The Way of the World by William Congreve | Characters, Summary, Analysis

 

Hello and welcome to the Discourse. William Congreve was an English dramatist and poet of the Restoration period. He was known for his satirical dialogue and he had a great influence on the comedy of manners style that was prominent during that period. However, he rose to the stage at a time when the style of comedy of manners was declining and the public was turning away from the sort of high-brow sexual comedy of manners. It was the same period when Jeremy Collier scathingly attacked the Restoration comedies and dramas in general in his pamphlet A Short View of the Immorality and Profaneness of the English Stage. Thomas Rymer was already resisting the comedy of mannerism with his call for poetic justice. William Congreve gave a lengthy reply to Jeremy Collier in his pamphlet "Amendments of Mr. Collier's False and Imperfect Citations” but he did leave the stage.

William Congreve studied at Kilkenny College along with Jonathan Swift who was his classmate. At the age of 17, he moved to London to study law and during that time, Congreve wrote his first play "Incognita: or, Love and Duty reconcil'd" which was published in 1692 under the pseudonym Cleophil. That won him praise from literary critics including John Dryden who became his mentor. In 1693, Congreve’s first play The Old Bachelor was performed, and John Dryden promoted it as a brilliant first piece. It was a comedy of manners. His other plays include The Double Dealer (1694) and Love for Love (1695) which were both comedies and The Mourning Bride which was a tragedy and was first performed in 1697. Congreve’s last play was performed in Lincoln’s Inn Fields in 1700 and it was titled The Way of the World. The play didn’t succeed at that time. It was one of the last comedies of manners of the Restoration period. However, the play proved to be an important one later on.

George Farquhar raised the issue of women trapped in abusive wedlock in his play The Beau Stratagem in which he devised a way to offer monetary support for the divorcing wife Kate Sullen. John Vanbrugh also raised the issue of women trapped in abusive marriages in his plays Relapse, Or Virtue in Danger, and The Provoked Wife. William Congreve also mentioned the troubles of a mismatched marriage and the issue of the property rights of a woman. One of the major themes of The Way of the World is inheritance and a woman’s right to her parent’s property. As the title suggests, The Way of The World is a satirical comedic commentary on the then society and norms of England.

Characters of The Way of The World

Mr. Fainall is a married man who married Mrs. Arabella Fainall who was a widow, for the money that she inherits from her late husband and her mother Lady Wishfort. He is a greedy person who was already in a relationship with Mrs. Marwood before his marriage to Mrs. Arabela. Mrs. Marwood continues to be his mistress as his only intention to marry Mrs. Fainall is her money. Mrs. Arabella Fainall on the other hand was in love with Mr. Edward Mirabel who once was a womanizer but now has changed. Mr. Mirabel isn’t of a wealthy background. He helped Arabella and Lady Wishfort in engineering Arabella’s marriage to Mr. Fainall to protect Arabella from scandal in the event of pregnancy. However, Arabella didn’t get pregnant. Arabela and Mirabel are now friends while Mirabel fell in love with Miss Millament who is a niece and ward of Lady Wishfort, cousin of Mrs. Arabella Fainall. Miss Milament has a huge inheritance of 12000 pounds but she holds only 6000 pounds of it while the remaining 6000 pounds are in the custody of Lady Wishfort. Lady Wishfort doesn’t approve of her marriage to Mirabel and wants her to marry Sir Wilfull Witwoud who is a nephew of Lady Wishfort. He is an inept bumbling man who tries to pursue Ms. Millament romantically. His half-brother Anthony Witwoud is also a suitor of Ms. Millament. Waitwell is a servant of Mirabel who marries Foible, a servant of Lady Wishfort without her knowledge. Later on, Mirabel and Ms. Millament devise a plan to project Waitwell as Sir Rowland, an uncle of Mirabel who will woo and propose to Lady Wishfort to marry him and then lead situations to convince Lady Wishfort that Mirabel is the best man for Ms. Millament. Foible is aware of his plan. Lady Wishfort is uncomfortable with her age and looks, and this allows Mirabell's plot with the fake Sir Rowland to succeed as far as it does.

Summary of The Way of The World

The Way of The World is a five-act play. The background of the play is that Mirabel, a young, handsome but poor man used to be a womanizer who got into an affair with a rich widow named Arabella. However, Arabella’s mother Lady Wishfort didn’t approve of his marriage to Arabella because of his poor background. To protect Arabella from any scandal because of his affair with her, he helped Lady Wishfort to arrange the marriage of Arabella with Mr. Fainall who is a reputed but greedy and corrupt person. He marries the widow Arabella only for the fortune of Arabella that he needs to finance his affair with Mrs. Marwood. Meanwhile, Mirabel changed as a person and puts an end to his affair with Arabella while he remained her well-wisher and a close friend. Later on, he falls in love with Arabella’s cousin Miss Millament who is the niece of Lady Wishfort.

Miss Millament loves Mirabel and wishes to marry him. She has a huge inheritance of 12000 pounds but half of it is in the custody of Lady Wishfort who is completely against her marriage with Mirabel. Lady Wishfort wants Millament to marry Sir Wilfull Witwoud whom Ms. Millament finds inept and undeserving. Lady Wishfort is aging but she still believes that she is very attractive. Mirabell had earlier offended Lady Wishfort; she had misinterpreted his flattery as love.

Mirabel and Ms. Millament devise a plan to save her inheritance while they get married and for this, Mirabel takes the help of his servant Waitwell. They plan to introduce Waitwell as Sir Rowland, an uncle of Mirabel. As Mirabel knows that Lady Wishful has the desire to fall in love and get married, he plans to fake uncle Sir Rowland to woo and win Lady Wishfort’s love. Then Mirabell will reveal the reality of Sir Rowland to save Lady Wishfort and in response will get the approval of Lady Wishfort for his marriage to Millament. To make their plan fool-proof, they arrange the marriage of Waitwell to Foible before he pretends to Sir Rowland so that he may not be able to trap Lady Wishfort to his contract. Thus, Waitwell is secretly married to Foible without Lady Wishfort’s knowledge and Foible becomes a part of the plan. As Waitwell is already married to Foible, his fake marriage to Lady Wishfort will be illegal and will be nullified.

The play begins as Mirabel is playing cards with Mr. Fainall. Mr. Fainall isn’t happy with Mirabel as he knows that he has tricked him twice. He suspects that his wife Mrs. Fainall is a former mistress of Mirabel. The more troubling fact is that Mrs. Marwood, who is Mr. Fainall’s mistress, appears to be more interested in Mirabell. Mrs. Marwood wishes to marry Mirabell as Mr. Fainall is already married to Arabella. Thus, Mr. Fainal has been stung by Mirabel twice. Meanwhile, Ms. Millament is in true love with Mirabel but playfully teases him while their marriage is uncertain.

Mirabel is nervous about his plan but it is going well. Foible and Waitwell are now married and Waitwell has taken the disguise of Sir Rowland to woo Lady Wishfort.

Meanwhile, Mrs. Marwood is flirting with Mirabel and as he goes away to confirm the marriage of Foible with Waitwell, she follows him. Accidentally, she overhears the conversation between Mrs. Fainall and Foibel as they discuss the former love affair between Mirabel and Mrs. Fainall as well as his current plan of marrying Ms. Millament. Furthermore, she also overhears Mrs. Fainall cursing her as Mr. Fainall wastes her money on his mistress. Foible also makes fun of Mrs. Marwood by commenting on how she is trying to woo Mirabel. This makes Mrs. Marwood vengeful against Mirabel as she now knows that she cannot get him. She goes back to Mr. Fainall and tells him about his plan for Mirabel. She further reveals that his wife used to be a lover of Mirabel. Mr. Fainall gets enraged but instead of acting rashly, he along with Mrs. Marwood devise their own conspiracy to gain the most profit out of the situation.

Meanwhile, Mirabel introduces Sir Rowland to Lady Wishfort as his uncle and Sir Rowland soon starts flattering and flirting with Lady Wishfort who again feels her desire to get in love rekindle. On the other hand, Miss Milament declares that she will marry Mirabel and rejects Sir Wilfull Witwoud’s proposal. Mr. Fainal then comes into action as he catches Sir Rowland and unmasks him as Waitwell, a servant of Mirabel. He then blackmails Lady Wishfort with the threat of ruining her and her daughter’s reputation. He says that since Millament has decided to marry Mirabel by rejecting Sir Wilfull Witwoud, her balance fortune controlled by Lady Wishfort should be forfeited and transferred to him. He further demands that Lady Wishfort should assure him that she will never marry and hence he will remain the sole heir of his wife’s property.

