Desire Under Elms by Eugene O’Neill | Characters, Summary, Analysis

 

Hello and welcome to the Discourse. Desire Under Elms was a 3 Act play by Eugene O’Neill that was first performed in 1924. The play is loosely based on the Greek myth of Hippolytus and Phaedra which was first depicted in the play Hippolytus by Euripides. Eugene O’Neill depicted a similar story in a rural New England setting, albeit there are some basic differences between the story of Hippolytus by Euripides and the story of Desire Under Elms by Eugene O’Neill.

Characters: Eben Cabot is a young man with a strong sinewy build. He is attractive looking with defensive and resentful eyes. He lives with his old father and two half-brothers from his father’s first wife. The farmland they live on belongs to his mother whom his father married for land. His mother died while working hard at the farm and Eben blames his father for her death. Simeon and Peter Cabot are elder than Eben. Simeon is 39 years old and Peter is 37 years old. None of them wishes to waste their life on the farmland and they dream of venturing out to California and trying their luck in gold mines. Ephraim Cabot is 75 years old man, father of Eben, Simeon, and Peter. He is strongly built though his eyesight is weak now as he is too old. His first wife died at an early age when Simeon and Peter were little. He married for the second time and worked the farm of his second wife and made it successful. His second wife also died early and he often complains of being lonesome and the fact that no one really knows him. While he remained dutiful to each of his sons, none of his sons is close to him. Simeon and Peter wish he dies so that they may get their share of the farm and go to California to find gold. Eben on the other hand resents his father and wrongly blames him for his mother’s death. Abbie Putnam is a vivacious buxom woman, 35 years old. She is attractive with a strong sex appeal that cannot be denied. She marries Ephraim Cabot and becomes his third wife for security, money, and land. However, Ephraim is too old for her and she sets her eyes on Eben. Eben believes that she married his father only to grab his mother’s land. He resents Abbie for this but gradually accepts her as his lover. Abbie is happy to get the security of home as Ephraim’s wife while her physical and emotional needs are fulfilled by Eben until he comes to think that she is tricking him for his land.

Summary of Desire Under Elms:

It is a 3 Act play divided into 12 scenes. Eugene O’Neill was known for his heart-shaking tragedies and this play is also a tragedy based on difficult themes of greed, vengeance, love, desire, adultery, and distrust. The play is set in a farmhouse in New England in the 1850s. The farmhouse has two grown u strong elm trees, one at each side of the gate. Eben Cabot is a young attractive thin man with strong muscles showing his strength. He rings a bell to call his elder brothers Simeon and Peter to have supper. As Simeon and Peter arrive, they discuss the gold mines of California. Simeon says that it is an appropriate time for them to go to California and venture their luck in finding gold. Peter mentions that their father Ephraim Cabot is too old. He went out of the house two months ago and hasn’t returned yet. Simeon says that they cannot leave the farm until their father returns. Eben is listening to them and he says that he wishes their father is already dead.

Simeon and Peter know that Eben resents their father but they chastise him for wishing for his death. Eben argues that their father was responsible for the untimely death of his mother who died at a young age. He even blames Simeon and Peter for not helping his mother at the time of her need. Later on, Eben leaves the house to visit a local prostitute. Simeon says that Eben is exactly like their father.

The next morning, Eben arrives with news that their father has married for the third time. Simeon and Peter are afraid that the new wife of Ephraim will claim her share in the farmland. Eben sees his opportunity and offers $300 each to Simeon and Peter if they agree to give their rights on the farmland in favor of Eben to which Simeon and Peter agree. Eben has a strong desire to hold the whole farmland alone as it belonged to his dead mother.

As soon as Ephraim Cabot returns to the farmhouse along with his voluptuous curvy wife Abbie Putnam, Simeon and Peter leave home to go to California for their new venture in gold mines. Before leaving, they get into an argument with their father and warn him that Eben is just like him and he will chew him and throw him away. Meanwhile, Abbie is too excited at seeing her husband’s land and it is pretty clear that she married only for the land. As she goes out to have a stroll on the farm, she encounters Eben working in the field. She sees him with great interest and finds herself strongly attracted to him. Eben also notices her grown-up voluptuous body and finds himself attracted to her. Yet, when Abbie starts behaving seductively, he rejects her advances and reprimands her. He says that his father brought her like a prostitute and she has no right on the land as it belongs to him alone. Abbie too has a strong interest in the land but now, her whole attention is only on Eben who has aroused a strong desire in her.

Abbie continues to seduce Eben but he is strong-willed to reject her advances again and again. Abbie is concerned that Ephraim is thinking of offering the whole farm to Eben so she devises a plan and complains to Ephraim that Eben has been flirting with her. This angers Ephraim and he threatens to kill Eben or drive him away from the farm. Abbie realizes that she wants nothing of it as she still hopes to seduce Eben. She calms Ephraim down and tells him that she wishes to become the mother of his child. Ephraim is delighted to listen to this and he promises to fill her womb with a child soon. However, Abbie isn’t satisfied with Ephraim’s advances. Soon she decides to go to Eben’s cabin and kisses him forcibly. Eben tries to resist but fails to control her onslaught. She then invites him to the parlor down the hall which is a long unused room as it is believed to be haunted by Eben’s dead mother. This offers a different insight into Eben. He thinks that his mother would approve of his sexual relationship with his father’s newlywed wife as revenge against Ephraim. Thus, Abbie and Eben begin an incestuous relationship.

Soon Abbie becomes pregnant and then after nine months, she gives birth to a child. Old Cabot believes that the newly born baby is his child and throws a party to celebrate. All the neighborhood knows about the incestuous relationship between Abbie and Eben and they laugh at the back of Old Cabot but he ignores them. After the party, Ephraim goes to Eben’s room and says that the farm will go to Abbie and his newly born child. This angers Eben and they start fighting. When Abbie hears the noise, she goes up and tries to separate the two. Old Cabot soon retires to his room. When Abbie tries to talk to Eben, he shouts at her and blames her for using him to get pregnant so she could claim the child was Cabot’s and take the farm. Now when Old Cabot has announced that the farm will go to Abbie and her child, Eben finds no reason to stay at the farm and decides to go to California to work with his elder brothers. Abbie tries to reason with him and convinces him that she will find a way to prove his doubts wrong. Eben rejects listening to her and says that he wished the child had never been born. Abbie realizes that her own child is the wall between her and Eben.

The next morning, when Eben is preparing to leave for California, Abbie decides to act and she smothers her own child to death while standing on the balcony. She then rushes down to stop Eben from going away as she informs him that she has killed the child. While Abbie is feverish and proud as she did the ultimate sacrifice to save her love, her desire, Eben is horrified by Abbie’s act. He says that he is going to inform the Sherrif of the murder of the child. Abbie tells him that she doesn’t care for anything now as she did what was necessary to win back his love. Eben goes out to inform the Sherrif.

Meanwhile, hearing the noise, Ephraim gets up and comes out. He asks Abbie if the child is still sleeping to which she answers that the child is dead. Ephraim is shocked and sad. He goes to the child to check and finds him dead. He takes the child in his arms and starts crying. Abbie sees him and cruelly shatters his heart more by revealing that he is not the father of that dead child as the child was Eben’s son. Ephraim feels as if the ground is shattering under his feet. He says that he is going to inform the sheriff to which Abbie says that he doesn’t need to do that as Eben himself has gone to call the sheriff.

