Sister Carrie by Theodore Dressier | Characters, Summary, Analysis

 Sister Carrie by Theodore Dressier | Characters, Summary, Analysis

Hello and welcome to the Discourse.

Theodore Dressier was an American novelist and journalist who adhered to the Naturalist school of literature. Just like literary Realism, Naturalism is a rejection of Romanticism while supporting Determinism and scientific objectivism to offer social commentary.

Theodore Dressier was born in 1871 and died in 1945. He is known for his two great novels titled Sister Carrie (1900) and An American Tragedy (1925).

Theodore Dressier chose to write against the norms. In Sister Carrie, he portrayed a young country girl who decides to escape Wisconsin's rural life to Chicago. She fails to find a good job that may pay a living wage. She is preyed upon by several men and she decides to use them as a ladder to rise up in society. Ultimately, she becomes a successful and famous actress, yet fails to find peace and satisfaction in her life.

Sister Carrie is a significant novel as it broke the trend of Romantic moralism that dictated punishment for adultery. There is a stark difference in the stories of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter in which the female protagonist is punished for having an affair outside her marriage and Sister Carrie, that portrays adultery as an acceptable norm and doesn’t suggest any punishment. Sister Carrie has been called as ‘greatest of All American Urban Novels.’ The novel tells three tragedies Carrie’s tragedy of success, Hurstwood’s tragedy of failure, and Drouet’s tragedy of ignorance.

Sister Carrie is a sarcastic commentary against the great American dream as the featured characters of the novel succeed at their objectives despite a lack of a firm moral code.

Main Characters of Sister Carrie

Caroline Meeber is the protagonist. Her family calls her Carrie. She becomes the second wife of George Wheeler, also known as Geroge W. Hurstwood. Later on, she becomes a famous successful actress by the name of Carrie Madenda. Minnie Hanson is Carrie’s elder sister whose husband is Svan Hanson. Charles H. Drouet is a buoyant traveling salesman who persuades Carrie to be his mistress to lead a prosperous life. Jessica Hurstwood is George’s social-climbing wife who continues to try to be close to men of high-class society. Mr. and Mrs. Vance are neighbors of Carrie and George Hurstwood. Robert Ames is a brother of Mrs. Vance whom Carrie regards as an ideal man. Lola Osborne is a friendly chorus girl with whom Carrie works. Later on, Lola persuades Carrie to leave Hurstwood and live with her in her apartment. Lola realizes the great potential of Carrie and becomes her ‘satellite,’ or parasite.

Summary of Sister Carrie

The story of Sister Carrie depicts three main characters and how they fell, were harmed, and corrupted by the fraudulent claims of the spurious American dream.

Carrie Meeber is living in Columbia City, Wisconsin with her family. Her elder sister Minnie is married to Svan Hanson and they live in Chicago. Frustrated by the poverty of her family, Carrie decides to move to Chicago to get a job with the help of her sister. During the train travel to Chicago, she meets a traveling salesman Charles Drouet. Charles is attracted to Carrie and they exchange contact information. When Carrie reaches her sister’s house, she realizes that her sister is also living a middle-class life and her home lack affluence. Carrie gets a job at a shoemaker factory but she is not satisfied with the salary. Charles meets Carrie and suggests she leave her sister’s dull poor house and move with him in his high-class apartment. To persuade Carrie, he slips two notes of 10 Dollars. Carrie discovers a new way to earn money to fulfill her materialistic desires, yet she is not convinced. The next day, she again meets Charles and tries to give his money back to him. Charles denies taking the money back, instead, he takes Carrie to shop at Chicago Departmental Store. He buys a nice rich jacket and a pair of shoes for Carrie. Carrie now makes up her mind and moves to Charle’s apartment to live with him.

Gradually, Carrie loses her provincial countryside mannerism and becomes a suave clever city girl. One day, Drouet introduces Carrie to Geroge W. Hurstwood who is the manager of a Fritzgard and Moy’s bar where Charles regularly visits. Hurstwood is a rich married man. He is the husband of Julia Hurstwood who is a social-climbing wife. He is the father of a 20-year-old son and a 17-year-old daughter. When he sees Carrie, he gets infatuated with her. Carrie doesn’t know if Hurstwood is married or not. As Charles goes on traveling for his business purpose, Hurstwood decides to meet Carrie in her apartment. Carrie realizes that Hurstwood is way too rich than Charles and when Hurstwood tries to seduce her, she submits to his desires.

One night, Drouet promises to find a suitable actress to play the role of Laura in Augustine Dally’s melodrama Under the Gaslight. He persuades Carrie to play the role. Carrie is hesitant but decides to try. During the performance, she fumbles but Charles continues to cheer her up and at the end, she offers a satisfactory delivery of the role. Hurstwood also visited the theater and on seeing Carrie performing the role, his infatuation towards Carrie turns into an obsession and he decides to snatch Carrie from Charles by any means.

Drouet comes to know about the affair between Hurstwood and Carrie. Julia Hurstwood also comes to know that her husband has been seen with another woman. Julia confronts Geroge Hurstwood and threatens him with consequences. Hurstwood meets Carrie and asks her to move with him. Carrie asks him if he will marry her, to which Hurstwood says yes. Later on, Drouet confronts Carrie and chides her for her infidelity. He informs her that Hurstwood is already married and is a father of a 20-year-old son and a 17-year-old daughter. Charles then leaves Carrie alone and moves out of the apartment. Knowing the married life of Hurstwood, Carrie rejects his proposal too and is now alone.

