A TO Z Literary Principles from History of English Literature: Note 33


Short notes on History of English Literature: Gulliver’s Travels 

A Set of 26 Objective Questions & Answers


  1. It is Jonathan Swift’s most comprehensive and brilliantly worked out satire on man and his civilization.
  1. Lemuel Gulliver, the ship’s doctor on the ‘Antelope’, is ship-wrecked.
  1. He manages to make for the shore and he finds himself in the land of Lilliputs- humans only six inches tall.
  2.  He exposes the infinite littleness and absurd pretensions of man.
  3. Book has four parts: In Part I: A journey to Lilliput, a land where the people are twelve times smaller than in England.
  1. In Part II: A journey to Brobdingnag, a land where every living being is twelve times larger than in England.
  2. In Part III:   Gulliver visits the islands of Laputa, Balnibarbi, Luggnagg, Glubbdubdribb, and Japan.
Image courtesy
  1. In Part IV: Gulliver journeys to the land of the Houyhnhnms, rational horses, and the Yahoos, appallingly irrational humans.
  1. He becomes the pigmy and the same moral is driven out.
  1. In the third voyage to laputa and other islands, Swift attacks philosophers, projectors and inventors all who waste their energies in pursuit of fantastic things.
  1. The fourth voyage is to the land of Houynhnhm, a country governed by intelligent horses.
  1. In the land of the Houyhnhnms, humans are the unintelligent servants of automobiles. The flying island legends have a connection to the aboriginal Canadian Cree myths of creation.
  1.  In Gulliver and his views we find on colonialism, manifest destiny, and the white man’s burden.
  1. Knowledge of English politics at the time Swift was writing will make several of the characters more understandable, but is not essential for enjoyment of Gulliver’s Travels as a fantasy.
  1. Terms: “Big-Endians”, “Little-Endians”, “Big-Endians”, “Little-Endians.”
  1. The characters: Lemuel Gulliver; Emperor of Blefuscu, Brobdingnagian etc.
  1. Swift’s tale is not simply is a charming children’s fantasy, it is a tricky question whether or not it is better to introduce it to children or not.
  1. Gulliver legendsThe Borrowers by Mary Norton; H. G. Wells’s Food of the Gods; Honey, I Shrunk the Kids and its sequel Honey, I Blew Up the Baby; “Hundred Worlds” literary development of the first Star Trek television series by producer Gene Roddenberry.
  1. The most delightful of children’s book turns out to be one of the bitterest satires on mankind ever described. Swift suggest that man should be governed by reason, but the lower elements of his nature debase what is fine within him.
  1. The irony is devastating and the style is powerful, lucid and colloquial.
  1. If a modern equivalent to Gulliver’s Travels were written today, every nation would be satirized, instead of England and France.
  1. Notably, Gulliver’s journey to the land of the Houyhnhnms, in which humans are the unintelligent servants of automobiles.
  2. It is Swift’s political satire in his description of Lilliput effective in terms of Victorian as well as modern times.
  1. Gulliver’s Travels is suitable as children’s literature as well as adults.
  2. Gulliver’s Travels is written in the style of travelogue.
  3. In Gulliver’s Travels we cannot deny the fact that here is an imaginary world of nowhere. 


Ref: 1. History of English Literature- Albert, 
      2. The Concise Cambridge History of English Literature

A TO Z Literary Principles from History of English Literature: Note 31


Short notes on History of English Literature: Wuthering Heights

A Set of 26 Objective Questions & Answers

  • Wuthering Heights is the single novel and masterpiece of Emily Bronte published in 1847.
  •  It is a chronicle of two generations of Earnshaws in their farmland home.
  •  The chief character of this novel is Heathcliff, a wait picked off the Liverpool Street and brought home by the senior Mr. Earnshaw.
  • Emily Brontë is careful to emphasize the contrasts between Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange.
  • The strange elemental passion that binds Heathcliff and young Catherine is upset when Catherine is given in marriage to Edgar Linton. This provides the basis for Heathcliff’s vengeful action, for Heathcliff returns to ruin the two families.
  • Bronte in her novel Wuthering Heights created somehow of her imagination a stark, passionate world, reminiscent at times of the storm scenes in king Lear.

