Every Woman is not Ann but Ann is Everywoman: Characterization of Shaw’s Ann Whitefield in Man and Superman



Shaw has been pre-occupied mainly with the exposition of his philosophy through the media of plays and this is a crystal truth as far as Man and Superman is concerned. Characterization or depiction of characters in their full human round has never been his forte. But nonetheless the feminine characters created by Shaw are undeniably marvelous. Raina in Arms and the Man, St Joan in Saint Joan and Ann Whitefield in Man and Superman are some of the unique creations bearing the impress of Shaw’s mature and superb literary merit.

Differences Between the Spelling and Pronunciation of Old and of Modem English


Besides the great differences in the character of the words and in the ways of expressing their relations and changes of meaning, there is also a marked difference between the spelling and pronunciation of Old and of Modern English. For a long time, indeed, everyone in England tried to write his words as he pronounced them, sometimes, indeed, with different spellings of the same word in the same sentence. And, judging from the varieties of spelling there must have been great variety in the pronunciation. Since the close of the fifteenth century, however, although many changes have taken place, the growth of national culture and the intermingling of people from various parts of the British Empire, have tended to make the pronunciation uniform; so that now, educated speakers of English, all over the world, differ only slightly in their modes of pronunciation. Our spelling, also, chiefly owing to the use of dictionaries and the influence of our printed literature, has become almost rigidly flxed and very often do

Varieties of Present English: Usage of Grammar in the Learning of the Language



Besides the differences at different periods, there are considerable differences in the language of English speakers even at the present day. Thus, every region has some peculiarities in the way in which its speakers use their English. There are, for example, the peculiarities of the English of Ireland and of Scotland, noticed by us in the Irish and the Scotch immigrants. And, in general, an Englishman can tell an American and an American an Englishman by the way he talks. When these peculiarities amount to so much that they begin to interfere with our understanding the persons who have them, we say that such persons speak a dialect of English, rather than English itself, which in contradistinction is known as Standard English.

Good English and Bad  English: 

There is also the difference between what we call good English and bad (or vulgar) English. By good English we mean those words and those meanings national of them and those ways of putting them together that are used generally by the best educated people of the present day; and bad English is, therefore, simply that which is not approved and accepted by good and careful speakers and writers. Then, again, we find that good English, when spoken, differs slightly from the language of well written books. In ordinary conversation we use, for instance, shortened forms of words, familiar expressions, and a loose arrangement of our sentences, which do not seem fitted for the higher kind of literature. We have in this Good English is reputable, recent, and way a classification of good English into standard literary English and standard spoken (or colloquial) English.

English Grammar:

We have now seen that English has changed much from what it was at first, and that there are Varieties of the English spoken even now. When, however, we say simply ' English,'' we mean the Standard English of our own times; and the systematic discussion of the good and approved usages of this English form what we call English Grammar. 

Etymology:

The description and classification of the different words we use in speaking and writing. This is known as Etymology. The term properly means “a discussion of the true source of a word ; " but, by writers on language, its meaning has been extended to include the classification of words, the consideration of their changes of form, and the history of then- growth.

Syntax:

An account of the ways in which words are properly combined to express our thoughts and feelings. This is known as Syntax; the term literally means "a putting together."

Phonetics:

 An account of the Sounds and Alphabet of the language—how our spoken words are correctly sounded, and how they are represented by letters. Strictly speaking, this subject does not form part of Grammar, which, as the term is now generally understood, consists of Etymology and Syntax; but, as it is of importance in connection with a discussion of the formation of words, some knowledge of it is necessary. In Grammar these divisions will not be kept quite separate, but will be taken up in parts when it seems best for the presentation of the subject.

Why English Grammar is a Valuable Study?

English grammar is studied for a variety of purposes, of which correctness of expression is only one, and a secondary one—by no means unimportant, but best attained indirectly. It is constant practice, under never-failing watch and correction that makes Why English Grammar is a valuable study.

 Grammar can help but chiefly in the higher stages of the work. It must not be supposed, either, that the writer of a grammar makes- the rules and laws for language; he only reports the facts of good language in an orderly way, so that they may be easily referred to, or learned. Then, again, many of us want to learn other languages than English; or we want to learn other forms of English. Nor are we content with merely using language; we want to know something of what language is, and to realize what it is worth to us ; for the study of language has a great deal to tell about the history of man and of what he has done in the world—as, for instance, what we know of the Arians. And, as language is the principal means by which the mind’s operations are disclosed, we cannot study the mind’s workings and its nature without a thorough understanding of language. For all these purposes, we need that knowledge of language and grammar to which the study of English grammar is the easiest and surest step.

