Titus Andronicus by William Shakespeare | Characters, Summary, Analysis

Hello and welcome to the Discourse. Titus Andronicus is one of the earliest plays by William Shakespeare, and he wrote it around 1588-1593. It was his first revenge tragedy play. It was first performed sometime between 1590 and 1594. The play was a success as revenge tragedies were praised during that period. Some other important revenge tragedies of the same period include Thomas Kyd’s ‘The Spanish Tragedy’, and Christopher Marlowe’s Tambourline Parts I &II. However, Titus Andronicus was rejected and neglected in the 17th century like other revenge tragedies. In 1687, Edward Ravenscroft criticized the play as "rather a heap of rubbish than a structure." In 1765, Samuel Johnson criticized the play and said, "The barbarity of the spectacles, and the general massacre which are here exhibited, can scarcely be conceived tolerable to any audience.” T.S. Eliot (1927) called it "one of the stupidest and most uninspired plays ever written."

However, the play was recently revived when Peter Brooke and Deborah Wagner staged the play in the late twentieth century. A film adaptation titled Titus was also released by Julie Taymor in 1999. It is a 5 Act play based on the themes of Revenge, Violent Justice, Children, Grief, and otherness. Another important theme is Primogeniture vs Merit. Who should be the emperor, the elder son of the late emperor, or the most suitable meritorious person in the kingdom?

Characters of Titus Andronicus:

Titus Andronicus (or Titus) is a triumphant Roman general who declines to be the Roman emperor after defeating the Goths in favor of Saturninus. He is very faithful to Rome and the emperor. However, Saturninus begins to suspect him and his followers ruin his family. By the end of the play, Titus loses 24 out of his 25 sons. Saturninus is the eldest son of the late Roman emperor. He is a corrupt, entitled, weak-willed emperor. He lusts for Titus’ daughter Lavinia and wishes to marry her but Lavinia is betrothed to Bassianus, his younger brother. When he fails to win Lavinia, he takes the captured Goth queen, Tamora, instead, thus elevating her and her violent companions to positions of power. Tamora is the fallen queen of the Goths. Titus sacrifices her eldest son Alarbus during the war and keeps Tamora and her two other sons along with her servant Aaron as war prisoners. Saturninus chose to marry her and she became the empress of Rome with a vengeance against Titus in her heart. Chiron and Demetrius are Tamora’s sadistic, dangerous, and violent sons. Lavinia is Titus’ daughter. She loves Bassianus and elopes with him thus enraging Saturninus to whom she was promised by her father. Bassianus is killed and Lavinia is raped and mutilated by Chiron and Demetrius. Later on, Titus himself kills the daughter. Mutius is her elder brother who defends her and Bassianus after she elopes. Enraged Titus kills him. Martius, Publius, Quintus, and many other of his sons are fraudulently charged and murdered by Saturninus and Tamora’s men. Lucius is a war hero and the only son of Titus who survives till the last and is elected as the new emperor by the public. Aaron is a moor servant of Tamora and her secret lover who helps Tamora to take her revenge against Titus. Marcus is Titus’ brother a rich and lofty administrator and tribune of Rome who loses all his wealth as Titus’s family falls.

Summary of Titus Andronicus:

Act 1

The play begins with the heated debate between Saturninus and his younger brother Bassianus in front of the council of Rome. After the emperor’s death, Saturninus claims his right to empery for being the eldest son. However, Bassianus says that Saturninus is unfit for the position and that he, the more honorable son, should succeed their father. Marcus Andronicus enters the council and announces that his brother Titus has returned after defeating the war and the people of Rome, out of their love and respect for Titus have selected him as the new emperor to honor him for his victory against the Barbarian Goths. Saturninus and Bassianus both realize that they cannot compete with Titus and thus, they dismiss their supporters. Soon, Titus and his eldest son Lucius arrive with war prisoners, Alarbus, Demetrius, and Chiron, along with their mother Tamora, the defeated queen of Goths. Though Titus is victorious, he appears tired and grief-stricken. He lost 21 of his 25 sons during the war.

Lucius announces that Tamora’s eldest son Alarbus should be sacrificed to appease the Roman Gods and to avenge the death of Roman soldiers. Tamora falls on her knees and begs Titus to let her son live. However, Titus reminds her how brutal a killer her son was and orders the sacrificial proceedings. Tamora, Demetrius, and Chiron swear vengeance and shout that Romans are much more barbaric than Goths.

Lavinia arrives to greet her father. She has been betrothed to Bassianus whom she loves. Marcus again announces that by the will of the Roman people, Titus has been chosen as the new emperor. However, Titus rejects the proposal, saying that he is too old and feeble to accept the responsibility. Saturninus rises to the opportunity and claims his right to empery again. Even before Bassianus could object, Titus offered his support to Saturninus and Saturninus became the new emperor. Immediately after that, Saturninus announces that he will take Lavinia as his wife. While Titus accepts the proposal thinking of his daughter’s future as the empress of Rome, Lavinia is shocked. Saturninus then looks at Tamora and finds her enticingly attractive. He announces that Tamora will be treated much better in Rome than she ever was as the queen of the Goths. Bassianus feels the pain of losing his right to the throne but decides to object to Saturninus robbing him of Lavinia and ceases her and claims she is rightfully his. All the living brothers of Lavinia support her and Bassianus as they are already betrothed. Titus considers it an act of treason. Enraged he runs against his sons with his sword. In the turmoil, Mutius, one of his younger sons is killed by him while Lavinia flees with Bassianus. Saturninus blames Titus for letting his daughter run away and immediately announces that he will marry Tamora and make her the queen of Rome.

After consummating his marriage with Tamora, Saturninus realizes that Bassianus and Titus may create hurdles in letting him take control of the council. Thus, he asks his men to pursue them. However, Tamora asks him to forgive Bassianus and Titus while whispering in his ears, that she will massacre them all to take revenge for her sacrificed son Alarbus. Saturninus agrees and forgives Bassianus and Titus.

