Saturday, April 6, 2019
Critical commentary on ode on Grecian Urn
Name:- Nirali J rathod
Roll no:- 24
Paper no:- 5, Romantic literature
Topic:- Critical commentary on ode on Grecian urn
Enrolment no:- 20691084201900039
E-mail ID:- niralijrathod@gmail.com
SUBMITTED TO :- S B GARDI DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH
John Keats born on 31 October 1795. He was poet of romantic genre. His name was counted as second generation poets along with Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley, despite his works having been in publication for only four years before his death from tuberculosis at the age of 25 on 23 February 1821
Although his poems were not generally well received by critics during his lifetime, his reputation grew after his death, and by the end of the 19th century, he had become one of the most beloved of all English poets. He had a significant influence on a diverse range of poets and writers. Jorge Luis Borges stated that his first encounter with Keats' work was the most significant literary experience of his life.
The poetry of Keats is characterized by sensual imagery, most notably in the series of odes. This is typical of romantic poets, as they aimed to accentuate extreme emotion through an emphasis on natural imagery. Today his poems and letters are some of the most popular and most analyzed in English literature. Some of the most acclaimed works of Keats are "Ode to a Nightingale", "Sleep and Poetry”, and the famous sonnet "On First Looking into Chapman's Homer".
Although his poems were not generally well received by critics during his lifetime, his reputation grew after his death, and by the end of the 19th century, he had become one of the most beloved of all English poets. He had a significant influence on a diverse range of poets and writers. Jorge Luis Borges stated that his first encounter with Keats' work was the most significant literary experience of his life.
The poetry of Keats is characterized by sensual imagery, most notably in the series of odes. This is typical of romantic poets, as they aimed to accentuate extreme emotion through an emphasis on natural imagery. Today his poems and letters are some of the most popular and most analyzed in English literature. Some of the most acclaimed works of Keats are "Ode to a Nightingale", "Sleep and Poetry”, and the famous sonnet "On First Looking into Chapman's Homer".
Ode to Grecian Urn' is, probably, an admiration to the adoration of beauty; especially the beauty of art in general and Hellenistic in particular. The poet noticed the painting of a village ceremony on a Grecian Urn. Keats, a die heart romantic, attempt on to capture not only what the sculpture might have intended but also what the flight of poet's fancy could produce from yonder lands. We are amazed at the artistic trickery and astonishing power of vigor with which the purely romantic poet gives vent to his inner emotions. Keats seems to have journeyed, through the powerful effect of fancy, to the foreign lands of the past to discover the true attributes of the civilization he saw on the urn. For Keats the Grecian Urn's silence is "unravished bride of quietness"; the poet takes the opportunity to express story of this bride, the Grecian Urn. He reminds us that the Grecian Urn and the story sculptured onto it is the one such that cannot be narrated by any historian with the charm that poetry has in store for us. Therefore, he wants us to expect "flowery tale" from old times. The romantic poet has a powerful fancy to bring out mesmerizing stories out of the inscription of the Grecian Urn.
He can visualize the legendary figure. He imagines it to be of a human. Then he thinks it might be of some god. Then counting on the Hellenistic remarks, he terms it a demigod; a legendary figure both human and godly. From the imagery in the stone, the poet crafts a romantic scene where the lovers are chasing their beloveds. Then he adds minute details of how they must be "panting" with the "burning foreheads" and "dried tongues" in their "mad" and playful "pursuit" of love making. However, the poet feels that their happy lot of chasing would ever remain unchanged. Their love can never be complete for the chase is on forever. With the music added to the pleasures of the youth, Keats considers it a "wild ecstasy" because the height of this joy could neither be limited nor could have an edge to it. It's the permanency of this very joyful , which forces the poet consider an "ecstasy". It is the same "ecstasy" the poet wishes to join by plunging into the time and age of the people in this urn; he wishes to celebrate and rejoice with them. He wishes to enjoy the music of the Grecian Urn.
Keats declares: "Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard "Are sweeter"... The trees of the urn can never be bare and the season of joys, spring, may continue. The song played by the musicians would ever remain new for it is never finished; neither the song will become old nor would it end tire them. It is "more happy love" because it is to be youthful and enjoyable for times to come. He styles the urn "fair attitude" and a civilization of marble men. The poet can see that the trees' branches and weeds have quite surrounded the urn. The urn is "cold pastoral" because it has rural scenery and a silent race that cannot speak. The poet "may cease to be" but the urn shall remain in the world, in the midst of human woes and agony. The urn and its culture is a happy lot and it convinces the poet that art, in the form of beauty, is capable of enduring the damages of time and age. The poet is happy to have seen the beauty of the Grecian Urn. "Beauty is truth, truth beauty, - that is all Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know."
He can visualize the legendary figure. He imagines it to be of a human. Then he thinks it might be of some god. Then counting on the Hellenistic remarks, he terms it a demigod; a legendary figure both human and godly. From the imagery in the stone, the poet crafts a romantic scene where the lovers are chasing their beloveds. Then he adds minute details of how they must be "panting" with the "burning foreheads" and "dried tongues" in their "mad" and playful "pursuit" of love making. However, the poet feels that their happy lot of chasing would ever remain unchanged. Their love can never be complete for the chase is on forever. With the music added to the pleasures of the youth, Keats considers it a "wild ecstasy" because the height of this joy could neither be limited nor could have an edge to it. It's the permanency of this very joyful , which forces the poet consider an "ecstasy". It is the same "ecstasy" the poet wishes to join by plunging into the time and age of the people in this urn; he wishes to celebrate and rejoice with them. He wishes to enjoy the music of the Grecian Urn.
Keats declares: "Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard "Are sweeter"... The trees of the urn can never be bare and the season of joys, spring, may continue. The song played by the musicians would ever remain new for it is never finished; neither the song will become old nor would it end tire them. It is "more happy love" because it is to be youthful and enjoyable for times to come. He styles the urn "fair attitude" and a civilization of marble men. The poet can see that the trees' branches and weeds have quite surrounded the urn. The urn is "cold pastoral" because it has rural scenery and a silent race that cannot speak. The poet "may cease to be" but the urn shall remain in the world, in the midst of human woes and agony. The urn and its culture is a happy lot and it convinces the poet that art, in the form of beauty, is capable of enduring the damages of time and age. The poet is happy to have seen the beauty of the Grecian Urn. "Beauty is truth, truth beauty, - that is all Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know."
No one knows if, when he wrote this in May 1819 (his great year of productivity), Keats had in mind one particular urn, although it is known that he drew or traced a vase contained in a volume of engravings called Musée Napoléon that he saw in the house of his beloved friend Benjamin Haydon. No doubt Keats’ constant visits to the British Museum will have provided plenty of other examples. The heifer being led to sacrifice in the poem’s fourth stanza is probably based on an image found on the South Frieze of the Elgin Marbles.
Keats realized that the function of a Grecian urn was to preserve the ashes of the dead. As he wrote in Endymion, ‘Why, I have shed / An urn of tears, as though thou wert cold-dead’. The stasis and peace of the urn is absolutely juxtaposed with current human frailty. Having witnessed the death of his brother Tom from tuberculosis a few months previously, Keats was now surrendering to the same illness, so would be familiar with the effect – and consequence – of ‘A burning forehead, and a parching tongue.’ (l.30)
It is important to apprehend the dramatic situation in “Ode on a Grecian Urn” both to understand the poem on a literal level and to glean any larger meaning from it. A narrator looks at the pictures that decorate the outside of an urn; between the “leaf-fringed legend s ” (line 5)—literally, the decorated borders on top and beneath the painted figures on the vase—the narrator sees two distinct scenes, consisting primarily of figures engaged in two activities common to Greek life: raucous intimate play and religious celebration.
