The Village by The Sea by Anita Desai | Characters, Summary, Analysis

Hello and welcome to the Discourse. The Village by The Sea is a novel by Anita Desai published in 1982. The novel tells the story of a family struggling against poverty and how they succeed in alleviating their condition. This ingenious, inspiring work of fiction has touched the hearts of millions. The story describes the lifestyle of the poor families living near the Indian Sea, their only hope of fishing and the palm trees and a family of poor people “of Thul, a village in India. Though the story begins with a sense of pessimism, aloneness, poverty, drunkardness rusticity, and alienation, the situation continues to improve and ends on a hopeful note. The novel's main theme is the strength of familial ties, the kindness of strangers, understanding between freedom and responsibilities, and change and adaptation.

Characters of The Village by the Sea:

Lila is a thirteen-year-old girl living in the seaside village of Thul in the Western Ghats of India near Mumbai. She belongs to a poor family. Her father is a fisherman who got addicted to alcohol and doesn’t earn anything to earn a living. Her mother is a responsible lady but she is sick and bedridden. Despite the hardships she is forced to endure, Lila remains optimistic and tries to help her family. She takes over her mother's responsibilities and takes care of her younger sisters while also cooking and cleaning around the house. She used to go to school but dropped out because she was needed at home. Hari is Lila’s younger brother. He is twelve years old. Like Lila, he too is responsible and cares for his family. He used to go to school but he stopped because his family is no longer in a position to afford it. He begins working in fields to earn some money. Bela and Kamal are two younger sisters of Lila and Hari. Hari insists that they must continue to go to school. The two little girls try their best to help Lila. Biju is a wealthy fisherman of the village who is engaged in smuggling and that’s how he made a huge fortune. He is boastful and arrogant but village people like him because he is one of their own who managed to make a lot of money. In addition, he also helps villagers at the time of their need. Hira Lal is the watchman of Mr. de Silva’s apartment in Mumbai. When Hari reaches there to get a job, Hira helps him and introduces him to Jagu, a restaurant owner who employs Hari and offers him a place to live at his own home. Mr. de Silva is a wealthy man from Bombay who sometimes visits the fishing village where Lila and Hari live. He is a kind man and offers to give Hari a job in Mumbai. After Hari leaves Thul, Mr. de Silva helps Lila in taking care of her sick mother. Mrs. de Silva is the kind-hearted wife of Mr. de Silva who visits the fishing village with him for a vacation. Mina is Lila’s friend from school. Mr. Panwallah is an old watchmaker and repairer who works at his shop near the restaurant of Jagu. Ramu, Bhola, and Mahesh are Hari’s friends from the village. They too are poor and hope for a new fertilizer factory to be initiated in the village so that they may get some jobs.

Summary of The Village by the Sea:

The novel begins at Thul, a fishing village near the sea in the Western Ghats of India. The people of the village are generally poor with their main source of income being fishing and farming. The story is about a young thirteen-year-old girl Lila and her younger brother, twelve-year-old Hari. Leela and Hari have two more younger sisters named Bela and Kamal. The kids also have a pet dog named Pinto. The family used to be economically sound as Lila’s father is a skilled fisherman. However, they suffered bad fortune when Hari’s father paid a large sum of money to a man who promised to get him a job in Mumbai. However, the man lied to him and disappeared with the money. After the incident, the father fell into deep despair and began drinking and neglecting the family. He does not earn a living but borrows money from the neighbors to buy alcohol. Their mother used to be a warm and loving lady but she fell sick of an unknown disease and is now completely bedridden. As the economic conditions dilapidated, Lila and Hari decided to drop out of their school. Lila began taking care of the kitchen and other homely duties while taking care of her sick mother, and three younger siblings. She also works as a housemaid in other houses to earn some money. Hari too begins trying his luck with fishing and he also works as a laborer in the fields of other villagers. Life is miserable for them. Lila has only a few days of work as a servant and Hari works a small plot of land to grow crops. The crops never yield enough food for them and his small fishing net never catches enough fish to fill the stomachs of his family. Hari is strong and wants to get a better job but he cannot tolerate the turmoil of his family. He is sad about dropping out of school and insists that his two younger sisters, Bela and Kamal must complete their education. Hari begins to think about better ways in which he could help his family and believes their prospects might get better when he hears that a factory will be built in their village. All of Hari’s friends are excited, but Hari tries to have a more realistic view of whether he will find work in the factory.

During such a dire period, Hari feels a ray of hope when a wealthy man Mr. de Silva visits Thul with his wife for a vacation. Mr. de Silva is a rich businessman from Mumbai who likes the nascent, natural, and serene environment of Thul. He has bought some land and has made a nice cottage where he and his wife often visit to spend their holidays. Whenever they visit the village, they always employ small kids to accompany them and help them with some house chores, and pay them handsomely. Lila and Hari start helping them and become their servants. After finding out about their situation, Mr. de Silva offers Hari a job in Bombay as a car washer. The proposal excites Hari but he is not willing to leave his family in the village. Furthermore, he also has some suspicions about this offer as his father was also lured into a similar job proposal and was then fooled. After thinking over it, Hari realizes that his situation is no better in the village. He thinks about Lila who is growing fast and thinks that without money, he will never be able to find a good groom for her. During the same time, one of Hari’s neighbors poisons his dog Pinto as revenge for his father not being able to pay back money that he borrowed to buy alcohol. This further saddens him.

Some men from Mumbai arrive at the village to talk about the changes that the new fertilizer factory may bring about in the village. He talks about jobs for skilled workers but also says that some land will be acquired for the establishment of the factory and for making hundreds of homes for the factory workers. This will require the removal of rice and other crops from the government land that the farmers have been tilling for many years. Some of the villagers, headed by Adrakar oppose this. Biju, a wealthy fisherman suggests, they should go to Mumbai and protest against this move.

Hari is roused by the words of Adarkar and decides to go to Bombay to stand up for his people. He does not tell his sisters.

When Hari arrives in Mumbai, he is stunned by the busy environment of the buzzing city. He sees hugely high buildings and a crowd of four-wheelers on the roads. He follows Adrakar and Biju for a while but soon realizes that he has nothing to do with them. He remembers Mr. de Silva’s offer and manages to find the residence, but the rude servant tells him that Mr. de Silvas is not in town. A kindly watchman Hari offers him some water and listens to him. When Hari says that Mr. de Silva promised him a job, Hari tells him that he will take him to his friend Jagu who will arrange for his job. Jagu runs a small restaurant and he agrees to let Hari work at his restaurant. He offers him a salary of Rupee 1 per day along with food and shelter at his own home. Jagu’s wife is a poor, weary, and troubled woman, she is initially hostile to Hari when Jagu brings the boy home, but she turns kind to him when he confides in her that his father drinks and beats his mother. Hari sends home a postcard letting his sisters know where he is and that he is going to bring his earnings to them. Life is hard for Hari in Bombay but he works hard. While working for Jagu, Hari meets Mr. Panwallah, a watchmaker and repairer who runs his shop near the restaurant. Mr. Panwallah is touched by Hari’s hard work and honesty. He requests Jagu to let Hari work at his shop for an hour every day so that he may teach some watch repairing skills to Hari. Jagu agrees to this and Hari begins training under Mr. Panwallah. Soon he learns most of the techniques and tricks of watch repairing.

