The Plays of William Shakespeare: Preface to Shakespeare by Samuel Johnson | Summary, Analysis

Hello and welcome to the Discourse. Samuel Johnson was an English poet, prose writer, journalist, lexicographer, essayist, editor, and literary critic. While working on A Dictionary Of the English Language, Johnson focussed on Shakespearean plays to determine the origins of words. During this time, his fascination for Shakespeare’s plays increased manifold. In his dictionary too, William Shakespeare is the most quoted author. However, while researching Shakespeare’s plays, Johnson noticed some inherent problems with the currently available versions of Shakespeare’s plays. Johnson, thus, proposed to edit the plays of William Shakespeare. According to Johnson, the then available versions of Shakespeare’s plays were suffering too much a) ‘Textual corruption’ and they lacked authoritativeness. Johnson mentioned that the ‘textual corruption’ arouse mainly because of careless printing. Furthermore, these plays were transcribed for the actors by people who may not be able to understand the original text correctly. b) Johnson also noted that Shakespeare wrote his plays at a time when the language was unified and so used words and phrases which are almost obsolete now. c) Shakespeare used colloquial language that isn’t common in current times. d) Johnson also mentioned that Shakespeare used too many allusions and references to topical events and personalities and after more than 100 years it isn’t easy to understand those allusions. e) Shakespeare had a vibrant mind full of ideas. The rapid flow of ideas often hurried Shakespeare to a second thought before the first had been fully explained. Johnson recognized that many of Shakespeare’s obscurities belong either to the age or the necessities of stagecraft and not to the man.

Because of these problems, Johnson got the idea of editing Shakespearean plays. He began his work with Macbeth which he researched and edited as Miscellaneous Observations or Miscellaneous Observations on the Tragedy of Macbeth which was published on 6 April 1745. With this publication, Johnson also proposed a new edition of all Shakespearean plays with notes, critical and explanatory, in which the text will be corrected. According to Samuel Johnson the duty of an editor was to establish as far as possible what an author had written rather than what, in the opinion of the editor or his contemporaries, he ought to have written. In his proposal, Johnson promised to "correct what is corrupt, and to explain what is obscure".

In 1756, Johnson was contracted for The Plays of William Shakespeare. He was assisted by George Stevens, an English Shakespearean commentator.

Preface to Shakespeare:

Samuel Johnson wrote a preface to the edited version of The Plays of William Shakespeare which became one of the most famous critical essays of the eighteen century. In the Preface, Johnson sets forth his editorial principles and gives an appreciative analysis of the “excellences” and “defects” of the works of Shakespeare. Many of his points have become fundamental tenets of modern criticism; others give greater insight into Johnson’s prejudices than into Shakespeare’s genius. The resonant prose of the preface adds authority to the views of its author. Johnson also discussed the influence of Shakespeare on current poetry. In addition, he also added a brief history of "Shakespearean criticism” till the mid-eighteenth century.

Johnson begins by addressing the issue of antiquity. He says that some people complain that dead artists are praised unreasonably. Such people often claim that the criteria for evaluating a writer should be the excellence of his work and not his antiquity. Johnson then criticizes such people and says that these people have nothing new to offer and thus, they continue to make controversial arguments. Often such writers believe that their works will be appreciated much more after their death but they often fail to realize that their work lacks value. Johnson then accepts that spotlighting the merits of the ancients and the faults of contemporaries is more congenial to many critics. Johnson says that the criteria for judging a work of art cannot be absolute. Unlike science, Jhonson says that in the field of literature, excellence is not absolute, but gradual and comparative. However, Johnson says that there is a certain criterion that can be aptly applied to all literary works and it is the length of esteem that a piece of literature enjoys. He says that it is human nature to compare different old and new works. If people are finding an old literary work enjoyable even now, then the continuation of the esteem of that literary work is proof of the value of that work. Johnson then says that the works of Shakespeare have become classic and they continue to attain enduring fame and respect for more than a century thus the plays of Shakespeare have achieved the prestigious position of antiquity. Johnson says that these plays are so old that the events and topics covered in them are of no interest to the audience. Yet, audiences continue to cherish Shakespeare’s literature because of its literary qualities. Johnson says that it is surprising that Shakespeare’s plays withstood changes of manners and customs, and are read just for the pleasure they offer. Johnson then says that human judgment is not infallible. He says that some works may continue to attain the audience’s interest for a long period because of some prejudice or fashion. Thus, Johnson says that it is necessary o reevaluate and probe into the facts which enable the works of Shakespeare to attain and retain the respect or esteem of his audience.

The Greatness of Shakespeare or His Merits

Johnson introduces Shakespeare as a ‘poet of nature’ and says that It is the “just representation of general nature” that brings immorality and enduring approbation to literary works. Johnson says that Shakespeare is different from other authors because his work reflects life most truthfully as he is the poet of nature. Shakespeare’s characters do not belong to the society of a particular place or time; they are universal, representing every man. They are the genuine progeny of common humanity such as will always remain in this world and whom our eyes will always continue to meet. Johnson says that in the writings of other poets, the character is too often an individual and in those of Shakespeare a character is commonly a species.

It may appear contradictory as if Johnson is saying that Shakespeare’s characters lack individuality. However, Johnson says that Shakespeare relied upon his knowledge of human nature, rather than on bizarre effects, for his success. He says that Shakespeare created his characters so near to reality that “Shakespeare has no heroes, his scenes are occupied only by men, who act and speak as the reader thinks that he should himself has spoken or acted on the same occasion.” Because of the life-like sketching of Shakespeare’s characters, Johnson calls him the ‘poet of nature,” and “his drama is mirror of life.” The characters in Shakespeare’s plays are not limited by time or nationality; they are, rather, “the genuine progeny of common humanity, such as the world will always supply, and observation will always find.”

Johnson mentions that Shakespeare didn’t overemphasize the theme of love in his plays. He compares the works of other writers and says that in a majority of dramas of other writers, love is a universal theme and all goodness and evil revolve around it. Johnson says that love is not the only passion instead it is just one of many. Shakespeare never exaggerated the importance of love in his plays. His characters are influenced and motivated by various other passions. Johnson says that Shakespeare knew that any passion would cause happiness or disaster depending on its being moderated or left uncontrolled and he used this knowledge in his plays.

Johnson then mentions other critics like John Dennis and Thomas Rymer who complained that Shakespeare’s dramas are not as ‘Roman’ as they should be. He also mentions Voltaire who complained that Shakespeare’s kings are not kingly. Johnson says that Shakespeare made sure that his characters remain true to human nature, that one can see in real life. Johnson acknowledges that Shakespeare gave rise to the trend of tragicomedies. His plays are neither comedies nor tragedies but a mixture of the two. While some critics criticize this aspect, Johnson appreciates it and says that life is an ebb and flow of sorrow and happiness, and since Shakespeare maintained his plays so near to real life, that they are both tragic and comic. However, Johnson agrees with Thomas Rymer and says that Shakespeare was more comfortable with comedies. In his tragic scenes, there is always something wanting but his comic scenes often surpass our expectations. His comedy pleases through thoughts and language whereas his tragedy pleases mainly through incidents and action. His tragedy is a testimony of his skill; his comedy is the product of his instinct.

Weaknesses of Shakespeare:

Johnson was a neoclassicist who supported 'poetic justice'. Johnson criticizes that Shakespeare’s plays lack moral purpose. He says that the major flaw of Shakespeare is that he sacrifices virtue for convenience, and is more careful to please than to instruct. Johnson believed that the feat of punishment was a necessary stimulus to virtue and that men would desist from evil only if justice was seen to be operating in the world. He mentions that in Shakespeare’s plays, there is no just distribution of evil and good. His virtuous characters do not always show disapproval of the wicked ones. His characters pass through right and wrong indifferently and in the end, if they serve as examples, they do so by chance and not by the author’s efforts. Johnson says that in each of Shakespeare’s plays, there are ample opportunities where he could have developed the plot in a manner that could offer a moral purpose to the play. However, Shakespeare was careless about it. Johnson also criticizes anachronism or the violation of chronology in Shakespeare’s plays as he often disregarded history and chronology. Johnson says that Shakespeare is indifferent to the distinctions of time and place and gives to one age or nation the manners and opinions which pertain to another. Johnson says that this reduces the quality of the play being near to reality. Johnson also criticized Shakespeare’s dialogues and diction and says that in many instances, Shakespeare’s dialogues appear indecent and coarse in nature. The main characters of Shakespeare too offer similar dialogues as those of jests and clowns and there is much licentiousness and indelicacy even where ladies are present in a scene. Johnson also criticized the unnecessarily flamboyant speeches and inflated vocabulary that Shakespeare often used in his plays.