Ardhendu De

Critical Estimation of Bacon’s essay ‘Of Adversity’: Man to be Optimistic under Most Adverse Circumstance


Prosperity doth best discover vice; but adversity doth best discover virtue.
Francis Bacon (1561 - 1626)
English philosopher, statesman, and lawyer.
Essays, "Of Adversity"

Francis Bacon was a great Elizabethan of wonderful versatility. He was a true child of the Renaissance. He was a great scholar ‘familiar’ with the scriptures of classical languages, histories and mythologies. He was a shrewd observer of life all around him.

The Scene before the University Wits and The University Wits: The Dramatic Transition



The Scene before the University Wits

 The English drama as it developed from the Miracle plays has an interesting history of  Dramatic Transition. It began with school-masters, like Udall, who translated and adapted Latin plays for their boys to act, and who were naturally governed by classic ideals. It was continued by the choir-masters of St. Paul and the Royal and the Queen’s Chapel, whose companies of choir-boy actors were famous in London and rivaled the players of the regular theatres. These choir-masters were first stage-managers of the English drama. They began with masques and interludes and the dramatic presentation of classic myths from the Italians. But some of them, like Richard Edwards (choir master of the Queen’s Chapel in 1561), soon added forces from English country life and dramatized some of Chaucer’s stories. Finally, the regular playwrights, Kyd, Nash, Lyly, Peele, Greene, and Marlowe, brought the English drama to the point where Shakespeare began to experiment upon it.

Political Poetry of W. B. Yeats: Production of Illuminating Poetic Collections


The canvas of Yeats’ Muse is admittedly vast, combining within itself two apparently irreconcilable pigments. With a beginning which is reminiscent of Keats and the Pre-Raphaelites, Yeats moved forward with mighty strides towards the mature phase of the production of illuminating poetic collections which constitute sortie at the rare marvels in English literature. In between this early and the mature stage here is another period—that of transition which is equally reductive of scintillating poetry full of coruscating symbols.

Te bulk of his early poetry is languid, marked by tinge of romanticism and a pronounced note of escapism. It belongs to the dream-world which is essentially irresponsible and which implies an abnegation of the values of this mundane or terrestrial world. Yeats’s early poems are in the Victorian tradition which itself was a development from the Romantic Revival. Tennyson would not have some into being without Keats, Rossetti would not have come into being without Tennyson. Yeats would not have come into being without Rossetti. One of the chief characteristics of this line of poets—in their better poems—is “an autumnal, almost a morbid, langour”. Yeats’s early poems are dreamy, interspersed with poignant nostalgia. He loved to dwell upon the theme of love frustrated. The verbal music of his early poems is also sleepy, keeping in tune with the theme:
“Although our love is waning, let us stand
By the lone border of the lake once more.
Together in that hour of gentleness
When the poor tired child, Passion falls asleep
How far away the stars seem, and how far
Is our first kiss, and ah, how old my heart.”- Ephemera by William Butler Yeats

Historical Advantages of Fielding’s “Joseph Andrews” in the Purview of Novel Writing


 Introduction:

Fielding’s Joseph Andrews begun as a parody of Pamela. In November 1740, Samuel Richardson published his novel, Pamela. Fielding started a parody of this novel. But just as Pamela had grown under its author’s hands into something much larger than the original conception, so the parody grew beyond Fielding’s first intention till it became his first published novel, The History of the Adventures of Joseph Andrews, and of His Friend Mr. Abraham Adams. As Pamela was tempted by her master, Squire Booby, so her brother, Joseph Andrews, is tempted by his mistress Lady Booby, another member, of the family.

John Galsworthy as a Social Propagandist: A Voice for Economically and Socially Oppressed


Introduction: 

John Galsworthy, the 1932 Nobel Laureate, is best known problem playwright and novelist in the 20th century. His is the collections which treats of a particular social or moral problems so as to make people think intelligently about it. It is usually somewhat tragic in tone in that it naturally deals with painful human dilemmas. It is a kind of writings that, by implication, asks a definite question and either supplies an answer or leave it to us to find. One of his best known plays The Silver Box deals with the inequality of Justice, Strife with the struggle between capital and labour, Justice with the cruelty of solitary confinement, The Skin Game with the different values of the old aristocracy and the newly rich businessman, Loyalties with class loyalties and prejudices and Escape with the inadequacy of the administration of justice and attitude of different types of people toward an escaped prisoner. His dramas frequently find their themes in this stratum of society, but also often deal, sympathetically, with the economically and socially oppressed and with questions of social justice. 