When Ms. Millament listens to all this, she decides to save her balance of inheritance controlled by Lady Wishofort and changes her decision, and declares that she will marry Sir Wilfull Witwoud. This ruins Ms. Fainall’s plan. Yet, he continues to press that Lady Wishfort should immediately hand over all his wife’s money to him and should declare him the caretaker of her wealth too. Mirabell tries to dissuade the situation and put some pressure on Mr. Fainall by bringing Waitwell and Foible upfront as witnesses of Mr. Fainall and Mrs. Marwood’s extramarital affair, he brazenly ignores it and asserts that he will still drag Mrs. Fainall’s name in scandal and ruin lady Wishfort’s reputation.

Now is the time for Mirabel to reveal his trump card. He says that he and Arabella always knew that Mr. Fainall is a corrupt, greedy person, and hence, to protect herself, Arabella appointed Mirabel the trustee of her fortune much before her marriage to Mr. Fainall. Thus, Mr. Fainall has no claim on her fortune nor Lady Wishfort can offer it to Mr. Fainall as Mirabel holds that right. Mr. Fainall is now completely defeated as neither Mrs. Fainall nor Lady Wishfort controls their money and he can put no pressure on Mirabell. He is very angry and frustrated and decides to go away with Mrs. Marwood. Meanwhile, Sir Wilfull Witwoud takes his proposal to marry Millament back and claims that Mirabel deserves her. Lady Wishfort is also convinced that Mirabel will take good care of Millament like he saved her and her daughter Arabella’s fortune. She forgives the servants and offers her wishes to Foible and Watwell for their married life and agrees to offer her consent for the marriage of Mirabel and Millament.

The play ends in reconciliation as Mirabel and Millament conciliate despite Millament giving up her love to save her fortune. Sir Wilfull Witwoud also forgives Millament while Lady Wishfort forgives Mirabel, Waitwell, Foible, and Arabella for fooling her around. The theme of the play includes fashion, courtship, seduction, property rights, and women’s rights to their inheritance in marriage.

William Congreve was known for witty and intelligent dialogues in his plays. One of the famous dialogue from The Way of The World is “"One's cruelty is one's power; and then one parts with one's cruelty, one parts with one's power; and when one has parted with that, I fancy one's old and ugly." While this quote is said by Millament, it shows the fear of Lady Wishfort, who is losing her power, her cruelty, and her strength, and becoming old and helpless, which makes her desperate to be confirmed as beautiful and powerful.

Just like George Farquhar’s Kate Sullen from The Beau Stratagem, William Congreve’s Arabella also saves her fortune despite getting divorced or separated from their husband.

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 Iceman Cometh by Eugene O’Neill | Characters, Summary, Analysis

Hello and welcome to the Discourse. Eugene O’Neill was an experimentalist who introduced techniques of realism into American drama scenes. In 1946, Eugene's one of the most successful dramas The Iceman Cometh was produced. The Iceman Cometh explains the importance of pipe dreams for the outcastes as these pipe dreams or delusions can let them have a sense of contentment, happiness, and togetherness. These pipe dreams are a psychic defense or coping mechanism of the outcastes to handle the other world of reality. Eugene O’Neill explains through this drama that being forced to face the truth isn't always the best option. The Iceman Cometh ensembles a huge cast. There are twelve dead-end alcoholic men and three declining prostitutes. All these people are outcastes or failures who have been alienated by society. Somehow, they gather at a place aptly named No-Chance Saloon, as they hardly have any chance. Despite being outcasts, they can make their own community and have a sense of worth, though delusional. This community allows totally different people to get connected. A Black guy finds friendship in white men, and a disgraced former anarchist finds solace in presence of prostitutes and former police officers. Two downtrodden ex-generals who represented opposite sides of a war could have a toast together. All these characters are suffering nostalgia for their earlier self and want to somehow return to their old life which is impossible, but they do have hope and that is their pipe dream. Almost all dramas of Eugene O’Neill involve some degree of tragedy or personal pessimism but The Iceman Cometh has a sense of hope, though delusional. Eugene showed the life and stories of fringe people in all of his dramas and The Iceman Cometh is a fine example.

Characters of The Iceman Cometh

Harry Hope is a 60-year-old gaunt man who once was a successful person and was going to be an Alderman. Then his wife Bessie Hope died and it derailed his life. He owns a saloon and a rooming house named No-Chance Saloon where people may come and have a drink and they can stay. Some 12 men are staying at his saloon for a long. He hasn’t left the saloon for 20 years. However, he claims that he is planning to go out and meet the neighborhood and then he will easily win the election and will be an Alderman. Ed Mosher is the brother-in-law of Harry, brother of the late Bessie Hope. He is a fat guy who is indolent and amusing. He used to collect tickets at a circus and he wishes to get on the same job again. Pat McGloin is another fat slovenly guy who used to be a police lieutenant but was fired for taking bribes. He dreams of returning to the police force and clearing his name. Willie Oban is a young drunkard who is the son of a big-time criminal. He attended Harvard for law but dropped out for his addiction to alcohol. He wishes to go back to college and get his degree and become a lawyer. Joe Mott is an African-American man with a strong build and a scar on his face. He used to run a gambling house. He dreams of opening a gambling house only to black patrons. Piet Wetjoen is a dutch man who fought for South Africans during the Boer War as a General. He dreams of returning to the Netherlands. Here, his closest friend is Cecil Lewis, a British who fought the Boer War as a Captain, against the General. Jimmy Tomorrow or James Cameron is a reserved, intelligent, and elegant man who once used to work in publicity but was fired.

Hugo Kalmar is an anarchist foreigner with a German accent. He is a die-hard devotee of Movement (the socialist anarchist movement) though he dreams of living a bourgeois life. Larry Slade is a former syndicalist-anarchist who once was the part of Industrial Workers of the World Movement but he left the Movement. He had a close female friend Rosa Parritt who is a strong supporter of the Movement. She is a loving mother and a careless one too who gave more importance to her own freedom and the Movement. She is a practitioner of free love. she once had a relationship with Larry Slade. She is the mother of Don Parritt who was also involved in the Movement but was disturbed by his love and hate for his mother. Parritt's anonymous tip gets her thrown into jail for her radical actions. Parritt feels immense guilt and seeks solace from Larry but Larry fails to do so. Finally, he tells Parritt he ought to commit suicide to atone for turning his Mother in. Rocky Pioggi is the night bartender at No Chance Saloon who maintains Pearl and Margie as prostitutes but maintains that he is not their pimp. Pearl prefers to consider herself a tart while Margie insists that she is not a whore. Chuck Morello is the day bartender at Saloon. He is elderly and wishes to marry Cora an older prostitute and move to a farm in New Jersey.

Theodore Hickman is an attractive successful traveling salesman who visits the saloon every year and offers free drinks and dinner for the inmates. He tells jokes and brings a new sense of life to the bar. However, when he appears this year, he is a changed man who claims he doesn’t drink as he has realized his potential. He urges other people to get rid of their pipe dreams and endeavor to make them real. He pushes them to try to get rid of their delusions and face the reality as is it and make out of it. He urges them to become self-aware and accept their potential. Later on, it comes out that he is the most delusional one and tries to hide his guilt of murdering his wife Evelyn Hickman who according to him was a kind, forgiving, generous, and loyal woman who always turned a blind eye to Hickey's faults and loved him unconditionally.

Summary of The Iceman Cometh

The drama is set in 1912. No Chance Saloon is owned by Harry Hope and it is situated on the west side of downtown Manhattan. Harry Hope hasn’t left the saloon since his wife died 20 years ago. His patrons, including his brother-in-law Ed Mosher, McGloin, Willie, Captain Cecil, General Piet, Joe, Jimmy, and Larry are sitting idly in the bar. Hugo is drunk enough to sleep quietly on the chair. It is the day when usually Theodore Hickman or ‘Hickey’ arrives every year and offers free drinks and dinner for his friends in the bar. Everyone is waiting for him as he brings a party-like mood along with him and makes everyone smile. Everyone is waiting for him to visit the bar. It is Harry's 60^th birthday and they hope to begin the party as Hickey arrives.

All of them are drinking, snoozing, and bickering among themselves. Occasionally, one can hear a slight laughter of the two girls Pearl and Margie sitting among the men. A young man arrives and rents a room in the Saloon. He sits among the people. He is a good-looking young handsome man but he seems disturbed as he sneers around. He looks towards Larry and claims that he knows Larry Stadle from the old days when they both were part of the Movement. Larry feels a little uncomfortable and tries to ignore him. The young man says his name is Don Parritt and soon he starts talking with the group. The topic of his discussion is his Mother whom he says he loves too much but shows his anger and frustration for her too. He exclaims how good and caring mother she has been and then he explains how often she was not there for him when he needed her most because she was devoted to the IWW Movement. His contradicting talks disturb Larry more and he moves away from him. Parritt informs that he is in New York on the run from police as the police got some anonymous tip and arrested many of the Movement radicals, including his Mother.