Eben returns and informs that the Sheriff is coming soon. He faces Abbie and tells her that no matter what happened but he loves her more than anything in the world and says that he will equally share the blame for the murder of the child. Abbie hugs Eben and they both disgust Old Cabot. Old Cabot is too sad and he says that he will burn the farm and go to California with his saved money. Eben informs him that he used his saved money to buy Simeon and Peter’s land on the farm. Old Cabot realizes that he now has no money but only the farm. He accepts his fate to live lonely on the farm as the Sherrif arrives, arrests Eben and Abbie, and takes them away.

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

Rajmohan’s Wife by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee | Characters, Summary, Analysis

Hello and welcome to the Discourse. Rajmoan’s Wife was the first novella written by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee that was published in 1864. It was the first Indian English novella that was edited by Ishwar Chandra Gupta and published in a periodical named Indian Field. Bankim Chandra was born on 27 June 1838 and he died on 8^th April 1894. He got his postgraduate degree in Law from the University of Calcutta in the year in 1869. He joined British Indian Government as a Deputy Magistrate in 1858 and retired as a Deputy Collector in 1891. Despite his job, he was a staunch Hindu nationalist who through his literary works, continued to strengthen the Indian struggle for independence against the foreign rule. Rajmohan’s Wife was a romantic, suspenseful thriller that was followed by Durgeshnandini, his first Bengali novel published in 1865. Rajsimha was his first historical fiction novel that was published in 1881 and was later translated into Hindi by Bhartendu Harishchandra. In 1882, Chaterjee’s Anandmath was published which was a fictional novel loosely based on the historical Sanyasi Revolt of India against the British East India Company in which he depicted untrained Sanyasi soldiers fighting and defeating the East India Company. Anandmath became hugely popular and the poetic song ‘Vandemataram’ written in highly Sanskritised Bengali touched the nerves of the Indian masses. Later on, this song was adopted as the National Song in 1937.

Characters of Rajmohan’s Wife :

Matangini is the protagonist of the story. She is the eponymous wife of Rajmohan. She belonged to a poor family and her father married her to Rajmohan in haste. She is 18 years old young woman with a strong will and a confident attitude. Rajmohan is the abusive husband of Matangini. He is involved in some nefarious activities as he wants to make some fast money. He is an unscrupulous, cruel, and corrupt man filled with false pride. Matangini asks for a job for her husband but when Rajmohan is offered the job, he gets furious and rejects it. Though he accepts the job later with a nefarious plan. Hemangini is the younger sister of Matangini. She is married to Madhav. Madhav’s father Ramkanhai wished him to marry the poor girl Hemangini who is a good-natured submissive girl who dares not talk to her own sister in front of her husband. Madhav is an educated wise man full of patience. He is a just man. When he visits to see and marry Hemangini as his father wishes, Matangini sees him and finds herself in love with him. However, he is going to be her brother-in-law. Ramkanhai’s father had distributed his estate equally to his three sons. The eldest son was Ramakanta whose son is Mathur. Ramakanta manages his part of the estate well and taught Mathur how to manage land and servants. However, Mathur is not well-educated. Ramkanhai failed to manage his part of the estate and wasted most of his money on gambling and alcohol. However, he made sure that his son Madhav attains the best education and he arranged the marriage of Madhav to Hemangini, believing that the couple will remain happy throughout their life. Ramakanta and Ramkanhai’s third brother Ramgopal remained childless. Before he died, he transferred his share of the estate to Madhav as he considered him just and goodhearted on the condition that Madhav will take proper care of his wife after his death. Tara is the second protagonist, the first wife of Mathur who is a childhood friend of Madhav. She has a soft corner for Madhav as she knows he is the better and a principled man. Mathur remarries Champak and takes her as his second wife. Mathur is jealous of Madhav and wishes to grab the estate he got through the will of their uncle Ramgopal. Sardar is the leader of a dacoit gang who is trying to steal the will of Ramgopal from Madhav so that Mathur may claim his right to that part of the estate. Bhiku is an allias of Sardar. Kanakmayee is a 30-year-old unmarried woman who befriends Matangini. Karuna is a servant of Mathur’s house who helps Tara.

Summary of Rajmohan’s Wife:

It is a women-centric story that revolves around a property dispute. The first woman to be discussed is Ramgopal’s old widow. She is a gullible, submissive woman whose husband recently died. Before dying, he gave rights to all his property to his nephew Madhav, an educated man who graduated from the University of Kolkatta. One may infer that Bankim Chandra depicted the character of Madhav in his own image. A young good looking man, well-educated, reading English literature while sitting on his armchair. Madhav has to take proper care of his aunt as this is the condition of the will of his uncle Ramgopal. However, Mathur, the cousin of Madhav is jealous of him. Madhav’s father had wasted all the share of his estate on gambling and alcohol while Mathur’s father was a cautious person who taught Mathur how to manage the estate and servants. Mathur is an antithesis of what Madhav is. He is impatient, jealous, greedy, rude, and inhuman to servants and others. To grab the rights on his dead uncle Ramgopal’s estate, he plans to instigate his widow's aunt to file a case in court that the will was forged. Another part of his plan is to steal the original will from Madhav so that his aunt may win the case in court. He manages to instigate his aunt against Madhav and to succeed in the second part, he appoints a notorious dacoit Sardar who, along with his right hand Bhiku, tries to rob Madhav’s house. Their accomplice is Rajmohan, a greedy, rude, and corrupt man.

The second woman is Matangini, an 18-year-old, beautiful married woman who is principled and honest. She belongs to a poor family. Her younger sister is Hemangini. Ramkanhai once saw Hemangini and wished her to become his daughter-in-law. He had devoted himself to the better education of his child Madhav and he wished to get him a good, beautiful submissive wife. Madhav agreed to his father’s wish. However, Matangini was the elder sister. So Hemangini’s father decided to marry Matangini first. Matangini had seen Madhav and he was the person she dreamt to spend her life with. But Madhav’s marriage was arranged with her younger sister Hemangini and she could do nothing about it. She was happy for her sister. In haste, Matangini’s father gives her hand to Rajmohan, without enquiring much about him. He is a lazy, greedy person with no money and no proper education. He is a frustrated man who is always rude to his wife Matangini. Matangini asks Hemangini to talk to Madhav and get a job for Rajmohan so that their financial condition may improve. While Hemangini fails to talk about this to her husband, Madhav himself offers a job to Rajmohan and asks him to shift to his estate in Radhaganj and work as the supervisor. Rajmohan feels insulted by this offer and rejects it furiously. However, he has nothing else to do. Thus, he accepts it and shifts to Radhaganj. Now the two sisters are living in the neighborhood. One other neighbor of Matangini is Kanakmayee who becomes a close friend of Matangini. Whenever Rajmohan mistreats her, Matangini shares her pain with Kanakmayee. Kanak knows that Matangini is trapped in wedlock with the wrong person. She is the only one who knows that at heart, Matangini loved Madhav, her younger sister’s husband.

One day, Matagini goes to fetch water from the well with Kanak. She covers her face in her saree but when she returns, a gush of air removes the veil from her head. Two men, Madhav and Mathur see her from Mathur’s window. Madhav recognizes her as his sister-in-law. Mathur takes a deep breath as he is impressed and sexually aroused by this beautiful woman. Madhav admonishes him for his reaction. Back at home, Rajmohan gets angry at her for leaving home without his permission and shouts at her. Matangini silently faces the abuse hurled at her by Rajmohan. As he calms down a little bit, she goes to her chamber and locks herself up. In the evening, when Rajmohan’s aunt asks her to have some food, she declines and pretends as if she is sleeping. She thinks of her childhood days when she was always happy with her sister. To get some air, she opens up the window of her chamber and sees two silhouettes talking to each other. As she listens to them, she comes to know that one of them is Rajmohan, her husband, and the other one is the notorious dacoit Sardar. They are planning to attack Madhav’s house to rob him. Rajmohan confirms that the will that Sardar wants to rob is at Madhav’s house and gets a promise for obtaining a good share of the loot.