His Fictional World:

Meanwhile, his fiction is concerned principally with English upper middle-class life;Most of his novels deal with the history, from Victorian times through the first quarter of the 20th century, of an upper middle-class English family, the Forsytes(class for the accumulation of material wealth, a drive that often conflicts with human values).The Forsyte series includes The Man of Property, the novelette “Indian Summer of a Forsyte” (pub. in the collection Five TalesIn ChanceryAwakening, and To Let). These five titles were published as The Forsyte Saga. The Forsyte story was continued by Galsworthy in The White MonkeyThe Silver Spoon, and Swan Song, which were published together under the title A Modern Comedy. These were followed in turn by Maid in WaitingFlowering Wilderness, and Over the River, published together posthumously as End of the Chapter

John Galsworthy as a Social Reformer: 

Galsworthy was a social reformer, objectively and impartially posting a problem, showing always both sides of the question, and leaving his audience to think out the answer. His chief protagonists are usually social forces in conflict with each other, and the human features in his drama, though real enough and very true to ordinary life, are studies more as products of these force than an individuals who are of interest for their own sake.

General Features of Galsworthy’s Writings: 

All the plays of Galsworthy exhibit the same features the omnipresence of a fundamental social problem expressed in a severely natural manner, without straining of situation or exaggeration of final issues, a corresponding naturalism of dialogue, leading at times to an apparent ordinariness, a native kindness of heart added to the sternness of the true tragic artist, and a complete absence of sentimentalism even when pitiful scenes are introduced. About the effectiveness of his naturalistic technique Galsworthy has no doubt, and this is why he says, “The aim of the dramatist employing naturalistic technique is obviously to create such an illusion of actual life passing on the stage  as to compel the spectator to pass through an experience of his own, to think and talk and move with the people he sees thinking, talking, moving in front of him”.

Evaluation of Justice

Justice is a propaganda and seems to have been conceived on an ecstasy of rage against human oppression. The hero is not unjustly imprisoned because he altered the figures of a cheque. In this play the real criminal is not the Falder but civilized people, society and its prison system. Galsworthy in his play Justice does everything to draw the attention of his audience to the evil of solitary confinement and its shattering effect on the prisoners. Justice made  a great impact not only on the audience but it created a sensation in the British Parliament and official circles. The government was given a Jolt and the prison commission was appointed to revise the prison laws. If not for anything else, on this score alone Justice can be considered as one of the most successful and important sociological plays of the first half of this century. All of Galsworthy’s collections are realistic approaches to social problems and in his Justice the entire social fabric, the legal system and the prison administration stand exposed as the play finds it’s denouement in the death of Falder who is more sinned against than sinning.

William Shakespeare is Reintroduced for Young Readers in Charles Lamb and Mary Lamb’s "Tales from Shakespeare"


Introduction:

 The romantic wave that swept Europe early in the 19th century also affected children's literature if it were indeed intended for doing so. Primarily these were for the newly educated common mass and the young ones of the upper classes apart for the general intelligentsia. Thus, William Shakespeare is relocated once again in Charles Lamb and Mary Lamb’s Tales from Shakespeare (1807) in simple words without losing the root interest in it. It is very common that a common citizen  much  suffer reading Shakespeare and that they always read simple summaries before reading the original plays, so it was very thoughtful of Lambs to bring a book that contains the most famous plays of Shakespeare retold in a very clear and easy-to-follow style.

Such a revival of interest in the works of English playwright William Shakespeare resulted in one of the most popular children's books, Tales from Shakespeare, a prose adaptation for children, consisting of versions of the Shakespeare stories by essayist Charles Lamb and his sister Mary Ann Lamb. Writing the stories was a project for Mary Lamb while in a sanitarium for murdering her mother. Her brother Charles Lamb faithfully visited his sister every day. They divided the tales up, each wrote half and they would read them to each other.

Shakespeare Simplified:

This is a wonderful introduction to the genius of Shakespeare. Generally, the book is pretty helpful for beginners.  An ESL student usually pick up a certain play and read it from this book before, during or after reading the original play to make sure they understood the play completely and perfectly. The tales in this volume are written for critical summarizations and have become literature in their own right. These stories are a perfect way to introduce new readers to Shakespeare’s plays.