Act 2

A hunt is arranged to celebrate the emperor's marriage. Aaron, the moor slave of Tamora, and her secret lover, plans to take advantage of Tamora’s newly acquired power as the empress of Rome. Demetrius and Chiron arrive at his quarter while fighting over who deserves Lavinia. Both of them are lasciviously infatuated with beautiful Lavinia and are determined to pursue Bassianus and rob his newlywed wife. Aaron suggests that they could both rape Lavinia during the hunt and the brother laugh and agree to the suggestion.

On the hunt, Titus and his remaining sons join the emperor and go deep in the forest. Bassianus and Lavinia decide to return and visit Tamora’s quarter to bid farewell.

Finding secluded time with Aaron, Tamora entices him for sex with her. However, he is not interested. At the same time, Lavinia and Bassianus enter her quarter. They witness her lascivious act and mock her for lusting after a black slave. Bassianus threatens to tell Saturninus of all that he witnessed. Demetrius and Chiron enter the quarter at the same time and fatally stab Bassianus. Tamora decides to kill Lavinia herself but her sons stop her and say that they want to rape her first. Tamora allows them to have fun. Lavinia begs her to save her from being raped, rather she must kill her. Tamora says that when she begged for her son’s life, Titus mocked her, and this is her revenge. Chiron and Demetrius throw Bassianus’ body near a tree where Aaron already hid a bag full of gold. Then they drag Lavinia to rape her.

Aaron brings Quintus and Martius, two of Titus’ sons near the tree and then blames them for murdering Bassianus for the bag full of gold. Finding the bag of gold near his brother’s dead body, Saturninus is convinced that Titus’s sons murdered him and orders them to be executed without a trial, despite Titus' pleas.

Meanwhile, Demetrius and Chiron rape Lavinia, but they do not want her to tell anyone about what they did. They think of murdering her but then opt for a more sadistic way to keep her shut. They cut her tongue so that she may not speak a word and then chop off her hands so that she may not even write the names of her tormentors. And then they leave her in the forest.

Act 3

Titus pleads to the people of Rome who gather to see the execution of Martius and Quintus for killing Bassianus. Nobody hears his pleas. Lucius, the war hero arrives and informs his father that he has been banished from the Roman army. Titus says that he should be happy to be banished from such an unjust place as Rome. Marcus arrives with Lavinia, telling Titus about her dilapidated situation. Titus weeps seeing his daughter and wonders how could he help her or how could he take revenge, it is impossible to know who tormented her.

Aaron arrives at the scene and declares that Saturninus has agreed to spare his sons if Titus, Lucius, and Marcus chop off one of their hands and present it to the Emperor as a token of their devotion. All three agree. Marcus and Lucius run to find an axe to chop one of their hands while Aaron gives a sword to Titus who immediately cuts off his left hand. At the same time, two soldiers appear with the severed head of Martius and Quintus who were already executed. Marcus and Lucius collapse on the floor while Lavinia tries to pick the heads of her murdered brothers. Titus begins to laugh like a madman and declares he will take revenge. He asks Lavinia to pick his chopped hand in her teeth while he and Marcus pick a head each. Lucius goes away, declaring, he will raise an army against Rome.

Titus, Marcus, and Lavinia reach the forest where they sit down under a tree to take some food. Marcus kills a fly troubling them. Titus reprimands him and says that any killing is unjust. Marcus says that the fly reminded him of Aaron. Enraged, Titus swats the dead creature again. The only motive of his life is to take revenge, he announces.

Act 4

Lavinia chases Lucius’ son who is reading a book. The child gets horrified by seeing Lavinia’s mutilated condition and runs away. Titus asks Lavinia why she is chasing the boy and Lavinia indicates towards the book Metamorphosis by Ovid, that the child was reading. Then she manages to turn the pages to the story of the rape of Philomel. Titus realizes that his daughter was raped. Marcus notices that she cannot speak nor she can write but then brings a branch of a tree and tells her to write the names of the perpetrators on the sand using her teeth. She writes the names of Demetrius and Chiron. Marcus and Titus vow to take revenge against Demetrius, and Chiron.

Titus orders Lucius to send the best weapons of the Titus family wrapped in the words of Horace as a gift for Demetrius and Chiron. When Aaron sees the present, he realizes that Titus knows what they did to her daughter and Bassianus. Meanwhile, Tamora gives birth to a child. The midwife sends the nurse to take the newlyborn child to Aaron. It is a black child, proof of Aaron’s affair with Tamora, and evidence of treason against Saturninus and Rome. The nurse gives the child to Aaron and tells him to kill the child. Aaron kills the nurse instead. When Chiron and Demetrius intervene, he tells them that he will safeguard the child at all costs. He then orders them to send the midwife to him so that he may kill her too and then there will be no witness to the birth of Tamora and his child. He also instructs them to buy a newly born white child from a trader he knows so that Saturninus may groom that child as his own. After killing the midwife, Aaron takes the young child to the Goths where he can live safely.

Titus and Marcus convince their friends and relatives to shoot arrows with letters wrapped around them in the Roman court to spread the message that the Emperor did injustice and now they seek justice in the court of Roman gods. When Saturninus learns that he is being called unjust, he gets furious. At the same time, a messenger brings the news that Lucius has raised an army with Goths and they are marching towards Rome. Saturninus is horrified as he knows that the people and soldiers of Rome love Lucius more than him and they will side with Lucius. Tamora tries to calm him and claims that she will solve the problem.

Act 5

Lucius has gathered a big army of Goths and his friends from Rome just outside the boundaries of Rome. He declares that the people of Rome wish to dethrone the unjust king. A leader of Goths too declares his allegiance to Lucius and vows revenge against Tamora who did much more harm to the Goths than the Romans did. Some Goth soldiers bring Aaron with a black child and inform them that the child is an adulterous son of Aaron and Tamora. Lucius declares the execution of Aaron and the child. Aaron pleads that if his son is allowed to live, he will confess all his crimes. Lucius agrees and Aaron confesses how he planned Bassinius’ murder and Lavinia’s rape and how he incited Titus to chop his hand while he already knew that his sons were dead. He confesses his adulterous relationship with Tamora and many more heinous crimes. Lucius orders to gag him and let him die a slow death while protecting the newly born child.