The speaker in the poem addresses the urn directly, as if it were a living object like birds and animals or human. Viewing the first scene of poem , which consists of a collection of young people engaging in some form of carnival, the narrator asks about the identity of the people and about their motives: Are the women escaping from the men, or is this a courting match? Why is there music (represented by a figure on the urn who is playing an instrument)? The scene makes the narrator realize that he can only imagine his own answers—but in a sense, the “unheard” melodies that he imagines are “sweeter” than those he might actually hear (lines 11-12). Gazing at what he believes to be two lovers about to hold tightly lover’s hand, he observes that, though they can never gift their relationship, they will never change, either; instead, they will be forever in that heightened state of anticipation that precedes the climax of a love affair. Their love will be pure t the beginning of the fourth stanza, the narrator shifts his gaze to the second scene on the urn; in it, some townspeople are leading a calf to an altar for sacrifice. Once more the narrator asks questions: Who are these people? Where do they come from? Again he realizes that he cannot get the answers from viewing the urn; the questions will be forever unanswered, because the urn is not capable of providing such information. Rather, it sits silently, provoking his curiosity.
In the final stanza, the narrator recognizes the futility of his questioning and acknowledges that the urn is simply capable of teasing him “out of thought” (line 44)—leaving him unable to come to some logical conclusion about the stories depicted on the urn, and hence about the value of the urn itself. The narrator concludes by calling it a “Cold Pastoral” (line 45) whose ultimate worth lies in its beauty, not in its message.
The first response to the poem came in an anonymous review in the July 1820 Monthly Review, which claimed, "Mr Keats displays no great nicety in his selection of images. According to the tenets of that school of poetry to which he belongs, he thinks that any thing or object in nature is a fit material on which the poet may work ... Can there be a more pointed concetto than this address to the Piping Shepherds on a Grecian Urn?" Another anonymous review followed in the 29 July 1820 Literary Chronicle and Weekly Reviewthat quoted the poem with a note that said that "Among the minor poems, many of which possess considerable merit, the following appears to be the best". Josiah Conder, in a September 1820 Eclectic Review, argues that:
Mr Keats, seemingly, can think or write of scarcely any thing else than the 'happy pieties' of Paganism. A Grecian Urn throws him into an ecstasy: its 'silent form,' he says, 'doth tease us out of thought as doth Eternity,'—a very happy description of the bewildering effect which such subjects have at least had upon his own mind; and his fancy having thus got the better of his reason, we are the less surprised at the oracle which the Urn is made to utter:
'Beauty is truth, truth beauty,'—that is all
Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.
That is, all that Mr Keats knows or cares to know.—But till he knows much more than this, he will never write verses fit to live.
George Gilfillan, in an 1845 essay on Keats, placed the poem among "The finest of Keats' smaller pieces" and suggested that "In originality, Keats has seldom been surpassed. His works 'rise like an exhalation.' His language has been formed on a false system; but, ere he died, was clarifying itself from its more glaring faults, and becoming copious clear, and select. He seems to have been averse to all speculative thought, and his only creed, we fear, was expressed in the words— Beauty is truth,—truth beauty". The 1857 Encyclopædia Britannica contained an article on Keats by Alexander Smith, which stated: "Perhaps the most exquisite specimen of Keats' poetry is the 'Ode to the Grecian Urn'; it breathes the very spirit of antiquity,—eternal beauty and eternal repose." During the mid-19th century, Matthew Arnold claimed that the passage describing the little town "is Greek, as Greek as a thing from Homer or Theocritus; it is composed with the eye on the object, a radiancy and light clearness being added."
The speaker in the poem addresses the urn directly, as if it were a living object like birds and animals or human. Viewing the first scene of poem , which consists of a collection of young people engaging in some form of carnival, the narrator asks about the identity of the people and about their motives: Are the women escaping from the men, or is this a courting match? Why is there music (represented by a figure on the urn who is playing an instrument)? The scene makes the narrator realize that he can only imagine his own answers—but in a sense, the “unheard” melodies that he imagines are “sweeter” than those he might actually hear (lines 11-12). Gazing at what he believes to be two lovers about to hold tightly lover’s hand, he observes that, though they can never gift their relationship, they will never change, either; instead, they will be forever in that heightened state of anticipation that precedes the climax of a love affair. Their love will be pure t the beginning of the fourth stanza, the narrator shifts his gaze to the second scene on the urn; in it, some townspeople are leading a calf to an altar for sacrifice. Once more the narrator asks questions: Who are these people? Where do they come from? Again he realizes that he cannot get the answers from viewing the urn; the questions will be forever unanswered, because the urn is not capable of providing such information. Rather, it sits silently, provoking his curiosity.
In the final stanza, the narrator recognizes the futility of his questioning and acknowledges that the urn is simply capable of teasing him “out of thought” (line 44)—leaving him unable to come to some logical conclusion about the stories depicted on the urn, and hence about the value of the urn itself. The narrator concludes by calling it a “Cold Pastoral” (line 45) whose ultimate worth lies in its beauty, not in its message.
The first response to the poem came in an anonymous review in the July 1820 Monthly Review, which claimed, "Mr Keats displays no great nicety in his selection of images. According to the tenets of that school of poetry to which he belongs, he thinks that any thing or object in nature is a fit material on which the poet may work ... Can there be a more pointed concetto than this address to the Piping Shepherds on a Grecian Urn?" Another anonymous review followed in the 29 July 1820 Literary Chronicle and Weekly Reviewthat quoted the poem with a note that said that "Among the minor poems, many of which possess considerable merit, the following appears to be the best". Josiah Conder, in a September 1820 Eclectic Review, argues that:
Mr Keats, seemingly, can think or write of scarcely any thing else than the 'happy pieties' of Paganism. A Grecian Urn throws him into an ecstasy: its 'silent form,' he says, 'doth tease us out of thought as doth Eternity,'—a very happy description of the bewildering effect which such subjects have at least had upon his own mind; and his fancy having thus got the better of his reason, we are the less surprised at the oracle which the Urn is made to utter:
'Beauty is truth, truth beauty,'—that is all
Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.
That is, all that Mr Keats knows or cares to know.—But till he knows much more than this, he will never write verses fit to live.
George Gilfillan, in an 1845 essay on Keats, placed the poem among "The finest of Keats' smaller pieces" and suggested that "In originality, Keats has seldom been surpassed. His works 'rise like an exhalation.' His language has been formed on a false system; but, ere he died, was clarifying itself from its more glaring faults, and becoming copious clear, and select. He seems to have been averse to all speculative thought, and his only creed, we fear, was expressed in the words— Beauty is truth,—truth beauty". The 1857 Encyclopædia Britannica contained an article on Keats by Alexander Smith, which stated: "Perhaps the most exquisite specimen of Keats' poetry is the 'Ode to the Grecian Urn'; it breathes the very spirit of antiquity,—eternal beauty and eternal repose." During the mid-19th century, Matthew Arnold claimed that the passage describing the little town "is Greek, as Greek as a thing from Homer or Theocritus; it is composed with the eye on the object, a radiancy and light clearness being added."