Considered the classic revision of Shakespeare for new readers, it is a nice way for young adults to be introduced as Shakespeare’s plays come alive and are especially accessible to the young readers. The plays are written as "short-stories" which made the book even easier to comprehend. In this Tales from Shakespeare, Charles and Mary Lamb use Shakespeare’s words as much as possible, especially in the tragedies. More often than not, the comedies are adapted using the authors’ own words. Regardless of the origin of the stories they are brief descriptions of some of Shakespeare's plays and are nice introductions to the work of the Bard.

Reading List: 

The Lambs haven't included all of the plays in this work – notable absences include the Roman plays and the History plays. The suggestion is, at least in the introduction to the edition that I read, is that the Lambs were more interested in the plays that operated within the domestic sphere as opposed to those that operated in the political sphere. While that may seem a little odd when we note that plays such as the Macbeth and King Lear are included as these two plays very much operate within the political sphere.

 Total list of tales translated in Tales from Shakespeare:
Titles Translated by Mary Lamb

Early Comedies

1.The Comedy of Errors
2.The Two Gentlemen of Verona
3.The Taming of the Shrew

Middle Comedies

4.A Midsummer Night's Dream
5.The Merchant of Venice

Mature Comedies

6. Much Ado About Nothing
7. As You Like It
8. Twelfth Night

Problem Comedies

9. All’s Well That Ends Well
10. Measure for Measure

The Late Plays

11. Pericles, Prince of Tyre
12. Cymbeline
13. The Winter's Tale
14. The Tempest

Translated by Charles Lamb

Early Tragedies

15. Romeo and Juliet

Mature Tragedies

16. Hamlet
17. Othello
18. King Lear
19. Macbeth
20. Timon of Athens

Intended for Common Mass:

 The book is primarily targeted at young readers at the age when experience of the world outside of the home were very limited. In fact, tales for children had existed for centuries, but many of the stories that we traditionally consider to be children's stories such as Grimm's Fairytales were originally written for an adult audience. It wasn't until the 19th century that stories, and books, were written specifically with children in mind that we have already noted earlier. In a way we can trace the modern children's story back to the work of Charles and Mary Lamb, who saw a need to make some of the classic Shakespearian, plays more accessible to the younger audience. It is interesting to consider the target audience of this book though – written in 1809 it would have mainly been for the children of the middle and upper classes, who no doubt would have been able to read. However it is suggested in Charles Lamb's introduction that it was more for the girls than the boys, as the boys would have had access to the father's library at a much younger age than the girls. It is also an indication that at the time children's literature would have been literally non-existent, namely because it was expected that when a child learnt to read, they would have been thrown straight into the deep end. Tales from Shakespeare are meant to be submitted to the common mass as an introduction to the study of Shakespeare, for which purpose Shakespearean  words are used whenever it seemed possible to bring them in; and in whatever has been added to give them the regular form of a connected story, diligent care has been taken to select such words as might least interrupt the effect of the beautiful English tongue in which he wrote: therefore, words introduced into our language since his time have been as far as possible avoided.

Variables in Tragedies and Comedies: 

A lovely book for those who want to get the gist of Shakespeare. With Lovely prose and imaginative impulses, it is well composed as good bedtime story book. Again, we sometime don’t feel that we are ready to actually start reading the proper text, namely because we wouldn't fully understand Shakespeare's language. After all, Shakespeare isn't the easiest of authors to read. This is a great little book simply because it has been written in a style that suits this purpose. It is really accessible to those of us who might not be able to understand the language, or even be able to follow what is in effect a script.

 The Lambs do try retaining as much of the original dialogue as possible, but only where they use the dialogue. For the most part the story is told using prose, which has a great effect on being able to help us understand the action of the play.  In those tales which have been taken from the tragedies, the new enlighten  readers will perceive, when they come to see the source from which these stories are derived, that Shakespeare’s own words, with little alteration, recur very frequently in the narrative as well as in the dialogue; but in those made from the Comedies the writers found themselves scarcely ever able to turn his words into the narrative form therefore it is feared that in them dialogue has been made use of too frequently for young people not accustomed to the dramatic form of writing. As faint and imperfect stamps of Shakespeare’s matchless image can be seen in the stories because the beauty of his language is too frequently destroyed by the necessity of changing many of his excellent words into words far less expressive of his true sense, to make it read something like prose; and even in some few places, where his blank verse is given unaltered, as hoping from its simple plainness to cheat the young readers into the belief that they are reading prose, yet still his language being transplanted from its own natural soil and wild poetic garden, it must want much of its native beauty.