Meanwhile, Lila is facing troubles in the village. Her mother gets sicker and she needs immediate help. At such time, Lila remembers Mr. de Silva who could help her. When she visits his home, she finds that Mr. de Silva and his wife are going back to the city. She requests them to take her mother to the hospital. Mr. de Silva immediately agrees and says he will take care of everything. When Lila’s father hears of this, he yells at her in a drunken rage, but he goes to the hospital and remains at his wife’s side. He also gives up drinking and is much more subdued. Lila visits every week, and her mother improves more and more. Mr. de Silva departs soon but another guest appears at his cottage. He is an old politician who loves bird-watching. He also continues to help Lila and pays her dearly for homely chores.

Hari continues to learn new skills in Mumbai. When Monsoon arrives, he hears the news of some fishermen's boats being caught in the storm. This reminds him of his village and he begins missing his sister. He decides that he will go back to the village to celebrate Diwali with his family. He begins taking more interest in learning the watchmaking trade from Mr. Panwallah.

Near the season of the Deewali festival, he decided to return back to Thul. When he gets home, he finds that his mother’s condition has improved and that his father is slowly beginning to recover from his alcoholism. He starts a small business raising animals and thinks about using what he learned from Mr. Panwallah to open his own watch repair shop in the village.

The novel ends with the family contentedly celebrating, grateful for the positive changes in their lives.

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!

Clear Light of Day by Anita Desai | Characters, Summary, Analysis

Hello and welcome to the Discourse. Clear Light of Day is a novel by Anita Desai that was published in 1980. The novel is based on the Indo-Pak partition and it describes the tensions in a post-partition Indian family. Unlike other Partition novels or books on the partition of India (1947), Clear Light of Day doesn’t talk about the gory details of the religious and social struggles of that time, nor does it highlight the inappropriate political environment of that era. Rather, the novel describes the effects of all that on a common Indian family. The strength of familial relationships and the importance of forgiveness are the major themes of the novel. The novel also suggests how ‘time’ preserves, destroys, and rebuilds a family, a society, and a nation.

The novel also suggests biased religious undertones as Muslims are described as sophisticated, rich, educated, heroic, hardworking, and civilized while the characters belonging to other religions are depicted as lazy, lecherous, and uneducated. In addition, Urdu as a language is depicted as a language of intellectuals, poets, and educated and sophisticated people while Hindi is described as a banal language.

Characters of Clear Light of Day:

Bimla Das (Bim) is the eldest daughter of Das family. She is a history teacher and a great advocate of independence and individuality. She had her dreams and wished to lead an ideal heroic life but she finds herself a failure. She takes care of her brother and sick aunt even when everyone else deserts her. She wrestles with her anger towards her brother Raja, but she comes to forgive him and finds peace in her tempestuous family relations. Raja Das is Bim’s younger brother. He used to be very close to Bim in their earlier years. Raja is intelligent, romantic, and has a great passion for Urdu poetry. He hero-worships Hyder Ali, their Muslim neighbor and landlord. He is arrogant, irresponsible, ambitious, and occasionally insensitive. He later marries Benazir, Hyder Ali's daughter, and leaves his siblings in Old Delhi. Tara is the youngest sister of Bim and Raja. Unlike Bim and Raja, she is not intellectual and as a child, she hated going to school. She didn’t pursue higher education as her only dream was to be a housewife and become a mother. She has anxiety and avoids confrontation, but occasionally demonstrates more self-possession than Bim and Bakul give her credit for. Baba is Bim, Tara, and Raja’s youngest sibling. He is autistic and entirely dependent on Bim. Bakul is Tara's husband and a diplomat. He is arrogant, likes to impress other people, and is a narcissist who dislikes when he is not the center of attention. He is disdainful of the Das family and does not want Tara to be affected by its unruliness. Mr. and Mrs. Das were the parents of Bim, Tara, Raja, and Baba. Both of them hardly cared about the family. Mr. Das was often busy with his friends playing Bridge while Mrs. Das was a diabetic. Both died during the growing years of their children. Aunt Mira is a distant cousin of Mrs. Das. She was widowed when she was twelve and was blamed for her husband's death; thus she was made to work as an unpaid servant for her in-laws. She begins to age prematurely because of this. She is sent to take care of Baba, but all of the children are elated to have her since their parents don't care for them. Later on, she becomes an alcoholic and gets sick. Mr. Mishra and his family are neighbors of Das family. He made a huge fortune as a businessman during his younger days but his three sons are lazy, lecherous, and unprincipled who ruin his business. His two daughters Jaya and Sarla had no ambition, except to get married, and thus didn't complete their studies. Ironically, this is why they are deserted by their husbands. They run and provide for the Misra household by teaching dance and music to teen girls. They like the simple and unambitious Tara more than the independent and headstrong Bim. Dr. Biswas is the doctor who treated Raja when he was suffering from tuberculosis and Aunt Mira when she began to fall apart. He completed his education in Germany and returned to India. He likes Bim romantically but Bim shows no interest in him.

Summary of Clear Light of Day:

The novel is divided into Four Parts.

Part 1

The story begins in a house in Old Delhi during the 1950s-1960s where Bim, an unmarried history teacher lives with her younger brother Baba. The house is owned by her brother Raja. Their sister Tara and her husband, Bakul, a diplomat, live in Washington, D.C. Tara is attractive, but, unlike the intelligent and fiercely self-possessed Bim, she is mild-mannered, pliable, and dependent on her husband. They come to Delhi for a brief visit on their way to their niece’s wedding. As soon as their two teenage daughters join them, Tara and Bakul plan to go to Hyderabad to attend the wedding. The bride is a daughter of Raja, the oldest of the four Das children. Tara tries to persuade Bim to come along with her and Bakul to attend the wedding. Bim insists that she will not attend the wedding; she no longer has anything to do with Raja. Bim expresses her resentment at being saddled with the house and with Baba while Tara and Raja live exciting lives. Baba is autistic and spends all his day listening to Gramaphone. Tara tries to encourage him to go to the office but he declines. She gets sad at his situation and worries about Bim who has taken responsibility for Baba.

In the evening, Tara and Bim go to their neighbor’s house along with Bakul. The Misras were a rich family fallen into hard times due to their sons’ debauchery, vices, and laziness. Their sisters, separated from their husbands, work hard to feed the family and yet are marginalized. The youngest of the Misra brothers is Mulk who is angry because his music consort was rejected. Bakul calms him down. Bim then decides to return back to home to avoid burdening the Misra family with the arrangement of their dinner. After returning home, Bim and Tara engage in their talks. Bim says how she misses Aunt Mira and often she would see her specter. Tara begins remembering their childhood, the Partition of India and Pakistan, and the events that followed. Tara talks about the impressive Urdu poems that Raja wrote during his younger days. After their father’s death, Raja inherited the business. He left Bim alone to take care of Baba without offering any monetary help. After Hyder Ali’s death, he inherited the house in which Bim was living. Bim shows Tara a letter that Raja wrote to her after the death of his father-in-law, Hyder Ali, who left his property to Raja. Bim is still angry because in the letter Raja made it clear that he was now her landlord, thus implying that he ranked above Bim. He insisted that he would never sell the house nor raise the rent. Bim took such offense at this letter that she hasn’t spoken to Raja in years and doesn’t plan to attend his daughter Moyna’s wedding.