After mentioning the greatnesses and weaknesses of Shakespeare, Johnson discusses the issue of the three unities in Shakespeare’s plays. Unlike other critics who criticize Shakespeare’s plays for lacking the unity of time. Unity of place, and unity of action, Johnson defends Shakespeare says that in his History plays, Shakespeare stressed more on consistency and spontaneity of characterization. He further says that Shakespeare maintained the unity of action. His plays have a beginning, a middle, and an end as laid down by Aristotle. He acknowledges that there can be some anomaly but it can be easily ignored. He further accepts that Shakespeare didn’t pay attention to the unity of time and unity of place but says that these unities are not necessary for dramatization. He says that Literature is to be appreciated not in the literal sense but by the imagination. The audience’s imagination is kept very active when he watches a play. The audience knows that he is going to watch a fictitious reality. If an audience in a theatre can accept the stage as a locality in the city of Rome, he will also accept the change from Rome to Alexandria. The unity of time may likewise be violated on the same principle.

In his Preface to Shakespeare, Samuel Johnson’s strongest criticism of Shakespeare was regarding the lack of moral purpose in his plays. Overall, Johnson does recognize and praise the great power of Shakespeare’s work

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 History of Rasselas: Prince of Abissinia by Samuel Johnson | Characters, Summary, Analysis

Hello and welcome to the Discourse. Samuel Johnson is known for his contributions to English literature. He was not only an author of prose, but also a poet, literary critic, biographer, and essayist. Johnson was a lexicographer and published A Dictionary of the English Language in 1755. Other known works of his include his magazine The Rambler, his poem The Vanity of Human Wishes, Preface to the Plays of William Shakespeare, and Lives of the Poets. His effect on English literature as well as on English society was documented in James Boswell’s The Life of Samuel Johnson. Johnson influenced a great many writers, including Jane Austen.

Another important work of Samuel Johnson was his series of essays titled The Idler which was published in the London weekly the Universal Chronicle between 1758 and 1760. out of 103 total, Johnson wrote 91 essays of the series. The other writers contributing to the essay series The Idler were Thomas Warton, Bennet Langton, and Joshua Reynolds.

In addition, Johnson also wrote an apologue titled The History of Rasselas: Prince of Abissinia which was published in April 1759. Johnson began working on this work with the title “The Choice of Life,” which then was changed to “The Prince of Abissinia: A Tale”, and was finally printed by the title The History of Rasselas: Prince of Abissinia. It is the only novel written by Johnson.

An Apologue or Apolog is a short fable or allegorical story with exaggerated details to offer a moral doctrine pleasantly. An apologue is a tool of rhetorical argument used to convince or persuade. An apologue differs from a fable in that the moral supersedes the narrative in terms of importance. Unlike the parable, the apologue utilizes metaphorical truth. Apologues use allegory to make observations and state truths about real people, places, or events. Another important example of apologue is Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift.

Samuel Johnson translated Jeronimo Lobo's travel work, A Voyage to Abyssinia which chronicled the Roman Catholic Church's attempt to subject Abyssinia to the doctrines of the Church. Johnson knew that the royalty in Abyssinia was often given the title of "ras", or chief and thus he chose the final title. Abissinia is known as Ethiopia in current times.

In his poem, The Vanity of Human Wishes, Johnson suggested that earthly human desires are vane and waste, and the only good wish a human can hold is closeness to God. Similarly, in this novel, Johnson purports that Happiness is elusive. He expresses the impossibility of finding happiness in life on earth and asks the reader to look to God for ultimate satisfaction. It is an allegory and the happy valley resembles The Garden of Eden. Although Eden and Adam unknowingly tasted the apple from the Tree of Knowledge and then were evicted. Rasselas on the other hand, decides to leave the happy valley. In addition, Johnson also engaged the myth of the Fall of Icarus in this novel.

Characters of The History of Rasselas:

Rasselas the main character of the novel is the prince, the only son of the emperor of Abissinia. Rasselas has been confined in a happy valley with all possible amenities and entertainment until he is ready and mature enough to rule. The Emperor remains busy with the royal business while his children remain in Happy Valley. Nekayah is the princess, and sister of Rasselas. The Master is one of the teachers of Rasselas who comes to know that Rasselas wishes to abandon Happy Valley. He tries to dissuade him to do so. The Bassa is a Turkish-appointed viceroy and the highest title of honor in the Ottoman Empire. He is a corrupt and despotic administrator. The Engineer is an artist who knows mechanics well and tries to help Rasselas with his escape from the Valley by plunging out through the air but his machine fails. Imlac is a poet and philosopher who befriends Rasselas and his sister and helps them during their exploration of happiness by maintaining that they remain rational, thoughtful, and perspicacious. Pekuah is Nekayah’s maidservant who accompanies her. The Arab is the chieftain of robbers who abduct Pekuah in the hope of ransom money. The Arab is chivalrous and treats Pekuah with respect. The Astronomer is a learned researcher who enjoys solitude to such an extent that he goes mad.

Summary of The History of Rasselas:

The story begins in the Happy Valley of Abissinia where Rasselas and his sister are kept in seclusion by the decree of the Emperor. The Happy Valley is a beautiful place with all possible amenities and ways of entertainment. However, Rasselas and his sister Nekayah are not allowed to leave Happy Valley until Rasselas gets mature enough to be the ruler. While the emperor expects his children to be happy, they are not happy at all. Rasselas gets bored of the pattern of tedious pampered life of Happy Valley and starts wandering in the jungles, trying to get a way out. Some of the sages of the empire visit the valley to teach Rasselas and Nekayah regularly. One of them, the Master, realizes that Rasselas is disturbed and tries to reason with him and convince him that remaining in Happy Valley is in his best interest. But Rasselas is determined to find a way out as he belies that despite all the physical pleasures and amenities in the Happy Valley, he is not happy and he must explore ways to become happy. Rasselas enlists the help of an artist who is also known as The Engineer to help with his escape from the Valley by plunging out through the air, though they are unsuccessful in this attempt. This failure further saddens Rasselas.

One day, a man named Imlac visits Happy Valley and reads a poem written by him to Rasselas and Nekayah. Rasselas gets impressed by him and befriends him. Imlac informs that he is a poet-philosopher who has roamed around the world. Rasselas expresses his desire to explore the world to find happiness. Imlac suggests that the pursuit of happiness is futile because happiness is nowhere. Yet, Rasselas insists that he will explore the world himself. Imlac promises to help him in his endeavor. Finally, Rasselas and Imlac find a way to leave Happy Valley without being noticed. However, just when they are preparing to leave, Nekayah confronts them and says that she has been following them for long. She insists that they must take her too along with them. Rasselas is overjoyed by this as he loves his sister but Nekayah insists that her maid Pekuah will also accompany them. They leave Happy Valley and after traveling for days, they reach cities that are no more in their empire. They reach Cairo where Rasselas buys a home. They are very rich and all the elites of Cairo befriend them. Rasselas decides to explore ways of happiness so that he may make the proper choice of life that he should lead. He starts experimenting with different lifestyles. First, he befriends a wealthy young man and starts spending time with him. Soon he notices that the excessiveness of the young man is distasteful and leaves him. He then meets a philosopher who suggests that one should get rid of all types of emotions. But Rasselas notices that the philosopher himself is unable to do so. Rasselas also observes the difficulties for those in power and a hermit who does not actually relish his solitude anymore. Nekayah too continues to explore happiness and then they discuss their findings. Rasselas says that rich men are paranoid and caught up in plots and betrayals. Nekayah too says that she observed tensions within families and that parents cannot even trust their children. Nekayah wonders whether marriage is better than celibacy, and why parents and children come into such conflict.

