divide people into good and bad. Her words to her husband, at the
end of the play, reveals that her character has been affected and changed.
Oscar Wilde
was able to create a comic mood that depended on the criticism of the upper
class manners and attitudes. He, skilfuly, uses his brilliant conversations
and witt to portray the triviality and hypocricy that prevailed during
the age among the high classes. He , also, attacked the puritans for their
affected morality and over stressed religious conformity.
Look Back in Anger
John Osborne
Look Back in Anger is one of Osborne’s plays that circulates
around the triangular theme of Husband, wife and mistress. Deep inside
this frame, the play exposes different ideas and themes. The play introduces
Jimmy, the husband, who loves his wife, Alison but instead of showing his
sentimentality, he leads his marriage to the edge by his continuous verbal
assaults. Moreover, the affair that Jimmy made with his wife’s friend Helena
was one of the main elements of threatening their marriage. Thus, we can
notice the three corners of the triangle represented through the three
characters. Remains Cliff, who is jimmy’s friend and he lives with them
and shares their Sunday nights.
We know that Jimmy and Alison married each other out of love.
But also, we are provided by the information that Jimmy belongs to the
working class and the post-war generation, while Alison is higher in rank
and class. This difference lead to a gap that was gradually widened and
enlarged. Jimmy kept on mentioning that Alison needs to pass through
a painful experience of loss to get more mature and understanding. Unconsciously,
he ignores that she has already felt loss of sentimentality between them.
When Helena appears in their life, and in the play, there was no sign that
Jimmy may have any sort of relationships with her. Both characters are
different and their emotional attraction could not be judged except through
the idea of the attraction of opposites.
The play seemingly confirms to the technique of the problem
play. It starts introducing Jimmy, Alison and Cliff in act one. Then the
action could not be developed without an intruder. Another character must
appear to provide the complication in events. Consequently, Helena appears
and the problem of the play is current in the second act. The triangle
has been completed and the development of events is taking place through
this act showing a fast development towards the seduction incident between
Jimmy and Helena at the end of the act. In act three the problem is solved
by Helena’s retreat and her decision to leave as she can not base her happiness
on the sadness and pain of someone else. At the same time, Alison was pregnant
but she lost the baby and this could be the painful experience of loss
that Jimmy mentioned at the beginning of the play. Finally, the play ends
with a note of happiness and both Jimmy and Alison are close to each other
and using the same words of the bears-and-squirrel’s game they used to
enjoy.
Look Back in Anger (2)
This play is about Jimmy, a university graduate who belongs
to the working class. He lives in a filthy attic with his beautiful wife
who has a high-class background and belongs to the upper class. Jimmy represents
the post war generation in a play that has three subjects at once. There
are Jimmy’s angry feelings because he cannot accept the current life. He
is always idealizing and always disappointed. What enlarges his anger is
that life has no center or aim or something to believe in. The whole problem
is that Jimmy cannot accept life as it is and cannot transcend it.
The actual action of the play is centered round Jimmy’s relationship
with his wife Alison. Although they are deeply in love, they always wound
each other until Alison feels that she can bear no more. Her place in the
house is taken by her friend, Helena Charles, who is not in love with Jimmy
but she is trying to move towards this feeling. The play represents a group
of people who are living in a sorry emotional and physical state. The idea
of self-destruction powers springs out of the action to act as the third
subject that is read between the lines.
Jimmy is a person who needs absolute devotion but is too proud
to ask for it. He needs all from his wife who is despised because she comes
from an upper-class family. His early experience taught him a lot and he
feels that his wife has to pass a painful experience to come closer towards
maturity. Alison says about what Jimmy wants ‘something quite different
from us. What it is exactly I don’t know’.
Since Jimmy is trying to win Alison’s heart, love and thoughts,
she is the nearest character to him. At the same time, Jimmy comes to feel
that Alison betrayed him by marrying him and remaining mentally and spiritually
in the world of her parents. She has listened to ideals, but without much
interest. In almost every respect, Alison offers a contrast to Jimmy. In
spite of Jimmy’s hatred for her parents, she continues to write letters
to her mother with no reference to Jimmy, which makes him feel offended.
Moreover, she differs greatly from her husband’s attitude to Helena. While
Jimmy considers Helena his natural enemy, Alison is friendly to her. Alison
tells Helena that she does not believe Jimmy to be right in his attitude
to life. The only moments when Alison has had any happiness with Jimmy
were those when she and he played the bears-and-squirrels game. At the
end of the play Alison had suffered greatly as a result of her loss of
her child, and this might be the psychological basis of her return to Jimmy.
Gathering information from the beginning of Helena’s appearance,
we can notice that she is Alison’s close friend. She knows everything about
Jimmy and dislikes his character and manners. While at the tea-table she
threatens to slap Jimmy on his face due to his aggressive language and
remarks. She was the main cause of Alison’s leaving with her father. Yet,
she does not go with her as she is supposed to do. She stays saying that
she has an appointment on the following day to get a job. When Jimmy returns
home and speaks in his offensive way, she slaps him and then kisses him
in a spontaneous way that leads to a regular love affair between them.
She lives with Jimmy as a mistress for several months and fully replaced
Alison. Just when we reach the conclusion that Jimmy and Helena found love
and understanding between each other, Alison’s return changes Helena’s
attitude. She comes back to her consciousness and regrets the past time
saying that it was all wrong. She even thinks that Alison’s miscarriage
was a divine judgment on them all. We feel at the end that Helena has a
strong will-power and a strong sense of right and wrong.
Thus the ending of the play and the reconciliation between Jimmy
and Alison, becomes perfectly appropriate. Without the reconciliation the
play would have ended on a note of despair and we would have gotten a negative
picture of life.
Jimmy’s Anger
Osborne has managed to make a convincing dramatic representation
of a complex human being. Jimmy offered a representation of a number of
people of the post war generation who felt that the world of their time
was not treating them according to their merits. Every thing in Jimmy’s
life dissatisfies him and the tone of his voice is always that of complaint.
Jimmy is an angry young man who is dissatisfied with life in general. One
of the reasons of his anger is the gap between the working class, to whom
he belongs, and the upper middle class, where his wife belongs. Class distinction
is a main reason for his anger. Another reason is that he is leading a
routine life with no excitement or variety. He also finds that his wife
and his friend are not enthusiastic. He complains saying that “nobody thinks,
nobody cares. No beliefs, no convictions and no enthusiasm.” He refers
to his wife as “This monument”. Jimmy tries to give us the impression that
he is a hard-hearted man.
Some critics believe that Jimmy represents a self-portrait of
the author. Osborne had nearly the same ideas, that Jimmy has, about the
upper middle class. This could be noticed from Osborne’s clear sympathy
with his hero. Jimmy’s role is a long scream at society, critics, and his
wife. Jimmy represents the generation that grew to manhood in the fifties
and began to ask what had been gained after war. They had a sense of purposelessness
and a feeling that they have no roots in the past and no hope in the future.
They found themselves angry and emotionally frustrated. Jimmy feels that
there is no ordered society into which he can enter and no tradition he
can inherit.
Love in a Wood
The Restoration period is known especially for the comedy of
manners. The comedy of manners was the form most identified with
the Restoration. It satirized (poked fun at) upper-class society
in witty prose. Characters in the comedy of manners were ridiculed for
deceiving themselves or trying to deceive others. The most common
characters included the old woman trying to appear young, and the jealous
old man married to a young wife. The ideal characters were worldly,
intelligent, and undeceived.
The comedy of manners originated largely in the plays of George
Etherege. The form was perfected in the dramas of William Congreve,
whose The Way of the World is often called the finest example of the form.
In the works of William Wycherley, the tone was cruder and the humor stronger.
Through out the play we find the gallant chasing some sort of
a heroine trying to win her. On the lady’s part we find that she tries
to pursued him to marry her. Those types have to pretend that they are
chastened and the ladies are faithful loving wives. In the middle of the
incidents we find a very jealous husband who is equally stupid and cannot
prevent his wife from having a relationship with another man. Most of the
time in the play we are represented to the character of the widow. She
is an old widow who pretends to be rich in order to attract someone rich
and young to marry her. The author of the play punishes her by marrying
her to a poorer person; who thought that she was rich and wanted to attract
her by pretending that he is richer. Both of them are punished for their
pretense.
Love in a Wood is a play that centers around a mistaken identity
of a sort. During the Restoration period the ladies used to wear masks
when they went to theaters or parks. This behavior kept the secrecy of
their identities and gave them more freedom in their actions and attitudes.