Hurstwood is too frustrated by his wife’s warnings and Carrie’s rejection. As he drowns himself in liquor in his own bar, he realizes that one of the lockers of Fristgard and Moy’s has been left unlocked for the night. He decides to steal money from the locker. He takes more than $10,000 from the locker. He then sends a message to Carrie in which he falsely pretends that Charles is too ill and she may go to see Charles with him. Hurstwood takes Carrie to Montreal, Canada. He succeeds in mollifying Carrie by faking a marriage with her though he is still married to Julia. Later on, an investigator finds Hurstwood and demands all the money back that he stole or he will face a jail term. Hurstwood gives back most of the money that he stole to avoid persecution. He then moves to New York City with Carrie where he buys a minor share in a saloon. He and Carrie start living in New York City in a rented apartment by the name George and Carrie Wheeler. Initially, Carrie is happy but Geroge is not earning enough from the saloon and soon the financial restraints create a gap between Carrie and George. Carrie makes friends with her neighbor Mrs. Vance whose husband is very rich. Robert Ames is a cousin of Mr. Vance. He is a bright scholar from Indiana. Carrie gets impressed by Robert Ames who makes her realize that appreciation of great art is more important and satisfactory than materialistic success.

After a year or two, the landlord of the saloon decides to sell the shop and Geroge’s partner decides to terminate the partnership. George is too adamant and proud to do any other job and decides to stay at home until he finds a new venture to make money. Ultimately, his savings also dwindle away. Then he forces Carrie to make some economic contribution. Carrie is hesitant but decides to join a chorus as she is good-looking. Geroge continues to deteriorate his situation while Carrie starts gaining success as he proceeds to play minor roles along with being a chorus girl. She meets Lola Osborne her fellow chorus girl. Lola offers her career advises and guides her to become a full-fledged actress. Lola realizes Carrie’s potential and decides to taste success at Carrie’s back while she herself cannot achieve success. Meanwhile, Geroge continues to waste his little money and becomes a drunkard. A streetcar driver’s strike is going on in New York City. Geroge decides to become a scab and break the strike by becoming a streetcar driver to earn some money. However, he could do this only for two days and the other cab drivers on strike confront him and injures him. Geroge is then forced to stop driving the cab. Carrie is unaware of his reason but when she comes to know that George has again stopped working, she decides to leave him and move to Lola Osborne’s apartment.

Geroge continues to suffer ill-fate and ultimately turns into a street beggar while Carrie continues to achieve success as an actress by the name of Carrie Madenda. Lola becomes her advisor. One day, Carrie comes to know that Geroge committed suicide in a flophouse. She contemplates her own situation and realizes that though she has attained materialistic success, she is hollow, lonely, dissatisfied, frustrated, and almost dead inside.

The novel ends here. George Wheeler suffers the tragedy of failure and meets an ignominious end as a beggar. Carrie, despite attaining success, finds her life meaningless as she suffers the tragedy of success. Charles Drouet, who thought of a happy family with Carrie suffers the tragedy of ignorance. This is it for today. We will discuss another important work of Theodore Dressier in the next video. Please stay connected with the Discourse. Thanks and Regards!

Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions by John Donne | Summary, Analysis

 Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions by John Donne | Summary, Analysis

Hello and welcome to the Discourse.

John Donne is known for his witty metaphysical poetry. However, he himself described his poetry as ‘a life-sign or minor irritation’ rather than something that defines him. His most important prose work was Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions that was published in 1624. During his lifetime, his poetic works were not so popular. Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions was published in 1624 and it is one of only seven works of John Donne that were published during his lifetime.

Background and Structure of Devotions

The full title of this prose work by Donne is Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions and Several Steps in My Sickness. In December 1623, John Donne fell seriously ill. As he was recovering from his sickness, he decided to write down all his experiences during the days of sickness. His sickness was strange and unknown and he decided to describe the illness he was suffering and all his thoughts that emerged during his recovery period. The main discourse of the book includes death, rebirth, and the then accepted idea of sickness. During the Elizabethan period, it was believed that sickness is a visit from God reflecting the internal sinfulness of a person. Thus, sickness was considered as a means of purification of a person’s character.

John Donne wrote this whole book within 23 days and it was registered in the Stationer’s Register on 9^th January 1624.

The book is divided into 23 parts or chapters and each chapter has three sub-sections titled the ‘meditation’, the ‘expostulation’, and a ‘prayer.’ All these chapters are chronologically ordered. Each chapter covers his thoughts and experiences on a single progressive day of his recovery period.

While the whole book is a masterpiece, Chapter 17, or Devotion 17 got special attention during the recent time as it contains two very famous phrases ‘No Man is an Island,’ and ‘For Whom the Bell Tolls.’

In each chapter, Donne begins with a ‘Meditation’ in which he describes the stage of his illness, followed by an ‘Expostulation’ in which he noted his reaction to that stage of illness. The last part of each chapter is a ‘Prayer’ in which he makes peace with his illness, understanding that the illness reflects his own sinfulness and is purifying his existence in the devotion of God.

Each chapter begins with a preface titled Stations. These are single lines written in Latin. Researchers believe that all these 23 Stations constitute a poem by John Donne.

It is a prime example of Devotional writings of the 17^th century and it signifies spiritual growth through the physical ordeal. However, many critics argue that it is political writing too as it resembles Arminian polemic. John Donne often opposed the publication of his works. He used to circulate his poems and prose in his friends' circle. However, he made sure that Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions be published as soon as he finished writing it. He further continued his argument offered in Pseudo Martyr in this book. Devotion XVI is explicitly against Puritanism. In Pseudo Martyr. John Donne argued that Roman Catholics of England should take Oath of Allegiance of James I of England and it appears as if John Donne wrote Devotions as a suggestion to Prince Charles against emerging puritans.