Part 2

This part is retrospective which begins in 1947 when the Partition of India had resulted in sectarian strife. Hindu radicals at Raja’s school pressure him to join their movement, but after he contracts tuberculosis and is confined to his home they leave him alone. In fact, although they are Hindus, the members of the Das family have always been friendly with their Muslim neighbor Hyder Ali, and he has taken a special interest in Raja. Bim and Raja are close at this time, sharing a passion for poetry. Raja, despite being Hindu, develops a fascination for Urdu language and literature, associated with the Muslim population of India. Raja becomes drawn into the intellectual circles of their wealthy neighbor Hyder Ali. They exclude Bim from this male and predominantly Muslim world, so she devotes her time to her own studies in history. The Das children become even more distanced from their parents when their mother falls ill, and the duty of caring for their Aunt Mira who has an alcohol addiction, and their brother Baba, who has an intellectual disability, falls almost entirely to Bim. Both parents die, and when Raja falls ill with tuberculosis, it is Bim who cares for him, too. Tara spends more time with Misra's sisters, whom Bim finds unambitious. Tara meets Bakul there and is love-struck, although Bim finds him pompous, arrogant, and dull. Dr. Biswas, a young man who frequently ministers to Raja and Aunt Mira (the latter of whom is descending into a senile, drunken disaster), begins to be infatuated with Bim and invites her to a concert. She is not at all interested, and even though she agrees to a meeting with his mother, she realizes that she is not interested in marriage. After their father’s death, Raja gains control of his father’s business but Bim too holds some shares. Raja is not interested in business. He leaves it to be managed by Mr. Mishra.

He rather wishes to follow Hyder Ali and be a hero. Hyder Ali and his family left for Hyderabad due to the communal tensions in Old Delhi during the period of Partition. Raja is still ill and doesn’t know about the departure of Hyder Ali. He insists Bim to visit Hyder Ali’s house and get information about him and his family. Bim doesn’t wish to do so but goes along with Baba on Raja’s request. She finds that Hyder Ali and his family have left Delhi for Hyderabad. Baba finds Hyder Ali’s daughter Benazir’s old gramophone in his house and brings it to Bim’s house. On returning Bim informs Raja that Hyder Ali has left. Bim notices that despite all her efforts and care for Raja when he is ill, he becomes more arrogant and dismissive of her. Bakul marries Tara and takes her with him. Aunt Mira grows worse and, after a series of embarrassing accidents, dies in her bed. She is buried in her only sari, which she never wore in life. Now that his health is improved, Raja leaves for Hyderabad to look for Hyder Ali. Baba and Bim are left together, and Bim decides to take responsibility of Baba, who is autistic.

Part 3

Part 3 further goes back to the past when Bim and Raja’s mother Mrs. Das gave birth to her fourth (and unexpected) child, Baba. He begins exhibiting some growth defects, so she calls for Aunt Mira to take care of the kids as she is suffering from diabetes. Aunt Mira was a distant cousin of Bim’s mother who was widowed in her early teenage years (in the 1940s) and was thus reduced to unpaid house help. She started aging prematurely and hideously, and so was deemed unfit for the men of her household. Initially, the kids do not like her but soon they become close to her.

While Bim and Raja were bright students and had higher dreams for their future, Tara was still a growing child and had bad memories of some childhood incidents, like the shooting of a rabid dog and the dismissal of a teacher for being in love with a foreigner. Bim, who does well at school and defends the principal in her firing of the teacher, becomes a figure of resentment for Tara. Tara soon loses interest in her studies. She begins dreaming of being a housewife and a mother. Bim and Raja begin ridiculing her. While Bim and Raja were close during those years, Raja began taking more interest in Hyder Ali, their neighbor, and his daughter Benazir. This forced Bim to be closer to Tara. However, Tara further had bad experiences with Bim. Once Bim forced Tara to to smoke while they dressed up in Raja’s pants and discovered a sense of power in wearing male clothing. Bim wished to feel the freedom the boys enjoyed so she cut down her hair and forced Tara to cut her hair too but Tara was not happy about it. Once Tara left Bim to face the bees alone. Tare begins to grow apart from her siblings and closer to Jaya and Sarla Misra, as there is levity and life in their house as compared to her own house. The Misra sisters treated her kindly and would frequently take her out to clubs and other places. At their marriage parties, Bim tells Tara she disapproves of the Misra girls marrying without proper education; she asserts that she doesn’t intend to marry.

Part 4

This part returns to the current times. Tara realizes how difficult Bim’s life is who is still taking care of their autistic brother Baba. She remembers how she took care of Aunt Mira and Raja too when he got ill. She notices that Bim got nothing from their parent’s fortune yet, she continues to take on her responsibilities while Raja never tries to help her. Tara witnesses that Bim is suffering financial troubles. Bim complains that Raja was “rich, fat and successful” when he last visited her and even brought them gifts they didn’t want, but in reality, she resents that her siblings live such easy, luxurious lives while she is still stuck at home, taking care of Baba and struggling to make ends meet.

Mr. Mishra offers a proposal to Bim and asks him to sell her shares in the business to him. Bim decides that she is going to sell off the family’s shares and refuses Tara’s advice to consult Bakul first. She starts treating Tara with cruelty, and then even tells Baba that he might have to move to Hyderabad with Raja—but catches herself, apologizes, and realizes that she loves her family but has to forgive them if she really wants to move forward in life. She spends all night throwing away old paperwork and finally tears up Raja’s letter. She finds that she can forgive Raja after all. She is overcome by a sense of wholeness and peace. The next day, Bakul, Tara, and their daughters, who’d arrived recently, prepared to depart for the wedding. As Tara leaves for the wedding, Bim tells her that, while she and Baba are not coming to the wedding because they do not leave the house anymore, she would love it if Raja came back here and brought the whole family. The novel closes with Bim attending a party at the Misras’ house, thinking about her family’s traditions and enduring connections, and resolving to grow back together with them.

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!

Tam O’Shanter by Robert Burns | Structure, Summary, Analysis

Hello and welcome to the Discourse. Tam O’Shanter is a long narrative poem by Robert Burns that he wrote in 1790. It was first published in the Edinburgh Herald and the Edinburgh Magazine in March 1791. However, the poem was written for the second volume of the collection of Francis Grose’s Antiquities of Scotland in which the poem was republished in April 1791. Robert Burns wrote the entire poem within a day and the central character of Tam O’Shanter was based on Douglas Graham, one of Robert Burns’ friends. The early version of the poem had 228 lines but the second revised version had 224 lines as Robert Burns deleted four lines at the request of his friends. The basic theme of Tam O’Shanter is the reality of the macabre and things beyond explanation. The titular character sets off late on a dark night, full of drink, on his horse Meg Maggie). On his travels, he spots a wild gathering of witches and warlocks partying with the devil. Having inadvertently called out to one of the witches, he sets off at high speed in search of home, with the ghastly crew in hot pursuit. He makes it away in the nick of time, but not before one of the witches has snatched off Meg’s tail.

The poem stresses the celebration of life-affirming enjoyment of the joys of this world while recognizing that human pleasure is fleeting and thus more precious. The poem also suggests that one should be careful about the consequences of their actions.