Indian writing in English
Name :- Nirali J rathod
Roll no. :- 24
Paper no :- 8 Indian writing in english
Topic :- Popular culture
Enrolment no. 20691084201900039
E-mail ID- niralijrathod@gmail.com
SUBMITTED TO - S B GARDI DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH
In this unit of the study material, the student will learn about the concept and meaning of popular culture and its various aspects in the context of Indian subcontinent, especially India. The student would also know about the sanctified places or pilgrimage centers (tirthas) and the traditions of pilgrimage (tirtha-yatras) associated with those destinations. The content would further enable the reader to get acquainted with the nature and importance of different kinds of festivals, fairs, arts, crafts, dress patterns and food behaviour in our cultures. This would help the student to understand the meaning of the cultural practices popular in different parts of the Indian subcontinent.
1. Popular Culture
1.1 The Concept – What is Popular Culture?
Popular culture may be defined as the culture of the masses. This refers to a shared set of customary practices, beliefs, social forms and material traits of the racial, religious or social groups, which have gained popular acceptance. In other words, popular culture is commonly practiced or approved by social groups of succeeding generations. In popular culture, the culture and knowledge is passed on through folklores, mass media, magazines, television, radio, internet, etc.
Popular culture has been defined differently in different contexts by various scholars. Some scholars equate the “popular culture”, with “Pop culture”, and “Mass Culture”. In this context, this concept relates to the culture-patterns of human activity and symbolic structures, that give such activities significance and importance – which are popular or common. This is often defined or determined by the mass media. Popular culture is also suggested to be the widespread cultural elements in any given society that are perpetuated through the vernacular language or lingua franca of that society. It comprises the daily interactions, needs and desires, that make up the everyday life of the masses. This prevailing vernacular culture in any given society may include any number of practices related to the activities such as cooking, clothing, consumption, mass media and the many facets of the entertainment like the sports, music, fashion, photography, literature, etc. Thus, the pop culture or the mass culture is seen as a commercial culture, which is produced for mass consumption.
1.2 Folklore
What is meant by “Folklore”?
The term ‘Folklore’ has been derived from the German term ‘Volklehre’ meaning ‘people’s customs’. It has been used differently in different countries and in different times. In anthropological usage the term ‘Folklore’ has come to mean myths, legends, folktales, folksongs, chants, formula, speeches, prayers, puns, proverbs, riddles and a variety of forms of artistic expression whose medium is the spoken word. In other words, folklore includes all types of verbal art.
1.2a Folktales and Folksongs
Now, let us discuss the important folklore tradition of the subcontinent in the ancient past. The Rig-Veda is considered to be the oldest treatise of the world in which we find the specimens of the earliest folksongs and ballads. Folktales can be traced back to the Vedic akhyayanas (stories). The Atharvaveda is the storehouse of charms, superstitions, rites, and rituals practised by the people. In the Grihyasutras, we come across many folksongs sung on auspicious occasions like marriage, child-birth and other ceremonies.
The tradition of folktales and folksongs continued in the later periods of our history. These were written in various regional languages in different parts of the subcontinent. However, the history of folkloristic study in India is still young. The establishment of the Royal Asiatic Society of Bengal at Calcutta in 1784 by Sir William Jones was a landmark in this direction. This institution, besides many other subjects of Indology, undertook the publication of folklore and encouraged the study of folklore. With the dawn of the 20th century, there arose a new inspiration to collect, preserve and publish the valuable folkloristic treasure of our past. The efforts of the scholars resulted in the compilation and translation of the folklores and folktales of different regions. Many folktales and folksongs were composed during the National Movement, which helped in awakening the masses. It is interesting to observe that now-a-days during the general elections, various political parties adopt folklore as medium of their party propaganda. A number of folksongs are composed by different parties to attract the voters. Thus, folklore plays a significant role in the political sphere too. In this respect, folklore can be used as the best medium for emotional and national integration. Nevertheless, this continuing tradition would help in the preservation of the oral literature of any region.
1. Popular Culture
1.1 The Concept – What is Popular Culture?
Popular culture may be defined as the culture of the masses. This refers to a shared set of customary practices, beliefs, social forms and material traits of the racial, religious or social groups, which have gained popular acceptance. In other words, popular culture is commonly practiced or approved by social groups of succeeding generations. In popular culture, the culture and knowledge is passed on through folklores, mass media, magazines, television, radio, internet, etc.
Popular culture has been defined differently in different contexts by various scholars. Some scholars equate the “popular culture”, with “Pop culture”, and “Mass Culture”. In this context, this concept relates to the culture-patterns of human activity and symbolic structures, that give such activities significance and importance – which are popular or common. This is often defined or determined by the mass media. Popular culture is also suggested to be the widespread cultural elements in any given society that are perpetuated through the vernacular language or lingua franca of that society. It comprises the daily interactions, needs and desires, that make up the everyday life of the masses. This prevailing vernacular culture in any given society may include any number of practices related to the activities such as cooking, clothing, consumption, mass media and the many facets of the entertainment like the sports, music, fashion, photography, literature, etc. Thus, the pop culture or the mass culture is seen as a commercial culture, which is produced for mass consumption.
1.2 Folklore
What is meant by “Folklore”?
The term ‘Folklore’ has been derived from the German term ‘Volklehre’ meaning ‘people’s customs’. It has been used differently in different countries and in different times. In anthropological usage the term ‘Folklore’ has come to mean myths, legends, folktales, folksongs, chants, formula, speeches, prayers, puns, proverbs, riddles and a variety of forms of artistic expression whose medium is the spoken word. In other words, folklore includes all types of verbal art.
1.2a Folktales and Folksongs
Now, let us discuss the important folklore tradition of the subcontinent in the ancient past. The Rig-Veda is considered to be the oldest treatise of the world in which we find the specimens of the earliest folksongs and ballads. Folktales can be traced back to the Vedic akhyayanas (stories). The Atharvaveda is the storehouse of charms, superstitions, rites, and rituals practised by the people. In the Grihyasutras, we come across many folksongs sung on auspicious occasions like marriage, child-birth and other ceremonies.
The tradition of folktales and folksongs continued in the later periods of our history. These were written in various regional languages in different parts of the subcontinent. However, the history of folkloristic study in India is still young. The establishment of the Royal Asiatic Society of Bengal at Calcutta in 1784 by Sir William Jones was a landmark in this direction. This institution, besides many other subjects of Indology, undertook the publication of folklore and encouraged the study of folklore. With the dawn of the 20th century, there arose a new inspiration to collect, preserve and publish the valuable folkloristic treasure of our past. The efforts of the scholars resulted in the compilation and translation of the folklores and folktales of different regions. Many folktales and folksongs were composed during the National Movement, which helped in awakening the masses. It is interesting to observe that now-a-days during the general elections, various political parties adopt folklore as medium of their party propaganda. A number of folksongs are composed by different parties to attract the voters. Thus, folklore plays a significant role in the political sphere too. In this respect, folklore can be used as the best medium for emotional and national integration. Nevertheless, this continuing tradition would help in the preservation of the oral literature of any region.