Meditation XVII No Man is an Island

Chapter 17 is a two-paragraph meditation in which Donne meditates upon the sound of a funeral bell in a nearby church. He was ill during the time and whenever he heard the sound of funeral bell, he contemplated about his own death.
Donne begins the first paragraph by mentioning the ringing death-knell. He wonders if the person for whom this bell is ringing is so ill that he may never come to know that he is being called upon. Obviouslly, a dead person cannot hear his own funeral bell. Donne then applies the idea to his own sickness and then he universalizes the idea while suggesting that the ringing church bell is for everyone. Donne suggests that every human action affects the rest of the humanity in some manner. He suggests that the universality of Church emerges from God who is in charge of all transitions from earthly to spiritual world. He suggests that death is just a transition from mortal world to spiritual world and since God is the in charge of this transition, each death and its manner is decided by God Himself as he is the author and cause of each death. Donne then compares Funeral bell to Church Bell calling the congregation to worship. Both bells are universal and invite everyone for spiritual matters. 
Donne offers a fine imagery in the first paragraph as he mentions God as the author of everyone’s death. 
“all mankind is of one author, and is one volume; when one man dies, one chapter is not torn out of the book, but translated into a better language; and every chapter must be so translated”
Donne suggests that God decides the manner of each death. Weather a person dies of old-age, of sickness, in battle ground, or even if he is executed by the government for his crimes, all this is decided by God Himself. Donne mentions every living human as a chapter of God’s voluminous book. He then suggests that death is not an end of a person, rather death is just a transition through which that person’s chapter is translated into spiritual language. He suggests that it is pre-ordained that each living earthly chapter will be translated into that better language. Donne then suggests that after the death, that is translation into spiritual language, God again binds all the chapters together to offer an open book to be read by whole mankind. He suggests that each death is thus, a treasure that can be used for beneficial purposes as living humans can learn from the lives translated into spiritual language. 
Donne then mentions the disagreement between various religious groups to get the honor of being the first to ring the church bell calling everyone for prayers. It was then decided that whichever group rises earlier in the morning should ring the bell in that order. Donne again compares the church prayer bell to the funeral bell and calls everyone to carefully decide what to do everyday as the death-bell tolls for everyone. 
No Man is an Island
No man is an island entire of itself; every man 
is a piece of the continent, a part of the main; 
if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe 
is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as 
well as any manner of thy friends or of thine 
own were; any man's death diminishes me, 
because I am involved in mankind. 
And therefore never send to know for whom 
the bell tolls; it tolls for thee. 
Donne begins the second paragraph of Meditation XVII with the famous phrase ‘No Man is an Island.’ In the second paragraph he consolidates his idea of universality of humanity and suggests that all men are connected to each other as no man is alone. Just like all dirt and sand clods are a part of the continent Europe and if a sand clod is removed or dissolved by the sea, it is a loss of the continent Europe as a whole, the death of any person is a loss to the humanity as whole. The dissolution of sand clod diminishes the continent europe and the death of every single person diminishes humanity. 
Since every death is a loss for whole humankind, the church bell tolls for a funeral, it tolls as the death-knell for everyone as each human dies with the death of other human to some extent. He says that no matter for whom the funeral bell is tolling, the death diminishes him everytime. He then says that this is the reason he never enquires for whom the death-knell is toling as he realizes that it is tolling for him. 
Donne then explains that his meditation is not to raise misery and worries. He suggests that each death is a treasure as a man with reasonable mind and ears can learn a lot from each death and improve his own life spiritually. Donne suggests that affliction is a treasure as it allows a man to grow and mature. He suggests that we as human inherit knowledge and wisdom from the sufferings of other humans. In a way, he refers to the writings of Augustine of Hippo (On Christian Doctrine) in which Augustine described the knowledge of Pagans as gold and silver. Augustine suggested that Christians should no renounce all wonderful knowledge of Pagans, rather they should make better use of the achievements of Pagans. Donne extrapolates this idea and suggests that death of any person is a treasure for anyone who can learn from his life, deeds and mistakes. 

The two phrases. ‘No Man is an Island,’ and ‘For Whome the Bell Tolls,’ became highly popular. Earnest Hemmingway published his novel For Whome the Bell Tolls in 1940 whose title was inspired by Meditation 17. Hemingway quoted the first part of the second paragraph of Meditation XVII in the epigraph of his novel. 
So this is it for today. We have covered all major works of John Donne. We will conclude this playlist by discussing the other minor works of John Donne in the next video. Please stay connected with the Discourse. Thanks and regards!

Batter My Heart, Three Person’d God | Holy Sonnet 14 by John Donne Summary Analysis

 Batter My Heart, Three Person’d God | Holy Sonnet 14 by John Donne Summary Analysis

Hello and welcome to the Discourse.

Batter My Heart, Three Person’d God is the first line of a deeply religious poem by John Donne that he wrote in the latter half of his life. It is also known as the Holy Sonnet 14 as it is the 14^th religious sonnet out of the 19 Holy Sonnets that John Donne wrote. All these religious poems were published posthumously as a part of Poems in 1633.