Structure of Tam O’Shanter:

Robert Burns wrote the poem in a mixture of Scots and English in a mock-epic form, with iambic tetrameters, with nine syllables or lines of eight and often four emphasized syllables each line, are used in the composition of the poem. The lines are arranged in couplets – rhyming a/a, b/b, c/c, etc. This creates a pacey, lively feel. The supernatural comedy uses folktales that horrified locals or had only recently terrified their hits on the horrifying aspects of eighteenth-century life. Burns used alliteration, consonance, assonance, metaphor, juxtaposition, and contrast in this poem.

Summary of Tam O’Shanter:

The opening stanza describes Ayr as a calm place where Tam is enjoying daily life. The poem begins with a cliche “it was a dark and stormy night” and describes a dark and stormy late October night in the Scottish town of Ayrshire. In the first stanza, the poet describes the atmosphere in Ayr at the end of a busy market day. Tam O’Shanter is a farmer who brought his harvest into town to sell it and after profitable dealing, he celebrates with his friends in the tavern. In the pub, he is sitting with his friends around a roaring fire. The atmosphere appears calm and relaxed but things change from the 7th line. Tam begins thinking of returning to his home as he knows it would be best to start the long trip home not just because of the inclement weather but because his wife, Kate, admonished him not to be late. The poet describes Tam's hurdles in the passage from the inn to his home: "The mosses, waters, slaps, and styles”. Tam remembers his wife and how intimidating she is “Gathering her brows like a gathering storm / Nursing her wrath to keep it warm” (Lines 11-12). These lines suggest that Tam’s wife Kate is a responsible housewife and mother, nursing her child, but she appears dominant with a streak of vengeance against Tam.

The poet again describes Tam as an honest, calm, and fun-loving person. But Tam’s wife Kate has a different opinion of him and describes him as “a blethering, blustering, drunken blellum (Line 20)”. Burns used a nice combination of Alliteration, Onomatopoeia, and Assonance to suggest that Kate believes Tam is a useless drunkard. Tam would often get drunk. Kate admonished him that whenever he goes to the market with the miller, he gets drunk. Whenever he goes with the blacksmith, he drinks a lot. When he went to the Lord’s House even on Sunday he returned drunk. Kate prophesized that one day he may get so drunk that he may get drowned in the river Doon or get caught by intimidating ‘warlocks’ at ‘the auld, haunted kirk’ of Alloway Church (Line 32). Here, the poet introduces the paranormal forces he is about to describe.

However, like any other husband, Tam preferred to ignore the wise pieces of advice of his wife. He continues to enjoy the atmosphere with his friends as the ale is flowing, the talk is animated, the pub inviting—Tam delays, “a man so happy / Even drowned in ale” (Line 54). The landlady of the inn appears gracious and friendly towards Tam but it all appears a sham as the landlord notices all this happening. In Lines 59-60, the poet describes how human pleasure is fleeting “But pleasures are like poppies spread:/You seize the flower, its bloom is shed.” Tam finally decides to leave for home as he rides his horse, Meg. The storm is terrible but, once Meg the horse, is into her stride, she and Tam seem to outdo it. He knows he must pass Alloway’s Church, long abandoned and, according to town legend, haunted by spirits from Hell, a forbidding place where “ghosts and owls nightly cry” (Line 89). When he passes the church, he is surprised to see light flooding from inside; the church seems “a blaze” (Line 103). However, he is in the effect of alcohol and he feels no fear. He decides to check into the church. He tethers his horse and creeps to a church window and sees therein an “incredible sight” (Line 115). Witches and warlocks, dressed in black, dance in the church to the hornpipe being blown on bagpipes by none other than Satan himself in the shape of a “shaggy dog, black, grim, and large” (Line 122). Burns explored the Gothic folk-tale horror of the journey in this stanza. To the harsh squeal of the bagpipes, the demon spirits cavort. Scattered about the church, Tam notes, are grim memento mori objects of murder and mayhem, hacked bones, heavy chains, bloodied tomahawks, swords “with murder crusted” (Line 137), a “garter with which a baby strangled” and a “knife a father’s throat had mangled (Lines 138-139). Most terrifying of all, however, are three lawyers’ tongues, turned inside out, and three priests’ rotten, black hearts.

Tam is terrified now. He watches the crazy dervishes of the old witches and warlocks until they are thick with sweat. Caught up in the frenzied dancing, the witches begin to strip off their clothes. Tam is repulsed by the withered witches, “ugly enough to suckle a foal” (Line 165). It is, then that Tam’s eye is caught by a young, beautiful witch. As Tam watches in carnal delight, this young witch, named Nannie, strips down to her “short underskirt” (Line 178). Tam is beside himself, “bewitched” (Line 188), driven by the sudden itch of lust. He cannot help himself. He yells out loudly and carelessly, “Well done, short skirt!” (Line 194). Tam is already under the effect of alcohol but the dreadful witches are so fearsome and ugly that he gets repulsed when he sees them naked. However, when one of the young beautiful witches undresses, he feels a sudden urge of lust. The “hellish legions” (Line 198), suddenly aware they are being watched, turn their attention to Tam. “Catch the thief” (Line 203), Nannie yells. They all head outside to chase Tam down. Now panicked, certain they will drag him to hell as “roast [him] like a herring” (Line 207), Tam throws himself on Meg and tries to gallop away as fast as he, but his exit is hampered by the muddy roads. He heads to the bridge over the River Doon, the road out of town, knowing that demons cannot cross running water. He would be safe if he got to the bridge. But Nannie, flying furiously, is fast approaching Tam. The narrator is truly caught in the action as he offers a juxtaposition. He despairs over Tam’s fate ‘Ah, Tam! ah, Tam!’ and encourages Meg: ‘Now, do thy speedy utmost, Meg’

Desperate to stop him, as Tam lurches onto the bridge, Nannie reaches out and snags Meg’s tail, pulling it out, which “left poor Maggie scarce a stump” (Line 223). Tam is safe. The Narrator then offers wisdom to the readers: whenever you are inclined to imbibe strong drink or are tempted by short skirts, the poet cautions the reader to “Remember Tam O’Shanter’s mare” (Line 228). The ludicrous rhyme of rump…stump and the fact that Tam remains unpunished while Maggie is the one to suffer help to undermine the moral that is to follow.

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!

Robert Burns | Biography and Important Works

Hello and welcome to the Discourse. Robert Burns was a Scottish poet and lyricist born on 25 January 1759 and died on 21 July 1796 at 37. He is known for his works written in the Scottish language but he also wrote in the Scottish dialect of the English language.

Robert Burns is one of most celebrated and respected Scottish poets and author and he is also known as the ‘National Poet of Scotland.’ Burns is considered a proto-Romantic poet who greatly influenced William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, and Percy Bysshe Shelley.

Robert Burns was the eldest son of William Burns, a poor tenant farmer in Dunnottar, Scotland. His mother was Agnes Broun. His childhood was spent in a house built by his father that was later turned into the Burns Cottage Museum.

Robert Burns faced poverty, scarcity, and other problems of tenant farmers and was hugely influenced by it. At one time, he faced such dire poverty that he decided to move to Jamaica to work as a laborer. However, his friend Thomas Blacklock encouraged him not to go to Jamaica. It was the period of the French Revolution and Burns had a first-hand experience of the deteriorating situations of tenant farmers in Scotland and England that inspired him to write poetry and correspondences touching the subjects of Republicanism, Radicalism, Egalitarianism, Humanitarianism, gender equality, and so on. This is the reason why he is known as a proto-Romantic poet.