Imlac encourages the siblings to go out and visit the pyramids, the great old monuments, and the ruins. Rasselas objects that look at ancient things are of no use. But Imlac says that the past is crucial to understanding the present, and one can never truly understand men without looking at their works. The next day, Rasselas, Nekayah, Pekuah, and Imlac visit the pyramids. Pekuah is fearful of the ghosts and spirits of the dead and thus, she denies going in. Rasselas, Nekayah, and Imlac enter the pyramid where Imlac informs them why the Pyramids were made. As they come out, they come to notice that Pekuah has been abducted by Arabian marauders Turkish horsemen tried to pursue the Arabian robbers but they couldn’t rescue Pekuah. Nekayah is too disturbed about the loss of Pekuah and wishes her to return at any cost. Rasselas employs private investigators and appeals to the government, but they get no information about Pekuah. Nekayah declares that as she has lost Pekuah, she has no wish to engage with the world anymore and she will now lead a life of celibacy and solitude. Rasselas tries to console her and says that she should wait for at least a year and he will do everything to bring Pekuah back. Nekayah agrees to that.

Seven months after her abduction, Rasselas and Nekayah come to know the whereabouts of Pekuah. They pay the ransom money as demanded and soon Pekuah is returned to them. Pekuah reveals that she was abducted by the chieftain of Arabs who treated her well and never used her ill. She says that the chieftain was only interested in ransom money and released her as soon as he got the money. She informs that the Arab taught her astronomy.

Rasselas too gets interested in exotic learning and decides that he will spend his life learning various arts. Imlac appreciates him but cautions him by telling the story of his friend. He says that one of his friends was very intelligent and decided all his time to study and research in solitude. He became an astronomer and gathered knowledge about the sky. One day, Imlac visited him and got impressed by his work. Imlac felt that after achieving so much knowledge, the astronomer must be the happiest man in the world. However, he was startled when he came to know that the astronomer was too much worried. He asked the reason for the astronomer’s worries. The astronomer said that he is tired of his cumbersome task and wishes someone else to take it. Imlac asked about the task and the astronomer said that he is in charge of the seasons, the rains, the thunders, and the winds. Imlac understood that because of solitude, the astronomer has trapped himself in illusions. He listened to him politely and promised that he will help him with the task. After listening to this, Rasselas becomes serious but Nekayah and Pekuah start giggling at the madness of the astronomer. Imlac gets irritated by their laughs and reprimands them and says that they should not mock mental illness, as it is very common and the result of prolonged withdrawal from the world.

Nekayah and Pekuah accept their mistake and express their desire to meet the astronomer. Imlac agrees to take them to meet the astronomer but he insists that they should not hurt his ego. Pekuah suggests that since he has so much knowledge about the sky, they will join him as his students so that Pekuah may continue her studies of skies that she began while being a captor of the Arab. Imlac agrees to that and takes Nekayah and Pekuah to the secluded place of the astronomer and tells him that these girl students are willing to share his responsibilities if he is ready to teach them as his students. The astronomer agrees.

After some time, the astronomer improves in social relations and soon he confirms that he has got rid of his illusions. After that, Nekayah and Pekuah return to Rasselas at home. On a rainy day, they discuss their future plans. All agree that it is futile to search for happiness. Pekuah declares that she wishes to join a monastery and lead a life of celibacy and seclusion. Nekayah says that she wishes to continue her studies in astronomy and plans to open a college for women. Rasselas declares that he will try to establish a small kingdom of his own. As the rain stops, the three realize that their plans are futile and improbable. Thus, they decide to return to Abissinia and lead their life as nature deems fit.

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 Pit and The Pendulum by Edgar Allan Poe | Themes, Summary, Analysis

Hello and welcome to the Discourse. "The Pit and the Pendulum" was first published in the annual journal The Gift, Carey and Hart, Philadelphia, 1843. It is a short story written by Edgar Allan Poe with elements of torture and horror. Unlike much of Poe's work, the story has no supernatural elements. The writer focuses on the sensations of a prisoner in an airless, dark unlit dungeon where the narrator is subject to thirst and starvation, he is swarmed by rats, the razor-sharp pendulum threatens to slice into him and the closing walls are red-hot.

The story is set in the early 19^th century during the period of the Peninsular War when the Catholic Inquisition was abolished by French Intervention.

Catholic Inquisition, also known as the Spanish Inquisition was established in 1478 by the Catholic Monarchs of Spain. The legal authority of the Catholic Inquisition operated in Spain and in all Spanish colonies and territories including the Canary Islands, the Kingdom of Naples, and all Spanish possessions in South America and North America. Around 150,000 people were prosecuted for various offenses during the three-century duration of the Catholic Inquisition, of whom between 3,000 and 5,000 were executed. However, the Spanish King strictly ordered that the native Indians of the Americas should not be prosecuted by the Catholic Inquisition. The Inquisition was originally intended primarily to identify heretics among those who converted from Judaism and Islam to Catholicism. The regulation of the faith of newly converted Catholics was intensified following the royal decrees issued in 1492 and 1502 ordering Jews and Muslims to convert to Catholicism or leave Castile, resulting in hundreds of thousands of forced conversions. The Catholic Inquisition was ultimately abolished during the early 19th century at the peak of the French Revolution.

Poe’s story does not critique the ideological basis of the tale’s historical context. Rather, Poe just highlights the torture and horror elements in this tale.

Summary of The Pit and The Pendulum:

The story begins with the shocking statement of the narrator “I was sick—sick unto death with that long agony” which reveals that he is a prisoner. The writer makes it properly clear that the narrator is a prisoner hauled before the Spanish Inquisition. He is too weak and dizzy to understand properly what’s going on around him, however, he knows he is about to be condemned to death, and he has no hopes. The narrator describes the implacable horror of the judges as they announce their decrees, although the narrator himself is too overwhelmed with fear to understand their words. He is hypnotically fascinated by the stark-white lips of his judges and the steady grind of their voices. The narrator tries to distract himself from the impending horror of the death sentence by concentrating on seven white candles standing before him on the table. For a while, he imagines those candles as seven angels who are there to offer solace or even rescue. But soon, he notices that these candles are mere inanimate objects, unfeeling, and uncaring. The narrator falls into a faint while longing for death. Though he is unconscious, the narrator claims that he wasn’t completely unaware as he had some consciousness left and says, “Even in the grave all is not lost. Else there is no immortality for man.” He says that fainting isn’t like sleep or death, rather, fainting is somewhere between those two, putting you closer to the mysterious world of the dead than sleep alone can.