John Donne wrote this poem in a mixed structure of Petrachen sonnets and Shakespearean or English sonnets. The poet begins in Petrachen structure of ABBA ABBA but concludes the poem in a quatrain blended over a rhyming couplet (CDCD CC). In continuity, it appears as a combination of an Octet and a Sestet with rhyming scheme ABBA ABBA CDCD CC.

Themes:

John Donne was a Catholic by birth but later on, he changed to the Anglican faith. He wrote these 19 Holy sonnets during the time of his transition from Catholicism to Anglicanism. He had a lot of doubts and confusion that he depicted in his writings. In this poem, the poet is addressing to Trinitarian God (Three Person’d God). The poet expresses a feeling of ‘Absence of God in his heart, body, and soul. The poet is suffering the ‘Agony of Religious Doubt.’ It is not like he is not convinced of God’s existence, but the poet is failing to feel the goodness and purity of God in his sinful corrupt life. John Donne had spent a lot of time in amorous acts and affairs. But after his beloved wife’s death, he lost interest in worldly relations and turned towards the path of God.

For the poet, religion is a matter of the heart. For Donne, passion is central to faith and he wants God to enter in him passionately. The poet needs to feel the passionate love of God to feel His purity in himself. The poet describes this need for the passionate love of God in erotic terms. He wants God to seduce him forcefully, consensually, and ravish him physically. To ravish here literally means to rape. Considering God as the only male, and thinking of himself as a female, the poet Begs God to take him forcefully. Since his original faith in Catholicism is now dwindling, and the poet realizes that whatever his past actions were, were sinful, he needs God to purify him. This purification cannot be gentle. The divine love needs to enter in him forcefully. 

Imagery and Conceits:

John Donne expresses his mental and psychological situation in this poem by using two imageries that may appear as two main discourses of the poem. In the first case, the poet compares himself to a fallen beleaguered city that has been captured by the enemy Satan. As a captured, enslaved city, the poet begs God to attack and dethrone the Devil from his existence. Thus Donne offers military imagery in the first octet or first two quatrains and asks God to fight a battle against the Devil residing in his heart and body (which is the city).

A city is a common noun that expresses, the gentleness of civilization. Thus, if we personify ‘city’ it will appear as feminine gender. In the second discourse, Donne personifies this city representing his heart, soul, and body. This city is such a woman who has been forcibly married to someone she didn’t want. She is married to the Devil, Satan. The woman begs the man she always desired and loved to take her forcibly and free her of the marital bond in which she has been captured by the Devil. So here in the last six lines of Sestet, Donne offers marital imagery.

Donne presents himself as a lady who always loved and desired God but was unfortunately married to his lover’s enemy. He begs his lover (God) to devise a divorce between him and Satan. Satan has corrupted his body and mind and his rational faculty also failed to save him against evil. Thus, the poet asks God to treat him forcibly even if it appears as a punishment. Since he is under the Enemy's rule as a city and as a lady, he begs God to attack, ravish, and ravage him to win him over again. The poet further needs assurance that once God captures him, He must keep him in strict bondage or imprisonment to ensure his freedom from Satan. It appears paradoxical as the poet asks to be imprisoned by God to feel real freedom.

Summary of Batter my Heart

Batter my heart, three-person'd God, for you

As yet but knock, breathe, shine, and seek to mend;

That I may rise and stand, o'erthrow me, and bend

Your force to break, blow, burn, and make me new.

I, like an usurp'd town to another due,

Labor to admit you, but oh, to no end;

Reason, your viceroy in me, me should defend,

But is captiv'd, and proves weak or untrue.

In the opening Octet, the poet expresses his demands to the three person’d God or Trinitarian God (God, Jesus, and Holy Ghost). In the first line, the poet begs God to attack his heart as if it is the door of a fortress captured by the enemy. Unlike gentle knocking, battering means to break down the door.

In the second line, the poet says that in past, God tried to gently knock his heart, and cure and mend him, but that didn’t work. It is a religious idea that God knocks at everyone’s heart and they must let God in to gain the light of truth. However, the poet failed in this gentle endeavor.

In the third line, the poet says that he is fallen but he needs to rise and stand again. The poet wants God to forcibly enter into him. He asks God to ‘overthrow’ his current existence and bring upon a forced change to make him new again. As a city, the poet begs God to enter forcefully and demolish all the structures constructed by Evil (bend, break, blow, burn). Donne uses alliteration in line 4.

In the fifth line or the beginning of the second quatrain, the poet presents the first metaphor as a strong conceit. He compared himself with a fallen city captured by an enemy ruler.

The poet says that he belonged to God but the Devil has usurped his existence. In the sixth line, the poet says that he tries hard to ‘admit’ God but fails. ‘Admit’ here may mean ‘to accept.’ So the poet suggests that though he wants to believe in God, his faith is dwindling. However, the poet is presenting a conceit comparing himself to a city. So ‘Admit’ here may also mean ‘to let God in.’

In the seventh line, the poet compares Reason or rational faculty as the viceroy or representative of God. Reason leads a man to believe in God and defends a person against evil thoughts. However, the poet says that in him, the city, Reason has been captivated or overpowered by Satan, and thus, it appears weak and untrustworthy, his reason has sided with the Evil. The poet suggests that his soul is badly damaged by Satan and it needs to be recreated by God.

Yet dearly I love you and would be lov'd fain,

But am betroth'd unto your enemy;

Divorce me, untie or break that knot again,

Take me to you, imprison me, for I,

Except you enthrall me, never shall be free,

Nor ever chaste, except you ravish me.