Saturninus sends a messenger to Lucius with a request for a meeting and peaceful resolution of their differences. Lucius agrees to the meeting.

Tamora decides to visit Titus at his adobe in disguise so that she may get a chance to murder him and Lucius. Demetrius and Chiron accompany her. She takes the disguise of the Goddess of Revenge while Demetrius and Chiron are disguised as Rape and Murder. Titus recognizes them but doesn’t let them know. He entertains them and asks Marcus to follow everything that the goddess of Revenge asks him to do. Marcus plays along. Tamora asks Titus to bring his son to her and Titus agrees to do so. He pleads with the goddess of Revenge to help him take revenge against Demetrius and Chiron. The goddess assures him that she will help.

Titus then says that he will make sure that Lucius is there in the evening for the dinner to which he invites the goddess of revenge too. Tamora promises to be there. As she prepares to leave, Titus asks her to let Rape and Murder help him in preparing for the night. Demetrius and Chiron agree, hoping to continue the disguise. As soon as Tamora leaves, one of the kinsmen of Titus gags and binds Demetrius and Chiron. Lavinia arrives with a basin and Titus tells the rapists that he will murder them and make pies of their blood and flesh that will be served in the dinner arranged for the night. He then cuts their throats.

In the evening, Marcus and Lucius meet the Emperor and the queen and bring them to the parley for dinner. Titus, dressed in a cook’s dress serves the food to all of them. Marcus brings Lavinia who too sits with them. Titus then asks Marcus about the tale of Virginius and his daughter, who was violated and then slain. Saturninus agrees that Virginius was right to kill his daughter because she had been raped. Titus then kills Lavinia by cutting her throat. Saturninus is appalled by seeing this. He asks why would Titus do such a horrifying act. Titus says, she couldn’t speak, couldn’t eat, couldn’t write, she could hardly stand by her own. Her life was just pain and ignominy and he rescued her from that pain. Titus then tells him how Chiron and Demetrius murdered her daughter’s husband, raped her, and mutilated her and how Tamora witnessed all that bestiality. Tamora gets frightened and asks where are Demetrius and Chiron as she left them with Titus. Titus says that she is eating the pies made of her sons’ flesh and blood and then cuts her throat. Saturninus stabs Titus in retaliation and Lucius slays him down.

After the death of Titus, Lucius and Marcus appear in the Roman court and explain how Titus Andronicus and his family were betrayed and tormented. He informs how Tamora and Aaron cheated Saturninus and Rome. The Romans agree that Titus’ revenge was justified and pray for Lucius to be the leader of Rome. Lucius is unanimously elected the next emperor of Rome. He orders Aaron to be buried chest-deep in the sand and be left to die of starvation. He orders proper funeral rites for Titus and Saturninus but orders that Tamora’s dead will be left on the seashore to be eaten by wild birds and beasts as she lives a life of a beast.

So this is it for today. We will continue to discuss the history of English literature. Please stay connected with the Discourse. Thanks and Regards!

The Homecoming by Arun Joshi | Characters, Summary, Analysis

Hello and welcome to the Discourse. The Homecoming is a short story by Arun Joshi published in his short story collection titled ‘The Survivor’ in 1975. The story is about an unnamed soldier, a lieutenant in the Indian army who returns from the Bangladesh Liberation War to his hometown in India. It describes the failure of a soldier, a war survivor, to establish meaningful contacts with others, a failure that results in a painful loneliness experience. The story explores the hypocrisy and ignorance of the self-proclaimed intellectual elites of our society. The story is about the psychological effects of war and violence on individual soldiers. The psyche suffers during combat challenges. It can be tough when it is time to return home and start adapting to civilian life. Then the soldier may be disturbed by dreams about the war and may suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder, which affects veterans.

Arun Joshi explores this post-traumatic stress disorder of the individual returning from the war front and the indifference of the society that remains largely peacefully, away; in a contrasting manner. The story is told from a third-person point of view with an omniscient narrative style.

Characters of the story:

None of the characters have been named in the story. There is a young army officer who just returned from the battleground of the Bangladesh Liberation Movement that resulted in the independence of Bangladesh from Pakistan in 1971. He is a survivor, a winner of the war. He was awarded with the Veer Chakra. He was recruited as a lieutenant in the Indian army just a year ago and it was the first battle he faced. Many of his colleagues were lost during the war, which was a hard experience for him. His fiance is a young girl looking forward to marrying him and having a family. He loved his fiance and was very keen to marry her before he joined the army. But now he has doubts in his mind. His mother is a caring woman and his father is a responsible businessman with a busy schedule. All of them are cheerful at his return but none of them can understand his trauma, his feelings, and his psyche that has been largely disturbed by the violence that he witnessed on the battlefield. He used to be close to his sister who understood him. But since his return, he feels that his sister too has changed and he couldn’t express his feelings to her.

One of his former classmates who was keen on literature, has become a renowned poet. He meets him and other members of the elite class at a party.

Summary of The Homecoming:

The story begins as a young soldier, a lieutenant of the Indian army returns to his home city. He was posted on the Eastern Front in Dinajpur, Bangladesh. The war was over, and he was awarded the Veer Chakra for his services and bravery. He is a newly recruited officer and it was his first experience of the battleground. The memories of his friends from the battalion still linger in his mind. Nine had died on the very first night. 

As the train reaches the station, he sees his fiance, with his mother who receives him. They had been worried for him but now he is back, they seem all happy. His fiance wore an emerald sari and she appeared pretty. He always loved her and was so keen to marry her before the war began.

She asked him if he was was bad and he answered he wished not so many of his men were killed. His fiance discusses the details that she had heard on T.V. and radio news, she told him she was so eager for him to return. He found it hard to connect with her feelings. She said that she was worried for him and kept indoors and hence, she might have gained some weight but now she will follow a diet to get to her normal figure. His mother interrupted and said that diet often leads to anemia, and that may cause problems during the pregnancy. It becomes clear that the soldier’s family is keen on his marriage.