When the narrator gains consciousness back, he finds himself in a completely dark place. He is confused because he knows that the usual fate of Inquisition victims is a public auto-da-fé, or “act of faith”—an execution normally taking the form of hanging. He wonders if he is dead or alive. He tries to remember what happened when he fainted. He dimly recollects being carried down deep into the earth by mysterious figures, the awful slowness of his own heartbeat, a pause accompanied by flatness and dampness, and then a fit of utter madness. He fears that they put him in a tomb, burying him alive. He tries to move a bit d finds that there is space, and is convinced that he is not in a tomb. Though he is aware that he is alive, he continues to feel the immense fear of death as he remembers the rumors of what they do to the prisoners. He thinks that perhaps he is in one of the dungeons at Toledo, an infamous Inquisition prison. Fearful, the narrator again faints, and after he awakes for the second time, he begins to explore the dungeon while wondering what his fate will be. He examines his robe and decides to tear off one of the pieces of the hem of his robe to check how much space is there in that dark dungeon. He decides to explore the dark and places the piece of hem against the wall to count the number of steps he can take across the dungeon cell he is in. He takes some steps and then he trips, falls, and is overtaken by sleep before making a full circuit, and upon waking, he finds that someone has given him a loaf of bread and a pitcher of water. Being too hungry for a long, he eagerly consumes whatever he got and then he resumes his exploration. He estimates that the cell is around 50 yards wide as he can take some 100 paces around. He then decides to walk across the room but when he moves a few steps, the piece of hem of his robe tangles his legs and he trips off. As he falls, he realizes that while his body fell on the wall, his face dangled over an abyss. He realizes that there is a deep pit just a little forward and had he not tripped off, he might have fallen into that pit. He tries to know the depth of the pit by breaking a piece of stone from the wall and throwing it in the pit. He feels that the pit is very deep and it has water at the bottom, like a well. He remembers the rumors he heard about the torturous ways of the Inquisition to kill the prisoners. He mentions the pit as a 'punishment of surprise'. The narrator falls back to sleep and when he wakes up, he finds some more water and bread. He eats it hungrily and after drinking water, he sleeps again. After a while, he suddenly wakes up and notices a dim light in the dungeon that was completely dark a while ago. He notices that the dungeon cell is not as large as he estimated. Perhaps he duplicated his count of steps and made a mistake. He further notices that he is now bound to a wooden log by a long strap wrapped around his body. He finds it difficult to move. He notices that he has been given more food and this time, he has been offered some flavored meat dish, but there is no water. He looks upward and notices the figure of Father Time painted on the ceiling. However, it is not just a painting, rather it is a machine holding a pendulum that is swinging back and forth. The narrator looks around and sees that some rats are coming out of the pit as they smell the meat. He again looks at the figure of Father Time at the ceiling and gets horrified. The figure of Father Time is made in the shape of the scythe and it is moving back and fro. The narrator notices that with each swing, the pendulum is coming down, nearing him while he is bound to the wooden log. He observes that if he doesn’t move, the scythe-like Father Time figure will drop exactly at his chest, above his heart. However, he notices that the scythe is moving downward at a maddeningly slow pace and he has ample time to see his death coming towards him as the trajectory of the figure of Father Time’s swinging motions from his head to toe. The scythe is making a razor-sharp crescent in its downward motion toward him.

The narrator is too much afraid to think right and he hopes for some divine intervention to stop the pendulum from falling over him. But the pendulum continues to come down and when it reaches very near to the narrator’s chest, he suddenly gets an idea of trying to save himself. He picks up the pieces of meat and rubs them over the straps binding him to the wooden log. The rats get mad at the smell of meat and they jump over him to eat and start nibbling over the straps. As the pendulum is just about to drop on his chest, the narrator succeeds in breaking the shackles of the strap and moves away from the pendulum’s swing. As soon as he goes away from the scythe, like a pendulum, the pendulum retracts to the ceiling. The narrator is startled and then he realizes that his captors are observing all his moves.

Suddenly, he starts feeling hot and realizes that the walls of the dungeon cells are heating up and gradually they are turning red. He further notices that the walls are gradually moving toward each other, reducing the space around the narrator. He tries to move away from the nearest wall and realizes that if he tries to save himself from the red burning walls, he will have to go near the pit and ultimately, he will be pushed into the pit that will surely save him from the red burning walls but will push him to another kind of death. He continues to move towards the pit bit by bit and when there remains not even an inch foothold for the narrator, the walls suddenly retract and cool down. However, the narrator is too afraid and he starts losing his consciousness again and feels like he is about to fall into the pit as he is just on the verge of it. Right at that moment, a mysterious person latches onto him and prevents his fall. The French Army has captured the city of Toledo and the Inquisition has fallen into its enemies' hands.

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

The Masque of The Red Death by Edgar Allan Poe: Themes, Summary, Analysis

Hello and welcome to the Discourse. The Masque of The Red Death was a short gothic story written by Edgar Allan Poe that was published in 1842. The story is an allegory about man’s futile efforts to avoid death, which is inevitable. The story may also be read as a satire against the Aristocratic class during the period of the Bubonic Plague or Black Death in England and other parts of Europe. The story is about a fictional tyrannical prince who is indifferent to the turmoil and sufferings of the weak peasantry class while his state is suffering an endemic which is commonly known as the Red Death. It is a fictitious disease, an allegorical representation of the Black Death. Historically, feudalism was prevalent when the actual Bubonic Plague devastated Europe in the fourteenth century. The Read Death, on the other hand, may also represent the egalitarian idea, the death of feudalism as it embodies a kind of economic equality and doesn’t discriminate its victims based on their economic class, it kills all.

Summary of The Masque of Red Death:

In a fictional country, the Red Death is spreading its wings. The Red Death is a bloody disease that causes the death of the patient rapidly with a seizure, sharp pain, dizziness, and bleeding from the pores. While the common public is dying in huge numbers, the ruler, Prince Prospero doesn’t care about them. However, he is worried about his own health and thus, he decides to gather all his friends, knights, and relatives and shuts himself in a safe heaven ornated with all amenities and facilities. His motive is to keep the Red Death away from his safe haven and close circle and to do so, he uses all his wealth and might. The Read Death appears to be a great challenge to his autonomy. Yet, while Red Death easily preys on the lower-class peasants, Prospero’s prosperity is unaffected by this natural calamity. Being shut and safe in the walled abbey with other 1000 nobles, Prince Prospero intends to await the end of the plague in luxury and safety behind the walls of their secure refuge, having welded the doors shut to ensure no one enters or leaves. Prospero’s castle is fabulous he designed it himself.

A few months pass by but the Red Death doesn’t slow down, rather it reaches a new peak as more and more common people die. However, Prospero remains unaffected. He decides to throw a party, a fancy masquerade ball throughout the imperial suit of the castle which has seven rooms. Prospero suggests that all the invites should masque themselves in ghouls and ghosts masks. Prospero has designed these rooms running from east to west. The first room is decorated in blue and the stained glass of the window has a blue hue. The second is purple and so "the panes are purple." And this continues through the green room (third), the orange room (fourth), the white room (fifth), and the violet room (sixth). These windows in the rooms don’t open outside, rather, one can look out onto the hall through these windows. The seventh room is different. It is at the corner of the west. It is completely black but the window panes are not black, they are shrouded in deep blood-red scarlet color. In the whole suite, there are no lights of any kind, but in the corridors that lay behind the windows of the suite, fires blaze. Shapes dance around the walls from the patterns of the flames. The black room with blood-red scarlet color windows appears so gruesome and the strange shapes of the dancing flames make it much more fearsome. There are very few of the nobles who are bold enough to set foot in the seventh room.

Prospero has ornated this black room with an extraordinarily giant clock, which, every hour, strikes with a deep, clear note of very strange pitch. Hardly anyone dares to go to the westernmost corner, to the black room. All the other rooms are magnificently beautiful. The sound of the clock appears merrier and cherishable from the other rooms but it becomes extreme in the black room. With each strike of the hour, the sound of the clock sends the merrymaking masqueraders into a strange reverie.

All the guests are masked and nobody can recognize others. While the nobles in their masks continue enjoying the party in different rooms of different colors, nobody dares to enter the black room.

The party continues throughout the day until midnight when the giant clock strikes. The shrieking sound of the giant clock stops the music and everyone faces the strange reverie again. Suddenly twelve different chimes start producing strange sounds and as the sound stops, everyone in the blue room feels that someone entered the suit from outside. This new entrant is also masked and he is dressed more ghoulishly than all others. His mask looks like the face of a corpse, his garments resemble a funeral shroud, and his face reveals spots of blood suggesting that he is a victim of the Red Death. The rumor of this strange intruder spreads through all six rooms. That time, Prospero was in the blue room. While everyone is fearful of this new entrant, Prospero gets angry. He wonders how someone of his friends and knights with so little humor and levity would join his party in such a dress and mask that reminds them of the Red Death. The intruder is completely masked, from head to foot, as if dressed for the grave and his dress is stained with scarlet. Everyone is so afraid of him that when this intruder starts walking slowly, nobody dares to stop him and question him. Prospero shouts angrily and orders the intruder to be uncovered and hung from the battlements. Everyone hears Prospero’s order throughout the seven rooms. The knights and nobles decide to confront him but nobody dares to seize him and thus, the intruder continues to walk through the room straight upto the prince, sees him, and then goes past him to the other rooms in the west.