In the Octet, Donne offered military imagery and compared himself as a fallen beleaguered city captured by the enemy Satan. He asks God to attack this city to overthrow the Evil tyrant and demolish all structures formed by Satan that have impurified the poet’s existence. In the following Sestet, he changes the conceit and personifies that beleaguered city to offer marital imagery. Donne introduces a Volta in the opening of Sestet (9^th line). A volta is a turn or transition in the main argument of a sonnet. The tone of the poem now becomes more desperate and full of passion. The poet says that as always, the poet dearly loves God which never faints or diminishes. But, despite his incessant love for God, the poet has been forcibly married to Satan, God’s enemy.

In the 11^th line, the poet continues the marital imagery and wants God to devise the poet’s divorce from Satan (untie or break the knot of marriage). Here, the poet is bringing upon the idea of Genesis and the Fall of men.

In the 12^th line, the poet demands God to imprison him and take him away from the influence of Satan and never allow him to be free from the imprisonment of God as, in this prison, he finds freedom from Satan. He wants God to take his chastity and rape him, impregnate him with God’s divine love.

So this is it about Batter My Heart Three Person’d God. We will discuss other major religious works of John Donne before concluding this playlist 

A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning by John Donne | Summary, Analysis, Explanation

 A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning by John Donne | Summary, Analysis, Explanation

Hello and welcome to the Discourse.

A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning is one of the finest love poems of the Elizabethan and Jacobean eras that was written in 1611-1612 by John Donne. The poem was published posthumously in 1633 in Donne’s collection Songs and Sonnets. John Donne was bound to a trip to Continental Europe and before leaving his beloved pregnant wife Anne alone, he wrote this poem.

The poem has 36 lines composed in nine stanzas, thus each stanza has four lines. Unlike other poems by John Donne which often have a strange rhyming scheme, A Valediction rather has a simple form with a consistent rhyming scheme ABAB in all stanzas. All the lines of the nine stanzas are in Iambic tetrameter.

Themes of A Valediction:

Just like in many of his other poems, Donne explains his philosophy of love, death, and spirituality while using some surprising conceits. The poem can be considered as an example of Carpe Diem poetry. A Carpe Diem poem suggests or promotes a particular way of living while reminding the reader that death is continuously lurking behind.

The poem begins with a description of a group of friends standing around the deathbed of a virtuous man. They discuss imminent death while the poet turns that feeling into enthusiasm towards life. He then suggests the importance of love and how his love for his beloved is spiritual in nature.

A Valediction is a metaphysical poem and Donne offers some surprising metaphors, conceit, and imagery in this poem. The very prominent imagery is that of troublesome disastrous weather patterns. Donne uses these weather patterns to describe the love of a different couple and then he suggests why his love for his beloved is of higher spiritual value.

The most important conceit offered by Donne in this poem is that of a compass. Donne compares his relationship with his wife Anne to the compass. Donne describes the compass as ‘stiff’ with a ‘fixed foot’ that doesn’t waiver around. It is his wife’s part. The other part of the compass is the poet himself that continues to roam around. The steadfastness of his wife always brings him back to her. The compass represents the balance between the couple.

However, the most bizarre, yet meaningful conceit is the comparison between the calm and peaceful death of a virtuous person and the mature spiritual love of a loyal couple.

Summary of A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning

As virtuous men pass mildly away,

And whisper to their souls to go,

Whilst some of their sad friends do say

The breath goes now, and some say, No:

The poet begins with an image of death. A virtuous man is on his deathbed. He led a virtuous and honorable life and now he is about to die peacefully. Donne expresses death here as ‘whispering tone’s soul away.’ Donne uses onomatopoeia (Whisper) here. The man is surrounded by his well-wishers and friend. His death is so calm that his friends are unable to decide whether he passed away or not. They ask each other if the breath is going on or not. The man led a satisfactory life and even at his death, there is no need for mourning, desperation, and dissatisfaction.

So let us melt, and make no noise,

No tear-floods, nor sigh-tempests move;

'Twere profanation of our joys

To tell the laity our love.

The reader may wonder why the poet depicted a death scene in the first stanza. In the second stanza, he offers his insight. He specifically wrote this poem for his wife before going away on a sea voyage, leaving her alone. The poet compares the peaceful death of a virtuous man to the love between him and his wife. He suggests to his wife that though they are going to separate for a while, their separation shouldn’t accompany ‘tear-floods’, and ‘sigh-tempests.’ The poet belittles other couples who show their passion in open. He suggests that his relationship with his lover is way better and respectable. It will be profanity to show their joys of meeting and sadness before he departs away to ‘laity’ or common people. So the poet is saying that though, unfortunately, he is forced to go away while leaving his wife alone, their relationship is so mature, strong, and superior to relationships of others who fail to control their passion, that they will bear this troublesome time with complete calm. The poet says that their farewell should be as mild as the uncomplaining deaths of virtuous men,

Moving of th' earth brings harms and fears,

Men reckon what it did, and meant;

But trepidation of the spheres,

Though greater far, is innocent.

The poet further suggests that his relationship with his wife is superior to the relationships between other couples. He says that the separation of a common couple is like an earthquake that brings a lot of harm, fears, and suspicion. However, he is also going away from his wife but they are no common couple, they are superior. Unlike the earthly people, their love is celestial. Just like the earth, other celestial bodies like the spherical Sun, or moon, also go through trepidations but they cause no harm no fear. His relationship is not like a showy earthquake, but it is much more genuine and powerful like the movement of celestial spheres.