2. The concept of Tirtha (Pilgrimage centre) and Tirtha-yatra (Pilgrimage)
The origin of the institution of pilgrimage can be traced back to the early phase of our cultural traditions. The Brahmanical and Buddhist literature of ancient period refer to the tirthas (centres of pilgrimage). The Nadi-stuti in the Vedas describes the mahatma (religious importance) of the rivers. Similarly, the smritis mention about the sanctity of the rivers, particularly the Ganges, the Jamuna (Yamuna) and the Saraswati. These rivers have been endowed with special merit and are regarded as the tirthas. The term tirtha-yatra (pilgrimage) has been associated with the sacred visits to these spots to get rid of the sins committed in one’s life. For example, the Visnu-Smriti refers to a number of tirthas spread over whole of ancient India. It also recommends tirtha-yatra and equates it with the Asvamedha-yajna (the horse-sacrifice). The Manu-Smriti also gives great importance to pilgrimage to the river Ganges and the site Kurukshetra.
In Mauryan period also the pilgrims in large number used to visit the holy places as mentioned by the Arthasastra of Kautilya. In the Mahabharata, a section of the Vanaparva entitled Tirtha-yatra-Parva is specially devoted to pilgrimage. The Puranas also provide significant information about pilgrimage. The Tirtha-sthali (places of pilgrimage) and the Kshetra-mahatma (importance of the pilgrimage centres) are the important parts of the Puranas. These also deal about the merits of pilgrimage and the righteous way of life a pilgrim is required to lead during tirtha-yatra.
Besides the epics and the Puranas, the Nibandhas (digests and commentaries) also emphasize on the types, nature and importance of the tirtha-yatra. These Nibandhas mention about the Hindu pilgrimage of medieval India. The notable among these are the Tirtha -Kalpataru of Lakshmidhar, Tirtha-Slisetu of Narayan Bhatt, Chatur-varna-chintamani of Hemadri, Tirtha-Prakash of Mitra Mishra, etc.
3. Festivals and Fairs
It is difficult to talk about the cultures of the Indian subcontinent without reference to the festivals and fairs, which have their origin in our ancient past and remain in practice till today. Nevertheless, in many cases we may find the merging of tradition and modernity.
3.1 Festivals and their classification
Since religion dominates the life of individuals, religious festivals have dominated the cultural life of the people. We can draw a long list of religious festivals associated with various gods and goddesses, regions and traditions. These include festivals such as Holi, Dashehra, Diwali, Christmas,
Eid-ul-Fitr, Eid-ul-Zuha, Gur Parab, etc. The cultural and regional diversities have led to the practice of multi-faceted festivals.
The festivals can be broadly divided into the following categories: (i) Religious festivals, (ii) Seasonal festivals, (iii) Cultural festivals, and (iv) Tribal festivals.
(i) Religious Festivals
The common religious festivals are: Holi, Diwali, Eid, Christmas, Nawroz, etc.
(ii) Seasonal Festivals
Most of the festivals in India mark the beginning of a new season and the new harvest. This is rooted in the fact that India is predominantly an agricultural economy and so the festivals are more associated with the agrarian society. The festivals such as Makar Sankranti, Pongal, Holi, Baisakhi, Onam, etc. herald the advent of a new season and new crops. Besides these traditional festivals being celebrated through the ages, some very new festivals are also becoming popular and attract people. In this respect, we can include festivals like Boat Race Festival, Mango Festival, Garden Festival, Kite Festival, etc. But these festivals should not be treated in isolated manner as these too are organized in appropriate regions and seasons.
(iii) Cultural Festivals
The festivals belonging to this category highlight the cultural tradition of our country. These reflect the traditional art of India. Recently, State Tourism Departments have also taken initiative to highlight the unique culture and tradition of the region. Such festivals include the Phool Walon Ki Sair (a Flower Festival), Elephant Festival of Kerala, Desert Festival of Rajasthan, Music and Dance festival in different parts of India, etc.
Conclusion
The discussion about various aspects of the cultures, especially popular cultures, in the subcontinent provides information about the various traditions in different spheres followed in different regions. These features link a particular region to its history and identity. The traditional folk literature, arts and crafts, etc. reflect the way of life. Many of these practices have been continuing since ancient period, though some modifications or refinement can be observed in many cases. Nevertheless, the development of tourism and modernization has affected the forms of cultures. Thus, to maintain their originality and sanctity, it is essential that tourism should take into account their preservation rather than distorting or destroying them. Our approach must be sensitive to the maintenance of our cultural essence and efflorescence.
The origin of the institution of pilgrimage can be traced back to the early phase of our cultural traditions. The Brahmanical and Buddhist literature of ancient period refer to the tirthas (centres of pilgrimage). The Nadi-stuti in the Vedas describes the mahatma (religious importance) of the rivers. Similarly, the smritis mention about the sanctity of the rivers, particularly the Ganges, the Jamuna (Yamuna) and the Saraswati. These rivers have been endowed with special merit and are regarded as the tirthas. The term tirtha-yatra (pilgrimage) has been associated with the sacred visits to these spots to get rid of the sins committed in one’s life. For example, the Visnu-Smriti refers to a number of tirthas spread over whole of ancient India. It also recommends tirtha-yatra and equates it with the Asvamedha-yajna (the horse-sacrifice). The Manu-Smriti also gives great importance to pilgrimage to the river Ganges and the site Kurukshetra.
In Mauryan period also the pilgrims in large number used to visit the holy places as mentioned by the Arthasastra of Kautilya. In the Mahabharata, a section of the Vanaparva entitled Tirtha-yatra-Parva is specially devoted to pilgrimage. The Puranas also provide significant information about pilgrimage. The Tirtha-sthali (places of pilgrimage) and the Kshetra-mahatma (importance of the pilgrimage centres) are the important parts of the Puranas. These also deal about the merits of pilgrimage and the righteous way of life a pilgrim is required to lead during tirtha-yatra.
Besides the epics and the Puranas, the Nibandhas (digests and commentaries) also emphasize on the types, nature and importance of the tirtha-yatra. These Nibandhas mention about the Hindu pilgrimage of medieval India. The notable among these are the Tirtha -Kalpataru of Lakshmidhar, Tirtha-Slisetu of Narayan Bhatt, Chatur-varna-chintamani of Hemadri, Tirtha-Prakash of Mitra Mishra, etc.
3. Festivals and Fairs
It is difficult to talk about the cultures of the Indian subcontinent without reference to the festivals and fairs, which have their origin in our ancient past and remain in practice till today. Nevertheless, in many cases we may find the merging of tradition and modernity.
3.1 Festivals and their classification
Since religion dominates the life of individuals, religious festivals have dominated the cultural life of the people. We can draw a long list of religious festivals associated with various gods and goddesses, regions and traditions. These include festivals such as Holi, Dashehra, Diwali, Christmas,
Eid-ul-Fitr, Eid-ul-Zuha, Gur Parab, etc. The cultural and regional diversities have led to the practice of multi-faceted festivals.
The festivals can be broadly divided into the following categories: (i) Religious festivals, (ii) Seasonal festivals, (iii) Cultural festivals, and (iv) Tribal festivals.
(i) Religious Festivals
The common religious festivals are: Holi, Diwali, Eid, Christmas, Nawroz, etc.