Prospero decides to encounter this intruder himself and goes behind him but the intruder continues to walk forward towards the west. Prospero finally catches up to the new guest in the black room with scarlet windowpanes. The masked intruder suddenly turns around and looks into the eyes of Prospero and he dies. The other nobles see Prospero falling on the floor. They gather courage and enter the room to attack the cloaked man, they find that there is nobody beneath the costume. The Red Death captures each dancer, one by one, the clock stops and the lights go out, and the Red Death finally rules over the whole realm.

Analysis of The Red Death:

The symptoms of the disease (Red Death) appear similar to bubonic plague and Europe was feudalistic during the 14^th century when Black Death caused havoc. The seven rooms that Prospero designed for the masquerade were directed from east to west. While the first room was blue colored with blue windowpanes, the last room was black colored with scarlet windowpanes. The setting suggests the cycle of a day. The sun rises in the east and the sky appears blue. The sun sets in the west and everything goes dark, becoming black.

While the Red Death continues to kill hundreds of ordinary people, the happy-go-lucky folly of Prospero's court, foolishly believes they can ignore it. Instead of helping their people find a way, they decide to seclude themselves from the ordinary peasants. Despite his might, health, and wealth, Prospero fails to stand against the Red Death even for a minute. Against the Red Death, he proves to be equally vulnerable as any ordinary citizen. The central theme of the story is mortality. Prospero and all the nobles try to ignore and escape death, preferring to stay focused on living life to its fullest. But mortality can't be avoided, as they are reminded when Red Death literally crashes their party.

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

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee | Characters, Summary, Analysis

Hello and welcome to the Discourse. Harper Lee was an American novelist who is known for her novel To Kill a Mockingbird which won the Pulitzer Prize in 1961. To Kill a Mockingbird was published on July 11, 1960, and it became a huge success. The novel is of the South Gothic genre which deals with the issues of racial discrimination from the viewpoint of two little kids. The novel deals with rape, racial inequality, class discrimination, courage, compassion, and gender roles in the Deep South during the period of 1930s. The Deep South of the United States included those states that were heavily dependent on plantations and slavery. The story is about two siblings, their extraordinary experiences, and how they grow up while losing their innocence.

The story was based on the real-life experiences of Harper Lee during her childhood. Her father Amasa Coleman Lee was a newspaper editor and a lawyer who once defended two black men accused of murdering a white storekeeper. Both clients, a father, and his son, were hanged. The plot and characters of the novel are loosely based on Harper Lee’s own experiences with her family, friends, and relatives, and an incident that happened in her hometown in Monroeville, Alabama in 1936. Lee's older brother Edwin was the inspiration for the character of Jem. Harper Lee was a childhood friend of Truman Capote and she assisted him in writing his renowned novel In Cold Blood. Truman Capote became the inspiration for the character of Dill. Truman once commented that the character of Boo Radley was also a real man whom he and Harper Lee knew.

Characters of To Kill The Mocking Bird:

Scout or Jean Louise Finch is the narrator and main character of the novel. She is a 6 years old girl with a tomboyish attitude. She has a fierce disposition towards any who challenge her, but at heart, she is innocent, sympathetic, and a believer in goodness. Jem, or Jeremy Finch is 10 years old, the elder brother of Scout. Jem is a quieter and more reserved and innocent child. Dill Harris or Charles Baker Harris is a friend of Scout and Jem. He is around 7 years old with an adventurous and imaginative attitude. After her father’s death, Dill’s mother remarries but Dill fails to adjust to the new family conditions and often tries to escape from it. Thus, he spends his holidays with his aunt, who lives next door to the Finch family. Atticus Finch is a widower, and father of Scout and Jem. He is a lawyer who is highly morally upright and tries to be fair with everyone. After the death of his wife, he raises his children with the assistance of Calpurnia, his black housekeeper and cook. Calpurnia is a motherly figure for Scout and Jem. Arthur “Boo” Radley is a recluse who always remains within his house. He had a difficult childhood and it is rumored that once he attacked his father with a pair of scissors and since then no one has seen him. The townspeople consider him a mad monster. He lives with his elder brother Nathan Radley who is highly controlling. Tom Robinson is a black man who is accused of raping a white girl named Myella Ewell. He asks help of Atticus Finch who agrees to defend him because he believes that Tom is innocent. Aunt Alexandra is Atticus’s elder sister who is a strict traditional woman. She visits Atticus’s house to assist him in raising his kids well. Maudi Atkinson is a friendly neighbor of Atticus Finch. She is a proud and courageous woman who loves gardening and helps the kids gain a proper perspective on the events surrounding the trial. Bob Ewell is the father of Myella Ewell. He is a racist, ignorant, and evil person who belongs to the lowest substratum of Maycomb society. He is a widower with nine children. He caught his daughter kissing Tom, proceeded to beat her, and then forced her to claim Tom raped her. Myella Ewell is a lonely girl of nineteen. Belonging to a poor family, she is despised by whites and prohibited from befriending blacks. Frustrated, she tries to seduce Tom and break a social taboo. However, when she gets caught, she acts cowardly and accuses Tom of rape and perjuries against him in court. Miss Caroline is a school teacher of Scout and Jem. Francis is one of Aunt Alexandra’s grandchildren who spends Christmas leaves with the Finch family and annoys Scout by being boring and cruel. Uncle Jack is Atticus’s brother who is a doctor. Jem and Scout are very fond of Uncle Jack. Mrs. Dubose is a mean old lady who is very sick. She got addicted to morphine. Walter is a classmate of Scout. Mr. Cunningham is the father of Walter whom Scout recognizes in the mob that came to attack Tom and Atticus. Heck Tate is Maycomb Counties' sheriff who is an honest and upright man.

Summary of To Kill a Mockingbird:

The novel is set in the period of the Great Depression during the 1930s. Scout Finch lives with her brother Jem and father Atticus Finch in the fictitious town of Maycomb, Alabama. It is a small town where everybody knows each other but they have their social connection according to their economic conditions and birth. Atticus is a morally upright lawyer who earns enough to support his family but has to work hard for long hours. He lost his wife and takes care of his children with the help of his black servant and cook Calpurnia who is a motherly figure for the kids. However, Scout feels Calpurnia is too much strict and she favors Jem.

One summer, Jem and Scout befriend a boy named Dill, who has come to live in their neighborhood for the summer. The three spend much of their time creating and acting out fantasies. Scout and Jem know the neighborhood well. The only neighbor who puzzles them is the mysterious Arthur Radley, nicknamed Boo, who never comes outside. Dill, being too imaginative continues to enquire about Boo and the three kids become obsessed with the house called Radley House where Boo lives with his brother Nathan Radley. Dill learns the story that during his childhood, Boo once stabbed his father’s leg with scissors and since then he has been jailed in that house and never comes out. Jem and Scout have never seen him but they have heard that he is incredibly tall, drools, and eats neighborhood cats and squirrels. Though all children are fearful of Boo, Dill challenges Jem to go and touch the boundary of Radley's house. When Jem does so, Scout says that she saw someone watching them from inside behind a curtain. They try leaving notes for Boo on his windowsill with a fishing pole but are caught by Atticus, who firmly reprimands them for making fun of a sad man's life. However, the kids continue to explore more about Boo.

As the summer vacations end, Dill returns to his hometown. Scout is big enough to join the school. Though she is excited about going to school, she soon starts disliking it. Her teacher Miss Caroline is teaching how to read the alphabet and write but Scout already can read words and sentences. Miss Caroline criticizes her for already knowing how to read and forbids her from writing in cursive. She returns home and complains to Atticus. Her father tells him that Miss Caroline is a new teacher and she will take time in learning how to deal with the eccentricities of various kids. Atticus tells her to understand others’ viewpoints by putting herself in their shoes and thinking like them.