  •  In other hands the story might be mere melodrama, but resembles Othello when told in a different way.
  • As Emily Bronte narrates it, the story has a wild and cruel reality, and is original beyond any other novel in the history of English literature.
  • Lockwood smugly accounts for Heathcliff's behavior by implying that Heathcliff is just like Lockwood himself.
  • Lockwood gives a thorough description of Wuthering Heights.
  • Emily Brontë is careful to emphasize the contrasts between Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange.
  • Catherine Linton is particularly delighted when Hareton learns to read.
  • A major obstacle to Heathcliff and Cathy's romance is their lack of financial security.
  •  The moors play a role in Wuthering Heights almost as important as that played by the characters.
  • Several of the themes of Wuthering Heights (for example, the powerful influence of the environment on human beings) are evident in Emily Brontë's poems too.
  • The characters of Cathy Earnshaw and her daughter, Catherine Linton have many Comparing and contrasting elements.
  •  The inhabitants of Wuthering Heights are very interesting points.
  • Lockwood gives such a thorough description of Wuthering Heights.
  • Hindley's strong aversion for Heathcliff is a critical point.
  • Catherine Linton is particularly delighted when Hareton learns to read.
  • A major obstacle to Heathcliff and Cathy's romance is their lack of financial security.
  • The moors play a role in Wuthering Heights almost as important as that played by the characters.
  • Wuthering Heights was adapted to the screen in a 1939 production directed by William Wyler and starring Merle Oberon, Laurence Olivier, and David Niven.
  • Catherine Linton tells Heathcliff that he is a 'cruel man' but not a 'fiend.'
  • Wuthering Heights," by Emily Bronte is a tale of great, though morbid and undisciplined power. 
  • The basic plot of Wuthering Heights may seem to be a timeless love story, but the characters and situations reflect many of the real social problems of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.


Ref: 1. History of English Literature- Albert, 
      2. The Concise Cambridge History of English Literature
     3. Microsoft Students Encarta

A TO Z Literary Principles from History of English Literature: Note 32


Short notes on History of English Literature: Dr. Faustus

A Set of 26 Objective Questions & Answers

a.        Christopher Marlowe’s masterpiece is The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus.

b.       The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus is a famous of Christopher Marlowe that is usually regarded as his greatest.

c.       Earlier playwrights had concentrated on comedy; Marlowe worked on tragedy and advanced it considerably as a dramatic medium.

d.      In the 1580s a group of educated men, sometimes called the University Wits, prepared the way for Shakespeare.

e.       The best-known members of this group were playwright and poet Christopher Marlowe and dramatist Thomas Kyd.

f.        Christopher Marlowe (1564-1593), English playwright and poet, considered the first great English dramatist and the most important Elizabethan dramatist before William Shakespeare, although his entire activity as a playwright lasted only six years.

g.       English dramatist Christopher Marlowe incorporated elements of the medieval morality play, in which good and evil vie for the human soul, Faustus’s thirst for knowledge is more characteristic of Renaissance concerns: "Where art thou Faustus, wretch, what hast thou done?
Damned art thou Faustus, damned; despair and die!"

h.       Marlowe's plays, such as The Tragical History of Dr. Faustus(1588) is remarkable primarily for their daring depictions of world-shattering characters who strive to go beyond the normal human limitations as the Christian medieval ethos had conceived them.
i.         The story is that of a scholar and a necromancer who lings for infinite knowledge, and who turns from Theology, Philosophy, Medicine and law, the four sciences of the time, to the study of magic, much as a child might turn from jewels to tinsel and coloured paper.

j.         By revealing the possibilities for strength and variety of expression in blank verse, Marlowe helped to establish the verse form as the predominant form in English drama. His The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus (1589?), one of the earliest dramatizations of the Faust legend, is also advance in blank verse.

k.      Marlowe's finest play is" Doctor Faustus," founded on the legend which also gave birth to the greatest work of the greatest modern poet, Goethe's " Faust."

l.         Dramatist Christopher Marlowe perfected the Senecan and so-called tragicomic models to create such masterpieces as TheTragical History of Doctor Faustus (1588?).

m.     In order to learn magic, he sells himself to the devil, on condition that he shall have twenty-four years of absolute power and knowledge.