Madhav is her sister’s husband, Matangini couldn’t let any harm reach his house. Thus, she decides to go against her husband and warn Madhav about the imminent attack. She visits Madhav’s home and informs him that she has heard the Dacoit Sardar is going to attack his house. She doesn’t mention her husband’s involvement though. Madhav alerts his guards and servants and when Sardar attacks his house, he is forced to run back away.

When Rajmohan finds that Matangini isn’t at home, he realizes that she got some inkling of his plan. He scolds her and tries to kill her. However, Sardar reaches his home at the right moment. Sardar believes that Rajmohan double-crossed him and informed Madhav himself. As he attacks Rajmohan, he painstakingly tries to calm him down and explain that it was his wife who informed Madhav. Meanwhile, Matangini runs away from there to save her life and reaches Kanak’s house for help. Kanak takes her to another girl Suki’s home. Suki’s mother promises to help her and takes her to Mathur’s house. At Mathur’s house, Matangini meets Tara, another woman of substance who remains ready to stand for just and right. She promises to help Matangini. When Mathur returns home, Tara informs her about Matangini. Mathur listens to what happened and decides to let Matangini stay at his home. However, his second wife Champak isn’t happy about it. She is younger than Tara. Mathur married her for her sexual charm. But Matangini is obviously more beautiful than her and she is jealous of her. She worries that Matangini may attract all attention of Mathur. She argues that Mathur shouldn’t allow her to stay at home. At the same time, Rajmohan arrives at Mathur’s house and asks to let him take his wife back as he has forgiven her. Matangini is sent back to her home despite her reluctance. Rajmohan requests Suki’s mother and his sister Kishori to escort Matangini back to his home as he has some rather important work to do. When Rajmohan returns home, he finds that Matangini is missing, she never reached home.

Later on, Sardar and his henchmen attack Madhav’s house once again, and instead of robbing him, they abduct him and take him to a dark lonely basement of a godown. At Mathur’s house, Tara notices that her husband is disturbed and worried. She asks him but Mathur says that he cannot reveal anything yet. Tara and Mathur listen to a loud shriek coming from the back of the garden and Mathur rushes toward it. Tara sees him going away and realizes that something is wrong.

In the godown, Madhav’s eyes are blindfolded and as the other men torture him, he realizes that there are three other men along with him. He asks them what they want but he gets no answer. As the three men discuss him, he hears a familiar voice, the voice of Mathur. He addresses Mathur and asks what does he want? Mathur says that he wants the will of Ramgopal. After contemplating for a while, Madhav agrees to offer the will to him and asks for a page and pen to write a letter to his family members. All this while, a strange, frightening shriek keeps coming from the back of the godown. As the darkness of night engrosses the atmosphere, the shriek starts threatening Sardar and his henchmen and they decide to run away. Mathur is also forced to go back. Madhav has already written a letter and asked for the delivery of the will so that he may return. Now when Madhav is alone, he tries to free himself and run away. But as he does so, he stumbles and meets Tara. Tara is his childhood friend. They used to go to school together and became best friends. Like Matangini, Tara always felt that Madhav is a perfect man and always respected him. She knew something is wrong and thus, she followed Mathur and reached the godown. She helps Madhav get rid of the remaining restraints. Suddenly, they hear the same shriek again. Tara notices that it appears a loud cry of some woman. Madhav and Tara investigate the shriek and find Matangini bound in a dark room with cloth stuffed in her mouth. They free Matangini up. She informs that Suki’s mother is working for Mathur and she brought her to this godown where Mathur threatened her to submit to him. Matangini defied him and challenged him and said, “Look; I am a full-grown woman, and at least your equal in brute force. Will you call in allies?” Then Sardar and Bhiku came and bound her in restraints and mouth gag. Thus she came to know that Mathur, Sardar, and her husband Rajmohan are planning together to rob Madhav.

Madhav takes Matangini to safety in his house with the help of Tara and Karuna, his home servant. As she meets Hemangini, Matangini expresses her wish to return to her father’s house. Madhav complains to the police. The next day, Sardar meets Mathur and informs him that the police are searching for him. He informs that Bhiku has been arrested and he has confessed his involvement while revealing the names of Sardar, Rajmohan, and Mathur in the robbery and abduction of Madhav in front of the newly posted Magistrate. Mathur realizes that he has lost all reputation and he cannot save himself now. Later, in the morning, he commits suicide. Sardar runs away to oblivion while Rajmohan is arrested. Tara mourns the death of her husband and decides to manage the estate in a better manner. Matangini returns to her father’s home and Madhav continues to lead a happy life with Hemangini.

Bankim Chandra Chaterjee was known for his Hindu nationalist views. He was a modern educated person who wished to work for the making of a better, stronger, and free Indian society. Rajmohan’s Wife is often considered an allegory in which Bankim Chandra represented Matangini as the personification of modern India. She is confident, strong, and ready to stand against the wrong, yet vulnerable. Matangini represents an emergent, strong-willed, attractive, yet cautious young India. Mathur represents a corrupt, rude, immoral, yet socially privileged class that is trying to recapture India to exploit. In the novel, Mathur is described as “an exceedingly apt scholar in the science of chicane, fraud, and torture”. He is crude, vulgar, and corpulent with a tall build bald head, and dark complexion. He wears a gold amulet, a gold chain, gold studs on his shirt, and wears rings on all the fingers of his hands. He abducts Matangini and imprisons her in the cellar of his godown “determined to gratify at once both revenge and lust”.

Madhav is totally opposite to Mathur. He is “a remarkably handsome young man of about twenty-two”. He is well-educated and though he belongs to the same socially privileged class of Zamindars as Mathur, he is principled. Yet, he lacks the energy and vitality that Matangini and Tara exudes. The other man is Rajmohan who represented the younger class of Bankim Chandra’s time that got lampooned and affected by colonialism. Rajmohan represents a person who couldn’t value his people, his society, his country, and his civilization. In the novel, Rajmohan is offered a job by Madhav. Had he been principled and honest, he might have worked wonders. Yet, he chose to be disloyal to him and looked for easy money by getting involved in the plan of Mathur and Sardar to rob Madhav.

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

The Provoked Wife by John Vanbrugh | Characters, Summary, Analysis

Hello and welcome to the Discourse. The Provoked Wife was the second and the last completed play was written by John Vanbrugh that was first staged in 1697. Like his first play The Relapse, Or Virtue in Danger, John Vanbrugh raised the same issue of wedlock turning into a deadlock because of the husband’s promiscuity and the wife’s virtuous behavior. However, again he offers an insight into how a wife may also take the same course of promiscuity if she decides she also attains many venues to cheat. The premise of the plot, that a wife trapped in an abusive marriage might consider either leaving it or taking a lover, outraged some prominent sections of English society of the Restoration age. Yet, the play proved to be a huge success. It is a restoration comedy, however, the lead character Misses Brute may appear to be a tragic heroine.