As the people of No Chance Saloon accept Parritt as their new inmate, Theodore Hickman arrives. However, everybody notices a change in him. He is not as noisy and raucous as he used to be. He still appears cheerful and jovial but he appears soberer than ever before. He announces that he has given up alcohol as he had a sudden realization that he can be a better man. He claims that now he has given up all his pipe dreams and rather is interested in making his dream come true in reality. He claims that now he is at peace with himself as he is now self-aware and knows his potential which he is working to increase. He says that he is willing to help everyone in the saloon, who are his friends, to get rid of their pipe dreams and accept their real selves and lead a better life. The group isn’t too happy with Hickey’s speech. They were hoping for fun and drinks from him but what he brought is a challenge to get rid of their pipe dreams. The party begins to celebrate Hope’s 60^th birthday but he is very upset as Hickey is especially pushing him to get up and have a walk outside the saloon, which has been his pipe dream. Hope doesn’t feel he is prepared for that.

Larry is observing all of them and soon he realizes that Hickman is causing troubles in their minds. Larry himself has no delusion about himself, but he realizes that the breaking of the dreams of his mates may cause serious damage to their personal selves. He tries to dissuade Hickman from his trick and asks him what happened to him. He reminds of the joke Hickey used to tell about catching his wife in bed with the iceman but is quickly shut down when Hickey announces serenely that his wife is dead. Hickey pushes everyone to get rid of their idle self and push themselves to make their dream come to reality.

Gradually, everyone is preparing to get up and move out to try to work for their dreams to come true. The bartender is cleaning up the tables. Joe prepares to go out and see if he can open his gambling den; McGloin, Mosher, and Jimmy seek their old jobs back; Willie plans to go to the D.A. to start practicing law; the Captain and the General try to get a job so they can make money to pay their fares back home; Chuck and Cora head out to get married; Rocky decides not to be a bartender anymore and be a real pimp to Margie and Cora; Hugo mumbles about making the proletariat his slaves; and the Hope grudgingly steps out to take his walk.

As Hope goes out, Rocky wonders if he will be able to come back. Hickman ascertains him that everything will be all right. Outside, Hope stands awkwardly on the curb and gradually starts walking into the middle of the street, he takes two or three steps and then turns around and rushes back into the saloon in fear. He reaches the bar and takes a heavy drink down his throat.

Larry tries to soothe Hope and then he confronts Hickman and asks him what lead him to this madness. Rocky suggests that maybe his wife committed suicide. Hickman confirms that his wife was recently murdered. He says that was a kind, forgiving, generous, and loyal woman who always turned a blind eye to Hickey's faults and loved him unconditionally. He claims that it is good that she got murdered and got rid of him.

Soon everyone who went out to try working out their dreams and achieve them in real, return to the salon. All of them are confused, depressed, and sad. They look at Hickman with suspicious complaining eyes. Hickey is particularly upset about Hope who actually went out and fulfilled his dream of walking in the street. He wonders why Hope is not content now and why every one of them wishes to continue their suffering.

Two police officers enter the saloon as they see Hickman talking to the people, they wait and stand at the door of the saloon in patience. Hickman continues to address the pipe-dreamers. He says that his wife was a charming lady while he was always a troublemaker. Despite all his atrocities and adultery, she kept loving him and remained loyal. She loved him through every transgression, every absence, every mistake. She had this dream that one day, Hickman will be a better man, more responsible and true to her, and to himself. Gradually, Hickman started feeling the guilt of being with such a pious woman. He had two options, either to improve and be the better man that he should be or to get rid of his wife. He contemplated divorcing her, or leaving her and never visiting her again, but that would have hurt her more than he didn’t wish. So he decided to murder her. He says that his act brought her the peace she deserved because loving him was more torturous than death. He pauses for a moment and then says that he cursed her after killing her. But how could he curse her? She was the most pious woman he knew and if he cursed her, it only suggests that he is insane. He then looks towards Hope and implores with his eyes to agree with him. Hope thinks for a while and it reminds him how Hickman forced him to go outside. He looks at the policemen and exclaims that yes, Hickman is crazy. Everyone else thinks that if Hickman is crazy, then all his efforts to shatter their pipedreams were a consequence of his craziness and they are not bound to ruin their pipedreams. Thus, everyone harangues the police and claims that Hickman is insane.

The policemen lose their patience. One of them shouts at the saloon inmates that they should stop protecting Hickman, he is a murderer who will definitely get a death sentence. Hickman smiles at Hope and says that he doesn’t care about death and the police take him away. Meanwhile, Don Parritt confronts Larry and says that he has something to confess. Larry tries to ignore him again but Parritt insists. He says that the anonymous tip to the police that resulted in the arrest of many radical Movement supporters including his mother was given by him. He says that he had nothing against the other radicals but he hated his mother and wished her to suffer. He looks at Larry as if he hopes to be condemned, scolded, and abused by him so that he may get rid of the guilt that is building in him. Larry remains calm though. Ultimately, he says that Parritt will never attain peace this way, he urges him to end his life as this can be the only way to end his torture. Parritt smiles and goes towards the room that he recently booked. He jumps off the window of the room and commits suicide. Larry meanwhile realizes that he has a huge bag of his own torture but unlike Parritt, he cannot get relief so soon as he fears death as much as he hates his life.

Meanwhile, the other inmates are back to their own selves now when Hickman is out and away from their life. They embrace their pipe dreams again and start enjoying their indolent and inebriated life.

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

Untouchable by Mulk Raj Anand | Characters, Summary, Analysis

Hello and welcome to the Discourse. Mulk Raj Anand was an Indian writer who prominently wrote in English and popularized Anglo-Indian fiction through his novels and short stories. He was a socialist who engaged in himself in the Indian Independence Movement. However, most of his novels and short stories attack various aspects of India's social structure, social biases, caste system, as well as the legacy of British rule in India. He is especially known to shed light on the lives of lower caste people who are treated with great bias and unfairness. Almost all of his novels and short stories like Untouchable, Coolie, The Big Heart, Two leaves and a Bud, etc. touch on the problems of the political structure, oppression of classes, untouchability, and so on. Anand was born on 12 December 1905 in Peshawar of British India, now a part of Pakistan. He died on 28 September 2004 at the age of 98 in Pune of Independent India. He completed his graduation from Khalsa College, Amritsar in 1924, and then he earned a Ph.D. in Philosophy from Cambridge University, England. His dissertation was on Bertrand Russell and English Empiricists. Bertrand Russell was known for his anti-imperialist ideas as he chaired the Indian League during the 1930s.

During his days in England, he came in contact with T.S Eliot and worked for his magazine Criterion. He grew a friendship with E.M. Forster who was also working for Criterion. His first novel was Untouchable which was published in the year 1935 and its introduction was written by E.M. Forster. During World War II, Anand worked as a scriptwriter for BBC in London, and during that period, he came close to George Orwell who wrote an appreciating review of his 1942 novel The Sword and The Sickle. Some other important novels by Mulk Raj Anand include Coolie (1936), The Village (1939), Across The Black Waters (1939), and The Private Life of An Indian Prince (1953). He was offered the International Peace Prize of 1951 and in 1971, his English novel Morning Face won the Sahitya Academy Award in India. In 1967, he was offered Padma-Bhushan, the third-highest civilian award in the Republic of India.

Characters of Untouchable by Mulk Raj Anand

Bakha is a young Indian boy belonging to the low sweeper caste who is the son of the head of his town’s sweeper caste. Bakha is an intelligent boy with an inquisitive mind. His father Lakha is a strict person who wants his son to understand his place in society and perform his tasks appropriately, while he is lazy and tries to avoid his duties. Bakha doesn’t appreciate his work as a sweeper. The story is about the experiences of Bakha during a single day. Bakha’s mother died after giving birth to Rakha, his younger brother. Bakha believes that his father turned sour and abusive right after her death. Sohini is Bakha’s elder sister.

Charat Singh is a military sentry of the town who doesn’t care about caste biases though he belongs to a high caste. Chota and Ramcharan are his two friends. Chota and Ramcharan belong to the washerman caste which is considered higher. Gulabo is the mother of Ramcharan who doesn’t like the friendship of his son with Bakha as he belongs to a lower caste. She is jealous of Sohini too as Sohini is very beautiful. Bakha likes Ramcharan’s sister but her marriage has been fixed and he is not happy about it but he knows he could never marry her because she belongs to a higher caste. Waziro is another woman who belongs to the weaver’s caste. Unlike Gulabo, she isn’t mean to people of lower castes. Pundit Kalinath is the priest and is in charge of the town’s temple. He is a corrupt person who tries to exploit Sohini for her sexual appeal. Burra babu is an influential high-caste man of the town whose sons are of the same age as Bakha. They invite him to a match of hockey. The Doctor of the town, a high-caste man who is also very benevolent and duty-bound saved Bakha’s life when he was terminally ill during his childhood. Colonel Hutchinson is an English Evangelist who tries to convert Bakha to Christianity but his wife shouts at Bakha for being an Indian and of low caste and Bakha realizes that changing religion won’t change his situation and runs away from the church. The novel also includes a fictional speech by Mahatma Gandhi in the town that Bakha listens curiously to. R.N. Basheer is a lawyer who criticizes Gandhi’s speech and calls him a hypocrite. However, Iqbal Sarshar, a poet opposes him as Bakha listens to their debate and takes some helpful lessons from it.