(ii) Seasonal Festivals
Most of the festivals in India mark the beginning of a new season and the new harvest. This is rooted in the fact that India is predominantly an agricultural economy and so the festivals are more associated with the agrarian society. The festivals such as Makar Sankranti, Pongal, Holi, Baisakhi, Onam, etc. herald the advent of a new season and new crops. Besides these traditional festivals being celebrated through the ages, some very new festivals are also becoming popular and attract people. In this respect, we can include festivals like Boat Race Festival, Mango Festival, Garden Festival, Kite Festival, etc. But these festivals should not be treated in isolated manner as these too are organized in appropriate regions and seasons.
(iii) Cultural Festivals
The festivals belonging to this category highlight the cultural tradition of our country. These reflect the traditional art of India. Recently, State Tourism Departments have also taken initiative to highlight the unique culture and tradition of the region. Such festivals include the Phool Walon Ki Sair (a Flower Festival), Elephant Festival of Kerala, Desert Festival of Rajasthan, Music and Dance festival in different parts of India, etc.
Conclusion
The discussion about various aspects of the cultures, especially popular cultures, in the subcontinent provides information about the various traditions in different spheres followed in different regions. These features link a particular region to its history and identity. The traditional folk literature, arts and crafts, etc. reflect the way of life. Many of these practices have been continuing since ancient period, though some modifications or refinement can be observed in many cases. Nevertheless, the development of tourism and modernization has affected the forms of cultures. Thus, to maintain their originality and sanctity, it is essential that tourism should take into account their preservation rather than distorting or destroying them. Our approach must be sensitive to the maintenance of our cultural essence and efflorescence.
Rasa theory
Name :- Nirali J rathod
Roll no. :- 24
Paper no :- 7 , Literary theory and criticism
Topic :- Rasa theory
Enrolment no. 20691084201900039
E-mail ID- niralijrathod@gmail.com
SUBMITTED TO - S B GARDI DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH
Roll no. :- 24
Paper no :- 7 , Literary theory and criticism
Topic :- Rasa theory
Enrolment no. 20691084201900039
E-mail ID- niralijrathod@gmail.com
SUBMITTED TO - S B GARDI DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH
Theory of Rasa described in Chapters VI and VII of Natya Shastra
The theory of Rasa-Bhava establishes a relationship between the performer and the spectator. The model spectator is a Sahrdaya, someone ‘who empathizes with the author.’ Since the success of a performance is measured by whether or not the audience has a specific experience (rasa), the spectator becomes a vital participant in the play.
Bharata calls human soul as Bhava-Jagat (the world of emotions). Bharata and later authors explain how the Art universalizes emotions making them an instrument of appeal to the spectators. They say that the actor acts as bearer, media and connector of emotions of the character. By conveying emotions the actor step by step opens inner Bhava-Jagat of the character, creates special emotional atmosphere, which can be felt and relished. The actor introduces and involves the spectators into this emotional atmosphere. Thus, emotions of the character are spread through the actor to spectators, who share them collectively, as a group, by relishing the Rasa. Thus emotions are embodied and translated from one person to many.
Bhava and Rasa
Bharata says that which can be relished – like the taste of food – is rasa: “Rasyate anena iti rasaha (asvadayatva).”
According to Bharata, the playwright experiences a certain emotion (bhava). The director of the play should properly understand the idea and bhava-s of the character and convey his knowledge and understanding to the actors. The actors perform their parts using their own vision and experience, but they should follow the main idea and key bhavas emphasized by the director, Sutradhara.
The term bhava means both existence and a mental state, and in aesthetic contexts it has been variously translated as feelings, psychological states, and emotions. In the context of the drama, bhavas are the emotions represented in the performance.
Bhava is that which becomes (Sanskrit root “bhoo”, “bhav” means “to become”); and bhava becomes rasa. In Natya Shastra it is said, that bhavas by themselves carry no meaning in the absence of Rasa: “Nahi rasadyate kashid_apyarthah pravattate.” Forms and manifestations of bhavas are defined by the rasa. It is therefore said, Rasa is the essence of art conveyed.
Rasa is the emotional response the bhavas inspire in the spectator (the Rasika or Sahrudaya). Rasa is thus an aesthetically transformed emotional state experienced by the spectator. Rasa is accompanied by feelings of pleasure and enjoyment. Such emotions tunes perception of the spectators, they create atmosphere of empathy, make people more sensitive, help to open mind and heart to understand the idea and message of the play.
Rasa is associated with palate, it is delight afforded by all forms of art; and the pleasure that people derive from their art experience. It is literally the activity of savoring an emotion in its full flavor. The term might also be taken to mean the essence of human feelings.
Rasa is sensuous, proximate, experiential. Rasa is aromatic. Rasa fills space, joining the outside to the inside. What was outside is transformed into what is inside.
Abhinaya
The actors convey bhavas using Abhinaya. The Sanskrit root “abhi” means “to lead”, “to go together”. Abhinaya is the process by which the meaning of the play is “led toward” the audience.
Human activity is divided into the physical, the verbal and the mental. Thus Abhinaya is four-fold – Sattvika (temperamental), Angika (physical), Vachika (verbal) and Aharya (dress, make-up, etc.).
Mrinalini Sarabhai uses famous shloka from “Abhinaya Darpanam” to explain these four aspects: “Where the hands go the eyes follow [anubhava], where the eyes go the mind follows [sattvika abhinaya], where the mind goes the mood [bhava] follows, where the mood goes there is rasa born.”
Sattvika abhinaya is very important kind of Abhinaya, showing the highest level of actor’s identification with the character . All of the components of abhinaya must be applied by the actor in order for him to bring the audience to the correct rasa, and thus to the enjoyment of the play, but sattva, which literally means ‘purity,’ however in dramaturgy is the psychological ability of the actor to identify with the character and his emotions, is the hardest to master and to understand.
As Bharata asserts, “Sattva . . . is [something] originating in mind. It is caused by the concentrated mind. The Sattva is accomplished by concentration of the mind. It’s nature cannot be mimicked by an absent-minded man.”
The Natya Shastra calls Sattvika abhinaya the “Spirited” modes of abhinaya, but the best explanations link it to Stanislavsky’s “Magic ‘If’” and “Sense of Truth.” This allows the actor to convince himself the circumstances are real to the character, even though, as the actor, he knows they are not.
When executed properly, sattvika abhinaya allows the actor to exhibit the physical signs of the emotions the character’s feeling, such as tears, trembling, change of color, or horripilation (the hair standing on end, or goosebumps). For the audience to feel the correct rasa, the actor must manifest the outward expressions of the character’s emotion using all kinds of abhinaya, but especially sattva. The Natya Shastra insists, “The Histrionic Representation with an exuberant Sattva is superior, the one with the level Sattva is middling, and that with no [exercise of] Sattva is inferior.”
Vibhava and Anubhava
Actions and feelings are evoked in connection with certain surrounding objects and circumstances, called Vibhava-s. Different mental and emotional states manifest themselves and become visible through universal physiological reactions called Anubhava-s.
Thus Bhava, the emotion felt by the character, results from a “Determinant” (vibhava), or determining circumstance, such as the time of year, the presence of loved ones, the decor or environment, and so on. The vibhava affects the character so that he feels sorrow, terror, anger, or some such emotion (bhava).