Characters: Sir John Brute is a promiscuous rake who sets his eyes on a voluptuous beautiful Lady Brute. Lady Brute was a virtuous girl belonging to a poor family. They engage in a haste marriage, she for money, and he for sex. However, after some months, John Brute is again attracted to his rakish behavior and finds himself trapped in an unwanted marriage. Lady Brute is also provoked by her husband’s infidelity but she is bound by her goodness and virtues. Yet, she meets a gentleman named Constant and finds herself deeply attracted to him. Constant also desires Lady Brute but he respects her virtuous attitude and loyalty toward her husband. He continues to meet her and they flirt with each other while Lady Brute continues to protect her virtuous self. Belinda is Lady Brute’s niece who realizes that she is in love with Constant. She knows how brutish and rude her uncle is towards her aunt. She supports Lady Brute’s relationship with Constant. Constant, on the other hand, is very respectful towards Lady Brute and remains ready to protect her dignity in all situations. His friend Heartfree is in love with Belinda and wishes to marry her but he has to ask Sir John Brutes permission for her hand in marriage. Lady Fanciful is a preposterous neighbor of Lady Brute. She is a female version of Lord Foppington. She is enamored by Heartfree and wants to marry her and thus, is jealous of Belinda and Lady Brute.

Summary of the Provoked Wife:

The play is divided into 5 acts. The play starts with a soliloquy by John Brute who expresses how bored he is with being married. Soon Lady Brute appears and asks an innocuous question to which Brute, being rude starts his surly angry replies and leaves home. Lady Brute then offers her soliloquy asking what wrong did she do to suffer such indignities and inhuman behavior by her husband. She admits that others had warned her about Sir John Brute but she married him because of his money as she was poor and believed that she could change him. Belinda enters home and understands what might have happened. She says how rude a husband John Brute is. She reminds Lady Brute that he is an infidel too and continues to go to brothels. Belinda says that she knows her aunt has a soft corner for Constant and starts praising how good a gentleman Constant is. Lady Brute stops her and preaches to her about how women ought to resist the temptation to flirt and coquette outside their marriages. Then the two women start discussing Lady Fanciful, the annoying neighbor.

Lady Fanciful is a popular figure with many admirers but her eyes are set on a particular gentleman named Heartfree who hardly recognizes her love. She gets a letter from Heartfree who is known to be a women hater. In the letter, Heartfree rejects her love for him and says that she’s a damn attractive woman but has made herself so prettified and pretentious that she has become a figure of fun. Lady Fanciful cries how rude Heartfree is, yet finds him more desirable than he ever was.

Heartfree and Constant visit Sir John Brute’s house to meet him. Heartfree is a close friend of Constant who is sad. When Sir John Brute meets them, he asks why is he sad, is it because of a woman? This is true because Constant is said for Lady Brute whom he loves from the heart despite her being married to Sir John. Sir John is unaware of this. At the same time, Lord Rake and Colonel Bully arrive at Brute’s house and ask him to accompany them to the brothel. John Brute goes out with them while telling Heartfree and Constant to stay until he returns. This offers Constant a chance to express his feelings for Lady Brute as she enters with Belinda. Lady Fanciful arrives and interrupts Constant before he could say anything and complains about how rudely Heartfree addressed her in his letter to her. Belinda realizes that Lady fanciful is in love with Heartfree and starts flirting with him to tease her. Heartfree realizes that Constant will have no chance to express his love to Lady Brute, so he takes him away.

Lady Brute and Belinda are alone again as they talk. Lady Brute confesses that she feels weak for Constant but isn’t willing to go the immoral away alone. She asks if Belinda is interested in Heartfree, and Belinda says that she might be but Heartfree isn’t that interested in her.

Meanwhile, Sir John Brute, Lord Rake, and Colonel Bully are heavily drunk. They attack a tailor parring by them and rob the clothes he was taking to deliver. It is a woman’s dress, a lady gown that he made for Lady Brute. John Brute doesn’t know anything about that dress but in his drunken state, he finds it attractive and wears it himself. Lord Rake and Colonel Jovial jokingly call him the Amazon and John brute says that he is Boudica, a queen of the ancient British Iceni tribe who fought against Romans. As they go forward, they meet a constable and a watch. Under the effect of alcohol, Sir John Brute announces that they are ‘the enemy’ of the Romans, and as he is Boudica, he attacks them with his club. The Watch subdues him and arrests him while Lord Rake and Colonel Bully run away. The constable takes Sir John Brute to the magistrate. When the magistrate asks him why is he wearing a lady’s gown? He answers that he is Boudica, the queen of Britain. The Magistrate says that you are heavily drunk and asks again how he got that feminine dress. Sir John brute answers that he is Lady Brute and this is her own dress. Sir John gives the impression of a rebellious, fearless, drunken, lawless wife. The magistrate feels sorry for his drunken state and lets him go free.

Meanwhile, Heartfree is still thinking of how Belinda flirted with her. He is deeply impressed by her and admits to Constant that he is in love with her. Soon their servant brings a letter from some anonymous admirers. As Constant reads the letter, he informs Heartfree that they have invited them to a rendezvous in Spring Walk that evening at 8pm. Heartfree doesn’t want to go as he is too lovesick but Constant takes him anyways. At Spring Walk, they meet two voluptuous young women wearing masks so they may not recognize them. They start talking without knowing that Lady Fanciful and her french servant have been stalking Heartfree and Constant. At the same time, Sir John Brute also arrives at the same spot and as he sees Constant and Heartfree, he hugs them as their friend and grabs both the women, assuming they are their whores. Lady Rude runs towards Constant and shows her face to him. Constant saves her from John Brute. John Brute tries to grab another girl. She runs to Heartfree and shows him her face. Heartfree saves her from John Brute. Meanwhile, Lady Fanciful and her servant hide in an arbor out of fear.

Constant and Heartfree send John Brute away and then Heartfree openly confesses his love for Belinda and takes him away for a stroll. As Constant and Lady Brute are alone, he admits his love for her. Lady Brute also confesses that she also loves him but states that she holds her virtue high and her loyalty to her husband is supreme. She says that even Constant loves her only for her virtues and if she lowers herself from her loyalty to her husband, will he still love her? Constant agrees but fails to control himself and starts kissing her and dragging her to the arbor where Lady Fanciful is hiding. As she realizes that someone is coming there, she gets out with her servant and runs away. Lady Brute gets frightened about being seen by someone while Constant was kissing her. She worries her reputation will be ruined. However, she saves her virtue. Heartfree and Belinda returns and the four decide to come back to Lady Brute’s house. As they are playing some card game at home, Lady brute’s servant informs them that Sir John Brute is returning home. As he returns, he tries to rape Lady Brute while Constant and Heartfree are hidden in a closet. Observing his rude behavior, Constant jumps out and faces John Brute. He challenges him to a duel or to leave Lady Brute alone. Sir John Brute confesses that though married, he never loved Lady Brute and accepts defeat. Heartfree then asks for Belinda’s hand in marriage to which John Brute agrees. At the end of the play, Heartfree Marries Belinda while Lady Brute remains in the deadlock of wedlock. Constant continues to pay court to Lady Brute, and she continues to try to maintain her virtue.

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 Hairy Ape by Eugene O’Neill | Characters, Summary, Analysis

Hello and welcome to the Discourse. The Hairy Ape was a play by Eugene O’Neill that was first performed in 1922. It is an expressionist play telling the existentialist story of Yank, a ship worker, who suffers an existential crisis as he fails to attain the worth that he believes he deserves. The story depicts the negative effects of industrialization and capitalism. However, the play also suggests that the socialist setup can also not be the answer to the problems as it cannot fulfill individual needs. O’Neill depicts the world of upper-class capitalists as superficial and manipulative.