Moreover, the title itself is a pun implying the idea of surface meaning
and the idea of confusion that results from pretense.
Wycherley presents two worlds in his play. The first world is
represented by a group of pretending ladies and gents. And the second
world are the recommended norm. They are the characters that Wycheley recommends.
They are the lovers who value friendship, do not pretend and of proper
qualities.
The Moral Idea:
To teach a moral idea, a tragedy has to raise a question. Through
the answer of this question and through the events of the play, the moral
lesson is delivered indirectly to the audience. In Richard II the Elizabethan
world dominates the setting of the play. This leads to the idea of the
chain of beings. Richard is not the suitable King in the chain, plus, he
is not qualified to rule. Through out the events the play leads to the
restoration of the chain. Moreover, Richard’s weaknesses are..........
. thus, order must be restored. In addition to Richard’s behavior towards
Bolingbroke ............ ; that was not considered a moral attitude. Consequently,
Bolingbroke returns and claims his title and property.
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In Julius Caesar Shakespeare introduces a moral message through
the events. From the very beginning, Caesar is represented.................
. Due to this representation and other features that are revealed through
the short appearance of Caesar, the conspirators were sure of his danger.
They judged him as a threat to Rome’s liberty and thus condemned him to
death. Being unjust in judging Caesar, the play shows their decline and
their tragic death at the end of their battle. On the other hand,
Brutus, the passionate republican faced a difficult psychological situation.
What is moral and what is immoral was his main concern and the reason of
his failure to adapt to either side.
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The Idea of Revenge:
Through Shakespeare’s plays Julius Caesar, and Richard II, revenge
seems to frame the plays. In Julius Caesar the play starts by showing Caesar.......
. Then, shortly, the events develop to reach a quick climax by killing
Caesar. What follows is Antony’s speech that urges the people against
the conspirators. He starts his revenge and the civil war breaks. This
revenge was also carried out by the appearance of Caesar’s ghost to his
murderers. Avenging Caesar’s death was on both levels; the spiritual through
Caesar’s ghost and the Physical through actual war.
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In Richard II, Shakespeare reveals to us an early murder that
was not yet avenged. The murder of Glocester was the starting point and
Bolingbroke was the first character in the play to bring charges. His charges
against Norfolk were strong that he challenged him for a fight in front
of King Richard. Consequently, Richard acted heavily upon Bolingbroke,
he ................. . As a result, Bolingbroke’s revenge became directed
towards Norfolk, and towards Richard. Although he treated Richard in a
respectable manner, he took a full revenge by being crowned as a king and
by Richard’s death.
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The idea of the Usurper:
In Julius Caesar, Caesar is represented as..................
. Brutus, his closest friend joined a conspiracy that judged Caesar as
a threat to Roman liberty and decided that he must be killed. The usurpation
of Caesar’s rank was planned and the assassination was completed by Brutus’s
own hands. At this point, different incidents happened. First the character
of Brutus suffered a hard conflict between ............ . Second, another
usurper, masking himself with a just idea of revenge, appears. Antony,
in his speech after Caesar’s death, finds a good opportunity to take Caesar’s
place. Consequently, he urged people to revenge Caesar’s murder and to
punish the conspirators. A civil war breaks out between .................
. The result of the war seems to be a success of Antony’s usurpation by
the death of Brutus and Cassius.
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From the very beginning of Richard II, we are introduced to
the idea of Glcester’s murder. This murder acted as a sort of usurpation
and it brought Richard to the throne instead of Bolingbroke. Richard’s
character which is represented as..............., suits the idea that he
is not supposed to be a King. Kingship was usurped and must be usurped
back. This is what happened in the play. Richard continued on the same
way that Shakespeare paved, in a wrong decision he usurped Bolingbroke’s
title and property and banished him too. As usual, this was the main leading
point for the rest of the play. Bolingbroke took an oath to come back and
claim his property and title. He .............. . After taking Richard’s
place and being crowned, Bolingbroke retrieved back his property and his
usurped title as a King.
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Characters in Richard II
King Richard:
He was the son of the Black prince, the eldest son of Edward
III. He became King in 1377, when he was eleven years old and John of Gaunt
became his guardian. He expects humility from those about him and roars
and gets angry when opposed, as in his treatment of Gaunt. He pretends
to consult his council in the Coventry decision, but as we learn from Gaunt,
he overrides the opinion of others. He depends on others for news of occurrences
where the King should be aware of all that happens. He tries to display
his superiority by outspeaking others and showing off, in his speeches,
his self satisfied opinions.
Richard was
kind and affectionate as evident from the words of many who were closest
to him; the Queen loved him to the extent of wishing to be prisoned with
him. York speaks kindly of him and Richard says of York that he has always
loved him well. Unfortunately, King Richard did not use the bright sides
of his character, he gave scope only to imagination. At the beginning,
he shows confidence in himself, dignity and courage. He issues a lot of
commands but he lacks the power of inforsing them. Whenever he appears
in person, his presence and majesty are recognised, and evil of him is
spoken only behind his back.
The King follows
the advice of fools and flatterers, he spends the money, he takes by taxing
the common people and fining the nobility, not on defending England against
her enemies but on maintaining a lavish court. He looses his popularity
because of rush actions and also because he did not have the ability to
win the heart of the subjects. In addition to this, he was not a brave
warrior by nature.
At the opening
of the play, King Richard is reported to have been handsome in appearance,
charming in speech, and graceful in manner. There is no evidence of his
decline except when he dismissed the charge of Norfolk’s murder of Gloucester.
He fails in asserting his authority, and when he has to take a decision
he treats both participants alike, although he said that one of them is
innocent. It appears that he is not at all the type of king to rule successfully
and his weakness in judgement and decision increase as the play proceeds.
Next, Richard
sends spies to report on Bolingbroke’s leaving to England. He farms out
(gave the right to collect) the land to his favourites and gave them blank
cheques for collecting all they can get from the towns and wealthy
people, both for themselves and for the King’s expenses. His heartlessness
is shown in his action at Gaunt’s death and his opposition to sane advice.
He is more interested in his favourites, in extracting money wherever possible,
and in taking his army to Ireland than taking care of the degrading conditions
in his own Kingdom. He seemed to be positive in two occasions; the first
when he seized Bolingbroke’s inheritance and in appointing York as a leader.
When Richard
was at Ireland he received the news that Bristol is in Bolingbroke hands
and so returned to Northern Wales. He knows nothing of what has been going
on in England and tries to throw the blame of his ignorance on Aumerle.
His great weakness is his indecision in a crisis. He passes repeatedly
from dejection to hope and from religion to vengeance. Bolingbroke, then,
asks for his rights and a meeting between him and the King is arranged.
Bolingbroke knelt courteously to the King, and then asked for his rights.
The King turned to York and confirmed that he gives all to Bolingbroke
and that they will go to London for public acknowledgement. Richard, in
his weakness, forgets his former quarrel with Bolingbroke and now
recognises him as an equal and the man who will replace him as a King.
Richard disgusts
us with his changeable mood, his tears and his calling on God, although
he shows spirit in not asking for mercy or trying to defend himself. After
that, we can note a change for the better in his character, as he becomes
more thoughtful for himself and others, and more controlled in his speech.
At the same time, he is not lacking in courage and this is shown in the
way he meets his death.
Henry Bolingbroke:
Henry Bolingbroke was the son of Gaunt the fourth son of Edward
III and the same time the oldest son of Edward the Black Prince. He is
a typical feudal Lord, physically strong, courageous, defiant and domineering.
He is outspoken against the king, against his father and against Norfolk
in the Coventry combat. He takes matters into his own hands after his banishment,
returns to England, wins support of Northumberland, establishes himself
in London and Bristol, and marches against Richard. His presence alone
seems to have overpowered Richard so much that he surrenders the Crown
without a struggle. His love for England appears over and over in the play.
His country means not only his land and wealth, but all his former and
present relatives. He praises its people and its past glories. He urges
permission to fight Norfolk and is sure of his success. He brings up the
question of responsibility for the murder of Gloucester even in Richard’s
presence when he is challenging Norfolk.
Bolingbroke
acts rather than speaks of what his intentions are. He is always courteous
and kindly with those about him and carries out with his plans with speed.
He wins all classes by his moderation as Richard has alienated them by
his excess. He was strong in those qualities in which Richard was weak.
In other words, Bolingbroke’s patriotism is practical, while Richard’s
is sentimental. He is courteous enough in addressing the King, but he largely
ignores him in the quarrel, thinking of no one but himself and Norfolk.