n.       The play is the story of those twenty-four years.

o.      The end of Faustus is disastrous.

p.      There is rich, dramatic irony when Faustus, having conjured up Mephistopheles, finds him “pliant and full of obedience and humility”, and even more so when Mephistopheles has the truth of his real condition forced out of him and Faustus  laughs at him for being superstitious and lacking ‘manly fortitude’.

q.      Self-confidence has made him fatuous and he signs his contact with Mephistopheles, gaining twenty-four years of knowledge and power and a life of ‘full voluptuousness’- with a braggart light-heartedness: 
                    Had I as many soul as there be stars
                   I would give them all for Mephistopheles.

r. Like Tamburlaine, it is lacking in dramatic construction but has an unusual                     number of passages of rare poetic beauty.

s.        In The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus (1589?), scholar and magician Faustus sells his soul to the demon Mephistopheles in return for magical power and scientific knowledge.

t.        The various tales that gathered about Faust's name first appeared in literature in Historia von Dr. Johann Fausten (1587), published in Frankfurt.

u.        It provided the basis for the powerful drama The Tragical History of Dr. Faustus (1588?) by the English playwright Christopher Marlowe.

Christopher Marlowe
v.  Foust Stories: Historia von Dr. Johann Fausten (1587); The narrative appeared in English verse in 1587; in German verse in 1588; In 1592 it appeared in French and English prose versions; The Tragical History of Dr. Faustus (1588?) by the English playwright Christopher Marlowe; poetic drama Faust (first part, 1808; second, 1832) by the German poet and playwright Johann Wolfgang von Goethe; the dramatic epic Faust (1835), by Nikolaus Lenau; Heinrich Heine's ballad Faust (1851), and the novel Doktor Faustus (1947) by Thomas Mann.

w.     Each of Marlowe's important plays has as a central character a passionate man doomed to destruction by an inordinate desire for power.

x.       Faustus conjures the legendary beauty Helen of Troy. He seals his doom when he kisses Helen, actually a demon in human form.

y.       In Goethe's play we find the genius of a great poet united with the wisdom, the self-restraint, the knowledge of the world possessed by a clear, cold, elaborately cultivated mind.

z.        In Marlowe's we find also the genius of a great poet, but disfigured by the want of self-restraint, the extravagance and the turbulence of a fiery and ill-regulated mind.


Ref: 1. History of English Literature- Albert, 
      2. The Concise Cambridge History of English Literature

Short Questions Answered: Stream of Consciousness Technique; English psychological novel; ‘Interior Monologue’

Q. What is known as Stream of Consciousness technique?

Ans: The significant feature of contemporary fiction is the movement towards greater inwardness. Stream of Consciousness, literary technique, first used in the late 19th century, employed to evince subjective as well as objective reality. It reveals the character's feelings, thoughts, and actions, often following an associative rather than a logical sequence, without commentary by the author. It has a progression in the direction of inwardness of the characters from the earliest impression.

Q. Who first coined the phrase “The stream of consciousness”?

Ans: The stream of consciousness is a phrase coined by William James in his Principles of Psychology to describe a particular narrative method.

Q. Who first had begun the tradition of writing “The stream of consciousness” novel?

Ans: Many a novelists use an in-depth analysis to describe the unspoken thoughts or conventional dialogue. But, technically the trend was begun by the French novelist Dujardin’s novel The Laurels. The technique was adopted and developed by Joyce himself, D. Richardson, V. Woolf, M. Prout and others in English.

Q. Are Stream of Consciousness technique and ‘interior monologue’ the same?

Ans: The ability to represent the flux of character thoughts, impressions, emotions and memories often without logical sequences or syntax, marked a revolution in the form of the novel. The related phrase ‘interior monologue’ is also used to describe the inner movements of consciousness in a character’s mind.  However, Stream of consciousness is often confused with interior monologue, but the latter technique works the sensations of the mind into a more formal pattern: a flow of thoughts inwardly expressed, similar to a soliloquy. The technique of stream of consciousness, however, attempts to portray the remote, preconscious state that exists before the mind organizes sensations. Consequently, the re-creation of a stream of consciousness frequently lacks the unity, explicit cohesion, and selectivity of direct thought.