Also, the poet suggests that his going away is no big deal and there is no need to cry and complain as if some disastrous earthquake has occurred.

Dull sublunary lovers' love

(Whose soul is sense) cannot admit

Absence, because it doth remove

Those things which elemented it.

The poet continues to belittle other couples describing their lesser love as ‘Dull’ and ‘Sublunary.’ Their love is not brightly shining like the moon, but it exists under the moon, or the brightness of the moon (celestial sphere) hides their love. The poet already compared his and his wife’s love as a celestial sphere. He further explains that the love of others is dependent on senses. The soul of their relationship is based on senses like to touch and see, their love is a carnal affair. In such cases, when the two lovers move away or get separated, the poet explains that the love also evaporates. Absence, or separation removes the love between such couples as in absence, or separation, they cannot see or touch each other.

But we by a love so much refined,

That our selves know not what it is,

Inter-assured of the mind,

Care less, eyes, lips, and hands to miss.

The poet dedicates the fifth stanza to explain the spiritual platonic nature of his and his wife’s relationship. The poet says that his and his wife’s relationship is so much refined and pure that they themselves are unable to grasp its spirituality, their love has got mysterious qualities. Their love is not completely carnal and it is much less dependent on eyes, lips, and hands. Thus, even in separation, these senses of touch and vision won’t be missed as the two lovers are bound mentally, spiritually, and despite being separated physically, they won’t feel any separation as on mental, spiritual levels, they will remain close, as one.

Our two souls therefore, which are one,

Though I must go, endure not yet

A breach, but an expansion,

Like gold to airy thinness beat.

In the sixth stanza, the poet strengthens his idea about the spiritual relationship between himself and his wife. Donne employs a simile and compares his love relationship to gold, the purest, malleable metal. He declares the nature of his relationship that has made the two souls of his and his wife as one. This oneness allows them to bear the physical separation. The poet suggests that his, going away, is not a breach of their relationship, rather it is just an expansion. They may physically remain apart, still, their soul is one. The poet explains this expansion by using the example of gold which stretches when it is beaten.

If they be two, they are two so

As stiff twin compasses are two;

Thy soul, the fixed foot, makes no show

To move, but doth, if the other do.

In the seventh stanza, Donne says that even if it is not so, even if their souls are not combined, they are not one, then also, their relationship has tied their two souls in the manner of a stiff compass in which there are two parts, one is his wife which remains ‘fixed footed’ and doesn’t wander. The other part is the poet himself who continues to wander and move away, yet, is tied to the ‘fixed foot.’His wife is the steady soul that remains grounded and doesn’t show. Like the fixed leg of a compass, it never moves independently but shows balanced movement when the other leg moves.

Donne used exaggerated simile here. He presented his relationship with his wife ‘as’ a stiff twin compass with two legs.

And though it in the center sit,

Yet when the other far doth roam,

It leans and hearkens after it,

And grows erect, as that comes home.

Donne continues the conceit in the eighth stanza and explains how his wife leans like a string when he wanders away and succeeds in bringing him back. It is like the fixed leg of a compass doesn’t move by itself. But when the other leg moves away under the magnetic effect, the fixed leg, bound to the wandering leg bents and leans towards the other leg. This stretched bond hearkens of pulls back the wandering leg at its place. Similarly, Donne’s wife leans towards him when he is away and pulls him back home. Once the fixed leg gains its original position, it again becomes stiff and erect.

Such wilt thou be to me, who must,

Like th' other foot, obliquely run;

Thy firmness makes my circle just,

And makes me end where I begun.

Donne continues the explanation of his conceit in the ninth stanza and concludes the poem. He explains how the fixed leg of a compass keeps the wandering leg intact while allowing it to move in just balanced circle. In the same manner, the firmness and loyalty of his wife make his trips and tour just. And just like the wandering leg of a compass, he also always comes back to his home, from where he began. The poet declares that no matter where he goes and what he does, the firmness of his wife will always bring him back to his home.

Donne wrote this poem to his wife to make her strong enough to bear the separation. First, he explained why mourning or complaining about his going away is useless. He raised the spiritual love between his wife and him and explained how they are two bodies but one soul, and thus, physically they may separate, on a spiritual level, they are one. He compared his relationship with gold. Then the poet further strengthened his point of why mourning and complaining at his separation from his wife must be avoided. He explains that even if he and his wife are two different souls, they are bound to each other like the two legs of a compass. He compares his wife with the fixed leg as she is not the one who is going away. He describes his wife as a firm, loyal and just character who hearkens the poet to remain just, loyal and bound to her. The firmness of his wife’s character is what brings the poet back to his home whenever he goes away.

So this is it for today. We will continue to discuss a few more poems by John Donne, including his religious works and then we will move towards other metaphysical poets of the same era. Please stay connected with the Discourse, thanks, and regards!

The Green Knight | Movies based on Classic Literature

 The Green Knight | Movies based on Classic Literature

Hello and welcome to the Discourse.

The Old English Literature is making sweet sounds again with David Lorey’s directorial The Green Knight, an American movie. The plot is based on the epic poem Sir Gawain and The Green Knight. Dev Patel of Slumdog Millionaire fame has played the role of Sir Gawain while Sarita Choudhary, the Queen of Kama Sutra: A Love Story, or Mina of Mississippi Masala has played the part of Morgan Le Fay, step-sister of King Arthur and Mother to Sir Gawain. Ralph Ineson has played the part of the Green Knight.