Characters: Bob Smith, known as Yank is the protagonist. He is a strong ship worker who is proud of his masculinity. He is a stoker. In his small world within the ship, he believes he is important because of his masculinity as it makes him strong, brutish, and hardworking. Paddy is an aged Irish ship worker working with Yank. He has seen the changes brought through industrialization and remains nostalgic about the good old days. However, he realizes his position in the capitalist world and tries to avoid any senseless struggles. He vanishes from the scene as soon as he realizes that Yank is being driven by his vengeance against the rich. Long is another stoker working with yank who tries to keep Yank’s temper down. He suggests that brute force cannot be the solution, rather Yank should join the labor union to bring a positive and peaceful change to the situation. Mildred Douglas is the rich daughter of the president of the Steel Trust. She is a superficial hypocrite who although enjoys the comforts and benefits of her father’s fortune, pretends to be aware of the struggles of poor folks and intends to get involved in social welfare programs only to boost her own social credibility. Mildred’s aunt is an experienced lady who accepts things as they are. She was reluctant in joining Mildred on the trip but now she is stuck with her. She points out her hypocrisy in social welfare and claims to her face that it has nothing altruistic, rather Mildred is just trying to justify herself. The Secretary of the I.W.W. is the primary representative of International Workers of the World, a fictional socialist group raising the cause of laborers around the world. When he listens to the violent desires of Yank, he rejects Yank’s application to join the organization.

Summary of The Hairy Ape

The whole play is divided into eight scenes. The play begins as a crew of stokers are enjoying their free time on the forecastle of their ship. A stoker is a ship worker who shovels coal into the engine of a ship. The crew members appear happy, though there is a hidden tension between them. All of them have been away from the shore and their family for a long. The toughness of their work is quite visible on their faces. The men are singing about their wives and homes. Yank is not too happy about their songs as he verbally attacks the idea of home, marriage, and emotional attachments. Another crew member, Long says that while they are working hard, the benefits of their labor are enjoyed by the passengers of first class, the capitalist upper class. Yank exclaims that the workers are better than them.

Another ship worker Paddy talks about the good old days when people used to go on sea journeys for their fun. He remembers the days before industrialization when the engines weren’t the driving force of ships. Yank believes that Paddy is a relic of a past gone by. He calls him crazy, and dead.

The rich, beautiful Mildred Douglas is sitting on the luxurious promenade deck of the first class. Her aunt is also sitting beside her. Her aunt isn’t too happy about traveling with Mildred who appears to be insisting on some of her personal whims. Her aunt chides her about her posing attempts to help the poor through her social activities. She claims that there is nothing altruistic about it. Her aunt claims that though she enjoys all the benefits and comforts of her father’s fortune, she fails to find her own worth in that and hence, tries to justify her being and boost her own social credibility by indulging in such acts. Mildred is determined to meet the working crew of the ship to understand their hardship. She decides to visit the stokehole to see the laborers and their condition. As she approaches the captain with her request, he denies her permission. Thus, she makes a false claim that her father, who is the chairman of the shipping line, has asked her to inspect the ship. The captain then asks a second engineer to accompany Mildred to the stokehole. The second engineer notices her white dress and warns her that the stokehole isn’t a clean place and there is the dust of coal on the walls everywhere in the stokehole that will ruin her dress. Mildred says that she has many clothes and if her dress gets dirty, she will just throw it away.

Meanwhile, the workers have returned from the forecastle to the stokehole. Paddy and the other workers are still tired and unenthusiastic about their work. However, Yank is all interested in his job. He ridicules others and boasts of his ability to withstand the heat of a furnace without suffering exhaustion. No doubt, he is the most strong and most devoted worker in the stokehole. As he chides others, they also start working harder. Mildred enters the stokehole with the second engineer. The stokehole is full of smells of burning coal and the sweat of workers. Mildred isn’t too comfortable with the environment but she decides to go forward. All the crew workers are astonished at seeing this beautiful young lady among them except Yank, who pays no attention to her while continuing to work on the furnace. As she reaches him, he feels a bit disturbed and sees her with anger. Mildred gets frightened and uncontrollably says ‘oh filthy beast’ as she faints. She is taken away by the second engineer. Yank feels insulted by her remark and throws his shovel at the door as it closes back at her.

After some hours, the shift at stokehole changes. All the workers take a bath and clean themselves except Yank. He is disturbed, and angry. He still cannot forget how that girl insulted her. They tease him that he has fallen in love with the beautiful girl. However, he convinces them he is feeling a strong hatred for her for insulting him. The other men chastise the second engineer and blame him that he showed them off to Mildred as if they are not workers but animals of a zoo and they name Yank The Hairy Ape. Yank likes the idea because it allows him to think of getting violent against that girl like an Ape if given a chance. He decides to visit the promenade deck to punish her but his colleagues somehow hold him down and stop him from creating any crazy act.

The ship makes a halt in New York and Yank and Long decide to visit the market. Long talks about the ill effects of capitalism and how socialism can be a better alternative. Yank is still disturbed by Mildred's comment. He asks for the price of some fur which he finds too exorbitant. He sees some wealthy churchgoers and starts an argument with them and saying that rich people like them are worthless while people like him with physical power make the world move. Seeing the altercation, the police arrive and before Yank could get violent, they arrest him.

In Jail, other inmates make fun of Yank as he tells what he went through. One of them asks the name of the girl and he informs. When they hear the last name of Mildred (Douglas), they claim that she is the daughter of the chairman of the Steel Trust. They try to reason with Yank and suggest that his struggle against Midred is futile because her father is too rich and too strong. Yank’s anger continues to boil. One of the jail inmates then suggests Yank visit the office of the International Workers of the World Union and ask for their help.

As soon as Yank is released, he visits the office of the labor union. He is determined to take their help in exacting his revenge. The secretary of I.W.W. greets him and listens to his ordeal. He asks him how he wishes their organization to help him? Yank shows his desire for violent revenge against Mildred Douglas. Yank's attitude makes the secretary believe that he didn’t visit their office on his own but that some competitive organization has sent him to spy on them and ruin their name. Yet, he tries to test him further and asks him to fill out the form of membership. In that form, one question asks how he wants to exact his revenge, through dynamite or through legitimate direct action. Yank answers Dynamite. After observing his form, the secretary rejects his membership application. Yank goes outside and chides that he belongs nowhere. Two policemen watch him and think as if he is drunk. They reprimand him and tell him to go to his home in silence.

As Yank goes a little further, he sees a zoo and decides to visit it. He sees a monkey house where some monkeys and a gorilla are sitting near the gate. He starts telling his experience of New York to these animals. The gorilla, being curious, pounds his chest. Yank gets attracted to the ape as he sees the same masculinity in the ape. He remembers how he was called a ‘filthy beast’ and how his colleagues named him the Hairy Ape. He opens the gate and goes to the gorilla who captures him and hugs him strongly in his arms, killing him. Just before he dies, Yank realizes that he doesn’t belong with the hairy apes too.

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

The Relapse, or Virtue in Danger by John Vanbrugh | Characters, Summary, Analysis

Hello and welcome to the Discourse. John Vanbrugh was an English architect and political activist with a deep interest in drama and literature. He was known for his views in support of women’s rights in marriages. We recently saw how John Farquhar raised the issue of a woman’s right to get rid of a burdensome, unloving, unfruitful married relationship. John Vanbrugh wrote two outspoken restoration comedies that offered arguments in support of women’s rights, or equality of women in married relationships. The first play that he wrote was The Relapse or Virtue in Danger which was first performed in the year 1696 and the second play written by him was The Provoked Wife which was first performed in 1697. Both plays are known for their sexual explicitness and radical viewpoint present in them. John Vanbrugh was a close friend of William Congreve, Colley Ciber, and other dramatists of the Restoration period.