Q. Whom do you rate as the first English psychological novelist?

Ans:  The first English psychological novelist is Dorothy Richardson who began her career with the 1915 novel Pointed Roofs. It is the first of a sequence of highly autobiographical novels entitled the Pilgrimage. Her novel Pilgrimage (1911-1938), a 12-volume sequence, is an intense analysis of the development of a sensitive young woman and her responses to the world around her.The last volume March Moonlight appeared posthumously. She was a pioneer of the stream of consciousness technique narrating the action through the mind of her heroin Marian Henderson, she believed in unpunctuated female prose and Virginia Woolf credited her with inventing the psychological sentence of the famine gender’. The novel is also important as a feminist one which enters fully into the struggles of a young, very gifted but at the same time utterly underprivileged woman in a world made by men for men.
 

Ref: 1. History of English Literature- Albert, 
      2. The Concise Cambridge History of English Literature

Analysis of Alfred Edward Housman's "Loveliest of Trees, the Cherry Now"



Loveliest of Trees
Alfred Edward Housman

Loveliest of trees, the cherry now
Is hung with bloom along the bough,
And stands about the woodland ride
Wearing white for Eastertide.
Now, of my threescore years and ten,
Twenty will not come again,
And take from seventy springs a score,
It only leaves me fifty more.
And since to look at things in bloom
Fifty springs are little room,
About the woodlands I will go
To see the cherry hung with snow.

Alfred Edward Housman is best known nature poet remarkable for his simple diction, lyric beauty, and gentle, ironic pessimism. Set in the English countryside, the poem Loveliest of Trees expresses rejoice and frolic of young poet. The theme of fleeting youth, as in the famous poem “When I Was One and Twenty” is also incorporated here. The eternity of nature beauty is here contrasted with the earthly passage of youth and broadly, life. In technique the poem combines elements of the classical ode and the English ballad.

Exploring Comedy: Sources and Nature of Comic Pleasure


What is Comedy?
What are the Sources of Comic Pleasure? 
What is the Nature of the Comic Pleasure?

What is Comedy?

Etymologically the word comedy as Aristotle suggested in the Poetics might have originated either from komas meaning, ‘revel or merrymaking', or from komae meaning the “Hamlets “where the plays were staged". Aristotle jocularly hinted that the comedians strolled from Hamlet to hamlet, lack of appreciation keeping them out of the city .such facetiousness apart; the Oxford English Dictionary defines comedy as a stage play of a light and amusing character with a happy conclusion to its plot. Many definitions stress the sadistic or egoistic element in human beings, asserting that comedies were written chiefly to amuse the audience by appealing. So, in common acceptance, comedy refers to a genre of entertainment that aims to elicit laughter and amusement from an audience through various humorous elements, such as jokes, wit, irony, satire, and absurdity. It is characterized by its ability to provoke laughter and create a light-hearted atmosphere.

What are the Sources of Comic Pleasure? 

The sources of comic pleasure can be diverse and depend on the comedic style and context. Basically, comedy gives pleasure, and is certainly a kind of pleasure which is hilarious, unlike that of tragedy. The question remains what the sources of such comic pleasure are. First we can list some common sources:

Incongruity

Comedy often arises from the unexpected or incongruous elements in a situation or a statement. The contrast between what is expected and what actually happens can be inherently funny.

Exaggeration

Amplifying certain characteristics, traits, or behaviors to an extreme degree can create humor. By magnifying certain aspects, comedy highlights their absurdity or flaws.

Wordplay and Wit

 Clever wordplay, puns, double entendres, and witty remarks are often used to create comic effects. Playing with language and employing clever linguistic devices can generate laughter.

Satire and Social Commentary

Comedy can serve as a tool for social criticism and commentary. Satire exposes the flaws and vices of individuals, institutions, or society, often through irony and sarcasm.

Observational Humor

 By highlighting the quirks, peculiarities, and idiosyncrasies of everyday life, comedy based on observations can resonate with the audience and evoke laughter.'