His speech is direct, forceful, passionate and almost free from any matter
except that bearing on his charges against Norfolk. On the other hand,
Norfolk was more dignified, explanatory and illustrative in speech.
All the characters
in the play recognise Bolingbroke’s real worth. He is sincere in belief
of the justice of his charges and passionate in delivering them. He is
quite loyal to Richard and shows no resentment against him in accepting
his sentence. Bolingbroke leaves London but he has taken an oath to claim
his right to his title and property. He shows himself modest, courteous,
grateful for assistance, and a man of decision, knowing the future steps
he must take. He is already recognised as having high kingly qualities.
Bolingbroke
places the blame, for Richard’s misrule, on the favourites, and also for
being responsible for his own misfortunes. He felt that he must take necessary
steps to punish them. He plans to meet Richard and shows courtesy towards
York and the Queen. He is the only one of his side who shows proper respect
to Richard, recognising his right to the throne. His speeches usually are
short and directly to the point, a man of action instead of words.
Bolingbroke
accepts the kingship without hesitation. He shows a kingship in his guarded
speech and in his dignity. He promises to be a King ruled by his heart
as well as by strictness against wrong-doing.
The Devine Right of Kings:
The principle of the divine right of kings was accepted by King,
nobles and common. The King was regarded as the head of the nation, the
source of justice and the representative of all power. The qualities expected
in the King were competence as leader in war and peace and satisfactory
personal qualities. These were lacking in Richard. His character deteriorated
under the influence of his favourites. Moreover, he raised money by forced
loans and was supposed to be the murderer of his uncle Gloucester. He banished
Bolingbroke to get possession of his lands. He showed lack of wisdom by
taking his army to Ireland when England was on the point of a revolution.
Further, he left the authority to York who is a man of hesitation. It was
these errors and weaknesses that led to his tragic end.
The Elizabethan World
The Elizabethans
believed that the world is governed by a harmonious law or order. They
had a lot of fears concerning disorder, and they represented it in a lot
of literary works. The universe was ordered in a strict system. This kind
of order was conceived as a chain. The chain extends from God’s throne
to the meanest inanimate objects. Therefore, this chain consists of degrees
and each degree is also divided into different ranks. Inanimates like fire,
water, and air, creature as shell-fish and parasites, animals with touch,
memory and movement, but no hearing as ants, higher animals as horses,
man where the highest of this stage is the human soul, and angels who are
the rational and spiritual. According to this universal order, if any attempt
is made to change any of the positions, whether intentionally or for some
other reason; order is disturbed and to restore it, any movement has to
be restored to its original position. This could be applied to Richard
II.
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The Political Situation
Shakespeare represented history plays that are concerned with
the political events more than relating history itself. There were certain
issues that occupied the interest of the Elizabethans, and Shakespeare
tried to reflect these concerns through the dramatic world of his history
plays, including Richard II and Julius Caesar. Concerning Richard II, during
Shakespeare’s time, there was a question of succession to the throne; the
Queen is dying childless and people’s memories went back to the events
that happened in a similar situation when a civil strife followed the deposition
of Richard II. The idea of the legitimacy of the king had an extremely
great importance. The King was believed to be appointed by God, and man
had no right to interfere with God’s plan. The sacred position of the King
is emphasised in Richard II. John of Gaunt believes that even if a King
commits a crime, it must be left to the will of heaven. Monarchy is represented
as the best form of government in this play, but it must be accompanied
by a suitable person with a reliable personal character. Richard...
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In Julius Caesar
Shakespeare represented the struggle between the Republic and the Monarchy.
Caesar was going towards Monarchy, and this, according to Brutus, was threatening
Rome’s liberty. Moreover, another struggle concerning the public figure
and his private feelings, is represented through the character of Brutus
himself......
The Garden Scene in Richard II
In the play Shakespeare used one of the common symbols during
the Elizabethan age. It is the scene of a garden compared to that of government.
The scene is at the Duke of York’s garden. The Queen and her ladies are
waiting for news about the King. At the same time, the gardener and his
assistants enter. They had something to say and the Queen and her ladies
were willing to listen to what the common people would say.
The gardener
wonders what would have happened if Richard managed the country as they
manage their garden. While they root-out the weeds, the King allowed his
favourites to rob the state. When trees get larger than required, the gardeners
trim them, on the contrary, Richard allowed figures around him to get taller
and stronger than he is. For the gardener, to uncrown Richard is something
that must happen as long as Richard himself has allowed it by his ill-behaviour
as a King.
The comparison
with the garden shows Richard’s mistakes as the trees are the nobles, herbs
and flowers are people, and neglecting the garden equals his neglect to
the Kingdom. The flatterers are represented as weeds that were not rooted-out
until they ruined every thing.
The scene is
not connected to the dramatic sequence of the play, but it serves as a
relief from the serial of events and changes. For the first time, we are
introduced to the common people. Through hearing their words we can find
out that they sympathise with the tragic hero in the play, they are against
Richard’s behaviour, he is not worthy of being a king but this is
because of his follies. It is their sympathy that shows their belief in
Richard’s divine right of being a king, and their knowledge and spiritual
participation. The scene stresses Shakespeare’s aims and shows that the
kingdom is ready to belong to the new Era under Bolingbroke’s Kingship.
Romantic Comedy
The aim of proper comedy is to teach and please; Romantic comedy
has its own individual Characteristics. It is a non-realistic comedy in
a sense that it is not related to reality but to imagination. The characters
of the romantic comedy are usually young people, and its subject matter
is usually love. In this kind of play song and dance are introduced in
order to give a feeling of happiness and comfort. One of its main features
is the mistaken identity and the change of roles.
Shakespeare has a special way in writing comedy. He has not
tried to follow the classical comedies, he does not try to correct the
human mistakes like Ben Jonson, but followed John Lyly in romantic comedy.
He did not imitate Lyly but took his examples from Italian traditions,
and he believed that comedy is anything away from tragedy. Shakespeare
plays are not in cities but in forests, country-sides, and imaginative
worlds. In his plays, he usually connects love with marriage using the
idea of courtly love and a language selected to bring out harmony between
lovers.
Shakespeare’s early comedies can appear so light-hearted and
so beautiful. These plays have little satiric purpose. He seems to exploit
the sentiment of romantic narrative. We are invited to laugh at both clown
and heroine. A few characters are clearly based upon some human vice or
failing. The most unmitigated villains, such as the Duke, is not analysed
but only lightly sketched and he slips out of the action unperceived by
the audience. Shakespeare was not interested in evoking our serious reprove
at the end of his comedy.
There is not one of Shakespeare’s comedies in which death and
destruction is not eminent. In The Comedy Of Errors, there is a threatened
death of Aegeon. In Midsummer Nights Dream, there is the death and destruction
in nature, and in the middle of the play there is the threat of the death
of Hermia. In As You Like It, we have envy and tyranny; two brothers one
wishing the other’s death, and there is the shadow of destruction. In Twelfth
Night, Olivia is left unprotected by a shipwreck. Shakespeare draws no
moral lessons from the evils, and his final emphasis is upon the joy of
those who are made happy.
In the early comedies Shakespeare presents a great variety of
life but he does not preach. This does not mean that he saw nothing wrong
with the world and did not see that he should set it right. Certainly,
Shakespeare does not preach in his comedies, but his philosophy and his
judgement on life must necessarily inform every detail of selection and
presentation. By contrasting the early comedies with the biting satires
of his comedies. Shakespeare’s comedies have happy endings but that does
not mean that all was right with the world.
The form in Shakespeare’s comedies is generally loose and is
not integrated by any intellectual stream of thought. In Twelfth Night,
there is only one sub-plot and not several plots like in Midsummer Nights
Dream. There is the sub-plot of Malvolio and it has nothing to do with
Orsino wanting to marry Olivia. However, this sub-plot is related and tied
to the main plot, since Malvolio is interested in Olivia and wants to marry
her. Sir Toby and Sir Andrew are also related to the main character Olivia.
As for the intellectual stream of thought in Twelfth Night, it may be found
only in the theme of unreciprocated love. The only theme that connects
the whole play is that some of the characters are falling in love with
Olivia. In the play there is no psychological depth to love. It entertains
us but does not teach us any lessons.