However, he fails to understand all this. He remembers the hunger of the soldiers stuck in the battleground. He remembered the situation of relief camps after the ceasefire. He had been a supervisor of such a relief camp where many poor people who lost their homes and family members during the war were admitted. There were many survivors but the ration was limited. Their hunger was bigger and food was less. The older and weaker people could not stand in lines and compete to get their ration, he saw many of them dying out of hunger. Here, his fiance and mother are talking about dieting and anemia. The battleground has changed something in him. He still remembers the scene of the hockey field strewn with the skeletons of boys. He had never seen a dead body before that.

He belongs to a rich family. His father, a successful businessman, opposed him joining the Army, but he had a wish to serve his nation. Now he wonders what was the meaning of one man's marriage; one man's life. He had been wondering what life was all about. Who, he had been thinking, could possibly be running the world. Such thoughts filled his head with confusion as he sat about or played cards or went out with his father for a game of golf.

He realized that no one could understand his feelings. His sister, who used to understand him well, too appears a stranger to him now. One day, her sister insisted on attending a party. There were many of his childhood friends. The sons and daughters of rich businessmen. He had known them since his childhood but failed to recognize them. They were wearing stylish modern clothes and goggles with awkward hairstyles and some of them had beards. Some girls were in pantsuits while many of them were without bras. All of them were smoking and drinking alcohol. He too was offered a cigarette but he politely refused. He was caught up in an artillery barrage during the war and had to suffer a lot of sulfur dioxide. The army doctor instructed him to avoid smoking for some time. But he took some drink.

He observes that everyone is keenly discussing the war that just ended. They discuss how horrifyingly the TV and radio news have offered the war reports. The TV news has declared that it was a genocide. The rich brats in the party discuss if it really was genocide or if the TV reports are exaggerations. One of his former classmates, who now is a poet, says that it is undeniable that many cruel things have been done during the war, but it certainly wasn’t a genocide. The others agree with him. However, the soldier notices that none of them actually know the big terms they are using in their discussion. Some of them turned to him and asked him how it really was during the war. They asked what happened after the tanks the artillery and the aero-planes destroyed the enemy? The lieutenant informed them that it wasn’t the case, the enemy was still there and our soldiers, he included, had to face them hand to hand. None of them actually believed such a horrifying description of the war.

After the dinner, the poet recited a nice poem about the war and praised the bravery of our soldiers. He talked of Golden Bengal bleeding under a violet sky. The lieutenant said it was a good poem, but at heart, he felt hurt. He realizes that none of them actually understood the severeness and dangers of war. They thought that soldiers were safe enough while fighting the enemy. He remembers that was not the case, he remembers how he and his colleagues and friends, faced death every moment of the war, many of them were lost. He further talked about his experience in Bangladesh. He said he once visited an abandoned village during the war. There was no alive, just a dead child stuck on a bayonet before every hut. In another instance, his battalion raided a girls' school where the girl students were forcibly raped by the enemy soldiers, they succeeded in rescuing some girls, but many died.

He remembers how six young soldiers of his Unit were asked to go in the dark of the night to blast the bridge that could help the enemy. The soldiers knew it was a suicidal attempt and there were bleak chances of their returning alive, they were pensive and afraid, but they did the job. He remembers how as a lieutenant he was forced to take a decision to march his men to intercept a convoy head-on. Many of his men died within minutes, yet, he succeeded in destroying the convoy and returned safe. He was awarded the Veer Chakra for the same act. One of his subedar, while fighting the enemy soldier got stuck in his own bayonet. He killed the enemy soldier but sacrificed his own life too. After the war, the lieutenant went to meet his family in his village, he was a poor man. His widowed wife was very young in his 20s. He had two kids. She cried and begged for his help, wondering how she would feed her kids now. He tried to help her by recommending the name of the dead Subedar for an award and monetary help. He doesn’t know if the widow got any. He wonders how that girl of 20 with two kids will survive her life alone as society won’t allow her to remarry. Now when he sees civilians talking about the war in such a light manner, he wonders what will happen if the next war happens right in the city center. He thought of leaving the army, but he realized that wouldn’t solve the problem. How will he make sure that no other Subedar will be killed by his own Bayonet during the war? He left the party and returned home. Nothing changed the next morning. His sister was preparing for another party, his mother was insisting he marry soon, his father asked him to leave the army and join his business, and he wondered if he ever would be able to settle with them, his soul was troubled, alone, searching the meaning of life and how to end the wars.

 

So this is it for today. We will continue to discuss the history of Indian English Literature. Please stay connected with the Discourse. Thanks and regards!

The Two Gentlemen of Verona by William Shakespeare | Characters, Summary, Analysis

Hello and welcome to the Discourse. The Two Gentlemen of Verona is one of the earliest plays by William Shakespeare that he wrote around 1594 and the play was probably first performed in 1598. The primary source for the plot of the play is considered to be the Spanish romance titled  La Diana Enamorada by Jorge de Montemayor which was published in 1559 and was translated in English in 1582. Other sources include Thomas Elyot’s story of Titus and Gissipus told in The Book of the Governor (1531), Giovanni Boccaccio’s The Decameron, and John Lyly’s Eupheus: Anatomy of Wit (1578).

The play deals with the themes of friendship, fidelity, the transformative power of lust, and the inconstancy of mercurial characters. It is a comedy and while The Two Gentlemen of Verona is considered the weakest play by the bard, the value of this play lies most in Shakespeare's first versions of characters who appear later in his more mature plays. It was the first English play that presents a woman disguised as a man (cross-dressing). It was an innovative idea because female actors weren’t allowed to perform on the stage and often male actors used to perform the female roles. However, this was the first play that required a male actor, performing a female role, to cross-dress and appear as a male again. The play follows a Five-Act structure.

Characters of The Two Gentlemen of Verona :

Valentine is the main character or the first gentleman in the play. He is a close friend of Proteus. He is an adventurous man who "after honor hunts" rather than after love. Valentine goes on an adventure in Milan where he falls in love with Silvia, the daughter of the Duke of Milan. However, Silvia’s father doesn’t like Valentine much and when he comes to know that Silvia is planning to elope, he banishes Valentine from Milan. Valentine is forced to go into the forest where he becomes the leader of the outlaws.