The “Consequent” (anubhava) of a particular bhava is a specific behavior exhibited by the actor as he portrays the character such as weeping, fainting, blushing, or the like. The anubhava, if properly executed, will cause the audience to feel a specific rasa corresponding to the bhava felt by the actor:
VIBHAVA---causes--->BHAVA---causes--->ANUBHAVA--->RASA
This is precisely the process Stanislavsky describes for his actors. A character’s feelings arise from the circumstances of the scene, both those in effect at the moment and those that occurred before. The feelings, combined with the “given circumstances,” cause her to behave in a certain way--the “stage action.” Replacing the Sanskrit terms of The Natyasastra with Stanislavskian terminology, the diagram might look like this:
GIVEN CIRCS.---cause--->EMOTION---causes--->BEHAVIOR--->AUD. RESPONSE
Eight Sthayi bhavas
Chapter VII of The Natya Shastra goes into great detail about the bhavas, which are broken down into three categories. Bharata mentions eight “Durable,” “Permanent,” or “Constant” emotional conditions called Sthayi bhavas:
These emotional states are inherent to humans. They are basic as they are inborn, understandable without explanation. They also are characterized by intensity, as they dominate and direct behavior. On the stage Sthayi bhavas are represented by certain Anubhavas, explained in Natya Shastra as follows:
Sthayi bhavas are manifested by corresponding Anubhavas:
Rati (Pleasure) - Smiling face, sweet words, contraction of eye-brows, sidelong glances and the like.
Hasa (Joy) - Smile and the like, i.e., laugher, excessive laugher.
Shoka (Sorrow) - Shedding tears, lamentation, bewailing, change of color, loss of voice, looseness of limbs, falling on the ground, crying, deep breathing, paralysis, insanity, death and the like.
Krodha (Malice) - Extended nostrils, unturned eyes, bitten lips, throbbing cheeks and the like.
against enemies - knitting of the eye-brows, fierce look, bitten lips, hands clasping each other, touching one’s own shoulder and breast.
when controlled by superiors - slightly downcast eyes, wiping off slight perspiration and not expressing any violent movement.
against beloved woman - very slight movement of the body, shedding tears, knitting eyebrows, sidelong glances and throbbing lips.
against one’s servants - threat, rebuke, dilating eyes and casting contemptuous looks of various kinds.
artificial - betraying signs of effort.
Utsaha (Courage) - steadiness, munificence, boldness of undertaking and the like.
Bhaya (Fear) - trembling of the hands and feet, palpitation of the heart, paralysis, dryness of the mouth, licking lips, perspiration, tremor, apprehension of danger, seeking for safety, running away, loud crying and the like.
Jugupsa (Disgust) - contracting all the limbs, spitting, narrowing down of the mouth, heartache and the like.
Vismaya (Surprise) - wide opening the eyes, looking without winking of the eyes and movement of the eye-brows, horripilation, moving the head to and fro, the cry of ‘well done’ and the like.
Eight Rasa-s
The eight Sthai bhava-s evoke eight corresponding Rasa-s:
Rati evokes Sringara (the Erotic - romance, love)
Hasa evokes Hasya (the comic - laugh, humor)
Shoka evokes Karuna (the pathetic - compassion, sadness)
Krodha evokes Roudra (the furious - indignation, anger)
Utsaha evokes Veera (the heroic - valor)
Bhaya evokes Bhayanaka (the terrible - fear, horror)
Jugupsa evokes Bibhasa (the odious - disgust, aversion, repugnance)
Vismaya evokes Adbhuta (the marvelous - wonder, astonishment, amazement)
The novelist of the victorian age
Name:- Nirali J rathod
Roll no 24
Paper no 6, The victorian literature
Topic The novelist of the victorian age ( middle march )
Enrolment no. 20691084201900039
E-mail ID- niralijrathod@gmail.com
SUBMITTED TO - S B GARDI DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH
The mature reader's ability to understand the extensive range of emotions felt by characters in fiction stems from the reader's own life experiences, as George Eliot was well aware when writing Middlemarch. According to Virginia Wolfe, Eliot's novel is "one of the few English novels for grown-up people." Middlemarch has characters disillusioned by the self-deception and deception of others that they see around them. Middlemarch is about the process of understanding the experiences and perceptions of others, and of suffering through self-deception and disillusionment, social positioning, class consciousness, and the ambition for self-improvement with its concomitants: education and money.
Several scholars praise Eliot's novel because of the realistic characters that allow her readers sympathetic identification and participation. Huge Witemeyer says, for example, "The variety of meanings it [Middlemarch] can encompass, from the moral and psychological to the historical and sociological, makes Eliot's literary portraiture richer than that of any earlier novelist in English". Although characters within her novel may engage in deceit or suffer disillusionment, Eliot's focusing on their human condition allows readers to connect with each character's situation. This attachment, this connection between the reader and the character, enables Eliot to present a convincingly real world and enables her novel to convey the essential truths about human nature. For example, the women in Eliot's novel, though fictional, are faced with the same life decisions and responsibilities as the women in Victorian society.
Upper-middle and upper-class Victorian women, for example, were expected to "marry money," stay home to raise the family, and be responsible for the management of domestic affairs. As a result, women, who lacked the opportunity for the kind of education men had, were praised chiefly for their ability to act properly towards their husbands. Dorothea Brooke is an intelligent and independent young woman, who differs from the conventional woman of the Victorian Age. While other Victorian ladies worried about fashion and marriage, Dorothea concerns herself with issues of philosophy, spirituality, and service. Eliot points out Dorothea's genuine beauty in describing her physical appearance:
Miss Brooke had the kind of beauty which seems to be thrown into relief by poor dress. Her hand and wrist were so finely formed that she could wear sleeves not less bare of style than those in which the Blessed Virgin appeared to Italian painters; and her profile as well as her stature and bearing seemed to gain the more dignity from her plain garments, which by the side of provincial fashion gave her the impressiveness of a fine quotation from the Bible, — or from one of our elder poets, — in a paragraph of to-day's newspaper.
Eliot, who emphasizes the plainness of Dorothea's clothing, alludes to paintings of the Virgin Mary to describe her, thereby accentuating Dorothea's dignity and purity . Because Dorothea does not concern herself with fashion, most people in Middlemarch perceive her to be odd, and "sane people did what their neighbors did, so that if any lunatics were at large, one might know and avoid them" . Eliot mocks the social norm by praising the purity of the young and "inexperienced" Miss Brooke.
I think Dorothea is almost too perfect, but she evolves from her immaculate persona after she goes astray and marries Edward Casaubon. Dorothea's feelings for him are influenced by his supposed wisdom and her hopes that it will allow her to "become educated, to have her curiosity nurtured, and to be of constant usefulness to a man of sixty who really needed her nineteen year old eyes for reading" (Thompson 1). Bernard J. Paris sees Dorothea as a mimetic character whose desire for intensity, greatness, an epic life are not manifestations of spiritual grandeur but of a compulsive search for glory. Her craving for "illimitable satisfaction" is an expression of insatiable compensatory needs, and her "self-despair" results from hopelessness about actualizing her idealized image of herself as a person of world-historical importance. She misperceives Casaubon because "her need for glory leads her to idealize him". Dorothea realizes "the fault of her own spiritual poverty", and is "sobbing bitterly" when she is left alone by Mr. Casaubon, who goes to work alone at the Vatican on their honeymoon.