Generally speaking, Shakespeare did not think it necessary to
introduce either a moralistic or a realistic plot. In Twelfth Night, Duke
Orsino is getting so involved in love with Olivia, he speaks about nothing
but his love to Olivia. As a result, we, the audience, get pleasure rather
than being taught a lesson. The realistic elements in the play are found
in the shipwrecking of Sebastian, Antonio’s quest about the Duke’s dukedom,
and also Cesario or Olivia dressed as a boy and taken as a boy is also
realistic. However, the non-realistic elements in the play are very obvious.
For example, Olivia shutting herself from the world mourning her brother,
and also taking Sebastian for Cesario and marrying him is unrealistic.
If the unrealistic elements are taken from Twelfth Night, the play collapses
since the play depends mainly on disguises.
Disguise brings Twelfth Night close to As You Like It. It is
a non-realistic plot which was never meant to be true to life. The plot
in Twelfth Night is totally unrealistic. Shakespeare did not care for a
realistic plot. His aim is to take his Elizabethean audience from their
everyday life in England to entertain them in a setting which is never
land, (does not exist). That is why most of his comedies are out of England.
Also, the hero or heroine in these plays are mostly the figures of romance.
They are usually beautifaul, gallant and witty, (Ex: Viola & Olivia).
They are usually kings, queens, princes and princesses. (Ex: Celia in As
You Like It, in Twelfth Night, Sebastian and Viola are noble son and daughter,
Olivia is also noble.
The emotion that moves the character is also romantic, for example,
in Twelfth Night Olivia, as soon as she sees Cesario, she forgets all about
her promises and sends him a ring and even marries him suddenly as if she
is under a magic spell. In Midsummer Nights Dream, Helena is ready to go
to the forest and takes a risk in order to pursue her belove Demetrius.
If Cupid shoots at the lover once more, he will change his object in an
instant. This is the case of Orsino being in love with Olivia and then
shifts to Viola.
In these plays Shakespeare introduces farce. This is confined
to a group of characters of a lower social order. For instance, in Twelfth
Night, there is the clown, Malvolio, and Maria from a lower social order.
They are caricatured pictures of English people of the period. Moreover,
the language in these plays is a mixture of poetry and prose. Poetry is
light, sweet, lyrical, playful, and musical. Music is not only found in
verse but also actual music. Twelfth Night has its music and singing, and
in As You Like It, the songs are of the wood and tell of the country side;
encouraging people to escape from the city and to enjoy the sun and relaxation
of the woods. In Midsummer Nights Dream all the elements of Shakesperian
comedy are present.
Shakespeare’s distinctive line of humour springs from the realization
that man is a victim of his own illusions. The romantic characters are
also victims of illusions. For example, Orsino thinks he is in love with
Olivia, when he is just in love with love. Olivia, on the other hand, falls
in love with Viola believing her to be a man. Shakespeare, unlike Ben Jonson,
does not laugh at individual characters because they are vain or affected,
but he laughs at all man-kind.
The Alchemist
Theme of Avarice & Lust
In the Alchemist, Ben Jonson introduces a mixture of people
each with a different dream. They all share the desire to achieve this
dream in the easiest way. The play has the fools who are ready to be deceived,
and deceivers who do not hesitate in doing such action. The main characters
are Subtle, Face, and Dol; they promise their clients to be rich. Face
represents the appearance and he is never defeated by events, while
Dol has a multiple personality. She is one of the partners whose roll was
to act as a Lord’s sister who has been sent to the Subtle for treatment.
Subtle, the third partner, pretends to be a holly and religious man. It
is through the character of Dol that Subtle and Face will have their victims.
The three figures create the absolute illusion. They claim that
through alchemy they can turn any dream into reality. Each of the clients
who came to Subtle’s laboratory has a different ambition. Dapper and Drugger
represents those who are searching for the easiest material success. Dapper
wants a spirit that will serve him and bring him success in his gambling.
On the other hand, Drugger wants Subtle to use his art to make his new
shop a success. Other characters have different aims, for instance, Kastril
wants no more than to learn to quarrel in the proper fashionable manner,
while his sister, Dame, is a more inspired version of Dol. Through Ananias
and Tribulation, Jonson satirized the fact that they are supposed to be
Puritans or full of religious conceptions. But, on the contrary they are
worldly minded and they are ready to accept false dollars from the Alchemist.
They speak in a way to mask their self-seeking greed.
Sir Epicure is different from the other characters. He wants
nothing less than the philosophers stone itself in order to turn the whole
world into an ideal place. Nevertheless, he is a selfish character whose
motive is not only avarice, but also he is driven by lust. He wants to
keep a number of wives and mistresses equal to those kept by king Solomon.
When he sees Dol, he feels excited and urges Face to provide that woman
to him for his pleasure. After she has been introduced to him he is extremely
enchanted and praises her beauty and her graces.
The characters of Surly gives the impression that he is the
one to end these tricks and expose the trickery of the three rogues. Unfortunately,
he shows to be selfish and he has no moral attitude. His only concern is
not to be tricked and it does not matter what happens to others. He is
not a good representative of right. Surly accepts to be bribed in order
not to reveal the rogues tricks.
No on in the play deserves sympathy. The main aim of Jonson’s
satire is human folly, especially as it manifests itself in ambition, greed
and lust. Each of Subtle’s victims seeks to transform himself into his
own dream, but the attempts at transformation fall. Just as Subtle cannot
really transform base metal into gold, so the gulls cannot really transform
themselves, and all succeed finally in showing their own emptiness.
The Comedy of Errors
The Comedy of Errors is one of Shakespeare’s early plays. It
is not so good, but it shows the elements of classical comedy. The setting
of the play is different. The duke and his government influence the characters.
Egeon is threatened to be put to death; like Hermia in Midsummer Night
Dream, when she had four days either to agree to marry Demetrius or lose
her life. The reason for this is because Egeon went to a country where
it is forbidden for him to go, and so, he has to pay a fine or die. He
has a twin sons that were lost eighteen years ago, and he came to look
for one of them. In Midsummer Nights Dream the confusion began when Oberon
told Puck that he must find a fellow in Athenian garments to put the juice
of the idle flower in his eyes; he meant Demetrius but Puck mistook him
for Lysander. Moreover, in Twelfth Night the confusion was because of Sebastian
and his twin sister Viola. The two servants, in The Comedy of Errors, also
bring about further confusion. Thus the problem is only solved by the two
countries in order to identify the twins. The co-incidence is that when
Egeon’s wife gave birth to the two boys, another woman gave birth to a
twin boys.
The servants in this play take a very important role. In Twelfth
Night, Viola plays a role of a servant but she comes from a noble family.
The servants play a big part in the confusion of the play, but when one
of them talks in an intimate way to his master about his wife; it is not
accepted in the English stage. Shakespeare did not do well by taking situations
from Italian drama to the English context.
The discussion in act one is about the presence of Egeon in
this country and how he has to pay the ransom to save his life. The play
is based on this story. He was married to a lady and they travelled by
ship. The coincidence is that when his wife was delivering her twin sons,
another lady delivered twin boys. Because this lady was poor, Egeon bought
her two sons to be servants to his own sons. While they were travelling,
a storm broke out, but they escaped it; at the same time the ship hit a
rock and was wrecked. The wife took the later born son, tied him to a mast
with one of the other twin boys, and Egeon took care of the other two boys.
He brought up one of his sons, but after eighteen years, this boy wanted
to see his twin brother, so he kept wandering in many countries. By this,
Egeon has lost his other son who is looking for his brother.
In this play, mistakes and confusion may lead to harm. Although
this play is supposed to be realistic; yet, there is the element of witch-craft.
This does not mean that the play is unrealistic, since in the sixteenth
century people believed in magic and witch-craft. There is also a comparison
between the real fairy land in Midsummer Nights Dream and the imaginary
one in The Comedy of Errors. It is the mistaken identity that contributes
to the presence of the imaginary fairy land.
Therefore, we can consider it a comedy of social satire. The
typical mechanism of these plays was plotting, intrigues, tricks and deceptions.
It is a comedy that is realistic in temper. There are real people of the
time in which the play is written.
The Importance Of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde
Oscar Wilde
wrote this play to create a mood of innocence and nonsense. In order to
achieve this aim he did not need to present many characters. He needed
simplicity. Consequently he gave us few characters and tended to pair and
contrast them. Through this way he was able to show the audience his most
important aim; innocence and nonsense.