Proteus is the other gentleman from Verona who is more romantic than adventurous. He is in love with Julia and wishes to marry her. But his father Antonio asks him to go and join Valentine in Milan. Before leaving, he exchanges rings with Julia. In Milan, he encounters Silvia and forgets his love for Julia. His lust for Silvia forces him to betray his friend Valentine. He deserts Julia, plots to have Valentine banished, and tries to rape Silvia. When Valentine confronts him to save Silvia, he accepts his fault and offers a genuine apology. Seeing his seemingly genuine remorse, Valentine and Julia forgive him.

Julia is a decent girl from Verona who is pursued by Proteus. While she resists her feelings for Proteus, she admits her love for him just before Proteus’ father asks him to leave for Milan. To keep track of Proteus, she decides to follow him and observes him debasing himself out of love for another woman. She tries to bring him back and helps him by disguising herself as his page boy Sebastian to stay closer to him.

Silvia is the daughter of the Duke of Milan. She is a beautiful and high-spirited girl whom many gentlemen wish to marry. However, she falls in love with Valentine whom her father rejects. She plans to elope with him but Proteus makes sure that her plan is foiled. Later on, Proteus tries to force himself on her but Valentine saves her. His bravery in saving Silvia impresses the Duke who agrees to their marriage.

The Duke of Milan is a caring father and strong-handed administrator who wishes Silvia to marry the most suitable man. Thurio is a wealthy rival gentleman to Valentine whom the Duke prefers. However, Thurio proves to be a fool and coward in the end. Elgamour is another suitor of Silvia who is sympathetic towards her and helps her escape from Milan to be with Valentine. Speed is Valentine’s servant who enjoys teasing his master. Launce is Proteus’ servant who takes great pleasure in aggravating his master. Lucetta is Julia’s maid girl who encourages her to accept Proteus’ love proposal. Crab is a pet dog of Proteus whom he loves.

Summary of The Two Gentlemen of Verona:

Act 1:

The play begins as Proteus bids farewell to Valentine who is going to Milan for an adventure. Valentine encourages Proteus to travel with him but Proteus is love-stricken with a young girl named Julia and doesn’t wish to go until he succeeds in marrying her. Valentine chides him and says that traveling will help him gain worldliness. Proteus says that Valentine is doing enough adventure for both of them. As Valentine leaves, Proteus laments that his love for Julia has turned him into a useless person. When he meets his servant Speed, he asks him if he delivered his letter to Julia. Speed continues to tease him rather than answering back but later admits that he delivered his love letter to Julia. However, she wants Julia to whom he actually gave the letter. She was Lucetta, Julia’s maid girl disguised as Julia.

When Julia comes to know that Lucetta has accepted the letter from Proteus, she frowns at her and tears away the letter. Lucetta however encourages her to accept her feelings for Proteus who is a fine gentleman.

Proteus soon gets a letter from Julia who accepts his love. While he is reading the letter, he hears Antonio, his father approaching him. Antonio asks him about the letter. Proteus lies and says that it is a letter from Valentine who is asking him to join in Milan. Antonio too wishes Proteus to go and assist Valentine in his adventurous journey. Proteus finds it hard to deny his father and accepts going on the travel.

Act 2:

In Milan, Valentine meets and falls in love with Silvia, the daughter of the Duke of Milan. Silvia too loves him and they have exchanged love letters to express their acceptance. However, Silvia’s father prefers, Thurio, a wealthy merchant from Milan as a suitor for Silvia.

Proteus leaves Verona after exchanging rings with Julia to ascertain his love for her. He is worried about his pet dog Crab and decides to take it with him. Launce tells him that he thinks Crab is the most ill-behaved and sour animal on earth.

When Proteus reaches Milan, Valentine is overjoyed. He tells Proteus how he fell in love with Silvia. Proteus is a bit amazed to know that a girl could make Valentine fall in love. When he sees Silvia, he finds her very attractive and lusts for her. He decides to do anything to win Silvia and marry her. Valentine, meanwhile shares his plan to elope with Silvia with him.

Proteus decides to betray Valentine by informing the Duke about their plan to elope at night. He hopes that by doing so, he will win the Duke’s favor while Valentine will be banned and ultimately, he will win Silvia’s love.

In Verona, Julia is too pensive and worried about Proteus. She asks Lucetta’s help in going to Milan. Lucetta warns him that the journey can be dangerous. She also shows her concern about the veracity of Proteus’ love. However, Julia insists and says that she will disguise herself as a high-class page boy to avoid any possible danger. Lucetta finally agrees to help her disguise as a page boy and go to Milan.

Act 3:

Proteus meets the Duke and informs him about Valentine’s plan to elope with Silvia but asks him not to tell the source of information to anybody. The Duke gets angry and decides to confront Valentine. He goes to him and says that he is infatuated with a woman and wants to win her love but doesn’t know how to. He asks for Valentine’s help. Valentine feels something fishy but plays along out of politeness. He advises the Duke to keep a rope ladder in the pocket of his coat so that he may climb up the wall to meet the woman at her window whenever he gets a chance.

The Duke says that Valentine must have such a rope ladder and insists on checking the pockets of Valentine’s coat. While doing so, he finds a letter in Valentine's pocket that details his love for Silvia and his plan to run away with her. The Duke gets furious and banishes Valentine out of Milan.

Launce appears at the stage and announces that his master is a treacherous man. He meets Speed and tells him that he too has fallen in love with a lady who knows how to fetch milk and brew beer. She is toothless, drinks a lot, and has illegitimate children.

The Duke asks Proteus to help Thurio win Silvia’s love. Proteus feigns sadness at betraying his friend but the Duke says that it was the right thing to do. Proteus meets Thurio and tells him to assemble a band of musicians to serenade Silvia that night and impress her. However, he plans to foil Thurio’s attempt and win Silvia’s approval for himself.