Summary of Untouchable:

The entire novel revolves around the single-day activities, experiences, and accidents of Bakha who belongs to the lowest caste of the Indian caste system. He lives in a mud house with a single room along with his younger brother Rakha, elder sister Sohini and father Lakha. His home is on the outskirts of the town of Bulashah near the police barracks. Lakha is a sweeper who cleans the latrines of other people of higher castes. He is the leader of all sweepers and assigns the duties of all sweepers in different areas of the town. It is early morning and Bakha is still sleeping on his bed. Lakha shouts at Bakha telling him to go and start his share of work but Rakha is feeling lazy and hesitant which angers Lakha. Bakha doesn’t like his work and he is more interested in the way English people live. He and his friends call English people ‘Tommies’. Lakha abuses him but Bakha continues to ignore him. But then he hears another angry voice of Hawaldar Charat Singh who wants him to clean his latrine so that he may start his day. Bakha becomes attentive and takes his sweeping broom and runs to do his work astutely. He doesn’t soil himself and shows proficiency in his work. Charat Singh goes to the latrine and after completing his daily routine, he appreciates Bakha and suggests that he will offer a hockey stick to him. Charat Singh is a famous hockey player and Bakha is also very good at hockey. This makes Bakha feel elated and he continues to perform his task of cleaning the latrine as many people visit the latrine to take their turn. After he is free of his duty, he returns home and finds Lakha still sleeping there. As he is thirsty, he looks for water but there is none. Sohini picks up the pot and goes to get some water from the well. No outcaste is allowed to take water from the well by himself. They must wait for someone from a high caste to get water from the well and pour it into their pitchers. As there are many other women of different lower castes waiting for someone from a higher caste to arrive and offer them water, Sohini stands in the queue behind Gulabo, a woman of the washermen caste. Gulabo doesn’t like it as she is comparatively of a superior caste to Sohini. She starts abusing her and calling names like a prostitute, bitch, etc. She is jealous of Sohini for her beauty. Sohini tries to dissuade the situation and smiles at her but Gulabo continues her attack and as she is about to slap Sohini, another woman Waziro who belongs to the weaver caste stops her and saves Sohini. Sohini is appalled, and she decides to stand alone, away from the queue.

Pundit Kali Nath arrives and decides to offer water to the waiting women. As he observes Sohini standing alone, he calls her first and fills her pitcher. He sees her with lust and asks her to visit the temple for a cleaning job later. Sohini takes water and returns home.

At home, Lakha is still sleeping. When Sohini returns, he scolds her for being late and asks her to gather her brothers and take them to their duties. He tells Bakha that he is not feeling well and Bakha should do his part of the work too. Bakha knows that his father is just feigning illness but he doesn’t argue. He drinks his tea and goes towards the temple where he is required to sweep. On his way, he meets Rakha, his younger brother along with Chotu and Ramcharan, who are his friends. Ramcharan is Gulabo’s son. He informs that his sister is going to marry. Rakha feels sad about it. Ramcharan’s sister used to be his childhood friend. He had intense feelings for her and they used to play games pretending to be husband and wife during their childhood. However, he realizes that being of a lower caste, he can never actually marry her. Bakha tells Rakha to join him in cleaning the latrines of the colonies but Rakha isn’t interested and goes home. Rakha decides to do the work alone. As he moves forward towards the town temple, he sees the sons of Burra Singh coming towards him. He greets them with respect and they start talking. They invite them for a hockey match that evening to which Rakha, Chotu, and Ramcharan agree. Rakha observes that they are going to school. He too wishes to go to school but he cannot attend as he is an outcast.

Bakha goes towards the temple. He still remembers Ramcharan’s sister. To get away from that emotion, he buys a cigarette and as he cannot ask for fire from any Hindu of a higher caste, he goes to a Muslim man and asks for burning coal to light his cigarette. As he passes by a shop, he decides to buy candy and starts munching on it. He is happy as he got this taste after so long. A high-caste man rushing towards him accidentally touches him and then starts shouting at him. Being an outcaste, it was Bakha’s duty to sing the chant of outcastes and avoid touching him but he was unattentive. Soon a big crowd gathers him and starts shouting at him. However, a horse buggy merchant arrives and disperses the crowd. The man is still angry and he slaps Rakha for touching him before he goes away. Bakha is sad and furious. He starts crying but couldn’t resist the slap nor could answer it. The buggy merchant tries to console him and he leaves for the temple. A shopkeeper reminds him of the chant of untouchables to sing while going to the temple and he starts singing. While moving towards the temple, he contemplates what just happened. He realizes that the work he does is so repugnant that nobody wants to be in touch with him.

He reaches the temple and finds peace there. He starts sweeping the lanes of the temple. As he sees some worshippers coming towards the temple, he starts chanting the song for outcastes to avoid any mishap again. He gets curious about the temple that he never saw from inside as being an outcast, he isn’t allowed inside the temple. He dares to approach the temple but just before entering the main door, he decides not to and returns to his work. He is listening to the hymns and prayers of other worshippers in the temple and it soothes him. Suddenly, he hears Pundit Kalinath shouting at Sohini for impuring him by touching. He reaches Sohini who informs him that Kalinath tried to sexually exploit her by touching and when she resisted, he started accusing her. Soon a big crowd gathers around Bakha and Sohini, accusing Sohini. Bakha decides to confront the crowd and informs them that Kalinath tried to molest Sohini. The crowd reduces their shouts but none of them dares to question Kalinath. Sohini realizes that situation may turn against Bakha and her and asks him to let it go and leave. He agrees and tells Sohini to go back home while he will go to gather food. Sweepers were supposed to clean latrines of society, colonies, and homes and in return would ask for food from people of high caste. As his mother wasn't alive, he, Sohini, and Rakha used to ask for prepared food. Sohini returns home and he goes from street to street to beg for some food so that his family can eat. But today is a hard day, no one offers him food. As he gets tired, he sits under a tree in front of a house. A Sadhu appears and asks for food as alms and a lady comes out of the house to offer food to Sadhu. As she sees Bakha sitting in front of her door, she shouts at him and he moves away. Another woman comes out from the neighborhood and offers some food to Sadhu and gives a chapati to Bakha with the same benevolence. However, the first woman gives Saadhu some food but asks Bakha to clean the gutter of her house before she gives him some food. Bbbbaligently cleans the gutter but as he looks for the food, the woman throws a chapati in front of him as if he is a dog. This disgusts him. He picks up the bread, throws away his sweeping broom, and runs towards his home.

At home, Lakha is alone as Rakha has gone to the barracks to beg for food. As Bakha reaches home, Lakha gets angry as he brings just two pieces of bread. Bakha says that he doesn’t know many people to ask for food. Lakha says that he must know people as it is the only way for him to get food in the future. He realizes that Bakha is distraught. He asks what happened to him. Lakha informs him about the accident and the slap he got and how Pundit Kalinath treated Sohini and him. Lakha tries to console him and says that high-caste people are superior to them and they should respect them. He then says that not all high-caste people are bad. Then he tells a true story of Bakha’s childhood when he was very little and got ill. When Lakha went to the doctor, who belongs to a high caste, he had to wait outside to get some prescriptions. But before he could meet the doctor, he got information that Bakha is about to die. So he forcefully entered the doctor’s clinic where many high-caste patients were sitting and they got appalled at seeing him. But he begged the doctor to help him save his child. The other people threw him out. Frustrated, when he reached home, he found Bakha barely alive as he was having difficulties in breathing. Suddenly, he heard a knock on the door. The doctor came to his home breaking all barriers of caste to protect Bakha and saved his life with proper medicines. Listening to this, Bakha feels relieved and happy. Soon Rakha returns with more food. As Bakha sits to eat some, he realizes that the food Rakha brought is taken from the remains of other people’s plates. This again repels him and he decides to go away making an excuse to attend Ramcharan’s sister’s wedding.