_______________________________________________________________
The play starts
when Jack Worthing has come to London to visit his friend, Algernon Moncrief,
and Gwendolen Fairfax whom he loves. For those in th country, he did not
want to reveal the true purposes of his visits to London. He invented a
story that he has a younger brother living in London. This brother is supposed
to be careless and faces a lot of troubles and his name is Earnest. In
London, Jack himself adopted the name of Earnest. In short, to his friends
in the country he is Jack; but to Gwendolen and Algernon he is known as
Earnest. After that Jack proposes to Gwendolen and Lady Barcknell interviews
him. She refuses his proposal when she knew that when he was a baby he
had been found in a handbag by a man travelling to a place called Worthing;
and that is how he got his name. This man’s name is Thomas Cardew. Mr.
Cardew appointed Jack gurdian of his grand-daughter, Cecily Cardew. Lady
Barcknell refused Jack untill a suitable parent can be found. Gwendolen
is not annoyed except for the fact that she wanted to marry a person named
Earnest. On the other hand, Algernon had invented a friend called Bunbury
who lives in the country and needs him all the time. In the mean time he
knew about the existence of Cecily and mannages to pay her a visit.
Act two represents
us with Cecily and Miss. Prism, her governess. Algernon arrives there,
pretending that he is Jack’s wicked brother and this is accepted by Cecily.
They are attracted to one another and become engaged. At the same time,
Jack arrives dressed in black and announces that his brother Earnest has
died in Paris. He is informed that his brother Earnest is actually present
and Algernon is brought to him. As Jack is eager to please Gwendolen he
arranges to change his real name to Earnest. Now, Gwendolen arrives and
meets with Cecily. They know that both of them are engaged to Earnest Worthing.
Algernon and Jack appear, and the situation is somewhat relieved when they
confess their real identity. We now learn that Algernon like Jack, has
made arrangements to be renamed Ernest.
Ther is a forgiveness
between the two sets of lovers, but Lady Barcknell appears. She still forbids
Jack’s engagement to Gwendolen. At the same time, she approves Algernon’s
engagement to Cecily when she knew about her large inheritance. Jack refuses
this engagement except if Lady Bracknell accepts his marriage with Gwendolen.
Miss. Prism appears and unravels the complicated knots. She tells them
about Jack’s birth and it is explained that Jack’s real name is Earnest
and that he is Algernon’s brother. The brothers are re-united and the two
pairs of lovers have no further obstacles to overcome.
THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST:
The Importance
Of Being Earnest is regarded as Wilde’s best play. The plot of the play
is slight and presents no difficulties. Openions may contradict when reading
the play. Few will find the second act beautiful and many will share the
view that any part of the play is ingenious; but most will admit a certain
cleverness in its construction. The whole play sparkles with brilliant
dialogue and wit, with sayings often wide and intertaining. One awaits
to hear what a character will say next. Somtimes Wilde seems to be indulging
in verbal acrobatics and attempting to discover what effect he will achieve
by saying the opposite of what would normally be expected. Oscar Wilde
revived the comedy of wit and manner. He was no innovator; but he is remembered
as the brilliant wit who wrote sparkling plays which contributed to the
revival of English drama.
The play was
composed at a time when ‘Realism’ was becoming the dominant influence in
the minds of leading dramatists. The scene is laid in Mayfair and on the
country estate of an established gentleman; the plot is highly improbable
and the characters are principally drawn from the upper class, where love
may, or may not, depend on such a triviality as the name of Earnest. Wilde
was not interested in realism. He found no beauty in actuality; his characters
had to act and speak in a mannered fashion which represented beauty to
him. In his own words his comedies were “trivial comedies for thinking
people”.
THE CHARACTER OF JACK:
Jack, the hero
of the play, on his own confession, we learn that he is twenty-nine years
old, smokes and drinks. He is on intimate terms with Algernon, but he does
not share Algernon’s light-hearted manner. No one knows about his fabricated
story except this friend. Algernon says of him ‘you look as if your name
was Earnest. You are the most earnest-looking person I ever saw in my life’.
Most of the other characters agree with this view. Being the gurdian of
Cecily and expected by all in his country district to uphold his status
in local society, Jack finds it very hard to be trivial. Throughout the
play he acts as if he had toothache. Too nervous to propose directly to
Gwendolen, he dithers about the weather, possibly too ashamed of his London
jaunts, he invents a brother; and too hesitant in his actions, he allows
Algernon to remain at the Manor House when he should have been hurled out
immediately. He leads a double life. In the country he is a man who has
many troubles in his life; but in town he is a simple character with wonderfull
blue eyes. In his own mind he considers himself dignity personified, a
person that should command respect from all sorts and conditions of men.
Only on one occasion does he command the warmhearted respect of the audience;
in Act 3 when he refuses to be badgered by Lady Bracknell. Such dignity,
however, does not last, and when we hear that Jack is actually Algernon’s
brother, we breath a sigh of relief that the pretentious Jack is of the
same flesh and blood as the worthless Algy.
ALGERNON:
Algernon says
about himself “my duty as a gentleman has never interfered with my pleasures
in the smallest degree.”. Attached to Jack, he greets him warmly at his
flat. He has no scruples at all about inventing Bunbury and so deluding
his Aunt Augusta, or about telling her that he has a prior engagement for
dinner that night. He is intelligent enough to record Jack’s country adress
on his shirt-cuff when he overhears it, and he is brazen to enter Jack’s
home and perform a fabrication on Cecily. He is immoral and untruthful.
His selfishness is unlimited and he is careless about the mannagement of
his flat, allowing Lane to supervise his household. His seeking of an excuse
from Lane about the absence of cucumber sandwiches is indicative of his
complete irresponsible and easy-going outlook.
Nothing disturbs
him. Life is just one long game. He knows Jack too well to be afraid of
his possible anger when he intrudes into his country home; he is indifferent
to his Aunt’s autocratic manner and ignores her high-handed interview with
Jack about his engagement to Cecily. Regardless of whatever his Aunt may
say or do, he will follow his own devices “Relations are simply a tedious
pack of people, who haven’t got the remotest knowledge of how to live,
nor the slightest instinct when to die”.
GWENDOLEN:
Gwendolen is
like Cecily, is ‘out to get her man.’ Like Cecily, she cherishes a childish
love to the name Ernest. She appears to have decided upom Jack Worthing
as her future husband merely for that reason. She is a town girl who would
hardly be at home in the country. As she says, ‘the country always bores
me to death’. One can imagine that if Jack married her, he would have little
use of his country home. To Jack, she is a sensible and an intellectual
girl, the only girl he ever cared about. Algernon speaking in defence of
her honour, calls her ‘ a brilliant, clever, thoroughly experienced young
lady’; and to her own mother she is ‘a girl with a simple, unspoiled nature’.
Of the various
opinions expressed concerning her, Algernon’s is the most approved. She
is experienced in most aspects of life. She is a frank character, as when
Jack begins his proposal with a talk about the weather and she tells him
that she has decided beforehand to accept him. Moreover, she tends to be
romantic and the truth about Jack’s origin affects her feelings and sentiments.
What worths
to be noted is that duting her mother’s interview with Jack, in one case
she passively agrees with her mother’s attitude by not opposing her and
in the second interview she makes no contribution to the proceedings. For
as she said earlier, ‘few parents nowadays pay any regard to what their
children say to them’.
_______________________________________________________________
CECILY:
Cecily too
is ‘out to get her man’ and cherishes a love for the name Earnest. When
we first meet her, receiving lessons from Miss Prism, we realize that,
although she is eighteen, she is entirely uninterested in any ‘intellectual
pleasures’ that Miss Prism offers her, preferring to discuss her Uncle
Jack and his brother, Earnest. Fully aware of what is going on around her,
she has already perceived Miss Prism’s interest in the rector. Extreemly
romantic and imaginative, she follows at least one fashion of the day,
keeping a diary.
This romance
and imagination might well be explained by her prolonged and uninteresting
life in the country, especially with Jack, Miss Prism and Dr. Chasuble
as her daily companion.
When Algernon
visits the house under the assumed name of Ernest, she thrills with the
actuality of meeting a really wicked man. She , innocently, tells him ‘I
hope you have not been leading a double life, pretending to be wicked and
being really good all the time.’
Jack considers
her a sweet, simple and innocent girl and Algernon regards her as ‘the
visible personification of absolute perfection’. Aware of her limited intelligence,
she confesses that she must marry a simple man. She is, simply, a very
attractive girl.
_______________________________________________________________
The Man Of Destiny
by George Bernard Shaw
Shaw was one of the greatest playwrights who lived for about
ninety years and read so many theories that affected his life, beliefs
and career. Shaw had his strategy of replacing the theatre of romantic
convention with a drama that could question contemporary institutions and
current ideals. He had faith in the ability of the mind to shape reality.