Act 4

Valentine is forced to leave Milan and go into the forest where he encounters a gang of outlaws. The outlaws ask him why was he banished. Instead of saying that he was banished for trying to elope with the Duke’s daughter, he falsely claims that he murdered a man. The outlaws are impressed by him and ask him to be their gang leader, otherwise, they will kill him because now he knows their whereabouts. Valentine agrees to be the leader but asserts that he and the other men of the gang will never harm women. The outlaws agree.

Meanwhile, Julia reaches Milan and sees that Proteus has completely forgotten her while he pursues Silvia. She is disheartened but decides to enlist as Proteus’ page boy to get a chance to be near him. In the evening, Proteus and Thurio arrange a band of musicians under the window of Silvia. However, Proteus makes Thurio go away while claiming that he will plead his love to Silvia for him. When Silvia arrives, Proteus begins trying to woo her. Silvia gets annoyed and blames him for betraying his friend Valentine and his love Julia. Proteus claims that Julia is dead. Julia, who is disguised as his page boy, overhears him but fails to resist his fraud.

Silvia was hoping to get help from Proteus to meet Valentine but now she is convinced that Proteus will never help her. Thus, she asks Sir Eglamour to help her run away from Milan to meet Valentine. Eglamour himself wishes to marry her but respects her feelings for Valentine and decides to help her.

Launce appears again and informs how he smuggled Crab into the Duke’s dining chamber to give it to Silvia as a gift from Proteus but Crab peed on the floor. When the Duke noticed, he ordered to kill the dog. But Launce protected the dog by accepting the blame on himself and said that it was he who urinated on the floor. The servants beat Launce instead of Crab, the dog.

Proteus asks Sebastian the page boy to deliver a ring as a gift to Silvia. Sebastian notices that it is the same ring that she (Julia) gave to Proteus. With a heavy heart, she follows the order of Proteus. When she meets, Silvia and offers the ring, Silvia again accuses Proteus of treachery and disloyalty against Valentine and Julia without realizing that Sebastian is Julia in disguise. Sebastian praises Silvia for her respect towards Julia’s true love for Proteus.

Act 5

Sebastian returns to Proteus who asks him if Silvia accepted his love and the ring. Meanwhile, Silvia runs away with Eglamour to meet Valentine in the forest. The Duke announces that his daughter is missing and takes Proteus, Thurio, and Sebastian with him to search for Silvia.

In the forest, the outlaws confront Eglamour and Silvia. Eglamour runs away leaving Silvia alone. However, the outlaws have vowed never to harm any woman. Meanwhile, Proteus too reaches there and pretends as if he saved Silvia.

Proteus asks Silvia to accept his love for saving her from the outlaws. Silvia angrily retorts that she would prefer eaten by a lion alive than accept Proteus as her lover. The leader of the outlaws was hearing all this from a distance. Proteus gets angry at the continuous rebuttal of his love by Silvia and threatens to rape her. Valentine appears at the same time and confronts Proteus and saves Silvia against the sexual assault. When Proteus recognizes the leader of the outlaws as Valentine, he feels guilt and remorse and begs forgiveness. Valentine, moved by his genuine apology, forgives Proteus and rather offers to sacrifice his love for Silvia in favor of Proteus. When Sebastian hears this, he faints and falls. Proteus lifts him up and asks what happened. Sebastian says that he just forgot to give the ring to Silvia and takes two rings out of his pocket When Proteus sees the ring he gave to Julia while asserting his true love for her, he feels remorse and says, "O heaven, were man/But constant, he were perfect. That one error/Fills him with faults, makes him run through all th'sins;/Inconstancy falls off ere it begins," claiming that his inconstancy and infidelity made him do all the sins and asks for forgiveness.

Sebastian then reveals that she is Julia herself and Proteus decides to marry her.

Meanwhile, the Duke arrives with Thurio who claims Silvia for himself. Valentine takes his sword out and confronts Thurio for a duel. Thurio out of cowardice decides to run away, giving up his claim for Silvia. The Duke notices all this and praises Valentine for his bravery and gives his nod for his marriage with Silvia. Valentine asks the Duke to offer the outlaws a chance to rehabilitate in the city and the Duke decides to offer mercy to the outlaws. The play ends with the Duke announcing that Proteus and Julia and Valentine and Silvia will be married on the same day.

So this is it for today. We will continue to discuss the history of English literature. Please stay connected with the Discourse. Thanks and Regards!

I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud by William Wordsworth | Structure, Summary, Analysis

Hello and welcome to the Discourse. "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud", also known as "Daffodils," is a famous poem by William Wordsworth that explores themes of nature, beauty, and the power of memory. It was composed by Romanti
c poet William Wordsworth around 1804. This 24-line lyric was first published in 1807 in Poems, in Two Volumes, though he subsequently revised it—the final and most familiar version of the poem was published in 1815.

The poem was inspired by his sister Dorothy Wordsworth's diary entry in which she mentioned a walk she took with her brother William Wordsworth around Glencoyne Bay in the Lake District.

“I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud" is a quintessentially Romantic poem with key ideas about imagination, humanity, and the natural world.

Structure of Daffodils:

The poem is written from the first-person point of view and the speaker is Wordsworth himself. It is composed of four stanzas of six lines each (sestets). The poem follows a quatrain-couplet rhyme scheme of ABABCC. The consistent rhyming scheme helps invoke the imagery beautifully. The poem is written in iambic tetrameter with eight syllables per line, and the stress falls on the second syllable of each foot. Consonance and Alliteration have been used to help the rhyming scheme. In addition, Simile, Hyperbole, Allusion, Allegory, Personification, and Anthropomorphism have been used. The tone of the poem is emotive, hyperbolic, expressive, and thoughtful. 

Summary of I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud:

Stanza 1 Lines 1-6

“I wandered lonely as a cloud

That floats on high o'er vales and hills,

When all at once I saw a crowd,

A host, of golden daffodils;

Beside the lake, beneath the trees,

Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.”

In the first stanza, the speaker describes a time in the past when he meandered down the hills and valley when he stumbled upon a beautiful field of daffodils. The speaker is mesmerized by the daffodils seemingly waving, fluttering, and dancing along the waterside.