Theoretically, there are two 'stimulus' theories about the source of comedy. The first points to our satisfaction in feelings of superiority, a theory developed by Hobbes, Bergson, Meredith, and others. This theory emphasizes our delight in seeing ourselves as less unfortunate than some human beings. We laugh when we witness a person committing blunders that we ourselves could easily avoid. Hobbes states that 'this passion of laughter arises from some sudden conception of our own eminence by comparison with the infirmity of others, or with our own formality.' It is noteworthy that a sense of superiority alone is not comical, as the defeated runner in a race is not necessarily comical. To overcome this difficulty, Fielding, in the Preface to Joseph Andrews, suggests that the essence of comic inferiority lies in affectation.

Meredith suggests that the comic spirit, which depends on common sense, primarily preys on Folly, the offspring of Unreason and sentimentalism. However, this view, outlined in 'An Essay on Comedy,' does not always hold true, as there are numerous comic characters who are not fools. Falstaff, despite being an exceedingly comic character, rivals Iago and Hamlet in sheer intellectual prowess. Bergson takes it a step further by asserting that Laughter is a social gesture, and the object of laughter finds its natural environment in differences. Its appeal is to intelligence, in its pure and simple form. He also believes that comedy arises from the unsociability of the person who laughs and a certain automatism in the situation. The situation itself is mechanical and repetitive, rather than vibrant and adaptable.

The other stimulus theory is that of contrast developed by Aristotle, Kant, Schopenhauer  and others. This theory emphasizes  our delight  in many form of incongruity, any difference between our ,ideas of thing and the thing themselves ,between what aught to be and what actually is.  A comedy  full of eccentric types  ceases to  be a cause of merriment .

Apart from these erudite theories about the nature of comic one may also venture to examine the actual causes on real life situations in the play itself which are the cause of comedy. In the first place, the mere physical appearance of a person may be a source of comedy though this would be the lowest possible kind. In the second the misuse or strange use of language can be the immediate cause for laughter. Mrs. Slip in Fielding's novel and Mrs. Malaprop in "The Rivals" took great liberties with the English language. Similarly, some Shakespearean characters like Pistol are inherently funny. It is thus that our laughter is directed against a hypocrite , a miser, a snob ,a bore , a braggart or a parasite. The  most notable kind of such comedies of characters are in the comedies of humour. For example in Everyman in His Humour, Kitely the husband is excessively jealous , Knowell's  father is excessively moral and Bobadill the soldier is for too cowardly and boasting.

What is the Nature of the Comic Pleasure?

The nature of comic pleasure is subjective and can vary from person to person. However, comedy generally provides a sense of amusement, light-heartedness, and temporary relief from stress. Laughter, a physical manifestation of comic pleasure, releases endorphins, which contribute to a sense of well-being and relaxation. Additionally, comedy can foster social bonding by creating shared experiences and a sense of camaraderie among individuals who find the same things funny.

Conclusion

comedy is a valuable form of entertainment that brings people together, stimulates laughter, and offers a reprieve from the seriousness of life. By exploring the sources and nature of comic pleasure, we gain a deeper understanding of the mechanisms behind what makes us laugh and the significance of comedy in our lives. So let us embrace the joy of laughter, appreciate the comedic arts, and continue to find delight in the absurdities and imperfections that make comedy a timeless and cherished form of expression.


Ref: 
1. Dobree, B., & Wimsatt, W. K. (1956). English Stage Comedy. Shakespeare Quarterly, 7(4), 423. https://doi.org/10.2307/2866366
2. ALBERT. (2000). History of English Literature (Fifth Edition) [English]. OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS.
  

Defining "The Art of Story Telling" by Richard Steele


The Craft of Story Telling: A Guide by Richard Steele ("The Art of Story Telling")

The Paradox of 'The Art of Storytelling': Exploring the Dual Meanings and Interpretations

It is rather curious that while Richard Steele named his essay The Art of Story-Telling he makes an incidental comment that story-telling is not an art but what we call a knack. If story –telling is not exactly an art, why does Steele call his essay The Art of Story-Telling? The point is that the word ‘art’ contains two meanings. First, it denotes a product of creative imagination, and in this sense a painting of Picasso is as much a work of art as a sonnet of Shakespeare. But the second meaning of the word denotes, according to Concise Oxford Dictionary, ‘human skill as opposed to nature’. Steele sees the word ‘art’ in the title of his essay, keeping the first meaning of it in mind. But when he says, ‘story-telling is therefore not an art but what we call a knack’, he has recourse to the second meaning of the word. 