He changed focus from social concern to human concern, from social crimes
to individual follies, in other words ,from effect to cause. Thus, Shaw
has put his own bible of creative evaluation. Both his pleasant and unpleasant
plays were part of his attack on the theatre to win it from its unreality
that is always imported into life.
The Man of Destiny is one of his pleasant plays. These plays
deal with life at large. They deal with human life as it presents itself
through all economic and social contexts. In addition to the romantic follies
of society and with the struggle of the individual against those follies,
than with the crime of society. All Shaw’s melodramatic plays present a
philosophical progress and a dramatic discovery by leading a personage
of his own real nature and the meaning of life. The broad style of melodrama,
its vivid generalised characters and its quality made it seem as a natural
vehicle for the drama of ideas or the drama of persons who embody ideas.
For instance, Napoleon’s moral portrait as a hero is not favourable at
all. While, in history he is a favourable one. This will lead to the shock
on the part of the audience who were always ready to idealise and romanticise.
The audience idealise because of the adventures and stories said about
Napoleon. Shaw is trying to attack and destroy the matter of idealising.
Napoleon’s gentility is shown and his capability of handling a war perfectly
was attested, but this perfection is based on massacre and killing. The
only war that shows his perfection is commanding.
Bernard Shaw was trying to produce what could be appreciated
by the directors and audience, to produce something new and be accepted
by stage directors. The play is closest to the well-made-play of historical
romance. Despite the elaborate and the extremely well made intrigue of
The Man of Destiny, Shaw is most concerned to present a true study of the
nature of the future Emperor of Europe. Without exaggeration, Shaw took
the young Napoleon of the Italian campaign and showed his remarkable nature
that was to create him Emperor. Shaw’s Napoleon is one of his masterful
realists, unchecked by idealism or morality. He is shown as a perfect actor
of simple and strong ambition. Napoleon is a man of destiny because he
is not simply a jealous husband in a fancy dress, but a character that
should be carefully studied and judged. Through the play and the final
contest over the letter, it is suggested that Napoleon’s rise to power
is not a result of accident but a result of will.
Along with its notable qualities as a historical romance and
analysis, The Man of Destiny also belongs to that professional kind of
plays where the writer resorts to an extraordinary figure of history to
provide an exceptional opportunity for acting. Napoleon who uses his theatrical
nature, has splendid speeches, sudden contrasts and great bursts of rhetoric.
He ends the play with a long speech on the English character.
For Shaw, the essential truth of any historical conflict lays
in the ideas involved in the conflict. Consequently, Shaw’s history makers
are the men and women who embody passionate ideas dramatically, articulating
and defending themselves. Shaw as a historian belonged very much to the
idealist school of the 19th century for he presented ideas embodied in
man. Shaw’s heroes do not adhere to any code but are original in their
morality. The Shavien hero is always ordinary in all respect except one
where his genius seem to solve as a flash or a sudden inspiration that
flashes in the mind and escapes it the next moment. According to Shaw,
real genius does not manifest itself except at such rare moments.
THE MERCHANT OF VENICE: SHYLOCK
We do not know for sure how Shylock was portrayed in the earliest
productions of The Merchant of Venice, but we have evidence that from the
beginning he captured the imaginations of audiences. Although the play
is named after Antonio, not Shylock, The Merchant of Venice soon came to
be known by an alternate title, The Jew of Venice.
During the first half of the eighteenth century, Shylock was
played as a straight comic villain--a whining fool. In 1741, a popular
actor named Charles Macklin introduced a new way of playing the role. He
made Shylock the epitome of evil, a malevolent old man consumed with hatred
plotting the downfall of his enemies. In 1814, the famous actor Edmund
Kean presented an even more startling version of the character. His Shylock
was dignified and austere, almost a tragic hero.
In some recent versions of the play, including a movie adaptation,
Shylock becomes so dominant that we begin to see the other characters through
his eyes. A 1971 production of The Merchant of Venice created by the avant-garde
director Peter Brook ended with the sounds of Kaddish, the Jewish prayer
for the dead, being played as the "good" Christian characters gather in
the final act.
Most scholars today agree that Shakespeare never intended to
make Shylock a hero. In all probability, the playwright was not even very
interested in Shylock's Jewishness. He used the prevailing anti- Semitic
stereotypes as a handy way to characterize his play's villain. What mattered
to Shakespeare was that Shylock was an outsider--set apart from society
because of his religion, his profession of lending money for interest,
and his hatred for Antonio and the other Christian characters of the play.
Many of the most powerful works in nineteenth--and twentieth-century
literature deal with the predicament of an individual who, for one reason
or another, finds himself out of step with society. It is important to
realize that this was not necessarily Shakespeare's point of view. The
English of the late sixteenth century believed that Christianity was the
only true religion and that the social order was ordained by God. The individual
who set himself against the establishment could only be a source of disruption
or, at worst, evil.
Shylock's behavior during the trial scene (Act IV, Scene I)
shows us another reason why Shakespeare cannot have intended him to be
a true tragic hero. A tragic hero would pursue his drive for revenge at
all costs to himself. But Shylock, when he learns that he might lose his
own life if he sheds a drop of Antonio's blood, immediately backs down.
Suddenly, he would be quite happy to have the loan repaid in money and
forget all about his call for "justice." Many readers interpret that as
the behavior of a weak and unprincipled man, not a hero.
Still, most readers agree that Shakespeare has granted Shylock
a dignity and depth of character beyond what we expect of a comic villain.
Shylock's motives may not be admirable, yet his character is realistic
in a way that the characters of the ever-cheerful, untroubled Bassanio
and Portia are not. It is impossible to listen to Shylock speak the lines
which begin "Hath not a Jew eyes?" without recognizing something of ourselves
in him. We feel the sting of Shylock's passion for revenge, and the sourness
of his contempt for the Christians who have tormented him. Shylock even
speaks differently from the other characters in the play. He seldom resorts
to poetic imagery. His sentences are short and choppy, emphasizing that
he is cut off from the others. At times, he almost spits out his words.
The majority view of Shylock is that the contradictory sides
of his nature were written into the part by the dramatist. Surely, in a
play about the virtue of mercy it is essential that the audience should
be able to see the villain's point of view and accept him as a fellow human
being, however wrong or evil his actions might be.
In fact, the "debate" about Shylock is not so much a debate
about the character himself as about the way the others in the play treat
him. Whether Shylock receives mercy--or is the victim of a group of selfish,
narrow-minded opponents--is a question you will ultimately have to answer
for yourself.
THE MERCHANT OF VENICE: PORTIA
Portia is in some ways a fairy-tale heroine. She lives in Belmont,
a land of music, luxury, and perpetual happiness. Her father is dead, and
we never hear about or meet any members of her own family. She is totally
without problems of her own. All she lacks is a husband, and she doesn't
even have to do anything about finding one. Under the terms of her father's
will, the right suitor will be selected
without any effort on her part. Everyone admires Portia, and
from what we see of her their admiration is entirely justified. Portia
is not only beautiful and fabulously rich, she is wise and witty, loyal
and good.
At times during the play, Portia shows herself to be a very
independent, even liberated, young woman. She complains about the terms
of her father's will, and her comments on her various suitors leave no
doubt that she is perfectly capable of choosing a husband for herself.
When Antonio is in trouble, Portia conceives and carries out a rescue plan
without even bothering to let her husband in on it. She passes herself
off as a wise and learned lawyer with no trouble at all. We never seriously
doubt that Portia will save Antonio. The suspense lies in seeing just how
cleverly she will manage it.
It is easier to reconcile these two sides of Portia's character
if you remember the Elizabethan view that true fulfillment and happiness
can come only from accepting one's proper place in society. Nowadays, we
tend to admire individualists. Shakespeare's contemporaries were more likely
to regard them as troublemakers. Portia is independent, but she is not
a rebel. Like Shylock, she is
a strong character; unlike him, she is not an outsider. She
uses her talent in the service of her husband and friends, and accepts
her lot in life--that of the subordinate wife--graciously.
Even so, you may feel, as some readers do, that Portia stands
out as more intelligent--even more powerful--than the male heroes of the
play. Her most important scene comes when she enters the Venetian court
dressed as a young male lawyer and presents an argument that frees Antonio
from his grisly contract with Shylock. No doubt Shakespeare's fondness
for plot twists involving young women dressing up as boys had a good deal
to do with the fact that his heroines' parts were being played by boy actors
in women's clothes. Audiences enjoyed seeing how a male actor would handle
the double challenge of portraying a woman who disguises herself as a man.