Metaphorically comparing himself to a cloud in the first line, the speaker signifies his close identification with the nature that surrounds him. He also demonstrates this connection by personifying the daffodils several times, even calling them a "crowd" as if they were a group of people. Although yellow would be more suitable for daffodils, the poet intends to signify its beauty by using golden color, and hence mentions ‘golden daffodils.’

The idea is to remember the beauty of nature even when not in its presence.

Stanza 2 Lines 7-12

“Continuous as the stars that shine

And twinkle on the milky way,

They stretched in never-ending line

Along the margin of a bay:

Ten thousand saw I at a glance,

Tossing their heads in sprightly dance. ”

In the second stanza, the speaker goes into more detail about the daffodils. They reminded him of the Milky Way (Allegory) because there were so many flowers packed together that they seemed never-ending. The speaker makes an Allusion to the Milky Way to suggest the infinite expanse of natural beauty. Along the Milky Way’s premises lie countless stars, which the poet alludes to daffodils fluttering beside the lake. The speaker guesses that there were ten thousand daffodils, which were "Tossing their heads in sprightly dance". Sprightly refers to sprite, which means little fairies or happy energetic spirits, and ‘dance’ suggests anthropomorphism.

Stanza 3 Lines 13-18

“The waves beside them danced;

but they Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:

A poet could not but be gay,

In such a jocund company:

I gazed—and gazed—but little thought

What wealth the show to me had brought:”

In the third stanza, the speaker compares the waves of the lake to the waves of daffodils and decides that even though the lake is "sparkling," the daffodils win because they have more "glee." He then comments that he, like any other poet, could not help but be happy "in such a jocund company." He looked at the scene for a long time, but while he was there he was unable to understand what he had gained from the experience:

The speaker enjoyed the ‘sprightly dance’ of ‘golden daffodils’ so much that he felt the sparkling waves of a lake beside them were no match to the beauty of the daffodils. The sparkling sunlight on the lake’s water is contrasted with the dance of daffodils. Observing the scene, and being in the cheerful company of ‘golden daffodils’, the poet became so gay (happy) that he couldn’t move. Gay means highly happy, and Jocund means cheerful and light-hearted. The poet used repetition of the word ‘gazed’ in line 17 to suggest his mesmerized state of mind.

Stanza 4 Lines 19-24

“For oft, when on my couch

I lie In vacant or in pensive mood,

They flash upon that inward eye

Which is the bliss of solitude;

And then my heart with pleasure fills,

And dances with the daffodils.”

The last stanza clarifies the idea or theme of the poem. While the poet was there beside the lake, amongst the ‘golden daffodils’, he couldn't understand what he had gained from the experience. But now when he remembers the beautiful memory, the poet describes what he gained from the experience. Afterward, when he was lonely or feeling "pensive," he could remember the daffodils, seeing them with his "inward eye," and be content. Even though the speaker is unable to appreciate the memory he is creating as he stands in the field, he later realizes the worth that it takes on in sad and lonely moments. Wordsworth compares the daffodils to the “bliss” of his solitary moments. Whenever he remembers those moments, his heart fills with immense pleasure offered by natural beauty.

The themes of the poem are natural beauty, memory, and spirituality. The poet moves through a beautiful landscape in his memories. He takes pleasure in the sight of the daffodils and revives his spirit in nature.

So this is it for today. We will continue to discuss the history of English literature. Please stay connected with the Discourse. Thanks and Regards!

Dominique Francon The Symbol and Complexity of Success!

Dominique Francon is among the most compelling characters in Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead. Her complexity and depth illustrate the themes of individualism, integrity, and the struggle against societal norms.

Dominique Francon is the beautiful, intelligent, and complex daughter of Guy Francon, a renowned architect. Guy Francon is an unoriginal designer—an unprincipled phony who schmoozes glibly and gives clients what they have been taught to desire: imposing structures in the Classical style. She struggles with her father's conventional values and moral cowardice.  She writes a column, “Your House,” for the New York Banner, a pandering popular scandal sheet owned by the wealthy but unprincipled entrepreneur Gail Wynand. 

Internal Struggle

She observes unprincipled, unoriginal, corrupt people gaining all the success and recognition in the world. This gives her an idea of a malevolent universe. She turns cynical. However, she observes the light in the darkness. She observes Henry Cameron’s original ideas. She witnesses perfection in the statue of Helios, in the skyscraper of Cameron, in the works of Howard Roark, and in the statues made by Steven Mallory,  a brilliant young sculptor. She observes how he is becoming an embittered alcoholic due to society’s repudiation of his masterpieces. She understands that though an individual may try to pursue perfection, Human society is a corrosive, malignant cesspool that glorifies pandering mediocrities, enshrines opprobrious monsters, and relegates towering geniuses to granite quarries and/or the obscurity of social rejection and commercial failure.

She sees her father and Peter Keating gaining all the recognition while Henry Cameron or Steven Mallory struggle to exist. She works alongside Ellsworth Toohey the cancerous power-hungry corrupt influencer lionized as a humanitarian saint by society. She has legitimate reasons for holding a malevolent society view.

Internally, she loves integrity and knows happiness is in uncompromising moral conviction but struggles to find the courage to stand up for one's convictions. She worries that individual brilliance is bound to suffer and succumb to societal pressure. Dominique struggles with feelings of guilt, shame, and inadequacy, stemming from her compliance with societal expectations.

She believes Roark won’t succeed, and that Toohey, Keating, and her father will destroy him. Her disillusionment with the world leads her to adopt a disdainful attitude toward the achievements of others, believing that they will ultimately lead to destruction or compromise.

Dominique is a tortured soul, tormented by a profound inner conflict between her imperishable idealism and a deep-seated conviction that a debased society will inexorably crush the towering genius she so fervently hero-worships. Her lack of strength to stand for what she loves and revers forces her to self-infliction. Her inner turmoil comes out during the hearing of the case of Stoddard Temple. She says that it must be destroyed. Not to save men from it, but to save it from men.