He visits Ramcharan’s house but doesn’t dare to enter alone as he fears Gulabo who is known for her hatred towards lower caste people. Chotu joins him and together they enter Ramcharan’s house. Ramcharan sees them and greets them and comes towards them. He opens a handkerchief full of sugarplums and asks Bakha and Chotu to eat. Bakha refuses and tells him to throw some sugarplums to him that he will pick. This dismays Ramcharan but Chotu realizes that Bakha has gone through some terrible experience. He asks what happened and Bakha fails to control and tells them about the slap he got and how Kalinath treated Sohini. Chotu gets hyper and suggests a way to take revenge on Kalinath which Bakha ignores. Then Chotu reminds him of the hockey match with Burra Babu’s kids. Ramcharan says that they should go home if they have to play hockey in the evening. Chotu goes home and Bakha goes to meet Charan Singh to take a new hockey stick.

At Charan Singh’s home, he finds no one outside and decides to wait for him. Charan Singh comes and enters his home without noticing Bakha. Later on, Bakha decides to call for him. Charan Singh happily greets him and takes him to his house. He offers him some tea despite being a man of high caste. Bakha reminds him and Charan Singh happily offers him a hockey stick. Charan Singh says that Bakha is a good player but he should devote more time to practicing. Bakha is happy after getting such a generous response from Charan Singh, a man of high caste. His new hockey stick fills him with enthusiasm.

On the ground, Barru babu’s younger son brings all the hockey gear. Bakha, being a member of the lowest caste, cannot play with boys of the high caste. Chotu says that he is a bearer of English Sahib to mask his real identity and thus Bakha gets a chance to play. Bakha proves to be a brilliant player and soon scores a goal against the team of Burra Babu’s son. Their goalkeeper gets angry and hits Bakha’s leg. This creates a ruckus and Chotu asks his teammates to attack the other team. Ramcharan picks a stone and throws which hits Burra babu’s younger son and he falls unconscious. Bakha sees him bleeding on the head and swiftly picks him up to take him to his home. As Burra Babu’s wife sees her son bleeding and in hands of an outcaste, she starts shouting and accusing Bakha of murdering her son. Bakha tries to say that Ramcharan hit him and it is not his fault but she doesn’t listen and curses him. Bakha runs away to his home. He hides his hockey stick and enters the home. Lakha is angry at him for remaining away for so long while they had to work. He shouts at him and tells him to o away and never return. Bakha is exasperated. He decides to leave and runs outside.

He reaches afar and sits down under a peepal tree near a church. Colonel Hutchinson sees him and goes to him. He touches his soldier and asks why he is so distraught? Bakha gets emotional and tells him all that happened to him during the day. Hutchinson says that Jesus died for the sins of the Brahmins and Bhangis. He encourages him to accept Christianity and offers him food and cloth if he visits the church with him. Bakha agrees and Hutchinson takes him inside the church where his wife is waiting for him. As she sees him with a black Indian of low caste, she shouts at him and abuses Bakha. Bakha realizes that changing religion is no solution and runs away from there.

He reaches a place where a large crowd has gathered to listen to a speech by Mahatma Gandhi. He decides to listen to the speech. Mahatma Gandhi arrives and says that caste discrimination is the biggest curse on Indians and requests people to discriminate against people for their caste. He says that lower caste people should attain equal opportunities, and proper education, they should be allowed in temples, and should attain basic rights of humanity. Bakha is impressed by Mahatma Gandhi. The speech ends and people start to move away. Soon he hears a voice criticizing Mahatma Gandhi for being a hypocrite. He comes to know that the man is a lawyer named R. N. Basheer. Another man, who is a poet named Iqbal Shahar opposes him and says that though Mahatma Gandhi did commit some mistakes overall, he is great and honest. He says that soon caste system will go away as new technology is coming up which will allow people to clean their latrines by themselves through flushes without getting their hands dirty. The latrines would be clean without humans and the cleaning profession would completely vanish resulting in the eradication of the untouchables. Bashir cannot respond to the claims of Iqbal and they leave.

Bakha finds it interesting as he feels that his work makes people disgust him. He is happy. He is cleansed of all the bad things that happened on that day. Bakha then decides to follow the instructions given by Mahatma Gandhi. He understands that having a flush system would decrease the problems faced by untouchables and heads back home to say all these things to his father.

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

Venice Preserved, Or A Plot Discovered by Thomas Otway | Characters, Summary, Analysis

Hello and welcome to the Discourse. Venice Preserv’d, Or A Plot Discover’d was one of the most successful Restoration period tragedy play that was written by Thomas Otway and was first performed in 1682. It is a political drama that gained momentum in the background of the Rye House Plot which was a plan to assassinate King Charles II of England and his brother (and heir to the throne) James, Duke of York. People of the Restoration era also had strong memories of the Poppish plot and hence general public was enthusiastic about discovering plots against the state. Thomas Otway depicted a lucid conspiracy of rebels to overthrow the state and how that plot was foiled.

Venice Preserv’d have many similarities with William Shakespeare’s Othello which was inspired by Cinthio’s Hecatommithi. Shakespeare’s Desdemona marries a moor Othello against her senator father’s wishes and Otway’s Belvidera marries Jaffeir against her father’s wishes. Othello kills Desdemona and himself, and Jaffeir kills Belvidera and commits suicide. However, unlike Shakespeare’s Othello, Otway’s Jaffeir fails to gain the sympathies of the audience. Despite his tragic end, he fails to become the tragic hero Othello is.

In fact, there’s hardly any hero in Otway’s Venice Preserv’d. The rebellions who conspire against the senate are as greedy, power-hungry, tyrannical, immoral, and corrupt as the senators are. There’s no better side, and thus, Otway presented this drama as a She-tragedy, the tragic lead is Belvidera who gains all sympathy.

Characters of Venice Preserv’d, Or A Plot Discover’d

Priuli is a senator of Venice who is comparatively honest and less corrupt than others. He has a daughter whom he loves very much, but not more than himself. Priuli can be compared to Shakespeare’s Barbantino from Othello. However, unlike Barbantino, he doesn’t conspire against Jaffeir to get his daughter back, he simply disowns his daughter when she marries a man without her father’s permission. Belvidera is Priuli’s daughter, a beautiful voluptuous girl who falls in love with Jaffier and marries him despite her father’s resistance to the marriage. She is a benevolent, affectionate, constant, and pure girl who is not gullible. She is intelligent and can be manipulative, but she is completely loyal to Jaffeir. Belvidera can be compared to Shakespeare’s Desdemona but unlike Desdemona, she is not a passive tragic heroine. Belvidera is much more prominent than Desdemona. She recognizes the corruption of the senate but when she comes to know that the conspirators are no better, maybe more corrupt and immoral than the senate, she convinces Jaffeir not to condone the plan of the conspirators, but to instead turn them into the senate. Later on, she manipulates her father, who has already disowned her, to pardon Jaffeir’s friend who conspired to kill Priuli by reminding him of her mother. Though the pardon comes a bit late.

Jaffeir is the husband of Belvidera who can be compared to Shakespeare’s Othello. He is expected to fulfill the roles of husband, friend, and rebel conspirator. However, he remains confused and cannot figure out the right path for him. He lacks any moral integrity. He also lacks appreciation for Belvidera’s love considering she gave up her father and privileges only to be with him. In addition, he lacks patience. Othello fell prey to the conspiracies of Iago who filled Othello’s heart with suspicion against Desdemona. However, Jaffeir knows that Belvidera is always loyal to him, yet he decides to sacrifice her and threatens to kill her if she fails to get a pardon for his friend.

Pierre is a friend of Jaffeir. He can be compared to Shakespeare’s Iago. He is a soldier of Venice who conspires against the senate and plans to murder Priuli. However, unlike Iago, who had no reason to act villainous, Pierre has a proper reason. He is the lover of Aquilina, a high-class courtesan whom a corrupt senator Antonio exploits and uses for his lust. When Pierre comes to know about it, he complains against the senator to the senate of Venice and asks for justice. However, the senate ignores the charges and claims that Antonio's behavior was a privilege entitled to the senators. This angers Pierre. As Priuli is a senator, he decides to murder him and brings Jaffeir into the conspiracy by exploiting his hatred against Priuli. Antonio is a corrupt senator who is lewd, immoral, and lecherous. He exploits Aquilina and often treats women with disdain. He addresses Aquilina as his “little Nacky” which indicates a female genital organ. Renault is the bloodthirsty head of conspirators. While he exploits the anger and frustration of Pierre and Jaffeir for his purpose of attacking the senate and gaining power, he is as corrupt and tyrannical as Antonio. He forces Jaffeir to keep his wife, Belvidera in his custody as a guarantee of his allegiance, and then he tries to rape her.