In 1696, Colley Cibber’s drama Love’s Last Shift was performed. It was a story of a virtuous lady married to a rake. The drama celebrated the power of a pious woman Amanda who reforms her rakish husband Loveless. Amanda masquerades as a high-class prostitute and seduces Loveless without being recognized by him. The next morning, she reveals her true identity and counterfaces Loveless with the argument that a wife can be as good in bed as an illicit mistress. Loveless, who already had his best night ever with the stranger woman realizes his fault. He appreciates his wife for doing so much so to change him that she chose to act like a prostitute and promises to change his behavior and be a virtuous married man. It was a period when the economic power was gradually shifting from the high class to the middle-class people. The play attracted both, the high-class aristocratic audience for the sexual explicitness, and the middle-class audience who cherished the preaching and success of a virtuous good lady. As a result, Love’s Last Shift became a huge hit. However, John Vanbrugh wasn’t happy with the ending of the play and he decided to write his own play on the same plot line as a sequel to Love’s Last Shift. This play was The Relapse or Virtue in Danger. Vanbrugh too managed to entice both the upper-class and middle-class audiences and The Relapse proved to be a bigger hit than Cibber’s play.

However, John Vanbrugh was attacked by Jeremy Collier in his pamphlet, A Short View of the Immorality and Profaneness of the English Stage which was published in 1698. The Relapse and The Provoked Wife were the two main plays, that Collier believed exuded immorality and profaneness.

Characters of The Relapse, Or Virtue in Danger

Loveless is a married man who is trying hard to overcome his bad habits as a womanizer. Before marriage, he used to spend his nights with prostitutes. His wife Amanda is a virtuous good lady who inspires him to lead a good morally sound life. However, he continues to fail. Amanda, on the other hand, faces the test of temptation on her own but passes and saves her chastity outside the married relationship. Berinthia is Amanda’s cousin who breaks up with her boyfriend Sir Novelty Fashion who is a fop. He is so much indulged in clothing and fashion that he gets the title Lord Foppington. Lord Foppington wishes to marry a rich girl. First, he tries his luck with Berinthia but fails to make progress as she breaks up with him. With a sense of vengeance, he makes it an aim to seduce Berinthia’s married cousin sister Amanda and break her marriage. Lord Foppington is engaged to a rich voluptuous beautiful girl Miss Hoyden. However, she hides a secret within her heart and it turns out that she marries Young Fashion, the younger brother of Lord Foppington. Undoubtedly, Lord Foppington proves to be a butt of jokes at every instance.

Summary of The Relapse, Or Virtue in Danger

The basic story of the play is similar to that of Cibber’s Love’s Last Shift. The Relapse depicts two love stories. The first one involves a married young couple Loveless and his wife Amanda. Loveless and Amanda are living a quiet life in the countryside. Before their marriage, Loveless had spent a long time in London where he became a habitual womanizer. During his days in London, he not only slept with many prostitutes but got many virgins of the upper class in his bed though, he had no feelings for any of those girls and women. Then he met Amanda, a virtuous, good girl whom he decided to marry. Amanda had to bear his immoral behavior but she tried to change him and once pretended to be a high-class prostitute and seduced him without letting him know her true identity. Later on, when she revealed that she is Amanda, his own wife, and made him believe that a wife can be as much fun in bed as a high-class mistress Loveless promised her to change his behavior. Amanda, loyal to her husband, decided to trust him and they continued happy married life. However, Loveless failed miserably in keeping his promise. Now, he keeps visiting London just to test himself if he can keep his promise to Amanda but finds himself unable to resist the charms of immorality.

After some time, the couple decides to return to London and live there. After returning to London, Loveless finds it more difficult to remain true to his wife and soon finds himself enchanted by a beautiful theatre actress Berinthia who also falls for him and breaks up with his current boyfriend Sir Novelty Fashion who has gained the title of Lord Foppington for being a ridiculous fop. Lord Foppington comes to know that the man for whom his girlfriend broke with him is married and decides to lure Loveless’s wife Amanda to fall for him and thus break Loveless’s married life. Thus, Amanda comes to face her own test of temptations. However, despite a strong attraction towards Sir Novelty Fashion, Amanda remains loyal to her cheating husband and she puts an end to the increasing lust of Lord Foppington for her by turning him down.

The other love story involves Miss Hoyden who is a beautiful, voluptuous noble young girl. Lord Foppington wishes to marry a beautiful rich girl and after his break-up with Berinthia, he is unwilling to take any risk. Thus, he engages a professional matchmaker to find a suitable rich girl for him to marry. The matchmaker asks for a handsome price and when Lord Foppington agrees to pay after initial bargaining, he arranges the engagement of Lord Foppington with a very beautiful and rich girl Miss Hoyden. However, the matchmaker isn’t convinced that Lord Foppington will honor his agreement with him and he worries that he won’t pay a dime.

Lord Foppington’s younger brother Young Fashion is facing troubles as Lord Foppington has fraudulently grabbed his share of money and now he refuses to share part of their inheritance. Young Fashion comes to know about his plan to marry a rich girl and meets the matchmaker.

Thus, instead of introducing Sir Novelty Fashion to the family of Miss Hoyden, he decides to arrange a meeting of Young Fashion as Lord Foppington with Miss Hoyden’s family. Miss Hoyden too finds herself attracted to Young Fashion and the two get married. In the end, Lord Foppington suffers defeat at the hands of both, Amanda and Miss Hoyden.

The theme of Amanda and Loveless’s story is the importance of patience, obedience, and the submissiveness of a wife for the success of a marriage. Despite knowing that her husband is cheating, she maintains her virtuous being. Even when she faces temptations outside her married life in face of Lord Foppington, she decides to maintain her loyalty. When Loveless takes her to London and keeps her in a lodging in London, he asks her if she loves the lodgings in town, she responds, “I am satisfy'd with everything that pleases you; else I had not come to Town at all.”

However, the author also shows another side to the audience. Just like Loveless had many avenues to cheat his wife, Amanda also gets many chances to cheat on her husband as an act of revenge. Yet, she chooses the path of morality and chastity outside her married life.

Loveless, on the other hand, remains unchanged. He is as immoral as he was despite all his promises to his loyal wife Amanda. He faces no consequences for all his immoral acts and hence, he is a contradiction to the poetic justice that is missing. 

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 Emperor Jones by Eugene O’Neill | Characters, Summary, Analysis

Hello and welcome to the Discourse. The Emperor Jones was a tragic play by Eugene O’Neill that was first performed in 1920. It was the first massive hit by Eugene O’Neill, partially based on the brief, corrupt, and brutal presidency of Haiti’s Vilbrun Guillaume Sam, who was murdered by Haitians on July 28, 1915. The play is a brilliant experimental work of Eugene O’Neill in which he mixed expressionism with realism to invoke a proper amount of emotions in the audience.

Characters: Brutus Jones was a train porter in the United States. Once, during a game of dice, he kills a man and is sent to life imprisonment. He then kills a prison guard and runs away from America as a stowaway on a ship going to West Indies. He reaches an unidentified island where he impresses the gullible native people and gradually exploits them. The native people gather and try to kill them but fail as he dodges the bullet and makes the native people believe that he cannot be killed by lead bullets and only a silver bullet can kill him. He then becomes the uncrowned ruler of the island and starts exploiting the people ruthlessly. Smithers is an evil man who is always on the side of one with power. He pretends to be a good friend of Jones but has veiled malice against him. He is a profound racist white Cockney trader. He warns Jones of the revolution against him. Lem was the leader of the native people before Jones arrived. He tried to kill Jones with a bullet, but Jones somehow remained unscathed. To kill Jones, he melts some coins to make silver bullets to kill the brutal despot. There is an old native woman who informs Smithers about a rebellion against Jones as he arrives on the island at the beginning of the play. The witch doctor is a figment of  Jones' imagination during his weird hallucinatory experience when he tries to save himself against the rebellion by running away to the jungle. The witch doctor is a spiritual shaman, an image of Africa trying to sacrifice Jones to a god-like crocodile. Brutus Jones uses his silver bullet to kill the crocodile, his imagination representing himself. As the crocodile dies, he realizes he is mortal and subject to harm and death.