Burns often raised awareness about the dire situations of tenant farmers and other poor people in society in his works which is why he is also known as ‘Peasant’s Poet’ and a Ploughman Poet.

On 31 July 1786, Burns published his first major collection of poems that was titled ‘Poems, Chiefly in Scottish Dialect.’ Most of these poems were written during the period 1784-1785. Some of the very famous poems included in this book are Halloween, The Twa Dogs, The Cotter’s Saturday Night, and To a Mouse.

Halloween is a long poem containing 28 stanzas in which Burns describes the festivities and various tricks played by Scottish kids and farmers on Halloween. The Cotter’s Saturday Night was written in Spenserian Stanza form that invoked the pastoral scene in the poem. In this poem, Burns vividly describes the Scots peasant life. Another famous poem, To a Mouse, also describes the struggles faced by tenant farmers. In this poem, Burns also expressed one of the most attractive sides of his personality which was his tenderness towards the treatment of animals. In this poem, the poet also suggests that a tenant farmer’s life and those of other poor downtrodden people of the society is no better than that of a mouse whose home has been destroyed by the ploughman of the field. Such poems vividly describing the life of tenant farmers gained the title of Peasant’s Poet and Ploughman poet for Robert Burns. American author John Steinbeck chose the title for his novel Of Mice and Men from this poem.

In 1785, Burns wrote his poem ‘Holy Willie’s Prayer’ which was published in an anonymous eight-page pamphlet in 1789. This poem is often termed as one of the finest satires by any poet. The poem criticizes the members of the Kirk (or Scottish Church) while attacking the bigotry and religious hypocrisy. In his prayer, Holy Willie piously asks God's forgiveness for his own transgressions and moments later demands that God condemn his enemies who commit the same sins to eternal hellfire.

Robert Burns had many love affairs. One of his loveflinge was Agnes Maclehose whom he met in 1787. Agnes was already married but was separated from her husband who went to Jamaica. Though Burns tried a lot to seduce her, Agnes maintained that their relationship would remain platonic and unconsummated. In 1791, Agnes sailed to Jamaica to meet and live with her husband. Before she went, Robert sent her a letter which later became a farewell love song titled Ae Fond Kiss.

In 1790, Burns wrote a long narrative poem titled Tam O Shanter which became a huge success and is considered as his masterpiece. The poem is written in a mixture of Scots and English language and it contains 228 lines. Robert Burns wrote this entire poem within a day. Tam O Shanter is a mock-heroic epic that details the ghostly adventures of the loveable drunkard Tam and reflects on some of the folk beliefs current in Burns’ time.

In 1794, he wrote a love song titled A Red, Red Rose also known as "(Oh) My Love is Like a Red, Red Rose." In 1795, Burns wrote "A Man's a Man for A' That" a lyrical poem or a song that was based on the concept of Egalitarian society and republicanism. This poem was based on the writings in The Rights of Man by Thomas Paine. In addition, he also wrote "Parcel of Rogues to the Nation" and "Rights of Women". His other famous song is Auld Lang Syne which he wrote in 1788.

Robert Burns not only gained fame in Scotland and England, rather he became a popular poet worldwide and was commemorated in other nations after his death. He became the ‘People’s poet’ in Russia and his works were translated into the Russian language.

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!

To a Mouse by Robert Burns | Structure, Summary, Analysis

Hello and welcome to the Discourse. Robert Burns was a famous Scottish poet who mostly wrote in broad Scottish language. He is generally considered as the national poet of Scotland. One of his most famous poems is ‘To a Mouse,’ which is based on the themes of nature vs. humanity, loss, and the unpredictable nature of life. The poem's full title is "To a Mouse, on Turning Her Up in Her Nest with the Plough" and was published in November 1785.

The poem depicts a young man who accidentally overturns the soil of a mouse’s nest while plowing his field. The poem is addressed to a field mouse whose home is suddenly and unintentionally destroyed by the plow driven by the speaker, a young farmer. In the beginning, the speaker literally addresses the mouse but soon the mouse is used as a Symbol to represent the natural world, especially the elements of nature that are weak, innocent, or vulnerable to exploitation by humans. In addition, the mouse is also used as a Metaphor to express the plight of the society's weak, downtrodden, poor people. The speaker uses metaphor to compare the mouse's nest to a human house, referring to its "silly wa's" (walls) and even noting regretfully that the mouse is without a "house or hald." The mouse is a symbol for all those suffering in the world and can be linked to Burns’s experience of witnessing poor farmhands being turned out of their homes. In 1937, American author John Steinbeck published his popular novel Of Mice and Men whose title was taken from a line of this poem.

Structure of To a Mouse:

The poem is composed of eight stanzas with six lines in each stanza (sestests). Burns wrote this poem using a Double rhyming pattern (Feminine rhyme) with two unstressed two-syllable rhymes, one following the other. The poem follows a consistent rhyming scheme of AAABAB. The first four lines of each stanza are written in Iambic tetrameter while the concluding two lines contain iambic dimeter. The poet used Anthropomorphism in the poem giving human traits to the mouse. Imagery and Symbolism have been extensively used. The plow is a symbol of humanity's domination of nature, of the rule of the powerful over the powerless. The mouse's nest, easily and completely destroyed by the plow, represents "the best-laid schemes o' Mice and Men." The mouse is a symbol of the poor or powerless, downtrodden people of society. In addition, Burns also used Alliteration, Allusion, Aphormism, Antithesis Assonance, and Consonance.

Summary of To a Mouse:

Stanza 1

Wee, sleeket, cowran, tim’rous beastie,

O, what a panic’s in thy breastie!

Thou need na start awa sae hasty,

Wi’ bickerin brattle!

I wad be laith to rin an’ chase thee

Wi’ murd’ring pattle!

The speaker begins with a reassuring apology, addressing the mouse directly, using the child-like diminutives beastie and breastie while attempting to defuse its fears - O, what a panic’s- and telling it directly it is in no danger. Burns used Onomatopoeia (bickerin brattle) to suggest to the mouse that the trouble he caused is insignificant and temporary. The poet used Feminine rhyme to offer more gentleness to the situation. The poet says that he knows that the mouse is small and afraid of the presence of humans but the mouse is in no danger. The speaker says that the mouse should not fear him. It should not “start awa sae hasty,” or run away so quickly. He further says that he doesn’t wish to chase the mouse away or to kill him using a pattle, he is not like those of whom the mouse is afraid, he neither wishes to harm the mouse’s nest, nor wishes to chase it away or kill it.

Stanza 2

I’m truly sorry Man’s dominion

Has broken Nature’s social union,

An’ justifies that ill opinion,

Which makes thee startle,

At me, thy poor, earth-born companion,

An’ fellow-mortal!

In the next stanza, the speaker continues his polite apology but infuses political philosophy and acumen into it. The speaker is still addressing the mouse but he reflects on nature and the impact of human society on nature. Addressing the mouse, he says ‘I’m truly sorry’ for the human’s greedful dominion over nature. Humankind enjoys an unbalanced “dominion” over the world and has been unwilling to accept creatures that are not like them. The speaker clearly disapproves of the disruption of harmony in nature, caused here by himself, representing humanity. His careless destruction of the nest – showing man’s dominion over nature justifies the mouse’s fear of him. Humans are a disruption in the chains of nature, forcing creatures to act as they normally would not. The poet destroyed the nest of the little creature that, he knew was critical for the mouse’s survival during the winter. Thus, the speaker says that the mouse’s fear of humans is genuine. In the next two lines, the poet continues his gentle reassuring approach to addressing the mouse, calling it an “earth-born companion” and a “fellow-mortal.” They are one and the same, living at the same time on the same planet.