In Middlemarch education and money "greatly determine" the characters' lives and opportunities, and Eliot takes as her central topic the unfit preparation of women for life. This theme is as crucial for understanding Rosamond Vincy as it is for understanding Dorothea (Beer 159). Rosamond comes from a family familiar with the comfortable lifestyle of middle-class society. Her egocentric character does not adapt to the sacrifices or adjustments in one's style of living necessary when money is scarce. In contrast to Dorothea's, Rosy's marital vocation does not include "the inward life of a hero, or his serious business in the world"; rather, she just wants to climb the social ladder and find a seat among the aristocracy (Thompson 3). Eliot reveals Rosamond's egotistical nature when she describes how the young girl wishes her father would invite Lydgate to a dinner party:
She was tired of the faces and figures she had always been use to -- the various irregular profiles and gaits and turns of phrase distinguishing those Middlemarch young men whom she had always known as boys. She had been at school [Mrs. Lemon's establishment] with other girls of higher position, whose brothers, she felt sure, it would have been possible for her to be more interested in, than in these inevitable Middlemarch companions.
Rosamond wants to meet Lydgate, "the new aspiring doctor," because she is utterly disappointed with the eligible bachelors in her immediate community. Eliot utilizes Rosamond's character to reveal her attitude towards provincial middle-class society by describing Rosamond's social circle as "inevitable Middlemarch companions." Rosamond knows what she wants out of life: to become a member of the aristocracy, but her marriage to Lydgate is not what she expects. Her upbringing and education do not prepare her for the hardships all married couples experience. Eliot uses her — as a foil to Dorothea — as an example of the misfortunes of shallow women. Or, she may be highlighting the importance of seeing reality instead of appearance.
Lydgate exemplifies the desires of an epic life, as Dorothea does, but unlike her he finds his vocation in the study of medicine, who works hard for success in his medical practice. Eliot's introduction of Lydgate, however, hints at his coming failure:
For surely all must admit that a man may be puffed and belauded, envied, ridiculed, counted upon as a tool and fallen in love with, or at least selected as a future husband, and yet remain virtually unknown--known merely as a cluster of signs for his neighbours' false suppositions. There was a general impression, however, that Lydgate was not altogether a common country doctor, and in Middlemarch at that time such an impression was significant of great things being expected from him.
Lydgate has the drive and ambition to make a difference in the world by advancing studies in the medical field. He is aware of the risk that such an unknown field of study poses because the common people would have no proof that newly discovered cures would work. On the other hand, Lydgate's belief that there is a vast field for discovery and improvement in medicine makes him persevere. Lydgate's plan for his future is "to do good work for Middlemarch, and great work for the world". But he remains "virtually unknown" in his because of his passion for women. He becomes enamored of Laure when he sees her on stage while he is a student in Paris, but he is in love with her "as a man is in love with a woman whom he never expects to speak to" . He does speak to her, though, but only after she murders on stage her husband who plays the part of her lover. Lydgate is convinced of her innocence until she confesses to him that she "meant to do it" because her husband had wearied her by being "too fond". Lydgate realizes that his passion will lead to his own destruction, so he returns to his studies, convinced that he will not make such a mistake again (Paris 65). Inevitably Lydgate's passion resurfaces when he meets Rosamond, and his emotional neediness leads to an impulsive proposal.
Lydgate's descent into debt makes Rosamond very unhappy, and his busy career makes her and other characters believe she is neglected. After dinner Mrs. Vincy sympathetically tells the other ladies around them: "It is dreadfully dull for her when there is no company". Rosamond is used to having company in a "cheerful house" which is "very different from a husband out at odd hours, and never knowing when he will come home". Her unhappiness is encouraged by those around her. Perhaps Lydgate's willingness to sacrifice his own interests to ensure her happiness could have been appreciated by another wife. Instead, he sacrifices himself without any real hope of reciprocated affection. Although Lydgate accepts his own doom, he still has the ambition to make something in the world better, and that is his marriage. These are only a few examples of the wide range of characters in Middlemarch with whom readers can either identify with or understand. While representing an entire community, George Eliot invites her readers to become a part of Middlemarch, allowing them to enter into her characters' lives because she gives readers access to the characters' thoughts throughout the novel.
Several scholars praise Eliot's novel because of the realistic characters that allow her readers sympathetic identification and participation. Huge Witemeyer says, for example, "The variety of meanings it [Middlemarch] can encompass, from the moral and psychological to the historical and sociological, makes Eliot's literary portraiture richer than that of any earlier novelist in English". Although characters within her novel may engage in deceit or suffer disillusionment, Eliot's focusing on their human condition allows readers to connect with each character's situation. This attachment, this connection between the reader and the character, enables Eliot to present a convincingly real world and enables her novel to convey the essential truths about human nature. For example, the women in Eliot's novel, though fictional, are faced with the same life decisions and responsibilities as the women in Victorian society.
Upper-middle and upper-class Victorian women, for example, were expected to "marry money," stay home to raise the family, and be responsible for the management of domestic affairs. As a result, women, who lacked the opportunity for the kind of education men had, were praised chiefly for their ability to act properly towards their husbands. Dorothea Brooke is an intelligent and independent young woman, who differs from the conventional woman of the Victorian Age. While other Victorian ladies worried about fashion and marriage, Dorothea concerns herself with issues of philosophy, spirituality, and service. Eliot points out Dorothea's genuine beauty in describing her physical appearance:
Miss Brooke had the kind of beauty which seems to be thrown into relief by poor dress. Her hand and wrist were so finely formed that she could wear sleeves not less bare of style than those in which the Blessed Virgin appeared to Italian painters; and her profile as well as her stature and bearing seemed to gain the more dignity from her plain garments, which by the side of provincial fashion gave her the impressiveness of a fine quotation from the Bible, — or from one of our elder poets, — in a paragraph of to-day's newspaper.
Eliot, who emphasizes the plainness of Dorothea's clothing, alludes to paintings of the Virgin Mary to describe her, thereby accentuating Dorothea's dignity and purity . Because Dorothea does not concern herself with fashion, most people in Middlemarch perceive her to be odd, and "sane people did what their neighbors did, so that if any lunatics were at large, one might know and avoid them" . Eliot mocks the social norm by praising the purity of the young and "inexperienced" Miss Brooke.
I think Dorothea is almost too perfect, but she evolves from her immaculate persona after she goes astray and marries Edward Casaubon. Dorothea's feelings for him are influenced by his supposed wisdom and her hopes that it will allow her to "become educated, to have her curiosity nurtured, and to be of constant usefulness to a man of sixty who really needed her nineteen year old eyes for reading" (Thompson 1). Bernard J. Paris sees Dorothea as a mimetic character whose desire for intensity, greatness, an epic life are not manifestations of spiritual grandeur but of a compulsive search for glory. Her craving for "illimitable satisfaction" is an expression of insatiable compensatory needs, and her "self-despair" results from hopelessness about actualizing her idealized image of herself as a person of world-historical importance. She misperceives Casaubon because "her need for glory leads her to idealize him". Dorothea realizes "the fault of her own spiritual poverty", and is "sobbing bitterly" when she is left alone by Mr. Casaubon, who goes to work alone at the Vatican on their honeymoon.