Summary of The Emperor Jones:

Smithers, a Cockney trader arrives at an unidentified island in the West Indies and goes to meet the Emperor of the Island at his palace. It is a dark night. He observes that all the servants and workers have left the palace. As he searches more, he sees an old native woman. He asks where has everyone gone? She says that a rebellion is arising and all the servants have joined hands with the natives who are planning to kill the Emperor. The Emperor is Brutus Jones a fugitive from America.

Smithers is worried, Emperor Jones is one of his friends and a profitable business partner. He goes to his bed chamber. As Emperor Jones wakes up, Smithers informs him about the rebellion and warns him that he can be killed. He suggests that the emperor should run away through the jungle but says that it can be very dangerous. However, Jones isn’t worried about the insurrection. He does not believe that his illiterate, superstitious subjects can outsmart him. He has deceived them to believe that no lead bullet can kill him. They believe that only a silver bullet can kill the Emperor but the only silver bullet on the island is with Emperor Jones. He still confesses to Smithers that he knew this day would come when people will revolt against him as he has been stealing from the people of the island and amassing a huge fortune in a foreign bank account.

Jones observes that none of his servants is with him. He hears the beating of drums from afar. He decides that he will run away through the jungle and go to a foreign land to enjoy his fortune. As he enters in the dark forest, his worries get over him and he starts hallucinating, seeing figures in thin air. However, he is convinced that the native people cannot acquire a silver bullet to kill him. Lem, the leader of the rebels once tried to kill Jones but he dodged the bullet and established that no lead bullet can kill him.

Emperor Jones continues to go deep into the dark jungle so that he may reach the shore from another side. Gradually, his hallucinations get intense. He has a loaded gun with five lead bullets and a silver bullet. He sees his innermost fears, his crimes from the past, one by one as his hallucinations get stronger. He begins a monologue as if the figures he sees in his hallucination are real. The first figure that appears is of the person that he killed during the game of dice. As he laughs at Jones, Jones fires a bullet at the figure and it vanishes. The sound of bullets reaches the ears of rebellions and they follow it. The sound of beating drums intensifies a bit so do the heartbeats of Jones.

The second figure that emerges out of his hallucinations is that of the prison guard trying to catch him and throw him back into the prison. As the figure charges toward Jones, he uses the second bullet at the figure and it vanishes. The sound of fire echoes in the jungle and the drum beats intensify. Jones is forced to go deeper into the dark jungle.

His hallucinations then take him deeper into his subconscious and he sees a slave market. He sees himself being auctioned in the slave market and as he is about to be auctioned, he uses his third bullet and the resounding noise allows rebellions to know where he is. Meanwhile, Jones continues his monologue, describing all his past life crimes and experiences. He then sees a slave ship taking slaves from African shores. He is forced to use his fourth bullet. The sound of the drum continues to intensify.

As he reaches further deep into the jungle near a stream, he sees a figure of a witch doctor trying to force him towards a huge threatening crocodile sitting near the river with his mouth wide open. The crocodile is willing to eat jones while the witch hunter is trying to offer Jones as a sacrifice to the god-like crocodile. Jones gets frightened. He uses his fourth bullet on the witch doctor who escapes. Now his pistol contains the last silver bullet. As the crocodile charges towards him with its open mouth, Jones shoots at the crocodile with the last remaining silver bullet. Darkness intensifies and so does the ear-tearing sound of drum beatings.

Smithers meets Lem, the leader of the rebels. Lem proudly informs him that they have killed Jones. He informs Smithers that the revolutionaries melted down silver coins to make silver bullets to kill Emperor Jones and the play ends.

The play uses many symbols signifying the changes in the fate of Jones. The most important is his uniform as the Emperor. When Brutus Jones first appears as the Emperor of the island, he is wearing an impressive uniform with lots of medals, brass buttons, and gold chevrons and braids. As he tries to run away from the rebels in the jungle and faces his past demons, his medals and braids and everything precious continues to fall away from him until there is nothing left. His uniform becomes a symbol of his fall from power. Similarly, the silver bullet that Jones carries is a symbol of his hubris, his false ego, and his fake importance. The silver bullet signifies his power over the innocent native people of the island. Jones cleverly creates a myth that he cannot be harmed by a lead bullet. The poor native people cannot think of getting a silver bullet to kill him. As he holds the silver bullet himself, he is convinced that he cannot be harmed. But when he is forced to use it on the crocodile of his imagination, he loses that silver bullet and it signifies the end of his hubris. He always knew that one day he would have to face rebellion. He had saved that silver bullet to use on himself. The crocodile signifies himself, a false god that can be taken down by a single bullet. The dark jungle signifies his own mind filled with his consciousness, confessions, and memories of his past criminal life. The beating sound of drums signifies to Jones that the rebels are reaching near to hunt him down. As the sound of drums intensifies, so does the rate of his heart beats.

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

The Beaux Stratagem by George Farquhar | Characters, Summary, Analysis

Hello and welcome to the Discourse. The Beaux Stratagem was a comedy written by George Farquhar and was first performed in the year 1707. It was one of the last restoration comedies that gained huge success. The drama touches on the difficult subject of the divorce of an incompatible couple while the divorce wasn’t legal in England during the restoration period. Even if a couple decided to separate during that time, the wife wasn’t offered any money or help from the husband. Farquhar developed this plot involving a divorce of a woman with her drunken, unsupportive, and unloving husband and then created a deceiving device to let her have her share of the money.

Characters: The main characters are the two young and handsome friends Archer and Aimwell who have lost all their fortune in their expensive lifestyle. They plan to go away from the city and entrap some rich girl in love, rob her and then move away. The very first town they visit is Lichfield where they meet Dorinda, the young daughter of a rich landlady Lady Bountiful who specializes in herbal medicines. Boniface is an inn owner of Lichfield where Archer and Aimwell stay. Cherry is the inn owner’s daughter who falls in love with Archer. Squire Sullen is the son of Lady Bountiful and the brother of Dorinda. He is a drunkard who doesn’t care for his wife at all, Scrub is his servant. Count Bellair is a french soldier. Kate Sullen is Lady Bountiful’s daughter-in-law, Sullen’s unhappy wife. She tries everything to get the attention of Squire Sullen but he remains indifferent. Gipsy is Kate’s maid. Gibbet is a robber who plans to rob Kate, Dorinda, and Lady Bountiful with the help of his associates Bagshot and Hounslow. Sir Charles Freeman is the brother of Kate Sullen who visits her. He is a past acquaintance of Archer and Aimwell.

Summary of The Beaux Stratagem

Archer and Aimwell are two young handsome gentleman richly spending their life and money in the extravagance of London. The two beaux are almost penniless now as they have got the last two hundred pounds left with them. While both are strong and able, none of them is willing to sell their swords for the wars and join the Military. The only other option left for them is to trap some rich girls in their love and get money from them. However, they cannot let their friends in London know that they are penniless. Archer suggests that they should leave London for the countryside and let fate decide their course for them. Aimwell agrees and suggests a shrewd plan that in the other towns they will visit, one of them will pretend to be a fine lord and the other will be his loyal servant. This will let them impress the country folk and deceive some rich landlord’s beautiful girl. Archer agrees and it is decided that they will play the part of rich lord one by one and the first turn will be of Aimwell while Archer will act as his servant.