Children’s Literature Seriously Taken:

 It has been wished to make these Tales easy reading for very young children. To the utmost of their ability the writers have constantly kept this in mind; but the subjects of most of them made this a very difficult task. It was no easy matter to give the histories of men and women in terms familiar to the apprehension of a very young mind. For young ladies too, it has been the intention chiefly to write; because boys being generally permitted the use of their fathers’ libraries at a much earlier age than girls are, they frequently have the best scenes of Shakespeare by heart, before their sisters are permitted to look into this manly book; and, therefore, instead of recommending these Tales to the perusal of young gentlemen who can read them so much better in the originals, their kind assistance is rather requested in explaining to their sisters such parts as are hardest for them to understand: and when they have helped them to get over the difficulties, then perhaps they will read to them some passage which has pleased them in one of these stories, in the very words of the scene from which it is taken; and it is hoped they will find that the beautiful extracts, the select passages, they may choose to give their sisters in this way will be much better relished and understood from their having some notion of the general story from one of these imperfect abridgments;—which if they be fortunately so done as to prove delightful to any of the young readers, it is hoped that no worse effect will result than to make them wish themselves a little older, that they may be allowed to read the Plays at full length. When time and leave of judicious friends shall put them into their hands, they will discover in such of them as are here abridged many surprising events and turns of fortune, which for their infinite variety could not be contained in this little book, besides a world of sprightly and cheerful characters, both men and women, the humour of which it was feared would be lost if it were attempted to reduce the length of them.

Conclusion: 

What these Tales shall have been to the young readers, that and much more it is the writers’ wish that the true Plays of Shakespeare may prove to them in older years—enriches of the fancy, strengtheners of virtue, a withdrawing from all selfish and mercenary thoughts, a lesson of all sweet and honourable thoughts and actions, to teach courtesy, benignity, generosity, humanity: for of examples, teaching these virtues, his pages are full.

Ardhendu De

Reference: http://www.eldritchpress.org/cml/tfs.html
                     https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tales_from_Shakespeare 


John Galsworthy's Falder in "Justice": How does his Tragedy Prove Social Injustice?


 Introduction:

John Galsworthy's Falder in Justice is not a hero in the Aristotalian or Shakespearen sense. The dramatic action of Justice by Galsworthy revolves around Falder. He is in the middle of our attention of sympathy and pity. He is the tragic hero and the victims of social injustice which we all resent. He is the character of a man who is in the machinery of social injustice.

"The Rising of the Moon" by Lady Gregory as a Drama of Patriotism


"MAN [going towards steps]. Well, good-night, comrade, and thank you. You did me a good turn to-night, and I'm obliged to you. Maybe I'll be able to do as much for you when the small rise up and the big fall down . . . when we all change places at the rising [waves his hand and disappears] of the Moon."-The Rising of the Moon 
The Rising of the Moon by Lady Gregory is a play concerning patriotism and struggle for freedom in the background of Ireland political history involving two characters- one the disguised ballad singer and the other the sergeant in search of a run away prisoner. The Rising of the Moon carries a title well chosen from a popular ballad for the Irish Revolutionary who would relay round at the precise moment for same undertaking. Fenian poet John Keegan Casey composed his well known ballad with the following lines:
“Who would follow in their footsteps at the Rising of the moon”

Here moon symbolizes freedom or urge for freedom. Gregory symbolically suggests the moon with the combined spirits of revolutionary in the Irish freedom movement. In fact, the Ragged man, the disguised ballad singer, is no other than the escaped freedom fighter and he is willing to have a change in the political history of Ireland. At the end of the play the Ragged man says to the sergeant, “when we all change places at the rising of the moon”. The implied meaning is that the Irish people would register freedom denying the oppressor British in near future.

We can have a ready reference to Granuaile one of the Irish rebels who fought a brave battle and well memorized Irish freedom rebels who were active and did underground works for the Irish way to freedom.