Stanza 3

I doubt na, whyles, but thou may thieve;

What then? poor beastie, thou maun live!

A daimen-icker in a thrave

’S a sma’ request:

I’ll get a blessin wi’ the lave,

An’ never miss ’t!

The speaker continues to apologize and reassure the mouse, requesting it not fear anymore. He assures that he does not begrudge the mouse a share of the harvest. Although the mouse does thieve from him, the speaker accepts that survival is more important than social rules about property. The strong monosyllables in ‘Thou maun live’ emphasize the absolute need for survival. Robert Burns made a point about ‘Redistribution of Wealth’ at this point. The fact that the mouse must steal food from humans does not bother the speaker. It is not the mouse’s fault that it has been degraded to this level. The mouse is only a “poor beastie” which “maun” or “must” live. The speaker says that the mouse often steals ‘daimen-icker’ or an ear of corn. When one steals one “daimen-icker” from a “thrave” or bundle of twenty-four, it is only a “sma’” or “small” thing. He will give the mouse his “blessin” through the food it steals.

Stanza 4:

Thy wee-bit housie, too, in ruin!

It’s silly wa’s the win’s are strewin!

An’ naething, now, to big a new ane,

O’ foggage green!

An’ bleak December’s winds ensuin,

Baith snell an’ keen!

In this stanza, the speaker reflects on the consequences his carelessness while using the plow will cause. He addresses the nest of the mouse as ‘housie’ that he has ruined. Now when the walls of the mouse’s nest, or “housie,” are fallen down, it does not have the materials to make a new one. It is not the right time of year to find the “green” it needs. Unfortunately, it is going to be December soon, the “winds [are] ensuin” or “ensuing.” Thus, the mouse has no option but to brave the winter without the security of its housie.

Stanza 5:

Thou saw the fields laid bare an’ waste,

An’ weary Winter comin fast,

An’ cozie here, beneath the blast,

Thou thought to dwell,

Till crash! the cruel coulter past

Out thro’ thy cell.

In this stanza, the speaker expresses his deep empathy towards the mouse. He says that he fully understands the mouse’s current situation who tried to shelter in a “field” where it could “cozie…beneath the blast.” The mouse chose the field to make its nest to avoid the harm of the sharp upcoming winter. It was here it “thought to dwell but then, “crash!” The wind came through and destroyed the home it had built. The poet used alliteration, assonance, and consonance while choosing the words ‘crash...cruel...coulter’ to express the harshness of the consequences of his action.

Stanza 6:

That wee-bit heap o’ leaves an’ stibble

Has cost thee monie a weary nibble!

Now thou’s turn’d out, for a’ thy trouble,

But house or hald,

To thole the Winter’s sleety dribble,

An’ cranreuch cauld!

In this stanza, the poet describes the ruined nest of the mouse that was so humble, and then, the speaker describes the ensuing difficulties the mouse will have to face. It was only a “wee-bit heap o’leaves an’ stibble,” or pieces of grass and hay. It was made from minimal materials but cost the mouse a lot. All of the work has gone to waste as the wind has “turn’d” the mouse out of its home. It now has to face the “Winter’s sweetly dribble” and “cranreuch” or frost. The poet used Masculine rhyme in the last two lines of this stanza while using the alliteration ‘cranreuch cauld’ to emphasize the misery of the mouse.

Stanza 7

But Mousie, thou art no thy-lane,

In proving foresight may be vain:

The best laid schemes o’ Mice an’ Men

Gang aft agley,

An’ lea’e us nought but grief an’ pain,

For promis’d joy!

The speaker continues addressing the mouse while he draws a comparison between the mouse and men while indicating the uncertain future they both face. The speaker says that the best-laid schemes of ‘Mice an’ Men’ fail to give any security at all. Despite, the mouse’s hard work in building its housie, it is in ruins now and the mouse has to face the harsh frosty winter. Similarly, the best laid plans of cotters (Tenant farmers) often fail despite their hard work. Terrible weather, poor harvests, and ever-increasing rents, always imposed a danger of eviction of the tenant farmer from the field. Often one’s plans go awry, and “foresight” may often be in “vain” or pointless when one never knows what’s going to happen. John Steinbeck used this line to choose the title of his novel ‘Of Mice and Men.’

Stanza 8

Still, thou art blest, compar’d wi’ me!

The present only toucheth thee:

But Och! I backward cast my e’e,

On prospects drear!

An’ forward tho’ I canna see,

I guess an’ fear!

The speaker continues to compare the situation of the mouse and human beings though his stress is more over the dilemma of humans now, rather, the speaker says that the mouse is in a better position. The speaker anxiously considers his own, and therefore humanity’s view of past, present, and future and comments that the mouse is free of such worries. On the other hand, the speaker can “backward cast” his “e’e.” His prospects appear “dear” when basing them on what has happened to him previously. Then when he looks forward in time he “canna see” or cannot see the “fears” that may come for him. The poet ends the poem on this pessimistic note.

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 Goat, or Who is Sylvia by Edward Albee | Characters, Summary, Analysis

Hello and welcome to the Discourse. The Goat, or Who is Sylvia is a three-act, full-length play by Edward Albee that he wrote in 2000 and it was first performed in 2002. The play won many awards and was one of the finalists for the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. It is a domestic tragicomedy play that explores and questions the limits of tolerance in a modern liberal society. The drama discusses a few transgressions considered taboo in society and explores how marriage and a family can survive when confronted with a once-unthinkable transgression that “shatters the glass” of their lives. The play raises many issues including, what should be accepted and what should be rejected as being within the confines of normalcy. Another issue that is raised in the play is about the value of truth, is Truth fundamentally an Objective good? Or, can a lie, hiding the truth, or keeping it a secret can be a better option?

Characters of The Goat, or Who is Sylvia?

Martin Gray is a 50-year-old successful architect who is married to an attractive wife and has a teenage son. He just won the most prestigious award in the field of architecture and has been hired to design a 200-billion-dollar city of the future. He is about to be interviewed by a popular TV host who happens to be his childhood friend. Stevie Gray is Martin’s beautiful wife. Though she normally bicker and fight with her husband, she is a dedicated and loving wife. They lead an otherwise happy married life except for the problems related to their teenage son Billy Gray who happens to be a homosexual. None of his parents approve of his sexual transgressions, yet they do not oppose it too, they are somewhat tolerant towards it. Ross Tuttle is a childhood friend of Martin and a successful TV program host. He often interviews the most successful people in society and this time, when his friend Martin won the prestigious award for architecture, he decided to interview him for his TV show. However, during the interview, he discovers a secret about Martin that he finds morally questionable. It is up to him either to keep it a secret or spill the beans and ruin Martin’s married life. Sylvia is a goat. She is one of the two loves of Martin Gray’s life. Sylvia is literally a goat who never appears on the stage and thus it can be taken as a metaphor, suggesting a transgression that Martin loves.