Movies Based on Classic Literature

Often filmmakers use classic literature to present the age-old stories suitably changed to present them with a modern look. Many Shakespearean dramas have been turned into movies and most of them proved to be enormously successful. Heath Ledger’s 10 Things I Hate About You was based on The Taming of the Shrew. It was released in 1999. While some minute changes and differences in the original and modern stories appear to be necessary, sometimes filmmakers introduce some bizarre changes in the original plot. One such bizarre change was made in the story of Romeo and Juliet, another romantic comedy by Shakespeare in 2013 when Nicholas Hault and Teressa Palmer's Warm Bodies was released. Warm Bodies tells the same classic story of Romeo and Juliet albeit the modern Romeo is a half-dead zombie and the modern Julliet is a living human who has vowed to kill as many zombies as she can. Unlike other zombie movies, Warm Bodies have a nice happy ending. She’s the Man (2006) was a nice depiction of The Twelfth Knight by Shakespeare.

George Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion inspired Audrey Hepburn’s My Fair Lady and Dev Anand’s Man Pasand. Jane Austin’s Pride and Prejudice has been filmed many times and the recent rendition was Bridget Jone’s Diary, released in 2001. Jane Austin’s Emma inspired the film Clueless which was released in 1995. As a surprise, Charle’s Dickinson’s A Tale of Two Cities has a big influence on the movie Batman The Dark Knight Rises which was released in 2012.

While Shakespearean Romance has remained the favorite of filmmakers around the globe, stories of the Old English and Middle English periods have also gained enough attention. In 2001, A Knight’s Tale was released which, as the title suggests, was based on the first story of Sir Geoffrey Chaucer’s epic The Canterbury Tales. Heath Ledger was again the star of The Knight’s Tale. Interestingly, the movie also had the character of Geoffrey Chaucer played by Paul Bettany. So Geoffrey Chaucer of 2001 observes the happenings in the movie and then decides to pen the story down for his collection The Canterbury Tales.

The Old English Stories

Sir J.R.R. Tolkein’s research and translation of old English literature brought a new life to the age-old marvelous mythical stories of Beowulf and Sir Gawain. He translated Beowulf, Pearl, Purity, Patience, and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Tolkien was very much influenced by the Norse mythologies and old English epic poems and this influence are largely visible in his epic novels The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. Filmmakers couldn’t keep away from these fantasy stories set in the age-old English period for long and in 2001, Peter Jackson began his tri-series The Lord of the Rings with the first installment titled The Fellowship of the Ring. Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, both show the influences of Beowulf and Sir Gawain. The depiction of the dragon in The Hobbit is specifically influenced by the dragon encountered by Beowulf.

Sir Gawain’s chivalric romance has also been revised as feature films and television series several times. In 1984, Sword of the Valiant was released in which Miles O’Keefe played the role of Sir Gawain while Sean Connery played the part of the Green Knight. The recent addition to the list of adaptations is Dev Patel’s The Green Knight.

Gawain Poet’s Story

Sir Gawain and The Green Knight was written by an anonymous writer during the 14^th century. We do not know much about the writer except that he was a contemporary of Chaucer but unlike him, the Gawain poet or better known as the Pearl poet chose to write in West Saxon Dialect. Chaucer preferred the London dialect and always promoted it. The poem is a long epic with 25,00 lines written in alliterative style using internal rhyme. The poem follows the Bob and the Wheel metrical pattern where each stanza ends with a short half-line having only two syllables (Bob). This short half-line is followed by a mini-stanza of longer lines in internal rhyming (Wheel).

The poem tells an Arthurian tale and begins in Camelot on New Year’s Eve where King Arthur is enjoying a feast with his wife Queen Guinevere and his brave knights. The youngest knight in King Arthur’s court is Sir Gawain who is his nephew too. His mother is Morgan Le Fay, the step-sister of King Arthur who is a benevolent enchantress. Morgan is suspicious of Queen Guinevere and she decides to play a trick on her. While King Arthur and his knights are enjoying the feast, a mysterious strong personality appears in Camelot. This mysterious person is wearing all green cloth and his skin and hair are also green and he is riding a green horse. He greets everyone and introduces himself as the Green Knight. All the knights of Camelot get anxious as they have heard the rumors that the Green Knight is immortal, someone who cannot be killed. The green knight claims that he has no wrong intentions but he came to greet King Arthur and his brave knights and proposes a friendly game. The Green Knight wears no badge no armor but has an impressive strong ax in his one hand. He challenges the knights of Camelot to strike his head once with his ax on a condition that the green knight will return the strike after the completion of one year and one day. Nobody is ready to take the challenge as they know that the Green Knight cannot be killed. King Arthur rises and decides to take the challenge himself but Sir Gawain, the youngest of them all interrupts him and demands that this honor should be given to him. Sir Gawain takes the marvelous ax of Green Knight and strikes his neck with it. Green Knight’s head falls on the floor but he doesn’t die. His remaining body picks up the head and he departs from the court while reminding Sir Gawain that he will have to take the strike back, after one year and one day.

While everyone praises Sir Gawain for his bravery, he is a little pensive as he now knows that after one year and one day, he will have to take the strike back on his neck and unlike the Green Knight, he will surely die.

As the end of the year reaches near, Sir Gawain decides to seek the Green Knight to take the strike back. First, he is robbed by scavengers during the travel. Then he meets a beautiful lady whom he saves from the robbers. The voluptuous lady takes him to her husband Sir Bertilak’s castle. At the castle, Sir Gawain sees an old and ugly woman. Despite her ugliness, everyone in the castle treats her with the utmost respect. Sir Gawain feels that he knows that old ugly woman but he fails to remember anything about her. Sir Gawain meets the husband of that beautiful lady and informs him about his intentions to seek the Green Chapel where he may meet the Green Knight to take his strike back. Sir Bertilak praises Sir Gawain and his intention to fulfill his promise. He informs him that the Green Chapel is only two miles away from his castle.