In this play, however, Shakespeare does not take the opportunity to milk
the situation for its humor. Even when teasing Bassanio in the business
about his missing ring, Portia is always in control of the joke. She herself
is never made to seem ridiculous. She is as impressive as a man as she
is as a woman.
THE MERCHANT OF VENICE: BASSANIO
Bassanio is an appealing character--ever optimistic, always
impulsive. Even though he is already in debt, he is not particularly worried
about having to ask Antonio for another loan. He thinks that he can win
Portia's hand, and he does. Later, though he has promised Portia that he
will never part with the ring she has given him, he hands it over to the
lawyer "Balthazar." Of course, Balthazar is
really Portia in disguise, and her demand for the ring is just
a playful joke. She does not blame Bassanio for breaking his promise under
the circumstances.
There are always a few readers and playgoers who feel that Bassanio
is just a little bit too carefree to be likable. Some have even suggested
that he is a fortune hunter. After all, the first thing he tells Antonio
about Portia is that she is rich. Her other qualities take second place.
Bassanio gets Antonio in trouble through his borrowing, and in the meantime
rushes off in pursuit of a wealthy wife. Whether you agree with this view
will depend on your feelings about borrowing, financial responsibility,
and friendship. Notice, however, that Bassanio never makes excuses for
himself. In Act V, when Portia asks about the ring, Bassanio does not blame
Antonio for talking him into giving it away. He takes the responsibility
on himself. Bassanio's speeches also show him to be a young man of sensitivity
and poetic feeling. Of all the suitors, he is the one who picks the lead
casket because he understands that external appearances are unimportant
compared to true inner worth. Perhaps Bassanio deserves even more credit
for recognizing this, precisely because he himself has all the external
advantages of good looks, social status, and charm.
THE MERCHANT OF VENICE: ANTONIO
Antonio is the merchant of Venice, the character named in the
title of the play. As such, Antonio must be considered the central character
in the drama, yet in some ways he is also the most enigmatic. Antonio is
rich, popular and confident. He seems to be a young man who has every reason
to be happy. However, the very first lines in the play inform us that Antonio
is in the grip of an unexplained depression.
You'll probably notice that the play presents two different
views of Antonio's character. To his friends, Antonio is kind and generous.
Although Bassanio already owes him money, Antonio does not hesitate to
help his friend borrow more, even pledging his own flesh to guarantee the
loan. When the loan cannot be repaid, and Antonio is in danger of losing
his life to keep this bargain, he never complains or blames Bassanio for
his troubles. In his dealings with Shylock, however, Antonio seems less
than noble. When Shylock accuses Antonio of insulting him, even of spitting
on him in the street, Antonio never denies these accusations. He even vows
that he will do the same things again when the opportunity arises. You
may feel that Antonio must be held at least partly responsible for Shylock's
hatred of him. It is easy to be generous to one's friends. Isn't the way
a person treats his enemies a good guide to his (or her) character?
Different theories have been suggested to explain it. One possibility
is that Antonio is sad because his best friend is talking about marrying--foretelling
the end of their carefree bachelor friendship. Others feel that Shakespeare
makes Antonio sad as a way of foreshadowing the bad luck which will befall
him during the course of the play. Nowadays, we might call his gloominess
a kind of "extrasensory perception"--ESP.
Another theory--rather extreme but accepted by some readers--is
that Antonio feels an unconscious homosexual attraction to Bassanio and
is depressed that his friend has fallen in love with a woman. You will
have to decide for yourself whether there is any evidence in the play to
support this interpretation.
Still another view of Antonio is that he is sad because he has
chosen a way of life that sets him somewhat apart from his friends. Antonio
condemns Shylock for being a moneylender, yet he himself is dedicated to
pursuing profits in trade. While Bassanio, Lorenzo and Gratiano all marry
during the course of the play, Antonio remains alone--too busy worrying
about the fate of his merchant ships to fall in love.
THE MERCHANT OF VENICE: THEMES
1. LOVE AND WEALTH
Many works of literature deal with conflicts between love and
money. In The Merchant of Venice Shakespeare takes a more unusual approach
to this subject, treating love as just another form of wealth. Love and
money are alike, Shakespeare seems to be saying, in that they are blessings
to those who can pursue them in the right spirit. On the other hand, those
who are too possessive, too greedy, will get pleasure neither from the
pursuit of romantic love nor from the accumulation of wealth. Bassanio
sets out to win Portia's love, solving his money problems at the same time.
Shylock, in contrast, is a miser who hoards both his gold and his love
and loses his daughter and his riches simultaneously. Antonio demonstrates
the love of one friend for another by pledging his own flesh to guarantee
a loan for Bassanio. He, too, is rewarded for his generosity. Not only
do Antonio's ships come in at the end of the play, but Bassanio's fortunate
marriage enriches Antonio as well, bringing him Portia's loyalty and friendship.
2. MERCY VERSUS REVENGE
A number of Shakespeare's plays are concerned with the question
of justice and the nature of legitimate authority. The Merchant of Venice
poses the question of whether the law should be tempered by mercy, or whether
it should be morally neutral. If neutral, then the law can become a tool
in the hands of men such as Shylock, who use it to further their own personal
vendettas. In Act IV of the play,
we find Portia arguing that the justice of the state, like God's
justice, ought to be merciful. Mercy does triumph eventually in this courtroom
scene, but not until Portia reveals a legal loophole which makes it possible
for the Duke to rule in her favor. In the world of this comedy, at least,
the conflict between morally neutral law and merciful law is easily resolved.
Readers do disagree, however, as to how well the theme of mercy's triumph
over revenge is carried out by the "good" characters' treatment of Shylock.
You will have to decide for yourself whether Shylock's punishment at the
end of the trial scene is truly merciful--or whether he in fact becomes
the victim of an unconscious streak of vengefulness in the character of
Antonio.
3. HARMONY
As you read the play, you may find sub-themes which contrast
other sets of values, in addition to those of mercy and revenge. For example,
the test of the three caskets points out the truth that external beauty
and inner worth are not always found together. On the whole, however, the
play stresses harmony, not conflict. The play seems to tell us that in
a well-balanced life the pursuit and enjoyment of money, romantic love,
and deep friendship will not necessarily conflict. It is possible to experience
and enjoy all of these things--but only if we do not place undue importance
on gaining any one of them.
The theme of harmony is stressed throughout the play by the
use of music and musical imagery. Portia and Lorenzo both praise and enjoy
music for its power to ease sorrowful moments and make us more reflective
in times of happiness. Notice, too, that Shylock--the character who is
out of harmony with his society--fears the power of music. He even orders
his daughter to close up the house to keep out the music of the masque.
4. FRIENDSHIP
It is not only romantic love that is discussed as a form of
wealth in The Merchant of Venice. Friendship, too, is an important aspect
of "love's wealth." Today, you sometimes hear the idea expressed that a
husband and wife ought to be each other's best friends; a happy marriage
takes precedence over outside friendships. Shakespeare's audience would
no doubt have found this notion rather bizarre--suitable, perhaps for starry-eyed
and headstrong young lovers, but hardly the basis for life-long happiness.
In the play, Portia demonstrates her depth of character by understanding
that her husband's happiness depends on his ability to discharge his obligations
as a friend. Thus, his loyalties have become her loyalties. Much more than
today, the Elizabethans expected friendship to be the glue that held together
business relationships between social equals. You will notice that Shylock's
refusal to dine with Bassanio is treated in the play as an act of hostility.
This was a common view in Elizabethan times; religious and dietary laws
which kept Jews from socializing with Christians on a friendly basis were
seen as sinister, an expression of untrustworthy intentions.
5. APPEARANCES CAN BE DECEIVING
The Merchant of Venice warns us repeatedly that outer beauty
is not necessarily evidence of inner worth. As the motto on the gold casket
puts it: "All that glisters is not gold." Some readers feel that the emphasis
on this moral is out of place in the play. After all, Portia the heroine
turns out to be as good and wise as she is beautiful and rich. Another
way of looking at this theme's relation to the action is to say that Shakespeare
has gone beyond the obvious, cliched implications of his theme to hit on
a deeper reality. Even a beautiful, desirable woman deserves to be loved
for her inner self, not just collected like an object of art. The rewards
from all worthwhile relationships can be achieved only when the partners
open their hearts to each other. By the same reasoning, money itself is
not necessarily a bad thing--but you must be careful to love it for the
good it can do. Shylock's failing is not that he is rich, but that he seeks
to use his money for an evil end--revenge.