The first town they visit is Lichfield. They visit the local inn and befriend the inn owner Will Boniface. Aimwell playing the part of lord invites Boniface to drink with him as he pays and tries to know about the rich people of the town. Boniface informs him about Lady Bountiful who is a widow and lives with her son, daughter, and daughter-in-law. Everyone in the town respects Lady Bountiful for her specialization in herbal medicines. Her daughter Dorinda is young and beautiful and Lady Bountiful is looking for a good suitor for her. Boniface further informs that Lady Bountiful’s son Squire Sullen is a lazy person who does nothing but sleeps, eat, and drink. He recently married a beautiful London girl but it seems she is not happy with Squire Sullen. At the inn, there are some French captive soldiers including Count Bellair, his assistant Foigard, and their priest.

Aimwell tries to win the trust of Boniface by giving him the bag of their 200 pounds to keep in safety that he will take when he leaves the town. Boniface has connections with the local robber Gibbet, Hounslow and Bagshot. He suspects that Aimwell and Archer are thieves and plan to rob their money. He tells his young daughter to tease the servant Archer to gather more information about them while he offers more alcohol to Aimwell trying to pry about him. However, Aimwell is too smart to spill his secrets and Boniface gets nothing. Cherry also tries her best but instead of gathering any information about her father’s interest, she finds herself attracted to Archer and feels she loves him.

Lady Bountiful, her daughter Dorinda, and daughter-in-law Kate Sullen also learn about the new visitors to their town and they are curious about them. Aimwell visits the local church to meet rich Dorinda and impresses her with his etiquette. Dorinda immediately falls in love with this handsome stranger while Kate Sullen finds Archer very attractive. She asks Scrub, her husband’s servant, to invite Archer to their home so that Dorinda may come to know more about Aimwell. Archer visits their home but Dorinda and Kate fail to get any information about Aimwell. However, Kate further falls into Archer’s charm.

Kate is recently married to Squire Sullen but he has no interest in his beautiful wife. Kate and Dorinda attempt to awaken him and make him take interest in Kate as a dutiful loving husband by pretending that Kate is having an extra-marital affair with someone. They chose the captive Count Bellair as a fake lover of Kate. Dorinda informs Sullen about Kate’s (fake) affair and to offer proof, she hides Sullen in a closet so that he may see Kate meeting some stranger with his own eyes. As Count Bellair is brought to their house, hands freed, Sullen rushes out of the closet with his sword in his hand. However, Kate stops him from attacking Bellair by showing him a pistol aimed at him. Sullen gets subdued by his wife but he makes a point that he doesn’t worry if she is having an affair as long as she is not falling for a Frenchman as he detests all Frenchman. Thus, the ruse of Kate and Dorinda fails as Sullen doesn’t care if Kate has an extra-marital affair. As he leaves, Kate informs Count Bellair that it was all a drama and she has no interest in him as she is loyal to her husband. Count Bellair says that even if she is a virtuous lady, she is not honest. He further says that she may call him at any time whenever she needs his help. As Dorinda and Kate’s stratagem proves to be a failure, she gets reckless.

Meanwhile, Archer knocks at Dorinda’s door and informs her that his master is ill as he is suffering a fit. He requests Lady Bountiful to check and cure him. Aimwell feigns a coma but as soon as Dorinda comes to see him, and caringly touches his hand, he regains consciousness and squeezes her beautiful hand. Archer is happy for his master gaining consciousness back but suggests that he is still unwell and must rest at Lady Bountiful’s house for a while. Dorinda and Kate invite them to a tour of their house. Aimwell takes Dorinda away while Kate Sullen finds herself alone with her attractive beau Archer. She is strongly attracted to him especially since her own husband has never touched her since their marriage. As she shows Archer the door of her bed chamber, he enters in and seducingly invites her into her own bed. However, she is determined to keep her conscience and saves herself from falling for Archer.

As Archer leaves, Scrub meets him who has become a friend of Archer a fellow servant. He says that he is worried about his master Squire Sullen as he overheard Foigard, the assistant of Count Bellair bribing Gipsy, the maid of Kate to conceal Beallair in Kate’s bed chamber at night so that he may sully the virtuous lady Kate Sullen. Meanwhile, Boniface connives with Gibbet, Hanslow, and Bagshot to rob the house of Lady Bountiful. After reaching the inn, Archer and Aimwell confront Foigard and the Priest and charge them of treason. They threaten them and in exchange for their silence, they demand that the priest will send Archer in place of Bellair to Kate’s bedroom.

Back at the home, Kate receives the information that her brother Sir Charles Freeman is visiting her to help her get rid of her obnoxious husband. Dorinda is still enjoying the memories of romantic moments she had spent with Aimwell as she dreams of her future as lord Aimwells wife in London. Kate is also thinking of how charming Archer is.

To avoid any struggle, Gibbet makes Squire Sullen tipsy with alcohol at the inn. When Freeman reaches the town, he meets Sullen and starts talking to him without knowing that Sullen is his brother-in-law as the two have never met before.

At night, Archer is shifted to Kate’s bedroom in place of Bellair. Cherry comes to know that the robbers have armed themselves to march and rob Lady Bountiful’s house. She informs Aimwell about their plan. Back at home, Kate is preparing to sleep as she dreams of Archer and moans. Archer notices her and realizes that she is weak for him. He jumps out of the closet in front of her and takes her in his arms. Kate gets frightened and her conscience and shame save her against Archer’s charm. At the same time, Scrub runs into the bedroom and informs that robbers have attacked the house. Archer takes out his sword and as Gibbet enters, he attacks them and subdues them. He calls for the help of Foigard who is hidden in Gipsy’s home to bind Gibbet. Hounslow and Bagshot were robbing Dorinda and Lady Bountiful in another room when Aimwell reached there. He subdues them and saves Dorinda and her mother. Soon Archer and Kate also appear and Archer suggests to Aimwell that it is the right time when he should ask for Dorinda’s hand from Lady Bountiful as she will feel grateful. At the same time, Freeman enters the house and greets his sister Kate. When Archer sees him, he gets frightened because Freeman is one of their friends from London. He thinks Freeman will tell the truth about their fraud. Aimwell, on the other hand, proposes to Dorinda at the same time and honestly tells her that he is no lord. He confesses that he is a fraud, falsely bearing his elder brother’s title. Dorinda accepts Aimwell as he is and soon gets good news from Freeman that the elder brother of Aimwell has suddenly died and now Aimwell is the only heir of his father and dead brother’s estate. Dorinda and Aimwell cherish the news as Lady Bountiful nods for their marriage.

Bellair arrives there and informs that the inn has also been robbed. He gives Archer a letter from Cherry in which she informed him how her father collaborated with robbers and ran away with lord Aimwell’s money. However, Aimwell isn’t worried about that money now when he is a true lord. Freeman reveals that he visited there to get his sister freed from the burden of a marriage where her husband is not at all interested in her. Archer finds the papers of Kate Sullen’s estate in the things that Gibbet robbed. He persuades Sullen to sign the papers of separation with Kate while offering all her estate that he got as dowry back to her. Sullen is still in the effect of alcohol and he signs the papers. Everyone is happy as Aimwell is a true lord now and he has got Dorinda as his wife. Archer is also happy because Aimwell offers all the estate of Dorinda to Archer. Freeman is happy because his sister is free now. Kate is also happy as now she can dream of marrying Archer as the play ends.

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.