Art, Nature, and Genius in Storytelling

In fact, it is taken for granted that art is the manifestation of man’s innate power his genius; it follows that art is not opposed to nature, for genius it self is a gift of nature. However, by ‘knack’ steel means ‘genius’ which indicates that steel seeks to distinguish between nature (art) and nature (knack). According to him, story telling involves a faculty of nature; unless one is naturally gifted, one will not be cut a smart figure as a story teller.

The Knack of Storytelling: A Comparison of Natural Talent and Skill

Steele stars with the assumption that when a man looks creative imagination, he can not be a successful story teller. In this connection, he refers to Tom Lizard and his brother, Will the Templar. The former has the good fortune of having a ‘knack’ for story telling the result is that wherever he relates a story; he enlivens it with humour and dramatic charm and it is quite an essay job for him to entertain his listeners immensely. On the other hand his brother, Will the Templar is, in no sense, a man of genius. The secret of success in impressing the listener is not known to him. Nevertheless, he goes to entertain people by telling a story. But as he stars his story, he only fumbles. To use Steele’s own words, “was in great pain for him when he heard him begin”.  The reality is that since the man is not naturally cut out for being a story teller, his attempt to please his friends by narrating stories goes in vain. So Steele illustrates the point that a story telling is not an art but a knack.

The Elements of the Art of Storytelling: Drama, Conversation, Clarity, Humour, and Expression

Though a genius alone is entitled to shine as a story teller, there are some salient features that characterize what may be called 'the art of story telling’. That is to say, even if a story teller is gifted with genius, he can’t function with out genius discipline. The method of good story telling is discussed category wise in the remaining part of Steele’s essay. First, story telling has something dramatic inherent in it. Hence the story can’t avoid conversation. Next, for the sake of economy, the narrative should not be obscure and quizzer. Next, the story teller can not do without giving appropriate of humour to his narrative. Besides, the story teller should move his limbs dramatically along with reflecting various impressions on his face according to the moods and sentiments of the character with which he identifies himself.

The Elements of Skillful Storytelling: Crafting Engaging Narratives

The second point is that the story teller should relate his expedition by extracting the essential and rejecting the redundant. He must throw light on the pleasing aspects of life, setting aside the disagreeable parts. In fact, the story teller must not be in duly serious and grave. Humour is the soul of good story telling. Thirdly, the story teller ought to avoid the practice of heavy digressions. Fourthly, the beginning of story is highly important. It must not indulge in long introduction. After all, obscurity is not what a story teller should prefer. Lastly, the story should end in normally, giving a Jerk of surprise to the listeners.   
 
  Ardhendu De    

References
1. Full text of “Essays Of Richard Steele.” (n.d.). Full Text of “Essays of Richard Steele.” https://archive.org/stream/in.ernet.dli.2015.213134/2015.213134.Essays-Of_djvu.txt

A TO Z Literary Principles from History of English Literature: Note 29


A Set of 26 Objective Questions & Answers

  1. The sub-title of Blake’s Songs of Innocence and Experience is ‘showing the two contrary states of the human soul.’
  1. Tales in Canterbury Tales which are Chaucer’s own: Tale of Malibeus and The Parson’s Tale.
  1. Frankenstein was written by Mary Shelley.
  1. The three principles of the French Revolution are ‘liberty, equality, and fraternity’.
  1. Coleridge’s Biographia Literaria means ‘literary biography’.
  1. Coleridge’s play – Remorse.
  1. Shakespeare performed in The Globe.
  1. Elizabethan revenge tragedies – Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Kyd’s The Spanish Tragedy.

A TO Z Literary Principles from History of English Literature: Note 30


A Set of 26 Objective Questions & Answers: Textual
                                         
  1.  What do the words ‘Astrophel’ and ‘Stella’ mean in Sidney’s sonnet?
Ans:- Literally ‘Astrophel’ means ‘one enamoured of the star’ and ‘Stella’ which is a hat in term, means ‘star’. In the context, Sidney is ‘Astrophel’ and Penelope Deverex the daughter of the Earl of Essex, whom the poet loved is referred to as ‘Stella’.