The Play of St. George
Traditional Folk Play
The play is a version of a traditional folk play that was reconstructed
from memory by Thomas Hardy. The play has six characters and each character
has an important roll to play. Father Christmas is the first to appear
on stage; walking around and singing his songs. His appearance signifies
the occasion. He talks about himself and says that he hope people remember
him, even if he stays for a short time. Then he announces the play of St.
George. He introduces it by asking the audience to see and believe. After
that he calls the second character, Soldier Valiant.
This soldier represents bravery and he speaks about himself
challenging the brave soldiers and fighters to come and defeat him. At
this moment a second character enters. He is the Turkish Night, who is
born to fight. He challenges the Valiant Soldier and every other Night
who has courage and hot blood. They fight and the Valiant Soldier die saying
that he was dying in service of a right purpose. After the Turkish Knight's
victory he calls for St. George. St. George enters mentioning his victories
and asking about this man who can confront him with his sword in his hand.
The Turkish Knight advances to fight and St. George tells him that he will
die. During the fight the Knight is wounded and St. George asks for a doctor.
The doctor comes in and treats the Knight in return of money. Going forward
and trying to complete the fight, the Knight dies. Father Christmas, then,
announces the second hero who is late. The sixth character appears with
a lot of noise. The Saracen is the fighter who challenges St. George with
the most powerful words in the play and after a fight he is wounded. His
wound made him beg for forgiveness and offering himself as a slave. Yet,
St. George refuses and urges him to fight till his death.
After killing the Saracen, Father Christmas calls the doctor
for a second time. St. George agrees with Father Christmas that the doctor
may cure the dead people and make them live again. After they call for
the doctor, he enters slowly and asks for a lot of money "A hundred guineas"
to cure the dead men. St. George offers the money and the doctor cures
the men with drops of medicine. Finally, they rise slowly and accompany
Father Christmas, the Doctor and St. George in singing a charming Christmas
song.
The play is a call for generosity, mercy and a strong belief
in God. Its main aim is to remind the people of virtuous features and about
that time of the year that comes once to revive the feelings of love, mercy
and faith. At the same time it delivers its moral idea through a story
that starts with greetings, moves forward to suspense and fight and finally
ends in happiness, joy and song.
The Rivals by Sheridan
Richard Sheridan, 1751–1816, is an English dramatist and politician.
His masterpieces, The Rivals (1775) and School for Scandal (1777), Comedies
of manners blending Restoration wit and 18th-cent. sensibility, are affectionate
satires on fashionable society. Other works include The Critic (1779),
a dramatic burlesque; The Duenna (1775), a comic opera; and A Trip to Scarborough
(1777).
Sheridan is a writer of the 18th century who found out that
comedy was dying and decided to bring back laughter to the stage. In his
play he is criticizing the sentimental muse and the weeping comedy of the
18th century. People in these plays are either suffering or feeling guilty.
In The Rivals the names indicate the characters and are of an
important significance. For example: Sir Antony Absolute represents an
absolute extreme just as his son Captain Absolute, Faulkland signifies
the islands near Argentina’s coasts that belongs to the British, Acres
that means a piece of land; Acres belongs to the country side and through
him we have the division between the town and the country-side. Plus, Sir
Lucius O’Triger who represents the Irish witty character like Sheridan
himself, Fag who works for Captain Absolute, Mrs. Malaprop which has a
clear significance that she cannot use the correct words in the correct
situations, Lydia Languish who expresses the idea of longing for something
and Julia who is the female heroine of the play.
The play could be compared to The Way of The World in the sense
that Sheridan is ridiculing the sentimentality of Lydia who refused to
marry the person whom Mrs. Malaprop chooses for her. This is similar to
Milament in The Way of The World, they both have a fortune and they lose
their money if they oppose the old generation. Moreover, Jack Absolute
is similar to Mirabell, he wants to marry the heroine and get her money.
Mrs. Malaprop is like Lady Wishford because both are seeking to get married.
At the same time, both plays could be compared in the idea of mistaken
identity and intrigues. We can notice that Sheridan uses the element of
opposites, contradictions and interrelations. The relation between Faulkland
who is a sentimental character and Julia who is a reasonable girl is a
good example of this use of opposites, a similar relation is between Captain
Absolute who is realistic and Lydia who is sentimental.
Observing the play we can notice that it is full of intrigues
and that Sheridan was against too much imagination and fancy; this could
be linked to the main outline of The Way of The World that shows disinterest
in imagination and an interest in characterization, intrigues and social
satire.
The Way Of The World
by William Congreve
The Way of The World is a play that deals with a family situation.
It is talking about the idea of how Mirabell can marry Milament and also
get her money. This idea of love and money was a very important idea in
the comedy of manners. One of the characteristics of the comedy of manners
is wit. The writer of the play said that he is trying to draw some characters
who are ridiculous. Moreover, in this play he tries to distinguish between
true wit and false wit. The play is very complicated because in the Restoration
period there were intrigues that are considered important in the structure
of the comedy of manners.
In the exposition, in act one, we are given the characters and
the background of the play. The plot of the play is that Mira wants to
marry Mill and to get her money. One of his two steps is to make two servants
get married and then he will blackmail lady Wis in order to marry Mill.
The plot of The Way of The World is very complicated and this is because
of the Restoration convention of intricate. The play shows the inconsistency
between appearance and reality, power is given to the person who can see
this dissimilarity. Congreve reveals the secrets in the play gradually,
and he makes four points. He compares and contrasts two kinds of reality,
the dynastic and the emotional. The second point is building two actions,
unravelling and emancipating. The third point is developing and evaluating
his characters in relation to the previous two actions and their reality.
The last point is presenting a romantic idea and attitude.
Congreve makes the relationships in the family very complicated;
lady Wis has a daughter, she has a niece, she has two nephews who are half
brothers. Congreve, also, makes a complicated emotional side; Mir pretends
to like lady Wis so that he can reach and marry Mil, Mrs. Fain used to
love Mir before she got married, Mrs. Mar has an affair with Mr. Fain and
she used to like Mir and, finally, Mil and Mir like each other. The playwright
is showing the inconsistency between the family structure and the emotional
structure, the difference between appearance and reality. In the play,
appearance is represented through the family structure, while reality is
the hidden emotions.
In the play, we gradually learn certain hidden facts as they
become expressed to us. First of all Mrs. Mar is in love with Mir and she
is having an affair with Mr. Fain before she got married. The last thing
is Mir’s plot with the disguised servant. These secrets are revealed gradually
until the final revelation. Mr. Fain realises that his wife and Mrs. Mar
are both in love with Mir, Mir, also, hints to Mr. Fain that he knows about
his affair with Mrs. Mar; this is witnessed in the dialogue between Fain
and Mrs. Mar in act two. Moreover, we realise that the servants know the
secrets too.
In revealing the secrets, Congreve is dealing with the basic
Restoration theme of appearance and reality. In act five all the hidden
secrets and pretence are revealed and destroyed. Mir brings the black box
which holds within it all the mysteries and secrets. The deeds and actions
are revealed, the first deed destroyed Fain. The second deed is Fain’s
deed and his attempt to separate between Mil and Mir, he tries to destroy
emotion through the deed which he forces lady Wis to sign. The third deed
is connected with Wit’s disguise and his hidden marriage. The deed of Mir
is the foundation for a new social structure by which the characters who
depend on lady Wis are freed.
The dance at the end of the play symbolises freedom and celebrates
marriage. Furthermore, the contract scene signifies the beginning of the
new social structure. At the end of the play, Mil who thought of love very
lightly becomes mature.
The play’s title and the names of the characters have their
important significance. For instance, Fainall is pretending all, Merabel
is to admire beauty, lady Wishfort is wishing to be young and to get married,
Millamant is thousand lovers and Marwood is to spoil. In addition to that,
the title has been mentioned three times in the play. The first reference
is made by Fain when he finds out about his wife, he says ‘all in the way
of the world’ this shows that he realises the difference between appearance
and reality. The second reference is also made by Fain when he tells Mrs.
Mar that he does not care if there is a relationship revealed ‘it is but
the way of the world’. The third time the title of the play is mentioned
when Mirabell shows the deed to Fain ‘it is the way of the world’, it also
means the break between appearance and reality. The play, as a whole, represents
the scheme of the seventeenth century where there was always a conflict
between appearance and reality. Congreve is trying to solve this problem
and to show how false people are.
It was a long way to reach
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