Sir Bertilak greets Sir Gawain and offers a strange deal. Bertilak says that Sir Gawain can use his castle and enjoy his remaining time with all possible amenities. Furthermore, Bertilak will share whatever he gains from his hard work during the day with Sir Gawain but in return, Sir Gawain will also have to give half of whatever he gets during the day. Sir Gawain agrees.

The next day, when Bertilak goes out to hunt, his wife approaches Sir Gawain and tries to seduce him. She owns an extremely beautiful voluptuous body but Sir Gawain is determined not to fall prey. Yet, Gawain couldn’t afford to make her angry so he offers her a mere kiss. Her husband returns at night and offers a dead deer to Sir Gawain that he hunted. In return, Sir Gawain kisses him too because that was all he earned during the day. The next day, Bertilak’s wife again tries to seduce Sir Gawain and she fails again. She offers him a magical ring with a golden red stone. She says that Gawain should take that ring as it will keep him safe against any imminent danger. However, Sir Gawain refuses to take the ring but agreed to offer her two kisses.

Her husband returns at night and he offers a wild boar to Sir Gawain. Sir Gawain offers him two kisses that he earned during the day. Meanwhile, the end of the year is very near and Sir Gawain is too worried about the Green Knight’s strike and his imminent death. The next day, Bertilak’s wife again approaches Gawain and furiously tries to seduce him but fails again. At last, she says that she admires the character of Sir Gawain and doesn’t want any harm to him. She offers him a girdle and says that it will protect him against the Green Knight’s strike.

Sir Gawain is too much afraid of death and he falls this time. He takes the girdle. The lady says that he should hide that girdle from her husband otherwise he will have to give it to him. At night, when Bertilak returns, he offers Gawain a dead fox that he killed during the day. Gawain hides the girdle but offers him three kisses, suggesting that he earned all that he earned during the day.

The next day is the last for Gawain. He decides to go to the Green Chapel to encounter the Green Knight. When he reaches there, he bows his head to take the strike from the Green Knight. When the Green Knight strikes at his neck, Sir Gawain flinches away out of fear. The Green Knight laughs at him. Ashamed, Sir Gawain bows his head again and says he won't move away again. The Green Knights start to take the strike but don’t strike Sir Gawain for a while. When puzzled Sir Gawain questions him, he laughs again and says he was just testing him. The Green Knight strikes Sir Gawain's neck for the third time but his ax fails to behead him, leaving a mark of strike on his neck. The magical green girdle saved the life of Sir Gawain. The cloud thunders and the Green Knight changes his appearance at the same time. Sir Gawain comes to know that the Green Knight is none else but Bertilak, the lord of the castle where he took rest. Bertilak informs him that it was all a test to check his bravery. He informs him that this test was set by Sir Gawain’s own mother Morgan Le Fay. Sir Gawain then realizes that the old ugly lady he witnessed at Bertilak’s castle resembled his mother, though his mother is very beautiful but in disguise.

Sir Gawain is ashamed for the treachery he committed and informs Bertilak how his wife tried to seduce him and how she offered him the magical girdle that saved his life. Bertilak laughs at this revelation and informs Sir Gawain that he already knows all of it. He announces that Sir Gawain is still the most honest and bravest knight of King Arthur despite his weaknesses.

Sir Gawain is still not convinced and he decides to keep the girdle bound on his waist forever to keep reminding him about his weaknesses. He returns to Camelot and informs King Arthur about his experiences. King Arthur and the other knights praise him and all the knights decide to wear a green girdle on their waist just like Sir Gawain does.

As one can see, this epic poem is full of magic, awesome scenery, dreadful actions, and enchanting mysteries. The Indian film industry is also engaged in producing a depiction of epic Mahabharata in which Deepika Padukon is playing the part of Draupadi and Hrithik Roshan is set to play the role of Karna while Amir Khan is set to play the role of Shri Krishna. Let’s hope that this Bollywood project will do justice to the epic story of Mahabharata.

This is for today. We will continue without discussion on English literature. Please stay connected with the Discourse. Thanks and Regards!

MCQs on the Jacobean and Caroline Plays and Playwrights

 Hello and welcome to the Discourse!

Let us revise the plays of the Jacobean and Caroline era. We have already offered a series of multiple-choice questions based on the works of William Shakespeare and Ben Jonson. Let us now revise the works of other prominent Jacobean and Caroline dramatists including Beaumont and Fletcher, John Webster, Thomas Middleton, Thomas Heywood, Philip Massinger, John Ford, James Shirley, and Thomas Dekker. It will be a multiple-choice question series. We will cover some interesting plays including The Changeling, A Game of Chess, A Woman Killed with Kindness, The Roaring Girl, The Shoemaker's Holiday, The Duchess of Malfi, The White Devil, The English Traveler, The Four Prentices of London, Tis Pity She's a Whore and so on... We will continue to offer similar multiple-choice question series on various topics related to English literature as we strive to offer a complete course for the preparation of UGC NET English literature, NTA NET English literature, PGTRB English,, SET English literature, TGT PGT English, GATE English Literature, and other exams, please stay connected with the Discourse, Thanks, and Regards!.