Summer arrives and Dill returns back to Maycomb. The three kids continue their exploration of the Radley house. One night, the three kids decide to jump over the boundary of the Radley house and sneak in through the window. Nathan Radley thinks that some burglar is trying to get in and he fires his gun. The three kids get frightened and run away but while running back, Jem Jem loses his pants in a fence. When he returns in the middle of the night to get them back, they have been neatly folded and the tear from the fence roughly sewn up. The pants were kept folded in the hole of the tree near the Radley house.

The kids continue to inspect the Radley house regularly. Jem and Scout find more presents in a hole in that tree, presumably left by the mysterious Boo. Jem would go to the tree near the fence of Radley's house to get presents such as pennies, chewing gum, and soap-carved figures of a little boy and girl who bear a striking resemblance to Scout and Jem. One day, they decide to leave a thank note to the gift giver. But the next day when Jem goes to the tree, he finds that Nathan Radley has plugged up the hole with cement. That saddens the kids.

Dill returns back after the vacation. The next winter brings unexpected cold and snow. During such a cold, Miss Maudie's house catches on fire. While Jem and Scout, shivering, watch the blaze from near the Radley house, someone puts a blanket around Scout without her realizing it. When the kids find it out, Jem suggests that Boo must have put that blanket on Scout. This horrifies Scout but her father calms her down.

Atticus learns about a criminal case in which Tom Robinson, a young black man is accused of raping Myella Ewell, a nineteen-year-old white girl. Nobody is willing to take the case of Tom as a defending lawyer. The court thus appoints Atticus as Tom’s lawyer. When Atticus meets Tom, he realizes that Tom is innocent. He further enquires and comes to know that Myella Ewell is the daughter of Bob Ewell who is a mean and cringy white man whom nobody likes. Furthermore, Bob belongs to the lowest economic class of Maycomb and hence, nobody really wishes to have any relationship with him. Like Atticus, Bob is also a widower with nine kids and Myella is the eldest of them. He learns that despite being nineteen years old, Myella doesn’t have any friends because the white community of Maycomb despises her for being poor and the daughter of Bob who is a poor and mean person. Any kind of friendly relationship between white persons and black persons is totally prohibited in the society of Maycomb and thus, Myella is lonely and alienated despite being a white girl. When she meets Tom and finds him near her, she tries to seduce him by trying to kiss him while breaking the societal taboo. However, Tom wasn’t ready for any such prohibited relationship and when he tried to push Myella away to avoid the kiss, Bob Ewell suddenly reached home and caught them in the act. In anger, Bob started beating Myella brutally right in front of Tom. Tom got frightened and ran away. Later on, Bob forced Myella to accuse Tom of rape. Though Myella took the first step against the societal taboo, she proved to be a coward against her father’s anger and followed him and agreed to perjury in court against Tom.

Atticus is a morally upright man and he decided to defend Tom in court though he knows that the jury, being predominantly white and prejudiced against the black community will not allow Tom to go free. Yet, he thinks that his efforts in bringing the truth in front will ease the hatred against black people and will reduce the discrimination to some extent. Little does he know that because of his decision, the white community of Maycomb will become his enemy and the enemy of his kids. Meanwhile, Dill Harris also comes to Maycomb as he runs away from the prospect of spending the vacation with his new father whom his mother recently married. Jem and Scout are subjected to abuse from other children, even when they celebrate Christmas at the family compound on Finch’s landing. Francis, one of the grandchildren of Aunt Alexandra teases Scout and tells her that her father brought a bad name and shame to their family by being a “nigger-lover”. Though Atticus urges Scout and Jem to keep calm even when other kids abuse them, Scout fails to control her anger and beats Francis. Francis complains about her misbehavior to Uncle Jack whom every child loves. Scout tries to tell him how Francis abused her and her father but Uncle Jack refuses to listen and punishes her. However, Uncle Jack gives an air rifle to each Scout and Jem which makes them happy. They take their rifles to Atticus and ask him to teach them how to use them. Atticus refuses to teach them how to shoot. While he allows them to play with the rifles, he advises them that it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.

Even Jem, who is much more calm and reserved finds it difficult when Mrs. Dubose starts abusing his father in front of him. Initially, he tries to avoid and ignore Mrs.Dubose but one day when she hurls slurs and insults at him about Atticus defending Tom Robinson. Jem retaliates by cutting the tops off of her beloved camellia bushes. Mrs. Dubose then complains to Atticus about this and demands that Jem should read for her for an hour every day after his school, for a month. Atticus insists that Jem should accept the punishment and he does. Scout suggests that she will also accompany Jem to Mrs. Dubose’s house. Jem and Scout do not realize until after she dies that they are helping her break her morphine addiction. After her death, Atticus reveals that Mrs. Dubose was a brave old and lonely woman who needed someone to help him in getting rid of her addiction. Jem provided her that assistance by reading to her. Calpurnia takes them to the local Black church, where the warm and close-knit community largely embraces the children.

When the time of the final trial of Tom comes closer, Atticus’s elder sister Aunt Alexandra comes to know about this, she visits Atticus’s home to help him in keeping good care of the children. Scout doesn’t like Alexandra much because Alexandra is a strict traditional lady who tries to convert Scout from a tomboy to girlish. The night before the trial, Tom is moved into the county jail, and Atticus, fearing a possible lynching, stands guard outside the jail door all night. Jem is concerned about him, and the three children sneak into town to find him. A group of men arrive ready to cause some violence to Tom and threaten Atticus in the process. At first Jem, Scout, and Dill stand aside, but when she senses true danger, Scout runs out and begins to speak to one of the men, the father of one of her classmates in school. Her innocence brings the crowd out of their mob mentality, and they leave.

During the trial, Ewell’s family put forth their evidence. Their statement was that when Bob Ewell was away from his home, Tom came for some household work. Myella was alone at that time and forcibly beat and raped Mayella until her father appeared and scared him away. Atticus argues against this accusation and says that all the marks of bruises on Myella’s face were on the right side of her face, which means she was most likely punched with a left hand. Tom Robinson's left arm is useless due to an old accident, whereas Mr. Ewell leads with his left. Indirectly, he accuses Bob of brutally beating his daughter. The jury notices that Tom’s left hand is useless because of an old injury and there is enough doubt about him being a culprit. People of the black community think that Tom will be freed but after hours of deliberation, the jury pronounces him guilty. Scout, Jem, and Dill sneak into the courthouse to see the trial and sit on the balcony with Maycomb's black population. They are stunned at the verdict because, to them, the evidence was so clearly in Tom's favor. Atticus is still happy that by his logical defense, he forced the jury to take so long for pronouncing the decision. Usually, the decision would be made in minutes, because a black man's word would not be trusted. Atticus thinks about making an appeal and deliberating the jury to reconsider their decision. However, Tom gets frightened of punishment and tries to escape from his prison and is shot to death in the process. Both Scout and Jem are sad about the outcome of the trial as they sense the defeat of their father as the defeat of goodness.

Bob Ewell on the other hand, is angry over Atticus for confronting him and trying to expose him in front of the jury. He decides to take revenge and one night, when Jem and Scout are walking home from the Halloween play at their school, he follows them home in the dark, then runs at them and attempts to kill them with a large kitchen knife. Jem tries to defend themself while Scout, who is wearing a confining ham-shaped wire costume and cannot see what is going on, is helpless throughout the attack. Jem is still a child and cannot do much against Bob Ewell. At the same time, a mysterious man in a black hood comes to the children’s rescue. He snatches Bob’s knife from him and stabs him with that while saving the kids. Jem realizes that the mysterious man is Boo Radley. Boo then take the kids to their home. When Atticus comes to know about it, he informs Hedck Tate, the county sheriff. Mr. Tate Mr. Tate decides to keep Boo's involvement in Mr. Ewell's death quiet. He notes in his file that Bob Ewell fell on his own knife during an alcoholic stupor and thus died. Atticus is not happy about it as he wants Boo Radley to face trial. However, Scout explains to him that Boo Madley is like a mockingbird and that punishing him would be like killing a mockingbird. Scout walks Boo home and imagines how he has viewed the town and observed her, Jem, and Dill over the years from inside his home. Boo goes inside, closes the door, and Scout never sees him again.