  1.  To whom are the bulk of the sonnets addressed in Shakespeare’s sonnet sequence?
Ans:- Out of the one hundred and fifty four sonnets Shakespeare addressed 126 sonnets to young man “Mr. W. H” two sonnets are about Cupid and the remaining twenty six are addressed to an unknown dark lady.

  1.   What will be destroyed by the ‘bending sickles’ in Shakespeare’s sonnet – 116.
Ans:- The Shakespeare’s sonnet-116, time is compared to a ‘bending sickles’. Like sickles, time takes away the charming hue of youth and the physical attraction along with other things except love.

Joseph Addison as a Social Critic with Special References to "Mischiefs of Party Spirit"



Mischiefs of Party Spirit (1711) by Joseph Addison , The Spectator No  Spectator No. 50, 27/4/1711

"Mischiefs of Party Spirit" by Joseph Addison: A Critique of Party Spirit and Its Harmful Effects

Joseph Addison: Illuminating Society's Frailties and the Evils of Party Spirit

As an essayist Joseph Addison’s professed doctrine was to improve the morals and mores of his contemporary society. Social criticism is by and large the core of his essay. In his Spectator essays, as also in some of his Tatler publications, Addison wrote to focus on the flames and depravities of his fellowmen and pointed out how these lacunae could be overcome. This is not to suggest that he had any professed political or ideological standpoint; nor was he motivated by any terrible reformistic zeal. He was a benign essayist at bottom and, accordingly satire or bitter criticism of human frailties was not his domain.

 He, with a Chaucerian view, laughed good humorously at the foibles, specifically related to social manners and social health, with the purpose of killing as well as laughing with those faults of those persons he laughed at. In his essay entitled Mischiefs of Party Spirit, Addison focuses on the evils that are escalated in society through a zealous adherence to narrow and parochial party interest, as practiced by political personages. Joseph Addison's works often addressed various societal issues of his time, including the detrimental effects of party spirit. One of his most renowned essays, Mischiefs of Party Spirit, provides valuable insights into his perspectives on this subject.

The Pitfalls of Party Spirit: Joseph Addison's Critique of Excessive Party Loyalty and its Detrimental Effects

In Mischiefs of Party Spirit Addison criticizes the negative consequences of excessive party loyalty and the harmful influence it has on society. He highlights how party spirit can lead to the erosion of reason and rationality, replacing them with blind partisanship and animosity. Addison argues that when individuals become deeply entrenched in their political affiliations, they tend to abandon critical thinking and lose sight of the common good.

Addison emphasizes the dangers of party spirit in several ways. Firstly, he discusses how it fosters a divisive mindset that promotes the interests of one group over those of the entire nation. He warns that such narrow-mindedness can lead to the neglect of important issues and the adoption of policies that favor a particular party's agenda rather than the welfare of the people. He cautions, "There cannot a greater judgment befall a country than such a dreadful spirit of division as rends a government into two distinct people, and makes them greater strangers and more averse to one another, than if they were actually two different nations. "

The Divisive Plight of Party Spirit: Joseph Addison's Critique of Intolerance and Betrayal in Politics

Politics, Addison sees around him, is not guided by purely ideological motivations but by a violent intolerance of contrary opinion and a disrespect for anything and everything out of the straitened spheres of partisan political activity. Addison is of opinion that it is owing to the mischief’s the parties do in the country that good neighborhood is spoiled and basically honest gentlemen are led to hate one another. 

Moreover the major governmental policies which are supposed to work for the prosperity for the nation we also dictated by such narrow concerns of party interest, as a result of which the basic purpose of such politic are betrayed. For him, it is a great plight of a nation when a country, a government or the most major institutions are sharply divided into polar opposites as a result of the workings of this party spirit. It ultimately results in civil wars and bloodsheds: "A furious party-spirit, when it rages in its full violence, exerts itself in civil war and bloodshed; and when it is under its greatest restraints, naturally breaks out in falsehood, detraction, calumny, and a partial administration of justice. In a word, it fills a nation with spleen and rancour, and extinguishes all the seeds of good-nature, compassion, and humanity."