The play also exposes the emotional weakness the sergeant for his motherland. The Ragged man succeeds in bringing out the patriotic zeal and qualities of the sergeant. The Ragged man persuades him to share a common cause and the sergeant gets ready even to ignore the reword, prospects of promotion and duties of a police man. At the end a true Irish and patriot is given birth - a friend of Granuaile. So in a nutshell, The Rising of the Moon by Lady Gregory has ample implication of being a patriotic drama and she, in fact, voices for the common cause of Ireland, similarly as Dinabandhu Mitra's NilDarpan (The Mirror of Indigo) portrays the Indian cause of patriotism. One can also remind the scene from Pather Dabi (Demand of the Pathway) by Sarat Chandra Chattapadhya where in similar account the rebel patriot escape to Burma. 

Ardhendu De

                     https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dinabandhu_Mitra

Biographical and Autobiographical Writing in English Text: Preview of It's Journey


B
iographical and autobiographical prose is more or less true-to-life stories and often bears great literary merits. They pervade the world of history, philosophy, psychology, ideology, propaganda, untold mysteries, confessions, criticism, travelogues etc. These works are conventionally classified into factual writing and fictional writing, or simply, true and semi true. The present essay deals with biography and autobiography and its truthfulness and literary merits. As a descriptive term, biography and autobiography is completely meaningless, since all story is beyond eyewitnesses when it first appears. Further, if one takes it as applying to all modern perceptions, one soon discovers that they differ so much among themselves that any simple definition of the school will exclude a number of important lies. One perception will emphasize close reading, another symbol, another morality, another psychology, sociology, and till another mythical as of criticism.

Now coming to the terminology into better introspection, the fertile of English biography emerged in the late eighteenth century, the century in which the terms "biography" and "autobiography" entered the English lexicon. The word autobiography was first used deprecatingly by William Taylor in 1797 in the English periodical the Monthly Review, when he suggested the word as a hybrid but condemned it as 'pedantic'; but its next recorded use was in its present sense by Robert Southey in 1809. The form of autobiography however goes back to antiquity. Biographers generally rely on a wide variety of documents and viewpoints; an autobiography, however, may be based entirely on the writer's memory.

A TO Z Literary Principles from History of English Literature: Note 103


A Set of Objective Questions & AnswersUGC NET ENGLISH QUESTION BANK

1.Oxymoron: A figure of speech made up of two seemingly opposite words.

2. John Dryden’s poems that describe the political and social events of the Restoration period: Astraea Redux, in celebration of Charles II’s return to the English throne and Annus Mirabilis giving a spirited account of the great fire in London . The title Annus Mirabilis means the wonders of the year .


3. Absalom and Achitophel: Dryden wrote Absalom and Achitophel. It is a political satire in the form of allegory. The historical figures hidden under the Biblical characters referred to in the title are Charles II, the Duke of York and the Earl of Shaftsbury.
4. Allusion: A passing reference to something outside of a literary work.

5. Restoration: Restoration indicates the restoration of monarchy. Charles II was restored the throne of England after a period of Puritan vale.

6. The personal satire by Dryden: Macflecknoe. Dryden satirized his political and poetical rival Shadwell.

7. Dryden’s play on the subject of Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra: All For Love and The World Well Lost.

8. Dryden’s longest prose work: Essay of Dramatic Poesie .It is a major piece of English literary criticism. It shows the lucid direct prose style that Dryden introduced.

9.John Dryden wrote The Hind and the Panther: It is an allegorical defense of the Roman Catholic faith written after the accession of James.

10. Restoration comedies by William Congreve: The Old Bachelor , The Double Dealer, Love for Love, The Way of the World ,  The Morning Bride –a tragedy. 

11. Plays / comedies by William Wycherley: Love in a Wood , The Gentleman Dancing-master , The Country-wife , The Plain Dealer .
12. Two plays by George Farquhar: The Recruiting Officer , The Beaux Stratagem .

13. Two Restoration Tragedies: Venice Preserved by Thomas Olway, Caligula by John Crowne.

14. Genre: A class of literature.

15. Antagonist: The person or thing that presents a problem.

16. Samuel Butlers: Samuel Butler wrote Hubibras . It was a satire on the Puritans. Samuel Butler wrote Hubibras and he belonged to the later 17th century. Another Samuel Butler wrote Erewhon and The Way of all Flesh. And he belonged to the later 19th century.  John Bunyan wrote The Pilgrim’s Progress.
17. Important diarists of the Restoration period: Samuel Pepys and John Evelyn.