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

Wife by Bharti Mukherjee | Characters, Summary, Analysis

Hello and welcome to the Discourse. "Wife" was the second novel by Bharti Mukherjee that was published in 1975. It is the story of Dimple Dasgupta, an Indian girl who faces social and cultural change in the post- Independence India that has made women conscious of the need to define themselves, their place in society, and their surroundings. While Dimple imagines her future as a happily married housewife, she strongly resents her inability to participate in the selection of her husband to be, the arranged marriage has negative consequences for Dimple. Dimple feels treated as property, her feelings totally ignored. Arranged marriage seems to treat the union of husband and wife not as a sacred moment but as a property exchange. She always dreamed of marrying a neurosurgeon but her father chooses an Engineer for her as the bridegroom. Her resentment against the institution of arranged marriage fills her with sadness and a sadistic approach that continues to turn violent and in the end, Dimple kills her husband.

Characters of Wife by Bharti Mukherjee:

Dimple Dasgupta is the main character of the novel. She is a simple Indian girl in her early twenties. She belongs to a middle-class Bengali Brahmin family. She has completed her graduation and is now looking forward to getting married. She hasn’t planned for any career options while her friend Pixie is struggling with typing and shorthand classes to get a job. Dimple hopes of marrying a wonderful man and living a happily married life. While she feels imprisoned at her home, she believes that her marriage will be a liberating experience and after that, she will be having all the fun, partying, and making love with her husband. Dimple’s mother is a traditional Hindu woman who believes in the patriarchial family system and the institution of arranged marriage. She convinces Dimple that her father will find an outstanding husband for her. Amit Basu is a young engineer who has recently got an opportunity to emigrate to the U.S. Unlike Dimple, Amit is a man of serious attitude and philosophical outlook towards life. He is unable to understand the emotional needs of Dimple and expects her to understand her role as a responsible, dutiful wife. Amit is thus, a mismatch for Dimple. Mrs. Basu is Dimple’s mother-in-law who is very critical of Dimple and continues oppressing her. Mrs. Ghose is Amit’s elder sister who is already married. While Amit liked and decided to marry Dimple, Mrs. Ghose makes it clear that Dimple was not the first choice of his family. Jyoti Sen is a friend of Amit in New York City. After migrating to the U.S. Amit and Dimple stay at Jyoti Sen’s home and then they move to an apartment owned by Prodosh and Marsha, who are away on sabbatical. Milt is the brother of Marsha.

Summary of Wife by Bharti Mukherjee:

The story begins as Dimple relishes her girlish fantasy about marriage. She is eager to get married and visions of her prince charming whose amorous advances and glances would drench her with supreme bliss. In Dimple‟s imagination, there is no place for mundane responsibilities and struggle with day-to-day existence like water shortage, electricity failure, and adjustment with in-laws. She believes that marriage will bring liberation to her as she will be free of her mundane virgin life and offer her what she actually wants, parties, glamour, and love. Her friend Pixie is preparing for her professional career as a typist and stenographer. Dimple wants a different kind of life and she values her imagination more than the real life. She dreams to marry a neurosurgeon but as a Hindu girl, Dimple does not have the right to choose her own bridegroom, so cannot guarantee he will come from ―neurosurgeons and architects. She is of average build and she is not very beautiful or fair. Her father, Mr. Dasgupta, an electrical engineer at Calcutta Electric Supply Company, is inclined to look for engineers in the matrimonial ads. Her mother Mrs. Dasgupta keeps convincing her that her father will find an outstanding bridegroom for her. While her parents are hunting for a suitable groom, she starts feeling nervous, sick, and anxious. Her anxieties are also related to the inadequacies of her figure and complexion, as she wants desperately to fit into the slot of an eligible match. She would often write letters to Mrs. Problemwala to provide solutions for her physical and cosmetic problems. But this dream of hers remains unfulfilled as she did not deserve to be the prettiest due to her average beauty. While Dimple is eager to marry and to feel the liberty that she may have after being married, the waiting continues to grow long, and gradually, she starts resenting the idea of marriage when, for prospective match-making, she is displayed as a chattel on several occasions. The condescending discussions regarding her physical features are discussed before her. She feels humiliated and angry but she has to control her emotions.

At last, Mr. Dasgupta invites Amit Basu, an engineer who recently got a chance to emigrate to the U.S. for prospective matchmaking. Amit visits Dimple’s house with his mother Mrs. Basu, and elder sister, Mrs. Ghosh. Mrs. Basu objected to the name Dimple, which she considered too frivolous and unbengali, and the candidate‟s sister, Mrs. Ghose, felt that Dimple was a little darker than the photograph had suggested. Despite that, Amit liked Dimple, and their marriage was fixed.

The next day, Dimple meets Pixie and informs her about her marriage being fixed with Amit, an engineer who is expected to work in the U.S. Dimple shows Amit’s photo to Pixie and she comments, “Your short dark prince charming.” Her comment hits Dimple hard. She always imagined a tall, fair man in her dreams. However, Pixie is too much impressed by Amit and she says, “What a lucky girl you are! You’ll be in America before you know it. ‘ll still be slogging away at my typing and shorthand.”

After the marriage, Dimple comes into Amit’s home in Calcutta, a three-story building on Dr. Sarat Banerjee Road, a place where they live with Mrs. Basu and Pintu, her brother-in-law.

and on the very first day, his sister, Mrs. Ghosh tells her that though Amit liked her, she was not the first choice of his family. She lived a pampered life at her home but she discovers that at her in-law‟s she will have to fill the water from down below, the flat is quite small and the staircase has no light. The demands of the post-marital role fill her with anxieties which include pleasing everybody around. Furthermore, her mother-in-law proves to be too intrusive and won’t even allow her to choose the colors of the curtains and bedsheets in her and Amit’s bedroom. Life after marriage appears much more restrictive to Dimple now as her dreams shatter. She continued to suffer while repressing her emotions in the hope that soon she will go to the U.S. with Amit where she will have a chance to fulfill her dreams. Amit, on the other hand, is unaware of Dimple’s emotional tussles. Like any traditionally brought-up Indian husband, he does not know how to pay a compliment to his wife. He would like her to reside at home and focus on the household chores rather than go out, work, and earn. The culture he is born in requires of him to earn and grant for the future whatever the cost and he withdraws his love and other emotional attachments from his wife in a recreation of the cultural aims.

However, one day she gets a chance to vent out all her repressed anger as she finds a mouse nibbling on her clothes. She decides to hit the mouse as hard as possible. In an outburst of hatred, her body shuddering, her wrist taut with fury, she smashed the head of the mouse. Dimple noticed that the mouse had a strangely swollen fat belly. She realized that the mouse was pregnant. By that time, she was also pregnant with Amit’s child. However, she doesn’t want to be a mother. She feels that the growing fetus in her womb is a parasite, She feels that there is a property of Basu even in her belly that she cannot accept. She decides to jump rope to escape pregnancy. Symbolically, in her rejection of the pregnancy, she rejects Amit.

At last, Amit is ordered to shift to his office in the U.S. However, Amit doesn’t have a proper arrangement of residence there. Thus, Amit and Dimple stay in Queens and live with another joint family in the flat of Amit’s friend, Jyoti Sen. In the U.S. too, Dimple again fails to find freedom. Furthermore, she is not very fluent in English and she is too rooted in Indianness. Thus, she fails to find any social circle in the U.S. While Amit gets busy with his official work for most of the part of the day, Dimple had nothing else to do but to watch TV programs. Gradually, she develops an interest in TV programs showing murder cases. After some months, Amit and Dimple move to a sophisticated part of New York, Manhattan. They live in a luxurious apartment that belongs to Jyoti’s friends, Prodosh and Marsha, who are away on sabbatical. In this apartment, they are freed from joint family life for a while. However, Dimple now realizes that Amit is no company for her and they are mismatched. For Dimple, life was like a dream of luxuries, fashion, glamour, and love. Amit is more philosophical and pragmatic. He knows he is the bread earner and he has to spend most of his time at his work. He expects Dimple to please her whenever he gets some free time as if she is bound to serve her. Back in India, she still had some ways to vent out her frustrations but in the U.S. she suffers complete loneliness and alienation. The New York life appears to prove particularly destructive to Dimple. Her frustration continues to grow. One day, Milt, an American white man arrives at her door when Amit is at the office. He is the brother of Marsha, the landlady of the apartment where Amit and Dimple are living. In order to feel her freedom, Dimple tries to seduce Milt in her bedroom. She wishes him to do her. However, Milt refuses to indulge and goes away. That same evening when Amit returns from the office, she attacks him with the kitchen knife. She stabs him seven times, each time a little harder. She murders Amit as a symbol of acceptance of her shattered dreams. Killing Amit becomes her way to announce her liberty from Amit’s patriarchal rules.