Venice Preserv’d as a She-Tragedy

Overall, Otway shows that none of the men treat women as they should. Priuli disowns his beloved daughter for she disobeyed him and married a man she loved. To get his revenge against Priuli to disown Belvidera and hence disallow Jaffeir his share of Priuli’s wealth as his son-in-law, he decides to support the conspirators. When he is asked to keep Belvidera in Renault’s custody, he agrees to that and effectively transfers his authority over Belvidera to Renault. The same happens in Shakespeare’s Othello where Othello leaves Desdemona in the care of Iago. Jaffeir later threatens to murder his wife, the girl who left her father and privileges to be with him.

Pierre loves Aquilina, but he neither trusts her nor respects her. Pierre arranges meetings of rebels at Aquillina’s house but she is not allowed to attend any of those meetings or listen to anything related to their plan. Pierre never discloses his conspiracy to her as if she is untrustworthy. Aquilina is comparable to Shakespeare’s Emilia, the wife of Iago in Othello.

Instead of vouching for his friend Jaffeir’s loyalty, Pierre persuades him to keep his wife Belvidera in the custody of Renault. Renault, who becomes the custodian of Belvidera, tries to exploit and rape her. The whole drama is based on the depiction of women as an object of lust and control and Otay exploits the victimhood of women for the success of the play. Unlike Venice Preserv’d, Shakespeare’s Othello doesn’t depend on the pathos brought about by the unjustified treatment of women. Though, the murder of Desdemona and the death of Belvidera both bring about the same degree of lust. Belvidera reminds Jaffeir of Lucrece after she saves herself against Renault’s onslaught and reaches him. Lucrece committed suicide and to challenge the standard that requires suicide of (female) rape victims, which seems a tacit admission of their guilt, she demands Jaffeir take revenge. Her disheveled and unnerved state eroticizes her suffering which is the main ingredient of a She-Tragedy. The rape attempt of Belvidera is depicted in such a sexually explicit manner that brings forth her sexuality. In the case of Othello, Desdemona acts as a passive victim. She is sleeping when Othello kills her and her murder is also depicted as erotic as it could be. Othello stands over his inert and sleeping wife and states: "I will kill thee and love thee after." The situation is depicted as overtly necrophilic, suggesting that Desdemona will reach the utmost desirable state after her murder, the state where she will be silent, chaste, and obedient.

Summary of Venice Preserv’d, Or A Plot Discover’d

Jaffeir is a poor Venetian soldier who falls in love with Belvidera, the daughter of a highly prestigious and rich senator of Venice. Belvidera also loves him but Priuli, her father is against this relationship. Nonetheless, she elopes with Jaffeir and marries him, hoping that her father, who loves her dearly, will accept her marriage. Priuli couldn’t bear this and he publicly denounces and disowns Belvidera, cutting off her inheritance. This angers Jaffeir as he hoped to get rid of his penury after marrying Belvidera, the rich girl. When Jaffeir’s friend Pierre comes to know about this, he decides to infuriate Jaffeir more against Priuli for his own reason of revenge against the senate. A corrupt senator Antonio has been sexually exploiting and using Aquilina, Pierre’s beloved. Pierre complained against him in the senate but didn’t get justice. Thus, he made contact with Renault, a power-hungry, bloodthirsty conspirator who plans to overturn the government by attacking the senators. The most strong, most reliable, and most trustworthy senator is Priuli and if he is killed, Renault hopes that the general public will side with the rebels for the uprising. Pierre takes Jaffeir to meet Renault who manipulates him into murdering Priuli. Jaffeir has his own motive if Priuli is murdered, he is the legal husband of her only daughter, and will get all his wealth in inheritance. However, Renault cannot trust Jaffeir as he is the son-in-law of Priuli. Thus, Jaffeir agrees to keep Belvidera in the custody of Renault as a hostage until Priuli is murdered. Belvidera is unaware of the plot but Jaffeir transfers her to Renault’s place. They plan to murder Priuli the very next morning. When Renault sees Belvidera sleeping at his place, lust engulfs him and he attempts to rape her. Belvidera resists and runs away in a disheveled distraught situation. She reaches home and informs Jaffeir. Jaffeir tells her about the conspiracy. She asks him how could he support such wretched people who tried to rape his wife. She then suggests Jaffeir turncoat and inform the senate about the conspiracy to which he agrees. But he is worried about his friend Pierre. Belvidera then plans that Jaffeir will reveal the names of conspirators and then will claim their lives as his reward and thus, he will get a right to pardon Pierre and save his life. Jaffeir agrees and reveals the conspiracy to the senate. However, the senate doesn’t offer him the reward he sought and condemns all conspirators to death. Jaffier is distraught. He feels guilty of disloyalty towards his friend Pierre. He goes to Belvidera and curses her for making him the cause of Pierre’s death sentence. He threatens her that if she fails to get a pardon for Pierre, he will murder her. Belvidera is distraught. She just faced a rape attempt on her and now, the man for whom she left her father and all privileges is threatening to murder her. She goes to her father who has already disowned her. Priuli discards her again and rejects her plea to help her by getting a pardon for Pierre who conspired to murder him. However, Belvidera insists and reminds Priuli of her mother to whom he promised to protect Belvidera in all situations. Priuli submits and agrees to pardon Pierre. Belvidera runs to her home to inform Jaffeir but finds that Jaffeir has gone to imprisonment to meet Pierre. She follows him to jail.

Meanwhile, Javier meets Pierre who is about to be hanged. Pierre is crestfallen as he failed in taking his revenge. Furthermore, he is about to be hanged, and he will die a death of ignominy unlike a brave soldier in the battleground. He says that he has forgiven Jaffeir but demands him a favor and asks Jaffeir to murder him with his own sword before he is hanged. Jaffeir rushes towards him and stabs him with his dagger, killing him. Later on, Jaffeir feels such intense remorse for killing his friend that he commits suicide by running the same dagger on his throat. At the same time, Belvidera reaches the gallows and before she could inform that she has won the pardon for Pierre, sees the death of Pierre and Jaffeir both. This breaks her completely and she goes insane and dies.

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!

Mourning Becomes Electra by Eugene O’Neill | Characters, Summary, Analysis

Hello and welcome to the Discourse. Mourning Becomes Electra was another drama written by Eugene O’Neill in which he imitated Greek tragedies in modern American settings. After Desire Under Elms (1924), he wrote Lazarus Laughed which was again based on Greek tragedies, and then in 1931, Mourning Becomes Electra was performed. As the title suggests, this play is based on the Ancient Greek Drama Oresteia by Aeschylus. The whole play is divided into three sections, Homecoming, The Hunted, and The Haunting. Homecoming mirrors Aeschylus’s Agamemnon while The Hunted depicts the story of The Libation Bearers. The Eumenides is described in the third section The Hunted. The title of the play suggests that mourning is natural for Electra as if it is her fate that she cannot avoid.

Mourning Becomes Electra is a complex tragic play that not only depicts Greek mythology as wholly based on fate, but Eugene O’Neill also included psychological aspects of the characters from a Freudian perspective. One can find traces of Sigmund Freud’s idea of the Electra complex and Oedipus complex within the play.

Characters of Mourning Becomes Electra:

Brigadier General Ezra Mannon is the son of Abe Mannon and the husband of Christine. He is a war veteran who returns to his family. He deeply loves his daughter Lavinia but has a complex relationship with his son Orin Mannon who hates him. Ezra Mannon is a handsome man liked by all the town’s people. He is good for all except that he doesn’t like Captain Adam Brant. He comes to know that his wife Christine is in an extramarital affair with Adam but that is not the cause of his hatred of Ezra against Adam. Adam is the son of his estranged brother David Mannon who fell in love with a french nurse Marie Brantome who came to their house for taking care of Abe Mannon during his illness. But when she got pregnant, David failed to convince his father to accept Marie as his daughter-in-law. Abe Mannon expelled David from the family and town and he became a drunkard and died in the violence. Marie asked for help from Ezra but he also refused to help her. Adam Brant seeks revenge against Ezra and he knows it. Lavinia is deeply connected with her father. She is a thin, weak, yet beautiful girl whom her neighbor Peter Niles loves and wishes to marry. Hazel Niles is the sister of Peter who loves Orin and wishes to marry him. Orin has just returned from war and he is suffering a deep impact of violence. He has an unhealthy fixation on his mother and when she commits suicide, he blames himself for her death. Later on, her sister’s sexual escapades further deteriorate his mental health and lead to his fall. Seth Beckwith is a gardener working at Ezra’s mansion. He is friendly to the Mannon family. He is loyal to Lavinia and tries to help her at all times.

Summary of Mourning Becomes Electra:

The play begins as the Civil War is at its final stage. Brigadier General Ezra Mannon and his son Orin Mannon, who fought in the Union army are expected to return soon. Lavinia is talking to Seth Beckwith who informs her about the many visits of Adam Brant at Ezra Mansion behind her back. Lavinia believed that Adam is trying to court her but now she realizes that he is having an affair with her mother. Lavinia is a beautiful but cold girl who is not very much liked by her mother. Seth informs her that Adam, who is a clipper ship Captain, is the nephew of her father Ezra Mannon. He tells her the story of David Mannon and how he was ostracized by her grandfather. Lavinia has an inkling that Adam Brant is trying to exact revenge against her family.