Summary of The Goat, or Who is Sylvia?

Scene 1)

The play begins as Martin and Stevie are sitting in their living room. They are waiting for Ross Tuttle, the famous TV show host who is a childhood friend of Martin. Martin is a successful architect who recently won a very prestigious architectural design award and has also been tapped to design a 200-billion-dollar city of the future called World City. Ross is the host of the popular TV show ‘People Who Matter,’ and now that Martin has attained such a prestigious award and business success, he certainly matters. Thus, Ross is going to visit their house to interview him.

Before Ross’s arrival, Stevie and Martin get into an argument and bickering. Though it is common for them, Stevie is appearing a bit concerned this time. She recently noticed an odd odor from her husband’s body and his business card and she jokes about him having an affair with a goat.

After a while, Stevie moves away to the kitchen and Ross Tuttle arrives right at that moment. The two old friends greet each other and then Ross begins interviewing him about his recent success and previous experiences. However, he finds that Martin is not concentrating on the interview. He feels that Martin is somewhat disturbed and thus, he stops the interview recording for a while and asks him if something is bothering him.

Martin tries to avoid the issue but finally, when he is convinced that it will be off the record, he confesses that recently he has fallen into an extramarital affair. Ross encourages him to reveal more about this and says that it is not very uncommon. Martin then says that his affair is a bit odd and maybe forbidden. He shows a picture of his new love to Ross and it turns out to be a disturbing taboo. The picture is of a goat whom Martin affectionately calls Sylvia.

Scene 2)

The second begins in the same living room the very next day. Martin and Stevie are sitting with their teenage boy Billy and the mood of the room is a bit tense. Stevie recently got a letter from Ross and when she read it, she came to know about Martin’s recent flinge. Ross mentioned all the details of Martin’s indiscretions in their entirety with Sylvia in that letter. Stevie is very upset about it and she fails to hide it from Billy. When Billy comes to know about his father’s sexual relationship with a goat, he gets outraged and violently accuses him of immorality. Stevie then reminds him that he too is no better and though they tolerate Billy’s homosexual tendencies, he doesn’t have a right to talk about the issue of Sylvia. Martin asks him to go out of the room and let him have some time with Stevie as he needs to explain some things. Billy feels profound emotional pain but agrees to go out.

Martin explains how he met the goat at a roadside vegetable stand and from the first sight, he fell in love with her. He says that he felt the truest feelings and absolute love for the goat and named her Sylvia. As Martin expresses his transgression as true love, Stevie feels immense anger and a wish to destroy everything beautiful present in the room. Martin feels her anger and pleads to her that he equally loves her too and that his love for Stevie and Sylvia is pure. Stevie insists that he cannot love Stevie now when Sylvia is in their life and that he has ruined her married life. In extreme anger, she leaves the room.

Scene 3)

After three hours, Billy returns to his house but finds that it has been demolished and what remains is a brutally demolished site. He sees Martin and asks where is his mother. Martin says that he doesn’t know where she is, the only thing he knows is that she has determined to destroy him completely. Billy feels emotional at this time and Martin comes near him and hugs him in a parental gesture showing affection and protection. However, Billy feels something different in his grasp and soon the father and son begin passionately kissing each other. At the same time, Ross arrives at the scene and sees Martin lustfully kissing his own son. He reprimands him and accuses him of the basest perversions. Ross says that Martin is a danger to society as he is doing everything against nature and all things normal in the world. Martin tries to defend himself and says that love and sex are not always so clearly defined and desire can very often find a way to disturb the expected course of relationships. He then takes the opportunity to remind Ross of the ethical vacuum existing in writing a letter to another man’s wife discussing private admissions spoken within the expectation of privacy and confidence. He says that had Ross kept his secret, his home and married life might have been saved.

Stevie returns at the same moment but she is not alone. She brings Sylvia with her. Martin is devastated after seeing Sylvia because she is no longer alive. Stevie brutally killed the goat and brought Sylvia’s bloody carcass to show it to Martin. Martin is in deep pain but rather than confronting the woman who murdered the love of his life, he goes down on his knees and pleads for forgiveness from his family. Stevie is still furious. Billy sees his parents in such devastating condition and he feels devasted and ruined. He cries Mom, and Dad as if pleading the things to go back to normal. The play ends at this point.

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!

Who is Afraid of Virginia Woolf? By Edward Albee | Characters, Summary, Analysis

Hello and welcome to the Discourse. Who is afraid of Virginia Woolf? Is a Three Act dark comedy play by Edward Albee that was first performed in October 1962 during the heights of the Cold War. The play is one of the most successful plays belonging to the Theatre of the Absurd and it suggests the imprints of the Cold War and the Berlin Wall built between East Germany and West Germany during that time. However, it is not a political play, rather it tells the story of a dysfunctional and self-destructive marriage between a history professor and his wife during a course of a night at their home on the campus of a small college in New England. At one instance, while arguing against his wife, the history professor shouts "I will not give up Berlin!"

The play investigates the themes of Reality and the importance of illusions in life. The two married couples discussed in the play rely upon their illusions for the success of their married life and as soon as they dare to face reality, they find their marriage is going into shambles. In addition, the play also criticizes the American dream of perfect life.

Despite its title, the play has nothing to do with the late celebrated English novelist Virginia Woolf. Rather it is a pun on Walt Disney’s song ‘Who is Afraid of Big Bad Woolf.’ The title actually means ‘Who is Afraid to Live without Illusions?’ Another theme of the play is the contradiction of love and hate. The married couple love each other but they do feel intense hate against each other too.

Characters of Who is Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

Martha is the fifty-two-year-old wife of a college history professor. Her father is the president of that college situated in New Carthage, a town in New England. As a teenager, she fell in love with a low-income earning Gardner and married him against her father’s permission. Though her marriage was consummated, her father succeeded in annulling that marriage, and later on, Martha married George, believing he had the potential to become the head of the history department and eventually to replace her father as president of the university. Despite her father’s efforts, George failed to attain that high position. This frustrated Martha but she always tried to hide her frustration. As time passes away, she becomes bitter and flirts with other faculty members of the college. George is her forty-six-year-old husband and a professor of History who failed to become the head of the department. There are rumors that as a teenager he may have accidentally shot his mother and accidentally killed his father in a car crash. However, it appears as if it is just a fictitious story created by George himself. He knows his marriage is a failure, but he tries to ignore the problems within his married life. As a couple, Martha and George fail to become parents but they assume that they have an imaginary son. Nick is a 30-year-old professor of Biology who is very popular at the college. He got his Masters degree at the very young age of twenty and it is believed that he will soon become the head of the department of Biology. He appears smart and sexy and there are rumours that he often succeeds in sleeping with the wives of other faculty members. However, when he attempts to sleep with Martha, he proves impotent. Honey is Nick’s frail, beautiful wife who belongs to a rich family. She often appears sad and frustrated and she tries to hide her sorrows in alcohol. She faced a teenage pregnancy that failed. Nick married her after her abortion. Honey shares her fears of the pain of childbirth and of getting pregnant and tells him that she and Nick failed to have a child because she takes birth control pills to avoid becoming a mother. Later on, it is revealed that all this is an illusion that she created just to hide from the impotence of Nick.