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

The Tiger’s Daughter by Bharti Mukherjee | Chracters, Summary, Analysis

Hello and welcome to the Discourse. Bharti Mukherjee was an Indian-born American-Canadian writer who was born on July 27 1940 into a Hindu-Bengali Brahmin family of Calcutta. Her father was a businessman during the British Raj. During her childhood, she visited Europe for a tour with her family and after completing her graduation from the University of Calcutta, she went to the U.S. for higher studies at the University of Iowa. Her first novel was The Tiger’s Daughter which though is a fictional story, resembles much of her own life story. The Tiger’s Daughter was published in 1971. In 1977, Bharti Mukherjee and her husband Clark Blaise published an autobiographical memoir titled “Days and Nights in Calcutta” in which Bharti mentioned her issues and problems as an expatriate Indian who returned to India after many years in Canada and the U.S. In that memoir, Bharti explained why her life in the U.S. is much better and how she now doesn’t like the Indian society and culture which she used to love and miss during her days in America. During her one-year sabbatical leave in 1973 that she spent in India with her husband, Bharti realized that India is infested with a denuded tradition of poverty, squalor, and turbulence. She noticed her issues with the patriarchial family system in her own house and ultimately, she decided to return to the U.S. for her own good.

Similar is the storyline of The Tiger’s Daughter. The main theme of the novel is how an Indian immigrant finds him or herself divided between their native cultural roots and the new cultural ties and habits they have developed in their new world. Bharti Mukherjee asserts that the immigrants who move to America come with the belief that they will have a fair chance to better their lives, as there are ample opportunities if one is willing to work hard. 

Characters of The Tiger’s Daughter:

Tara Banerjee Cartwright is the main character of the novel. Tara is an Indian girl who was born into a wealthy Bengali Brahmin Family. Her great-grandfather was Harilal Banerjee who was a successful entrepreneur during the British Raj and made a vast fortune. Her father is known as the Bengal Tiger because of his temperament. He owns the famous Banerjee and Thomas (Tobacco) Co. Ltd. Though Tara was born in British India, she got the finest education in a convent school, and she spent her holidays in Europe. At 15, Tara is sent to America for higher studies. In the U.S. she faces difficulties because of racism but her experiences with the Belgian nuns of her convent school help her in adjusting to the new circumstances to a certain extent. In the U.S., Tara accidentally meets David Cartwright and falls in love with him. The two get married and start living together. However, Tara still misses her childhood days in India and despite being married to a native white man and being in love with him, she feels alien in the U.S. After seven years of their marriage, she decides to go back to India. However, she finds that her relatives in India find her too much ‘Westernized.’ She fails to assimilate with her own family members who are still traditional and decides to go back to her husband in the U.S. as she discovers that she is no more an Indian but a naturalized American.

Summary of The Tiger’s Daughter:

Tara Banerjee is a young Indian girl belonging to an upper-rich class Bengali Brahmin family. She is the only girl in her home and thus, she is being pampered by her parents. Her father is a well-known rich and successful businessman in the city of Calcutta whom people often call the Bengal Tiger. Tara enjoys all perks of being rich and is admitted to a posh convent school where she learns the Western culture and ways with the help of the Belgian nuns of her school. The Belgian nuns had taught her to inject the correct quantity of venom into words like ‘common’ and ‘vulgar.’ For Tara –the daughter of affluent, Bengali Brahmin parents,  the ‘foreignness’ began to a great degree with her privileged Catholic education at St Blaise’s, with Belgian nuns in ‘long black habits’ who taught from a point of racial and moral pre-eminence and with teaching resources from the West.

Being a young child, susceptible to impersonation, Tara starts liking the Western ideas and ways while criticizing the Indian culture and ethos. Yet, her mother is a traditional Hindu housewife who regularly performs Puja and rituals at her home and Tara is learning that too. At the tender age of fifteen, her father sends Tara to the U.S. for higher studies. Tara is not comfortable in her University hostel room in the U.S. She feels alone and alienated when nobody is like her. She faces racial discrimination and within a week, she wants to return home but that is not possible and thus, she tries to adjust to the demands of a different world. Her convent education and the teachings of the Belgian nuns at St. Blaise School in Calcutta helps her during this process. However, she roots in her Indianness and experience and to cherish it, she vehemently takes out all her red silk scarves and hangs them around to give the apartment a more Indian look. She tries to create a Hindu temple in her apartment and starts worshipping Maa Kali every day for strength so that she would not break down before the Americans. Time passes, and despite all the discrimination and alienation she faces in America, she develops some friendly relationships at her University. Gradually her thinking and psyche start accepting American ways.

One day, during an educational tour, she visits the Greyhound bus station (at Madison), and in her anxiety to find a cab, she almost knocked down a young man. This young man is David Cartwright. They develop a rapport and gradually they start loving each other. Tara decides to marry the man and becomes his wife. She informs her family after her marriage. For some months, Tara enjoys her new life as the wife of an American man. She feels she is not alienated anymore and she is a naturalized American. Still, her Indianness keeps reminding her of the good old days of her childhood. To preserve her nativeness she continues to retain her maiden surname after her marriage. Her husband too asks her about her life and family in India and she finds it difficult to explain her cultural roots to him. Gradually, it becomes a burden to her and she decides to return to India.

After seven years, Tara returns to India and is received by her relatives. They greet her by her childhood nickname Tultul to which she gets offended. She now perceives every Indian thing with the eyes of an American. The railway station looks like a hospital with so many sick and deformed men sitting on the bundles and trunks. In the compartment, she finds it difficult to travel with a Marwari and a Nepali. Now she considers America a dreamland. When surrounded by her relatives and vendors at the Howrah railway station Tara feels uncomfortable. She likely hates everyone and everything in India where she was born, brought up and taught many values, all because of her acculturation in America. At her home too, she feels the same alienation that she used to feel during her early days in America. Her mother still continues to follow her daily spiritual rituals. Tara tries to assimilate with her family by entering the house temple and participating in the rituals. Tara feels that she has forgotten many of her Hindu rituals of worshipping icons she had seen her mother performing since her childhood. She is convinced of her alienation when she forgets the next steps of the ritual after the sandalwood paste had been grounded “It was not a simple loss, Tara feared, this forgetting of prescribed actions; it was a little death, a hardening of the heart, a cracking of axis and center.” Her mother is also offended by the fact that Tara married without her family’s consent to an American whom Tara’s mother and all her relatives call Mlechcha. Tara had willfully abandoned her caste by marrying a foreigner. Perhaps her mother was offended that she, no longer a real Brahmin, nor a Hindu, was constantly in and out of this sacred room, dipping like a crow and polluting it. Her relatives follow their general Indian ways and Tara would find ills in them and will voice her opinions. This started offending her relatives too who felt that Americanization has made Tara arrogant. Tara suffers alienation too much and decides to go and stay at a hotel with her friends. However, she gets embroiled in a local riot. The riotous and destructive mob outside the Catelli-Continental hotel is merciless. Jittery, shivery, and encased within a car surrounded by ruthless humanity, Tara feels the vulnerability of mortals. In those nervous moments, she realizes that her reconciliation and assimilation with her Indian roots are meaningless. She finds nothing loveable and appreciable in India which is marred with poverty, diseases, hunger, patriarchal oppression, and communal riots. Thus, she decides to return back to David, her husband in America.

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