18. Metaphor: A type of figurative language that makes a direct comparison not using like or as. (Simile: A type of figurative language that makes a comparison using like or as.)

19. Allusion: The representation of ideas or moral principles by means of symbolic characters, events, or objects.

20. Setting: The time and place a story takes place.

21. Two graveyard poets of the 18th century: Thomas Parnell, Thomas Gray, Edward Young etc.

22. The Red cross Knight is Spenser’s Faerie Queene represents: Truth. Here it is philosophical treatise. Truth, a concept in philosophy that treats both the meaning of the word true and the criteria by which we judge the truth or falsity in spoken and written statements. Philosophers have attempted to answer the question ‘What is truth?’ for thousands of years. The four main theories they have proposed to answer this question are the correspondence, pragmatic, coherence, and deflationary theories of truth.

23. The Snows of Kilimanjaro by Ernest Hemingway: A writer on safari in Africa is close to death and looks back on his life regrettably in this short tale.

24. The South by Jorge Luis Borges: Considered by Borges to be one of his best short stories, this story centers on a man who is on his way home after a near death experience.

25. Macbeth: The line Present fears/Are less than horrible imaginings appear in: Macbeth .Macbeth, tragedy in five acts, written by English playwright and poet William Shakespeare. First performed in about , the play was originally printed in the  edition of Shakespeare's works known as the First Folio. The author’s principal source for Macbeth was Chronicles of England, Scotland, and Ireland  by English chronicler Raphael Holinshed. The play’s title role is loosely based on the career of a King Macbeth of Scotland. A commander under King Duncan I, Macbeth murdered Duncan in  and claimed the kingdom for himself. After a rule of  years, Macbeth was killed by Duncan’s son Malcolm, who later became King Malcolm III.

26. Reflections: Edmund Burke denounced the French Revolution in: Reflections.



 Ardhendu De
Ref: 1. History of English Literature- Albert     
2. The Concise Cambridge History of English Literature
3. UGC NET OLD QUESTION PAPERS
4. Baugh, A.C and Cable T . A History of the English Language. th ed. London: Routledge

Significance of the Dumb Scene (Act III Sc. III) in John Galsworthy’s "Justice"


In John Galsworthy’s play Justice the exercise of social injustice in the name of legal justice has been criticized. And in the dramatic action of the Dumb Scene (Act III Sc. III)  of his play, Galsworthy has portrayed the deep agency of a sensitive prisoner kept in a solitary confinement. With a cudgel in hand here Galsworthy is merciless in his criticism of prison administration that treats prisoners not as humans but as dumb inhabitants of dungeon.


Here is the description of the small cell that brings out the indifference of the prison authority to the emotional needs of a prisoner. The scene shows Falder, the convict, hasten to catch a sound from the world outside. But nothing except the sound of a lid of tin falling from his hand or that of an occasional banging travelling from cell to cell is heard. He has no companion but his image reflected on the tin lid. The only activity in which he may engage himself is the stitching of a shirt in which he sometimes seen to fancy something else or somebody. In a fit of depression he prowls about, listens eagerly to sounds incoming. The solitariness crushes him beyond reorganization. The simile of a caged animal has been appropriately used to describe the impact of a terrible confinement on Falder’s psyche. No wonder he would gasp for breath or engage himself in meaningless activities like the beating of the door.

Thus the Dumb Scene intensifies the tragedy of Falder arousing pity and fear in the audience. It is a faithful depiction of the terrible or hell experienced by Falder as well as by prisoners of that time during the period of solitary confinement in yearly 20th century. Galsworthy has made the scene eloquent without using dialogues or lengthy speeches. In it, he has effectively attacked the system of solitary confinement prevailing in his time. The scene could well be the catastrophe of Falder’s tragedy.

The catastrophic scene should have aroused pity and fear in the audience. But Falder fails to arouse their admiration, which is characteristic of a tragic hero. Replacing the blind, relentless fate of the Greek tragedy, social determinism crushes him under its chariot wheels. In stead of struggling stoically with the hostile society, like a classical tragic hero, he is subsumed to its forces. His end is rather pathetic than tragic. So, he cannot be called a tragic hero in the Aristotelian sense of the term. But his unequal struggle with the social forces and his ultimate end represent the tragedy of modern man struggling against an antagonistic society which holds an individual in its power yet perishes him. That is why, Falder should be regarded as a tragic hero in the modern sense of the terms and the Dumb Scene the height of his tragic plight.

Ardhendu De

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