The next time when Adam visits Ezra’s mansion, Lavinia confronts him and blames him for his evil intentions. Adam angrily accepts that he is seeking revenge and no matter how he will get his revenge. Lavinia discusses this with her mother Christine who promises her to remain away from Adam. However, Christine has no love for Lavinia or Ezra and when Adam meets her again, she suggests he poison Ezra as he is about to return. She informs him that Ezra is suffering from heart disease for which he regularly takes medicine and they can easily change that medicine with some poison that will kill him.

Ezra returns a week later and when Lavinia sees him, she feels elated as she is intensely and passionately attached to her father. Ezra has heard of Adam visiting his house at his back from the townspeople. When he meets Christine, he tells him that he wishes to mend their relationship and have a new beginning. Christine pretends to be interested and Ezra takes her to his room for making love. At night, Ezra hears a sound that wakes him up. He sees that Christine is trying to go out of his room. He blames her for trying to get rid of him and they start quarreling. Christine shamelessly accepts that she is in love with Adam and that triggers heartache in Ezra. As he seeks his medicine, Christine changes it with poison and runs away. As soon as Ezr takes the medicine, he realizes his death. He calls for help and when Lavinia rushes into his room, he manages to say that the medicine has been changed with poison and Christine is responsible before dying. Lavinia is devastated by her father’s death. When she inspects the box of medicine, she finds the poison and is convinced of her mother’s crime.

After two days, Orin returns with his neighbor and friend Peter Niles from the war. He has heard of his father’s death but he is not that sad as he was never close to his father. Rather, he is more enthusiastic and energized. Lavinia tries to inform him about the evil-doing of their mother Christine and warns him not to be manipulated by her but Orin fails to understand. When he meets Christine, she hugs him warmly and Orin feels exuberated. Lavinia realizes that Christine will easily manipulate him. Orins asks Christine about Adam and she lies that he is courting Lavinia and removes any doubt. Orin says that now that his father is no more, he wishes to take Christine on a long sea journey as he dreamed of sailing to the South Sea Islands with her.

As Lavinia gets a chance to talk to Orin in solitude, she informs him about Adam and Christine’s affair and how they planned and killed their father. Orin gets furious but he doesn’t believe his sister as he has more trust and love for his mother. Yet, he agrees to keep an eye on Christine if she tries to meet Adam to examine the validity of Lavinia’s blame.

After Ezra’s funeral, Christine visits the shore at night to meet Adam at his ship and informs him that Lavinia knows how they murdered Ezra and tells him to take her away from the town. Adam agrees and says that he will prepare for a long sail to China where he will take her. Christine returns home. However, she was being watched by Orin and Lavinia. Now Orin is convinced of Lavinia’s charges and as he sees Christine going away, he shoots at Adam and kills him. Lavinia and Orin make the murder look like a case of robbery.

At home, Christine is worried about Adam as she also fears her own crime to be revealed. She calls Hazel to talk to her. As Orin and Lavinia return from the shore, they inform Christine that some robbers have robbed and murdered Adam. This breaks Christine’s heart. As she sees Lavinia and Orin together, she realizes that Lavinia has told him about their father and she gets feverish. Orin tries to calm her down and tells her that now she can happily live with him openly suggesting his sexual interest in her. However, Christine decides to retire to her room and she shoots herself.

Lavinia believes that justice has been achieved while Orin is sad about Christine’s demise and he blames himself for her death. To soothe him, Lavinia says that they must go to the South Sea Islands to have some time to get over the accidents. Orin agrees and he and Lavinia go on a long voyage.

After a year, Peter and Hazel are eagerly waiting for the return of Orin and Lavinia. Hazel dream of marrying Orin as he returns while Peter is excited for Lavinia. When they return, Peter notices that Lavinia is changed, unlike the thin, weak girl she was in past, now she is voluptuous, excited, and happy about herself. Peter likes her more than ever. Orin on the other hand appears dull and confused. Peter appreciates the changes in Lavinia and she suggests that now that she has returned, they should marry soon. Orin interrupts and reminds her of how much she enjoyed her Journey to the South Sea Islands and how she mingled with the native people in China. Lavinia gets irritated by Orin at this and tells him to leave the past behind.

A month passes but Orin remains the same bitter and angry at himself and Lavinia. He is guilt-ridden. When Lavinia tries to talk to him, he says that he has written a detailed manuscript about the crimes of Mannon and she holds a lengthy space in that manuscript. Lavinia gets angry as she never did any crime and Orin accuses her of lurid behavior with a native named Avahanni whom she met during the journey. Lavinia admits that lust took her over and she submitted to Avahanni, Orin attacks and abuses her.

Peter is concerned about Lavinia while Hazel worries for Orin. She complains to Peter that Lavinia is controlling Orin too much but Peter dismisses her concern. One day, Orin meets Hazel and hands her over the manuscript that he wrote. He tells her that Lavinia should not marry Peter and if Peter decides to marry her, Hazel must make Peter read that manuscript before marrying her. While Hazel is confused, Lavinia sees notices them and sees Orin giving the manuscript to Hazel. She doesn’t know what the manuscript contains. She goes to Orin and Hazel and says that she will do anything if Orin gives that manuscript to her. Orin takes the manuscript back from Hazel and tells her that there’s nothing left between them and tells her to go away. Hazel is confused, angry, and disturbed but she decides to leave.

Orin faces Lavinia and says that he cannot let her marry Peter and she must know what he wants. He openly demands an incestuous relationship with Lavinia that he couldn’t have with Christine as she died. Lavinia is appalled. She cries and shouts at Orin and says that it is not possible to which Orin says that it is the only way they can live together. Lavinia refuses to submit and says that she wishes he dies. This strikes Orin as he realizes what he is trying to do. He goes away to his room and shoots himself.

After his funeral, Lavinia closes herself in her mansion. After a week she returns to her past self, She is now dull, weak, and thin. Hazel sees her and confronts her. Hazel doesn’t know what happened between her and Orin but she blames Lavinia for his demise and tells her to remain away from Peter as she is affecting him too. Soon Peter notices Lavinia and comes to greet her. Lavinia clings to Peter and tells her to marry her as soon as possible. Peter is confused about her hurried behavior. As he hesitates, Lavinia tries to convince him and while doing so, accidentally calls him ‘Avahanni.’ peter questions her about the native man and she realizes that marriage and happiness are not her fate. Her fate is to remain alone and survive the curse on the Mannons. She orders Peter to go away and tells Seth to close the gates of Mannon Mansion. She goes inside the house and shuts the door as the play ends.

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

Anandmath, Or The Abbey of Bliss by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee | Characters, Summary, Analysis

Hello and welcome to the Discourse. Bankim Chandra Chatterjee was one of the most prominent novelists, essayists, poets, and journalists who wrote more than 17 novels and many essays. Initially, he wrote romantic novels infused with strong feelings of nationalism, and gradually, he started writing political novels strengthening the calls for Indian freedom struggle against the foreign rule. In 1882, he published his most popular novel Anandmath in Bengali which was soon translated into English as The Abbey of Bliss. The first translation was by Naresh Chandra Sengupta in 1906. In 1909, another translation by Shri Aurobindo Ghosh and Barindrakumar Ghosh appeared, and in 1941, Basanta Koomar Roy published his translation of Anandmath as Dawn Over India. The recent translation of Anandmath by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay was published by Julius J. Lipner in 2005 and was titled Anandmath, Or The Sacred Brotherhood.

The novel is a historical fiction that fictionalizes the Sanyasi Rebellion of the late 18^th century (1770-1777) and mixes it with two love stories. Anandmath is considered one of the most important novels in the history of Indian literature as it certainly strengthen the Indian freedom struggle. The novel is also known for one of its poetic songs of it titled Vandemataram (Hail to Motherhood) which was later adopted as the national song of India by the Indian National Congress in October 1937. On January 24, 1950, the Constitution Assembly of India declared Vandemataram as the national song of the Free Indian Republic.