Summary of Who is Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

It is a three-act play and the first act is titled Fun and Games. The play begins as George and Martha return home after a late-night University faculty party held at Martha’s father’s home. Martha’s father is the president of the college while George is a professor of History at the same college. It is early morning and both George and Martha are a bit drunk. George says that they may take a final drink before going to bed. But Martha reminds him that they are expected to attend some visitors pretty soon. Nick, a biology professor who is new to the university, and Honey, his wife whom Martha describes as a mousy woman without any hips have planned to visit them. George is not happy about their visit but Martha’s father insists him that they must entertain the visitors. George says that they must not talk about their son in front of the visitors. Martha begins singing ‘Who is Afraid of Virginia Woolf to the tune of “Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf,” which she seems to have invented at the party and laughs hysterically at it. The doorbell rings at the same time and George opens the door. This startles Martha and she abuses him. Seeing their drunken situation, Nick and his wife Honey feel that they visited them at the wrong time. However, Martha soon manages the situation and welcomes them in. Nick expresses his gratitude for the president’s parties in helping him grow acquainted with the college. Martha and Honey excuse themselves to go to the restroom. George provokes Nick and then tells him about the campus practice of “musical beds”—of sleeping with other professor’s wives. Nick is not very keen to continue the topic and tries to belittle the young professor. He bitterly says that he may soon become the head of the Maths department. Nick informs him that he is not a professor of Mathematics, rather he has joined the department of Biology, and his particular research topic is genetics.

Honey returns to the room and says that she didn't know George and Martha had a son. George is distressed by this and gets furious with Martha. Martha follows her and Nick notices that she has changed to a seductive outfit. She begins telling Nick and Honey about the circumstances of her marriage with George and says that their son’s twenty-first birthday is the very next day. After taking a drink, Honey grows bolder and asks George and Martha when their son will be coming home. Soon, Nick expresses doubt that George may not be the biological father of Martha’s son. Martha reveals that she was pregnant before her marriage to George. Honey says that she is afraid of getting pregnant and that is why she takes anti-pregnancy pills to avoid having a baby. Soon she feels that she is getting sick and goes to the bathroom.

Martha continues to flirt with Nick while belittling George and tells about how she punched George when he refused to join in a boxing match with her father. George grows fed up and leaves the room. Nick couldn’t take anymore and he went away. He soon returns with a rifle and shoots at Martha, but it is a false shot and a parasol hits Martha which lightens the mood. George now continues to talk about his son and begins arguing which one of them has been the worse influence on the boy, and Martha proceeds with her tact of humiliation by telling Nick and Honey how George is a flop who failed to take over the History Department, as she'd anticipated when they got married. As she continues shouting at George, he goes to the bathroom, drags Honey back into the room, and dances around with her while singing ‘Who is afraid of Virginia Woolf.’

Act 2 is titled "Walpurgisnacht." Martha goes to the kitchen to make some coffee and Nick reveals to George that he married Honey because she was pregnant with what ended up being a hysterical pregnancy. The added bonus is that she is rich as her evangelist father left a fortune. He half-jokingly confides his plan to rise to power at the college by sleeping with the wives of important faculty members. Nick comments about getting Martha in a corner and ‘mounting’ her. George shares an anecdote of a boy, whom he says he knew in prep school, who ordered "Bergin" at a gin joint with his friends. This boy had accidentally killed his mother with a shotgun, and a year later, with his learner's permit in his pocket, he crashed into a tree and killed his father.

Soon Martha and Honey return to the room. While Honey again begins feeling sick, Martha becomes more emboldened and openly flirts with Nick. Honey suggests that they may play a game of ‘Interpretive Dance.’ Martha is excited about that and desires to dance with Nick lasciviously. Nick gets furious and shouts that the ‘Bergin’ boy who accidentally killed his mother and father was he and berates about his failed attempt to publish a novel on that story. Martha says that his father stopped George from publishing such a preposterous story. George gets furious and attacks and tries to strangulate Martha but Nick intervenes and separates them.

George says that they must change the game. He says that they have played ‘Humiliate the Host’ and ‘Hump the Hostess’ may be played later, but now they must play ‘Get the Guests.’ He then tells a story about a girl named Mousie who puffed up and whose puff went "poof." Honey interprets that the story is about her. She feels sick again and runs back to the bathroom.

Martha continues to flirt with Nick but notices that George is now ignoring her and she feels frustrated about it. Nick begins to kiss and grope her on the couch while Martha begins getting annoyed that George is not intervening. Nick then drags her to the bedroom and while they move, they hit the doorbell chimes on the way. Honey listens to the sound of bells and returns back to the room. She tells George that she is terrified of getting pregnant and thus, she takes anti-pregnancy pills to avoid having a child. She continues talking about the sound of the doorbell that she heard. This offers George an idea of a new trick to torture Martha. Honey goes back to the bathroom.

Act Three is titled ‘The Exorcism’. Martha returns to the room and finds that both Honey and George are missing. She is drunk and confused. She begins crying and says how much she adores George. She says that she and George cry all the time, then freeze their tears into ice cubes for their drinks. Nick comes back too and wonders what is happening. Martha says that Nick is impotent, he cannot get an erection. She further says that no one but only George can satisfy her. She tells Nick not to believe appearances and praises George's ability to learn the games as quickly as she can change the rules. Nick wonders what games she is talking about. Martha continues to chide Nick and calls him a gigolo and a houseboy. The doorbell rings and Martha orders the houseboy to attend the door. Nick gets furious at this but opens the door. He finds George at the door who came back with a bouquet of flowers. He pretends to be a Western Union man and acts as if he's mistaken Nick for his and Martha's son. Nick gets fed up and calls them vicious, and George and Martha join together in deriding them.

George and Martha again begin arguing over trivial issues. George throws the bouquet on the floor and shouts that his marriage with Martha is a failure. He then goes to the bathroom and brings Honey back to the room. He says that now they will play one last game named ‘Bringing up the Baby’ till death. Honey is very drunk by now and she still holds a bottle of brandy in her hands. She says that she wishes to play ‘Peel the Label.’ George tells her they are playing the same. Then George tells about how Martha’s dominating presence scared their son and he ran away from the home. Martha counters this with her own story of how idealized her childhood was. Honey gets frustrated while listening to all this and begins crying. She reveals that she desperately wishes to be a mother and suggests that Nick is impotent. Martha blames George for bringing their son into the discussion and George shouts at her that he told her not to mention their son. Honey pleads with them to stop fighting. George calms down and deliberately says that he recently got a telegram informing him about the death of their son. He informs that Martha’s son was driving on a country road, swerved to avoid a porcupine, and crashed into a tree. The story exactly matches with the Bergin story that he told before. Martha gets furious and shouts that George has no right to do this and he shouldn’t devise the death of their son. She demands to see the telegram announcing this news, and George says that he has eaten it.

By now, Nick understands that the son is imaginary. He asks George and he confirms this. George informs that they cannot have a baby because Martha cannot become a mother. He then suggests that Nick and Honey should go back to their home. After Nick and Honey are gone, Martha painfully complains that George shouldn’t have killed their imaginary son. George assures Martha that things will be better. Martha requests him to have another baby but George sternly says no to this. He then begins singing ‘Who is Afraid of Virginia Woolf’ which acts as a lullaby to Martha and she sleeps after saying ‘I am.’ The play ends as George tenderly puts Martha into the bed.

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!