In Middlemarch education and money "greatly determine" the characters' lives and opportunities, and Eliot takes as her central topic the unfit preparation of women for life. This theme is as crucial for understanding Rosamond Vincy as it is for understanding Dorothea (Beer 159). Rosamond comes from a family familiar with the comfortable lifestyle of middle-class society. Her egocentric character does not adapt to the sacrifices or adjustments in one's style of living necessary when money is scarce. In contrast to Dorothea's, Rosy's marital vocation does not include "the inward life of a hero, or his serious business in the world"; rather, she just wants to climb the social ladder and find a seat among the aristocracy (Thompson 3). Eliot reveals Rosamond's egotistical nature when she describes how the young girl wishes her father would invite Lydgate to a dinner party:
She was tired of the faces and figures she had always been use to -- the various irregular profiles and gaits and turns of phrase distinguishing those Middlemarch young men whom she had always known as boys. She had been at school [Mrs. Lemon's establishment] with other girls of higher position, whose brothers, she felt sure, it would have been possible for her to be more interested in, than in these inevitable Middlemarch companions.
Rosamond wants to meet Lydgate, "the new aspiring doctor," because she is utterly disappointed with the eligible bachelors in her immediate community. Eliot utilizes Rosamond's character to reveal her attitude towards provincial middle-class society by describing Rosamond's social circle as "inevitable Middlemarch companions." Rosamond knows what she wants out of life: to become a member of the aristocracy, but her marriage to Lydgate is not what she expects. Her upbringing and education do not prepare her for the hardships all married couples experience. Eliot uses her — as a foil to Dorothea — as an example of the misfortunes of shallow women. Or, she may be highlighting the importance of seeing reality instead of appearance.
Lydgate exemplifies the desires of an epic life, as Dorothea does, but unlike her he finds his vocation in the study of medicine, who works hard for success in his medical practice. Eliot's introduction of Lydgate, however, hints at his coming failure:
For surely all must admit that a man may be puffed and belauded, envied, ridiculed, counted upon as a tool and fallen in love with, or at least selected as a future husband, and yet remain virtually unknown--known merely as a cluster of signs for his neighbours' false suppositions. There was a general impression, however, that Lydgate was not altogether a common country doctor, and in Middlemarch at that time such an impression was significant of great things being expected from him.
Lydgate has the drive and ambition to make a difference in the world by advancing studies in the medical field. He is aware of the risk that such an unknown field of study poses because the common people would have no proof that newly discovered cures would work. On the other hand, Lydgate's belief that there is a vast field for discovery and improvement in medicine makes him persevere. Lydgate's plan for his future is "to do good work for Middlemarch, and great work for the world". But he remains "virtually unknown" in his because of his passion for women. He becomes enamored of Laure when he sees her on stage while he is a student in Paris, but he is in love with her "as a man is in love with a woman whom he never expects to speak to" . He does speak to her, though, but only after she murders on stage her husband who plays the part of her lover. Lydgate is convinced of her innocence until she confesses to him that she "meant to do it" because her husband had wearied her by being "too fond". Lydgate realizes that his passion will lead to his own destruction, so he returns to his studies, convinced that he will not make such a mistake again (Paris 65). Inevitably Lydgate's passion resurfaces when he meets Rosamond, and his emotional neediness leads to an impulsive proposal.
Lydgate's descent into debt makes Rosamond very unhappy, and his busy career makes her and other characters believe she is neglected. After dinner Mrs. Vincy sympathetically tells the other ladies around them: "It is dreadfully dull for her when there is no company". Rosamond is used to having company in a "cheerful house" which is "very different from a husband out at odd hours, and never knowing when he will come home". Her unhappiness is encouraged by those around her. Perhaps Lydgate's willingness to sacrifice his own interests to ensure her happiness could have been appreciated by another wife. Instead, he sacrifices himself without any real hope of reciprocated affection. Although Lydgate accepts his own doom, he still has the ambition to make something in the world better, and that is his marriage. These are only a few examples of the wide range of characters in Middlemarch with whom readers can either identify with or understand. While representing an entire community, George Eliot invites her readers to become a part of Middlemarch, allowing them to enter into her characters' lives because she gives readers access to the characters' thoughts throughout the novel.
Monday, December 3, 2018
Aristotle
1) In the 18th and 19th centuries there were many people felt that novel reading is waste of time. There were many reasons behind this belief. One of them was Plato's influence who believed that, "LITERATURE IS AN IMITATION OF AN IMITATION". The perfect example is the hollywood film 'Harry Pottet'. There is a magical world which is shown by direct and it is his imitation. The movie is drive us away from reality. When we look it from the Plato's point of view we feel that aesthetic pleasure but it's not reality. So it has morally improper.
2) Othello is the best example which followed the Aristotlelian literary tradition. The tragedy evoked pity and terror in the audience; it was catharsis, or washing clean of the soul. Othello is about as near as Shakespeare gets to classical tragedy.
3) According to Aristotle the tragic hero is defined by five main characteristics,
* tragic hero is born in nobility
* tragic hero possesses hamartia which leads to his downfall.
* hero experiences peripetria.
* action of tragic hero result in an increased self awareness and knowledge.
* audience must feel pity sympathy or fear for the character.
Captain Ahab was not born in nobility. He is not possesses increased self awareness. Instead his hamartia leads to his death. In the end Ahab only qualifies as a tragic hero under one or two of Aristotle's characteristics. So we can say that this is not follow the Aristotlelian theory.
4) I studied 'All my sons'. Joe Keller is the protagonist of the play. His sense of guilt drives him to suicide and before taking his life, he refers to his son Larry's statement that he was ending his life to make amends for the twenty-one pilots,who met their end by using the cracked cylinder heads dispatched from the factory of Joe Keller. All my son's is the conflict between family loyalities and the social responsibilities.
5) The plot is fairly unified,focusing on Othello and his fate,and dealing with other people and events only in so far as they are relevant to his focus. Aristotle proposed the tragic unities of place,time and action. A morden interpretation would say that Ohello's tragic flaw was that he had internalized,that is taken into himself, the prejudices of those who surrounded him.
Coledrige
Thinking activity:- Coleridge's Biographia Literaria
The Biographia Literaria is a critical work by Samuel Taylor Coleridge which is contained in 24 chapter. In this critical disquisition,Coleridge concerns himself not only with the practice of criticism but also with its theory. In the chapter of XIV of Biographia Literaria,Coleridge's view on nature and function of poetry is discussed in Philosophical term. The difference between prose and poem is discussed by Coleridge and the difference between poetry and poem is discussed by philosopher.
- Difference between Poem and Prose
If we see the difference between poem and prose we can not find a huge difference in them. It very hard to find the clear cut difference and dissimilarities in them. The main difference between these two is related with the object. The language of poem is sometimes highly ornamental and also we find complexity of word. While in the Prose, the language is very straight forward and we do not find a use of rhyme and meter like poem. To make the poem decorative, poet uses some meter or rhyme which brings artificiality in it. prose are for giving information where as poems are to give pleasure.
· Difference between poem and poetry.
Poem and Poetry also has a thin line between them which can separate them. A poem is the arrangement of words which can be described as something made or created. A poem is a literary term written in verse with rhyme, meter and musicality which give us delight. While the poetry can be described as a activity of poet's mind, as Coleridge points out that "poetry of the highest kind may exist without meter and even without the contra-distinguishing objects of poem".
He also adds that 'poetry' is an activity of mind and a poem is merely one of the forms of its expression, a verbal expression of that activity is basically an activity of imagination. If we look at this art of work than it can be also considered as a poetry.
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