Characters: Mahendra is a wealthy landlord of the high class living in his village Padachihna with his wife Kalyani and daughter Sukumari. Mahendra and Kalyani deeply love each other but they face troubles as persistent famine forces them to see days of struggles. Unable to sustain in the village, the couple venture into the nearby city of Calcutta to find ways to earn a living. Mahatma Satya is a leader of Sanyasis struggling against the atrocious government headed by Muslim rulers (Mir Jafar) aided by the British East India Company that got the right to collect taxes. While the general populace of Bengal was suffering extreme hunger and poverty due to persistent famine, the rulers were competing to collect more taxes from those who could barely feed their family members. In a cruel move, Muhammad Reza Khan, the king’s revenue officer, thinking to show how important he was, at once increased taxes by 10 percent, and great was the lament in Bengal. This not affected general people, but also created troubles for sanyasis who were dependent on the alms offered by common people to them. They raised their voices against the cruel taxation system and hence came directly in conflict with the East India Company, which had the right to collect taxes through atrocious means. The drastic situations also raised rates of crimes and the number of dacoits, and it became difficult to distinguish between a sanyasi and a dacoit. Bhavan is a brave disciple of Mahatma Satya who leads the ascetics in his absence and dies while fighting against the British soldiers. Jiban and Shakti are the other loving couple in the novel. Jiban is a young man who marries a poor orphan girl Shakti as he loves her. However, considering the situation of society and the condition of people in general, he decides to leave his family and join the forces of Mahatma Satya for the independence of his nation. Shakti, being a woman is left with Jiban’s elder sister Nirmala or Nimmi. However, Shakti finds it difficult to stay away from Jiban and decides to join the Ascetic forces disguised as a male soldier. Later on, her disguise is turned out and Mahatma Satya decides to send her back. But, she with her bravery and strength, proves that though she is a woman, she is no less a soldier than any man and becomes an integral part of the ascetic army against the British forces.

Summary of Anandmath: The Abbe of Bliss Or Sacred Brotherhood

Anandmath is a romantic story of two loving couples who meet and struggle for a common goal as fate brings them on the same path. The novel is divided into four parts. The first part introduces Mahendra, who is the leader of his village. He finds it difficult to collect and pay taxes to the British tax collectors because at heart, he is a benevolent person who cares for his village members. Because of famine, all lands are dry and people are dying of hunger. In such a situation, he finds it difficult to sustain living in the village and decides to go to Calcutta with his wife Kalyani and daughter Sukumari to earn means of living. During their journey to Calcutta, they witness the extreme effects of famine. Hunger has turned some people to take the path of crime as they have become robbers trying to rob anything they can get from others. Situations have turned so drastic that some man-eating robbers just catch and eat any animal or human they see. The famine compelled the people of that area to feed on the flesh of other humans.

As they move forward, they are attacked by a gang of robbers and as they run for their life, Mahendra and Kalyani get separated. Sukumari is with her mother while Mahendra tries to look for them but fails. Meanwhile, Kalani keeps running with Sukumari in her arms and collapses near a river while man-eating dacoits are hunting for her. Suddenly an ascetic, Mahatma Satya comes to her rescue and saves her against the dacoits. He then takes her and her daughter to his Ashrama where there are many other ascetics and Sanatanas. Sanatana' are not ascetics or Sanyasis, but they are those ordinary men who have joined the groups of Sanyasi to fight against the atrocious tax-collecting regime of the Muslims and British rulers. One of them is Jiban, a bright, brave young man, and another one is Bhavan, who is the leader of Sanatanis.

Meanwhile, Mahendra also comes face to face with another band of Sanyasis and Mahendra takes the Sanyasis for robbers. He says, “But a bad job! Banditry no less!” However, Sanyasis try to convince him that they are not robbers, rather, they try to save people against such psychologically ill people who have turned inhuman and are robbing and eating other people. The Sanyasis then say that their aim is to fight against the cruel taxation regime that has forced humans to turn against other humans. Mahendra feels a strong emotion of humanism, nationalism, and a sense of duty in those ascetics and he thinks of joining them. The Sanyasis take him to the Ashrama. Kalyani is also in the same Ashram but Mahendra is unaware of her presence. The Sanyasis describe their goals and ideas to Mahendra in more elaborative terms and explains how India was before the British and Muslim invaders came, how India is while suffering the plundering of foreign invaders, and how India will be in future when their motherland will be freed of foreign invaders. Mahendra gets inspired and decides to join the forces of monks to achieve the common goal of freedom in the Motherland. Mahatma Satya says that if he has to join their forces, he must leave his family. Kalyani observes him from a distance while he isn’t aware of her presence and decides to not become an obstacle in his dream of fighting for and serving Mother India. She takes some poison and offers it to her daughter Sukumari to drink and then she drinks the poison herself, thereby relieving Mahendra of his worldly duties. At the same moment, British soldiers, who were trying to catch the rebels attack the ashram and arrest Mahendra and Satya while other ascetics try to run away and save themselves. In the conundrum, one of the ascetics sings a song informing others whereabouts of Sukumari and Kalyani to save them. When Jiban and Bhavan listen to his song, they run to save Kalyani and Sukumari. Jiban finds Sukumari who is taking her last breaths as she has taken poison. He gets a herbal antidote and saves her life. He then takes her to his sister Nimmi’s home to keep her in safety. Bhavan finds Kalyani and saves her too with the same herbal antidote. However, he is too impressed by her beauty and feels a strong force of affection towards her.

The second part describes the love story of another couple, Jiban and Shakti. Shakti was an orphan Brahmin girl whose mother died at an early age. Her father taught her mathematics, philosophy, and literature but he died too before she could stand on her feet. When Jiban meets this poor orphan girl, he falls in love with her and marries her. However, the situation of society forces him to think of joining the rebellion group of Sanyasis to fight against the atrocious government. However, he must be free of worldly relationships to join the Sanyasi forces. Thus, he decides to leave Shakti at his sister Nimmi’s home and goes away to the Sanyasi Ashrama and becomes a Sanatani. Shakti finds it difficult to live without Jiban and decides to disguise himself as a man and joins the ascetic rebels to live near Jiban. One day, her disguise is revealed and she gets caught. Mahatma Satya orders her to leave the Ashrama but she resists and claims that she is as brave and strong as any man in the Sanyasi forces. She then lifts the mighty bow of Mahatma Satya which only Satya, Bhavan, or Jiban could lift. This impresses Mahatma Satya who allows her to stay and fight against the British forces as a female fighter. Jiban, Bhavan, and Shakti decide to arrack the British forces rescue Mahatma Satya and while doing so, they rescue Mahendra too. As he comes back to the Ashrama, he meets Kalyani. When Bhavan sees the devotion of Kalyani towards Mahendra, he finds himself full of guilt. In the third part, the ascetic forces continue to fight against British forces, and to safeguard themselves against British attacks, they decide to make a small fort of bricks. In the fourth part, The British army in full force decides to attack the brick fort of Sanyasis and end the rebellion once and for all. The brick fort is on the other side of a river with a bridge in between. The shrewd British commander first orders his army to march towards the brick fort on the other side and as the British soldiers reached the bridge, he orders them to retreat and hide. The untrained and inexperienced Sanyasis feel elated as they see British soldiers retreating and running away. In their excitement, they come out and try to catch the British soldiers. As soon as a huge number of Sanyasi rebels get on the bridge to cross it, the British army throws fire canons on the bridge and thus killing a huge number of Sanyasis in one go. It creates havoc in the Sanyasi camp but some attentive Sanyasi soldiers including Bhavan, Jiban, and Mahendra capture some of the cannons and turn the fire back onto the East India Company lines. The East India Company forces are forced to fall back, the rebels winning their first battle. Bhavan while fighting bravery gets martyrdom. In the end, Mahatma Satya says that the fight for freedom will continue with new soldiers and faces and decides to follow his Guru to the Himalayas for penance. Shakti too suggests to Jiban that they should lead a life as saints and visit the Himalayas and he agrees. Mahendra and Kalyani decide to make a new home and give a proper education and life for their kid Sukumari and the novel ends.

Bankium Chandra Chatterjee was a known Hindu Vaishnavite Nationalist. He introduced certain elements in his fictional drama that appear inspired by Vaishnav stories. When Mahatma Satya explains the purpose of Ascetic rebels to Mahendra, he shows him three temples with three different idols of Mother India. The first one is of Goddess Parvati, Jagaddhatri, Satya says that this is what Mother India was, and the second one is Goddess Kali, Satya says that this is what Mother India has become, and we Sanyasis are her Ganas. The third idol is Goddess Durga in all her beauty and wealth. Mahatma Satya says that this is what Mother India would be in the future. Again, when Shakti is caught as a woman disguising as a man to be with ascetic rebels near her husband Jiban, she resists the decision of Satya to make her leave the Ashram and shows her strength by lifting up a mighty bow that only a few could use and reminds of Goddess Sita who could easily lift and use Pinaka, the bow of Shiva as a child. Seeing her strength, Satya allows her to stay in Ashrama and be a vital soldier in the fight against Muslim and British invaders. Mahatma Satya himself reminds us of Krishna, guiding the rebels fighting for the establishment of Moral Order (Dharma) against the immoral and inhuman tax regime led by Muslim and British forces.

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!