She marries Peter Keating, and then Wynand for different reasons but maintains an undying, unwavering love for Roark. This determination to remain true to herself, even in the face of societal pressures, showcases a form of success that transcends conventional measures.

Her marriage to Keating, and then to Wynand suggest that though the corrupt, manipulative, unprincipled men may attain success, it won’t be natural, peace-giving, and harmonious. Her self-destructive tendencies suggest a deep-seated frustration with societal constraints.  Her weakness highlights the challenges of reconciling personal ideals with societal expectations.

Ultimately, Roark succeeds and makes Dominique realize that the universe is ambivalent, that the good may win, and the evil can be defeated. Dominique’s eventual embrace of love and partnership with Roark symbolizes a personal victory and embodies the idea that true success is not merely about achievements but also about finding peace within oneself.

Composed upon Westminster Bridge by William Wordsworth | Structure, Summary, Analysis

Hello and welcome to the Discourse. “Composed Upon Westminster Bridge, September 3, 1802”, is a beautiful composition about natural beauty by William Wordsworth. It was first published in 1807, in his collection titled Poems, In Two Volumes. It was a period when London and the whole of England were going through the effects of the Industrial Revolution and the French Revolution. In the early morning, the poet stands on Westminster Bridge, which connects the poor and the rich areas of London and reminisces on the beauty of London in the early morning. The poem illustrates the need for small discontinuations from the busy hustle, and bustle of city life. The transformation from agrarian and rural societies to industrialized urban centers had a profound impact on the environment and human experience. Wordsworth, in his poetry, often lamented the loss of nature and the simple, pre-industrial way of life. However, this poem is pretty optimistic. Wordsworth picked the city of London in this poem, very spectacularly while depicting how nature plays a pivotal role in leading a go stress-free no matter how much people and the city progresses.

Structure of Composed upon Westminster Bridge:

The poem comprises 14 lines divided into an octave (eight lines, or two quatrains) and a sestet (six lines, or two tercets). It is written as a Petrarchan sonnet, also known as the Italian sonnet written in iambic pentameter with ten syllables per line. However, the poem doesn’t follow the traditional manner of a Petrarchan sonnet. Traditionally, Octave is used to raise a proposition or a point of contention while the Sestet is used to address the proposition or to resolve the issue of contention. Wordsworth used the Octave to describe the beauty of the city of London and then he used the Sestet to describe how this natural beauty can have an emotional effect on the viewer.

In addition, Wordsworth didn’t strictly use Iambic pentameter, rather, the meter is irregular. The rhyming scheme is ABBAABBA CDCDCD.

The poet used Hyperbole, Personification, Simile, Alliteration, Anaphora, Apostrophe, Enjambment, and Inversion in the poem.

The speaker of the poem remains unidentified and unnamed, though we may assume that Wordsworth himself is the speaker.

Summary of Composed upon Westminster Bridge:

The Octave Lines 1-8

“Earth has not any thing to show more fair:

Dull would he be of soul who could pass by

A sight so touching in its majesty:

This City now doth, like a garment, wear

The beauty of the morning; silent, bare,

Ships, towers, domes, theatres, and temples lie

Open unto the fields, and to the sky;

All bright and glittering in the smokeless air.”

The first stanza is actually a single sentence designed in the form of an octave. The speaker begins with a hyperbolic assertion "Earth has not anything to show more fair." This statement is surprising because Wordsworth is not speaking of nature but of the city. It appears more shocking because the speaker isn’t actually describing the natural beauty, rather he mentions the artificial, man-made monuments and machines. He mentions 'Ships, towers, domes, theaters, and temples' in the 7^th line and till now, the natural beauty of the city hasn’t been discussed.

The eighth line clarifies the idea as the speaker mentions that all those man-made marvels are appearing “bright and glittering in the smokeless air.” This suggests that the city is not in conflict with nature, it appears pollution-free.

A harmonizing effect is then portrayed between the natural and man-made world, with the buildings in the city, with the great feats of engineering lying all within one portion of the city, that is ‘open unto the field, and to the sky’. As the morning sun peeps into the city, everything in the city lies ‘bright’ and keeps ‘glittering’. The air is now divine, fresh, and smokeless, unlike the ugly smoked-choked air of the day.

In the second line, the poet used Inversion (changing of proper grammatical order) ‘Dull would he be of soul who could pass by.’ In the third line, Alliteration has been used. ‘A sight so touching in its majesty’ makes use of the repetition of ‘s’ sound. In the fourth line, Simile has been used.

The Sestet

“Never did sun more beautifully steep

In his first splendour, valley, rock, or hill;

Ne'er saw I, never felt, a calm so deep!

The river glideth at his own sweet will:

Dear God! the very houses seem asleep;

And all that mighty heart is lying still!”

The next stanza also begins with Hyperbole as the speaker asserts that the sun has never shone more beautifully, even on natural things (valley, rock, or hill). Wordsworth says never ever in his life he has seen such a scene, nor has he felt such calmness that he has gained from viewing the scene. The speaker connects with the calm of the country’s capital before the business day begins.

In the 12^th line, Wordsworth begins using Personification as he offers the river the ability to glide at his own sweet will.’ He personifies the whole scene, giving life to the sun, the river, the houses, and finally the whole city, which has a symbolic heart.  The view is reaching out and touching his soul. The final line of the poem gives the sense that London is the heart of England and it is lying still deprived of any hustle and bustle of the city life in the day.

Themes of Composed upon Westminster Bridge:

Nature and the City: William Wordsworth is known as a nature poet. However, in this poem, he avoided bringing up the theme of Nature vs Artificial. Rather, he demonstrates an appreciation for the beauty of the cityscape in this poem. The poem suggests that the city when observed in a particular state and at a particular time, can rival the sublimity of nature.

The poem explores the contrast and duality between the stillness of the early morning and the bustling life that will later characterize the city. The poem captures a fleeting moment of peace before the city awakens, highlighting the transitory nature of beauty and calmness.

So this is it for today. We will continue to discuss the history of English literature. Please stay connected with the Discourse. Thanks and Regards!