Joseph Addison's Critique of Party Spirit: The Erosion of Civil Discourse and Impaired Judgments

Addison criticizes the impact of party spirit on public discourse and reasoned debate. He laments that individuals driven by party loyalty often resort to personal attacks, character assassinations, and the distortion of facts to further their partisan goals. This, in turn, undermines the foundation of a healthy democratic society, where respectful dialogue and the exchange of ideas should prevail: "If this party-spirit has so ill an effect on our morals, it has likewise a very great one upon our judgments."

 Addison argues that party spirit can impair individuals' ability to make objective judgments and form independent opinions. He believes that excessive allegiance to a political party can blind people to the merits of opposing viewpoints, hindering the pursuit of truth and progress. He advocates for the cultivation of a more inclusive and tolerant society, where individuals are encouraged to critically evaluate ideas and engage in constructive dialogue.

Private Evils of Partisanship and its Moral Consequences

 Furthermore, Addison says that such a division by party politics, since it rends a country into two virtually makes a common enemy stronger, but he is not particularly interested in the international aspect of the mischief’s of the party spirit, rather he is concerned with the ‘private evil which the spirit  private evil of partisanship breeds in the heart of every particular person. The influence of narrow partyism, for Addison, is ruinous “both to means morals and their understanding, it sinks the virtue of a nation”.

It is a religious as well as a philosophical percept that once hate is given an entry into the human mind, it would naturally multiply itself, ultimately roving harbourer of hate its victim. The party spirit engenders the passion of hate in man. Addison is less concerned with the philosophical aspect of this insalubrious passion, he concentrates on the evils it thrust upon social life. He laments that the mind of many good men among us appear soured with party principals which defy both reason and religion.

The Corrosive Influence of Party Spirit: Joseph Addison's Warning on Distorted Judgment and the Search for Unity

The party spirit does not only confound and improve men’s morals, it injures and dangers one’s faculty of judgment. One who is guided by this spirit becomes one-eyed, incapable of discerning real truth and appreciating real beauty. As a result, a man of merit and honour may appear to one as a dishonorable and vile person if he belongs to different camp; a bad book may appear illuminating or an indecently opprobrious style of writing may be regarded as satire. Partisan attitude to life by its prejudiced nature distorts knowledge and learning in man.

Addison says that such a shameless practice will ultimately destroy virtue in good man it is the restless ambition of artful politician which thus splinters the integrity of nations and infects the innate virtue man. Addison’s answer to this problem is that all honest men should unify into an association irrespective of political learning’s and should stand against the common enemies of virtue, humanity and good sense:
"Were there such an honest body of neutral forces, we should never see the worst of men in great figures of life, because they are useful to a party; nor the best unregarded, because they are above practising those methods which would be grateful to their faction. We should then single every criminal out of the herd, and hunt him down, however formidable and overgrown be might appear: on the contrary, we should shelter distressed innocence, and defend virtue, however beset with contempt or ridicule, envy or defamation. In short, we should not any longer regard our fellow-subjects as Whigs and Tories, but should make the man of merit our friend, and the villain our enemy."
 Addison’s final solution to the partisanship does not appear to be convincing. He unwillingly falls into a fallacious argument because he himself is advocating a clear breach of social though on moral grounds. There shall remain every possibility that in such cases of cleavage between virtuous and villainous, two parties will ultimately be formed which will, once again, stand the danger of engendering the party spirit. 

Conclusion

Joseph Addison, through his essay "The Mischiefs of Party Spirit," presents a compelling critique of the detrimental effects of excessive party loyalty on society. His observations regarding the erosion of reason, the neglect of the common good, and the erosion of civil discourse continue to hold relevance even in contemporary times. Addison's work serves as a reminder of the importance of fostering a more rational and inclusive political culture, where the welfare of the nation takes precedence over partisan interests.

References
1.https://www.ourcivilisation.com/smartboard/shop/fowlerjh/chap16.htm. (n.d.). https://www.ourcivilisation.com/smartboard/shop/fowlerjh/chap16.htm
2. The life and writings of Addison; Samuel Johnson : Macaulay, Thomas Babington Macaulay, Baron, 1800-1859 : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive. (n.d.). Internet Archive. https://archive.org/details/lifewritingsofad01maca
3. Essays of Joseph Addison; : Addison, Joseph, 1672-1719 : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive. (n.d.). Internet Archive. https://archive.org/details/cu31924013167428

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